Obey Me is a pretty solid overall. The combat is fast and fun, the characters quirky and while it’s a bit on the short side at just 5 hours, the rating system gives it good replay value. The game takes quite a bit of inspiration from the Devil May Cry series and makes it into its own thing, and I think this comes over very well. Performance issues on the PlayStation 4 took away from my experience just a bit, but I think if you can snag this up on PC it would be much better. The game is pretty difficult, but I think it was fair for the most part. The stage hazards are just plain overkill at times, and some of the boss battles were just a bit much. They seem pretty overpowered to me. For the $19.99 price tag if you’re a fan of this genre you’ll find a lot to love here. For everyone else, if you’re interested in trying one of these games for the first time I feel this is a good place to start.
Waifu Uncovered is a fun and simple shooter with a very unique theme. My only real complaint about the game is your hit box is entirely too big for a game of this type. This makes arcade mode basically impossible without some good luck. For the low price of $6.99 there is a lot of fun to be had here, with some replay value if you want to unlock the extra ships and such. Fans of ecchi type content will feel right at home here and should snag this up ASAP. Anyone curious about this title should just not take it too seriously. It certainly doesn’t take itself serious, and there nothing wrong with that. We all need a good laugh these days, for sure.
Fight Crab is pure insanity straight out of the gate. The combat here is very weighted and the controls feel a bit clunky, but this game is just so much fun none of that matters. You tell me another game I can take a giant crab with a battle axe and beat down a foe? Or one I can have a crab throw a Kamihameha! Goku would be proud! In all seriousness, this one may not be for everyone, but if you want something unique that really is a ton of fun to play, you can’t go wrong here at the $19.99 price tag. I spent about 3 hours or so with it and I’ve unlocked a good bit of the crabs and weapons. I’ll dig into this a lot more when the online features go live, since I feel that will give this one a ton of replay value. Though I had a lot of fun just playing the single player stages over and over to see how crazy things could get. While this may not be something we ever thought would exist, I’m certainly glad that it does. We all need something lighthearted for a good laugh right now.
Xenoblade Chronicles is one of my favorite games of all time and Nintendo has made it even better with the release of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. The game looks amazing, the soundtrack is one of the best you will find, and the story is top tier. There really is no other franchise out there like this one, and that’s what makes it so special. While others may copy aspects of it, none can put together the whole package like Xenoblade does. At the $59.99 price tag, if you own a Switch, you should snag up a copy today. This is one journey that should not be missed by anyone!
Disgaea 4 Complete+ is undoubtedly the best way to experience this classic title. Not only is it the best looking version of the game, but it has all of the DLC from previous releases packed in and some important new features as well. If you own the Vita version of this title, while I feel the upgrades here are nice, they are probably not must haves. I would still suggest you pick this on up on sale down the line. If you do not currently own Disgaea 4 this version is worth every bit of the $49.99 price tag. There are hundreds of hours of some of the best Strategy gameplay anywhere here, and one of the best stories in the franchise. Picking this one is a no brainier, now the only real question that remains is – who is cuter? Desco or Fuka?
Samurai Shodown is a fantastic addition to the franchise. The robust combat and amazing style make it one of the best fighters out there. The PC port itself is really solid and I had zero issues booting it up and jumping right into the game. The game only supports resolutions up to 1080p which is not an issue for me but some may be turned off by it. The only other issue I ran into was that online matches will have some lag issues. I think a better netcode would probably help out here. The game has tremendous replay value and is well worth the $49.99 price tag. If you’ve been holding out for the PC port of Samurai Shodown or haven’t picked it up yet, there is not better time than the present.
SEGA AGES Thunder Force AC is a ton of fun for hardcore players and causal fans alike. Each stage provides a good amount of variety and challenge. This will make you want to play them over and over to get a better score for the online rankings. The game looks great on the TV or in handheld mode and you can even listen to the fantastic soundtrack in the options menu. I feel like this title is well worth the $7.99 for folks that enjoy Shmups. If you’re not a fan of the genre there is nothing here that will change your mind, but for old school fans it doesn’t get much better than this.
Despite nitpicks with tracklist choice, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix is a great way to kick off the franchise on the Switch. The game runs smooth in handheld mode, which has always been my preferred way to play, and looks fantastic. There are plenty of Modules to unlock and lots of tracks to master on the various difficulties. If you’re a fan of the franchise and have been looking for a solid handheld offering, jump on this right away. If this is your first foray into the Project Diva franchise I can think of no better place to start than here. Just don’t blame me when you when you seek out Vocaloid music for the next 100 years!
At the $7.99 price tag G-LOC: Air Battle is pretty easy to recommend to anyone that loves arcade shooters. The action here is as fast paced as it every was, and this is an amazing port from top to bottom. The extra bells and whistles like Cockpit mode and the scanned manual are just icing on the cake. Now I must crank up “Danger Zone” as loudly as I can and shoot down many more bogeys!
SNK GALS’ FIGHTERS does a lot of things right. It’s a solid and fun fighter that is easy to pick up and play, but has enough depth to keep you entertained for a while. The extras SNK included here are multiple borders, scanline filter and a zoom feature that lets you customize the look of this anyway you wish. The game looks great on a normal TV docked as well. The scanned manual they included was great and I felt that was a nice touch to cap off this great package. For the price of $7.99 I feel like fans of SNK will have a good time with this one and folks looking for a cheap fighter that packs a lot of punch should snag this one up as well.
