Beginning to end, Bucket Knight took an hour to turn on, beat, and get every achievement. This ended up being a game that required a lot of patience, as the controls, collision, textures, and basically everything else ended up being an absolute mess. I couldn’t help but ask the entire way through the game if there was any quality assurance put into it.
Why fix what isn’t broken? For some reason, Cobra Kai 2 decided to go off in a whole new direction from the original game, which was on form and simply just needed a touch of polish. Instead, here we are with something that is so out of left field, and so horrifically broken, that playing it felt more like a chore than a hobby. Hopefully, if a third game ever comes to fruition somehow, I hope there is a long, hard look at what that game should be, and maybe just a touch of quality assurance.
I’m just here to tell you that this would be a game that I could at no point in good faith recommend anyone to play unless they’re desperate for a brand new game of this genre. Even then, the game looks and controls like it’s older than most.
It would be overdramatic to say that Neptunia: Sisters Vs. Sisters broke me. Instead, more accurately is it just bored me to no end. The style of the game and everything it’s doing seems like it should make for a fun experience, but the execution is miles off the mark. Based on previous games, this game would be looking to be about twenty hours of gameplay total, if that’s the case, I would be willing to barter that only the biggest of Neptunia fans will stick with it the whole way through, because even Final Fantasy XIII felt like less of a slog.
I had such high hopes for Gungrave G.O.R.E. and it peaked with the intro cutscene, but it all fell apart from the moment the gameplay started. The worst part is I continued to play mostly in hopes it got better, but also because I just wanted to see more cutscenes. In the end through, Gungrave G.O.R.E. just didn’t feel like a game that respected the time of the people playing it, and didn’t respect the fans who returned from the PS2 days.
This game might have been hyped beyond belief by streamers, but this is one game you should avoid.
Bite the Bullet doesn’t manage to reach any level of being interesting. It’s a game full of interesting ideas that could have been amazing were they featured on a polished and fun title. Unfortunately, Bite the Bullet is incredibly half-baked. It’s an empty world full of boring and incredibly repetitive enemies and backgrounds. It could have been an interesting twist on roguelike games, but as it stands, it’s simply a shell that needs molding.
Food Truck Simulator is incredibly, unbelievably janky. It doesn’t feel good to play with a controller, and I can’t speak on how it might feel to play with a mouse and keyboard since I played on Xbox (yes, yes, PC master race). Though, looking at the reviews of it on Steam, I don’t think I was missing out on a much better experience.
Lunark was a game that intrigued me at first, given the style and the teams behind its development. Unfortunately, at every turn, it did nothing but let me down with its overly forced story, and nothing to keep any interest in it in terms of presentation and gameplay. The longer I spent in this world, the less invested I was in its story. These beats were few and far between, with nothing like notes or diaries left around to fill out the story and world. There was nothing in the gameplay to keep me invested as well. All in all, it was unfortunately just a bland game that thought it was more interesting than what it actually ended up being.
With most story elements already being done somewhere else, and average at best, almost unplayable at worst gameplay, this is definitely not one recommended unless you’re a massive anime fan waiting for something new to come out.
It’s hard to recommend for someone not pick up a game, but Hyperspace Delivery Service is definitely one that’s for a very, very niche market. The concept of resource management blending into Doom gameplay is interesting. Unfortunately, the execution just doesn’t work.
Most of the visuals are pretty good, and the story is a really dark, anime style story. Everything else slacked and was saved entirely by those two sections of the game. I enjoyed a good chunk of the story, when I didn’t have to restart everything, but in all honesty I never finished it because the second time I lost my save file I was about 6 hours into this story trying to see something and suddenly everything disappeared on me again and I decided I wasn’t going to go through another 6+ hours of the same story just to not care about some of the same characters again. Don’t use the skip button, it’s bugged.
Oaken looked interesting from the get-go, but unfortunately falls flat with limited ability to change how each run feels. After one or two runs, you’ll have a very good idea of exactly what this game is. If you’re hoping for a new Slay The Spire, keep looking as this likely won’t hit the spot. It definitely didn’t for me, and I gave it a very fair chance, probably a few more runs than I needed to do to make sure I wasn’t missing something.
As much time as I try to put into Modern Warfare III, and as many chances as I try to give it, it’s just way too rough. This feels like an early access version of the game. It’s missing way too much that would make it it’s own game in its own right, including original maps, an original zombies experience (with maps that aren’t just the DMZ map), and a campaign that is actually engaging. Playing four hours of a campaign you don’t really have any interest in isn’t worth $70.
As a fan of Overcooked, Moving Out 2 should have been right up the alley of many fans. The thing is, it feels like it tries to play the same way, just as a moving company. The reality though, is it misses every single mark by a long shot. It’s not that it’s a particularly bad game, it plays as it says for the most part (I have had a couple instances of stuff falling out of the map and never respawning), it’s just overly boring to play alone, and just as boring to play with people. It’s not a party game like Overcooked and it’s not overly cooperative, so it’s hard to say what the aim was, if there even was one.
Candy Crush essentially created the formula that Grindstone and so many others follow. It is just something that needs to be noted before walking into it though.
Adore is a cute little game that might scratch the monster collection itch, but at the same time there are so many games like Temtem that just do it so much better. If you’re looking for a budget game, Adore might be just what you’re looking for with plenty of replay-ability and the rogue-like concept. Outside of that though, this game is most likely a skip for most people who have the option of other games.
As it stands, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate truly immerses you into the anime’s story. Shot by shot, with little to no surprises, you’ll follow the two key characters and their adventures. The real struggle with this game is simply how easy it is, which isn’t always a bad thing if you’re looking to unwind, but sometimes you expect more challenge out of a anime-themed dungeon crawler.
The battle system being the best thing about Death End Re;Quest 2 is good, because it’s the main thing you’ll be doing. On the other hand, with the way this game starts, I was genuinely invested in the story until Mai just became another sulky, edgy, boring anime protagonist. All in all, Death End Re;Quest 2 was a fun game with an interesting and unique set of battle mechanics, but the story, and consequently my enjoyment, fell flat solely due to the poor writing. The lack of difficulty also bored after a while.
If you’re looking for some childhood nostalgia, look no further than Monster Rancher 1 + 2 DX. If you have never played these games before, this will probably do absolutely nothing for you because, to be honest, these games are much more sluggish than they ever felt back around release. Welcome to the joys of the evolution of gaming. Some games can withstand the test of time, others can not. Monster Rancher is unfortunately a game that should be returned to solely for nostalgia’s sake.