Leonardo Faria's Reviews
I really tried to appreciate the fact another classic gaming franchise from the earlier days of the medium was finally making a comeback, cementing its legacy, but I had a miserable time playing Montezuma’s Revenge: The 40th Anniversary Edition. It’s buggy, confusing, and uninspired. It’s easy to forgive the clunkiness of the original, since it was released more than 40 years ago, but we expect quality of life enhancements from a fully-fledged remake. There are none.
Rally Arcade Classics features a neat premise that’s a perfect fit for portable gaming PCs and, hopefully at a later date, the Nintendo Switch, but bear in mind that, despite its name, I don’t think it’s particularly “arcadey”. Sure, the physics and controls are more easygoing than any WRC game out there, but the reality is that its campaign is really long and repetitive, demanding way too much dedication from people who were just expecting to grab a little racing game to play a few arcadey rounds. It’s more of an entry-level racing simulator.
No multiplayer and an underwhelming (and voiceless) protagonist make Dynasty Warriors: Origins feel a bit less content-heavy than its predecessors, but it retains the core aspects that make a Musou game so much fun in the first place. Do I think that some of the new features Omega Force has decided to focus on are pointless? Sure, I personally wouldn’t have tried to make the progression and pacing feel as glacial as one from a JRPG, but I won’t say I didn’t have my fair share of dumb fun with Origins. Unlike its disastrous predecessor, it is a really fun experience, putting the franchise back in the spotlight in a good way.
In some aspects, it’s probably the best 2D Zelda ever made. It has some of the best dungeons in the series, and it’s full of creative ideas. I just feel like some of its main gameplay features actively hinder it more than make it stand out. It’s just a flawed game, something you rarely see coming from this franchise. Still, if you can put up with an admittedly disappointing combat system, I wholeheartedly recommend giving Echoes of Wisdom a go. It’s the return to a traditional formula you’ve been asking for, and it’s one of the most charming Zelda adventures to date.
Ys X: Nordics is, hands down, one of my favorite entries in the franchise thus far. I really enjoyed the “Vikings meets pirates” theme, the characters, the naval encounters, and without a shadow of a doubt, the fast-paced and cathartic combat system.
As far as free-to-play practices go, UFL never fully tried to convince me that it was necessary to spend additional money on it in order to fully enjoy it. In fact, I didn’t expect to play it as much as I did; it’s grindy as hell, but skill-based matchmaking and the fact you need to actually learn how to play the damn game in order to succeed made it a very fair and engrossing football experience, even if it’s lacking in modes and a bit of polish. There’s a lot that needs to be improved, but as it stands, I’m quite pleased with UFL.
Is it fair to say that the best aspect about Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind is its fanservicey appeal? It’s nostalgic, it made me feel like a kid in the 90s once again, but there’s more to it than just a gratuitous shot of retro-tinged dopamine. It’s still a fantastic beat ’em up with great production values and fluid controls, as well as vehicular combat sections which truly make it stand out. It’s the right balance between being pure nostalgic fun and a high-quality party brawler.
I wish this collection had retained other Legacy of Kain titles, as jumping straight onto the second game in the series can be quite confusing for newcomers. But even then, I can’t complain much about Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered. Both games in this collection have aged quite a bit, but still feel shockingly modern in some regards. They look just a tad bit better, control and perform just a tad bit better, and are wrapped in a neat little package full of extras and bonus features.
Again, I will commend the team behind Premier League Player for, at the very least, trying. They were able to come up with actually fun goalkeeping and heading minigames. The game might be ugly as sin, but I loved being inside my favorite Premier League stadium. Sadly, anything related to kicking a ball, with this bizarre makeshift “use your arms as legs” solution, was nothing short of disastrous. It is barely responsive, never intuitive, devoid of immersion, and completely lacklustre.
