Leonardo Faria's Reviews
Some of Shantae‘s gameplay and design choices don’t exactly hold up, but I’m somewhat glad WayForward decided to re-release the game the exact way it first came to the world a whopping nineteen years ago. This is still an impressive achievement for a Game Boy Color, be it due to its visuals or level design, and it’s still really fun to play on the Switch in 2021. Not to mention that you won’t need to spend four figures on a mint copy in order to finally own it!
In short, Fez is as good now as it has always been. The reason I call this version the best way to experience this indie game is mostly due to the perfect combination of the Switch’s portability and its screen being much larger than the Vita’s. This is easily one of the best indies ever made, and one of the most important games of the past decade.
If you can ignore the fact that this is a twenty-two year old game, then you’ll have a great time with Shadow Man Remastered. There’s a lot to like in this game, namely the fantastic level design, creepy setting, and pseudo-metroidvania progression system. Sure, it looks and feels a bit janky for 2021 standards, but I’m happy with what Nightdive has managed to deliver.
Stitchy in Tooki Trouble is the quintessential “run-of-the-mill platformer”. It’s such a harmless outing; a game that doesn’t impress at all when it comes to its graphics, controls, and gameplay loop, while also featuring enough content and technical polish to be considered “just decent enough”. It’s hard to find flaws or positives about it. It simply exists. It will entertain die-hard platforming aficcionados and be mostly ignored by anyone not part of this very specific demographic.
More than just a funny game, Rain on Your Parade is a fun game. Its absolutely idiotic premise works, not only because of how cathartic it is, but also because the developers took their time to cram it with as many settings, objectives, and destructible objects you can imagine. It offers a staggering amount of bang for your buck and will give you a big dumb smile from beginning to end.
This is a slightly janky shooter, but it’s a unique take on the genre, with its bizarre setting and slight RPG mechanics. If you can look past its technical shortcomings, Poison Control is an easy recommendation.
Your enjoyment of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV will directly depend on whether or not you’ve played the previous games in this gigantic franchise. If so, then you’ll actually understand what’s going on and will have a great time with this stupidly detailed story. If not, you’ll either going to love it for its excellent combat system or feel completely clueless as to what’s happening.
I really enjoyed Ruvato: Original Complex‘s cathartic combat mechanics, but sadly, that isn’t the game’s main focus. It wastes a lot of its time in some annoying platforming sections (which never work in an isometric perspective) and the most forgettable of stories.
I don’t simply just adore Oddworld: Soulstorm, I also deeply respect its vision. Lorne Lanning and his team took their time to craft an incredibly well-polished game aimed specifically at fans of the franchise. Yet it’s so fun to play and has such an engaging story that even those who have never played an Oddworld game before will still have a great time with its endearing characters, polished controls, and creative puzzles. This game took forever to come out, but it was most certainly worth the wait.
There’s no denying that Say No! More is a funny game. At first, I was laughing like an idiot at its completely absurd premise. Sadly, this comedic game is a one-trick pony and its sole joke wears off after a few minutes. There’s just not a lot of substance to justify playing it for more than a few minutes at a time. That’s all you’ll do. You’ll say “no” until the game tells you to stop, or more likely, you decide to turn it off.
Owing to its mobile roots, it might not be the worst game in existence, but it’s so uninspired and generic. It feels like a piece of software completely devoid of artistic integrity. I doubt we’ll ever see a Battlefield or Call of Duty game making an appearance on the Switch, but Afterpulse doesn’t work very well as a substitute for these games either.
The Switch port of Republic Commando is easily the worst version I’ve ever played, with subpar visuals and a framerate that makes the OG Xbox version feel like it’s running on an RTX 3080 in comparison. That being said, even an underwhelming build of Republic Commando is still highly enjoyable, being one of the grittiest and most unique Star Wars games ever made.
Bladed Fury is pretty straightforward, but don’t think that’s a bad thing. You’re getting good visuals, a decent soundtrack, a bland but passable plot, a short duration and a great combat system for a fair price. You’re not getting a groundbreaking metroidvania experience, but in no moment you’ll feel like you haven’t gotten your money’s worth out of it.
Root Film is a janky visual novel, but it makes up for its shortcomings with likable characters, a unique background setting, and most importantly, a lengthy story worth giving a crap about.
By no means is Narita Boy a bad game, but it’s filled with way too many incoveniences that tarnish what could have easily been one of the best indie games of the year. It’s certainly enjoyable in its current state, not only as a stylish metroidvania game, but also as one hell of a synthwave treat to your ears. But its noticeable input lag, nonsensical plot, and most importantly, its overabundance of flashing lights got on my nerves pretty quickly.
Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 is a shocking departure from its predecessor, and what’s most impressive about it is that it aged surprisingly well. Well, with the exception of the poor framerate on this Switch version, that is. It’s not better nor worse than the original Ty, given how different its gameplay is altogether. Even if this remaster didn’t exactly breathe new life into this 2004 title, considering the minute visual and performance upgrades, being able to play this feel-good open world platformer on-the-go is a worthwhile experience.
Even if the Switch version of Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville is far from perfect, I’m really glad it exists. Not only does it show that more complex multiplayer shooters can properly run on and find a fanbase on Nintendo’s system, but it also shows what EA can achieve with the system when some extra effort is put into a game’s coding.
Each new run in Evil Genius 2 will start off at a snail’s pace, especially if you’re a newcomer, but once you learn all of its mechanics (most likely by yourself) and get past its initial infrastructure-heavy first stages, you’ll be greeted with a funny, varied, and borderline addictive experience that lets you becomes the dumb spy movie supervillain you have always dreamed of.
I think the best way to describe Balan Wonderworld in a short but easy-to-grasp way is by comparing it to Yuji Naka’s Sonic Adventure. Both are graphically impressive, both feature phenomenal soundtracks, both are packed with a lot of content… but both are pretty underwhelming when it comes to their gameplay, even though you can get used to their jankiness and still have a great time.
This might be one of the last games released for the PSVR before Sony replaces it with its PlayStation 5 counterpart, but I’m really glad it’s going out with a bang like this one.