It might not be as charming, stylish, or memorable as Persona, but Metaphor: ReFantazio plays better than any other JRPG made by Atlus I can remember. In terms of writing, I can safely say that this is one of the most interesting and engaging plots in any JRPG, ever, even if, at first, it feels like its premise won’t ever make sense. It’s a bit shorter and its pacing is a tad bit more concise, making it more accessible and replayable. Finally, add in a fantastic combat system, and what you have here is a bonafide hit.
I think that the best way I can describe Empire of the Ants is to compare it to a BBC biology documentary. Sure, it’s boring, but the presentation and delivery make the product feel more interesting than it really is. It’s a jaw-dropping gorgeous experience with an additional layer of scientific research and information to be delivered to whoever plays it.
I imagine this can still be salvaged with a handful of desperately needed updates. When Asobo finishes fixing this game, then Flight Simulator 2024 might actually end up being worth your time. The potential is there, you can clearly see it. As it stands, however, I really don’t care it’s pretty, that it has more content, or a fully-fledged career mode; it’s simply too glitchy and unpolished for me to bother.
The immersiveness, great production values and excellent plot made up for many of its shortcomings. At times, Metro Awakening feels borderline revolutionary, offering AAA-quality storytelling and attention to detail to a small device like the Quest 2. Sadly, the gameplay is a bit too clunky. Between the camera limitations and poor combat, I was mostly enjoying the plot and fooling myself into believing I was inside the game’s setting, not the horror or combat sections themselves.
It might not be as intuitive as the non-VR original, but Trombone Champ: Unflattened is still a pretty fun musical game for the Quest. If anything, it just shows how well Flat2VR is able to port games to a brand new ecosystem, making them feel even more immersive than before. I didn’t mind the fact it was a bit uglier and confusing to play. At the end of the day, I was pretending to play a trombone with a dumb smile on my face, missing most notes, without a care in the world. I just can’t wait to see what else these VR wizards are up to in the near future.
Divine Dynamo Flamefrit is a very brief experience, but one that’s quite enjoyable while it lasts. Its brevity might actually be its biggest weakness: I legit wanted more from this Zelda-lite adventure, with decent PS1-ish visuals, actually competent voice acting, straightforward controls and surprising sense of humor. I would have been able to live without the unnecessary first-person Megazord boss battles, though.
I’ll give the devs some credit; Albatroz is a really unique game, and it’s also better than their previous game, Distortions. But it’s also a really buggy, unpolished and unfocused experience. I didn’t jive with the story, and the gameplay got on my nerves at times. It’s not entirely bad, though; you can clearly see the devs cared about the game like a passion project of sorts. It’s just a clear case of feature creep on something that should have been a lot simpler, a lot more straightforward.
I understand that most of these issues are fixable, and if they end up being patched, I will then firmly advocate for everyone to buy Metal Slug Tactics on the Switch (or the Steam Deck if you have access to one). As for now, however, that’s not it. I love the gameplay loop, the presentation, the perfect mixture of tactical combat with arcade-like sensibilities, but I expected a lot more from this game in this particular platform, which felt like the perfect home for it when it was first announced.
Softie is a short, occasionally cute, occasionally creepy, but constantly obtuse point-and-click adventure. Even if its runtime isn’t mean to last for an hour, I got stuck once or twice due to some confusing puzzles and a lack of a hint system. Regardless, it was a merely passable pasttime for a day, one I don’t regret tackling, but not exactly one I’ll remember.
It doesn’t surprise me that Tetris Forever is so good. This is the fourth playable documentary by Digital Eclipse, and those guys take gaming history and preservation to an outstanding degree of love and care. The interviews are great (Alexey is just the most huggable uncle), the documents are neat, the easter eggs are a nice addition, and the sheer amount of versions of Tetris included in the package will please each and every single fan of the franchise.
The best thing I can say about Don’t Let Him In is that, sure, there was an honest attempt at making a Silent Hill-esque indie horror experience on a very small budget. Sadly, this would have been a more acceptable attempt if it were a movie, not a piece of interactive “entertainment”. Even if there were microscopic glimpses of hope coming from the premise, the game is bogged by terrible controls, a literal couple of terrible combat sections, a minuscule runtime, and really bad execution.