A few other bells and whistles have been added her as well. Such as the ability to swap sacred treasures between characters and some UI improvements. If you have the original game I have a hard time recommending Warriors Orochi 4 Ultimate as an upgrade at the $39.99 price tag. Just seems a bit steep to me for what’s here. If you haven’t picked the game up yet in its original form and want a robust Musou game with over 170 characters to choose from, then this would likely be your cup of tea. It will set you back the full price of $59.99, but with the new features this version offers I feel like this is a much more compelling package.
Overall I have to say I really enjoyed my time with Hero must die. again. The gameplay here is really unique and really made me want to play the game multiple times just see what would happen. I feel like getting the True Ending on this one would require a good walkthrough, but part of the fun of this is to see how things turn out if you just wing it. I spent about 13 hours on two playthroughs and each one was very different. While the game could’ve benefited from more enemy models, this is still a really solid title. I would go so far as to say this is a very underrated gem. Personally I feel the replay value make the game well worth the $39.99 price tag. If you’re a fan of classic RPGs and enjoy a good gameplay twist you should probably snag this up ASAP. You will be glad you did so.
While Touhou Mechanical Scrollery is certainly not a perfect game, it shows a lot of promise. The team has optimized the game somewhat, already fixing some of the controller issues and full screen framerate issues. There are still some occasional dips, but with my Ryzen 2600 and RTX 2060KO I didn’t have too much trouble running this all the way up to 1440p. If they get the code running a little better I could probably go up to 4K, but right now it dips just a little too much for my liking. These issues aside, the game looks amazing, and is actually really fun to play. Some may find it a bit repetitive, but I had a lot of fun gathering the materials and upgrading the various weapons. For its asking price of $19.99, if you’re a Touhou fan you should probably jump on this one. You get 8 hours or more of gameplay here, and while the game certainly has some issues, I still think good outweighs the bad. If the team here does further fixes down the line I will likely raise this score, and honestly seeing how far they’ve already come, I think they will.
When SEGA first announced they were doing a soft reboot of the Sakura Wars franchise I was shocked. I had many questions on how they would handle it and if they would devote enough resources to make it something that truly stood out, and they did exactly that. The amount of love SEGA has put into this title shows with every aspect of it. From the amazing soundtrack to the character designs, they made the game feel very nostalgic for older fans while making it completely accessible to new players. This is not an easy feat to pull off and others should really look to this for an example of how this is done well. I put well over 30 hours in this and completed a couple of playthroughs. The $60 price tag is a very fair price for a title with this level of quality. I hope this spurs them to do more with this amazing franchise going forward. Sakura Wars is one of those rare titles that does everything right and is just a pure joy from start to finish.
At the end of the day I feel like Sisters Royale: Five Sisters Under Fire is well worth your coin. It’s a fun and customizable Shmup that anyone can pick and play and that vets will be able to challenge themselves with as well. The story is pretty insane at times, but I had a blast with it. The music is really good and there were no technical problems here that I could find. If you’ve ever had a passing interest in this genre, do yourself a favor and pick up this gem.
I have to say Granblue Fantasy: Versus exceeded my expectations by miles. There is a great amount of single player content. RPG Mode is a ton of fun. The story is pretty basic but it’s fun for old players to see some of their favorites in a new adventure and a great introduction for new players. The gameplay is easy enough for anyone to pick up on and deep enough for advance players to still have fun with. This game is just simply a lot of fun. If you have a passing interest in Granblue Fantasy you should pick this up. If you’re a fan of fighting games looking for something different I think you will find a lot to love here as well!
Psikyo Shooting Stars Alpha is one of the best collections like this I’ve seen. The port work was all quality and you can tell the team really wanted these to come out as close to perfect as possible. Fans of classic Shmups should be all over this one. They will definitely find a lot to love here. These game are pretty short and you can run through them in a few hours, but there is a ton of replay value as you challenge yourself to do better at each game. The $39.99 price tag might be a bit steep for casual fans, but I feel like the quality is here. This one is worth your coin if want to get into some classic Bullet-Hell goodness.
Arc of Alchemist has all the ingredients of a good game, but something went very wrong in the cooking process. The characters are all pretty well written and I think they are the most interesting part of this title. The main story is rushed a bit in places and very predictable. The combat itself isn’t bad, but it’s pretty basic overall and gets stale quickly. The graphics look decent and the open areas fit the the story well, but the performance takes a huge hit in later areas. The game is pretty short, most folks will probably wrap this one up in around 10 hours, and you can add some time to that if you decide to go new game+ or get the true ending. The flaws make this one pretty hard to justify at its $39.99 price tag, but if you’re looking for a decent adventure with some funny and interesting characters, this would be one to consider during a decent sale.
Being a huge fan of the mobile game I really enjoyed my time with Azur Lane: Crosswave. It gave me a chance to spend time with my favorite characters and experience a new story with them. Combat is fun, but much like in the mobile game it’s very repetitive. I pretty much expected this going in, and I didn’t mind it. It was worth the grind to level up all the girls and see all of their marriage scenes. If you are a fan of the mobile game I feel like you will get your money’s worth at $49.99 price tag. I spent around 20 hours in game so far, and finished the main story and most of the extreme battles. While I do think fans of Azur Lane will get more out of this, Azur Lane: Crosswave is a great introduction to this amazing world of Kansen that I think anyone with a mild curiosity should try out. You may just find the characters and world irresistible and want to see more of it. I know this has certainly became one of my favorite franchises over the past two years, and I am thankful for it.
I have to say I really had a blast with Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout. The combat is fast and fun. The gathering and alchemy work more seamlessly and the story and characters are all top notch. If I had a minor complaint, I just felt this story wasn’t quite as strong as some of the others in the franchise, but it’s still top notch. I spent about 35 hours with the game and with post game you could easily get another 6 hours or so. It’s well worth the $59.99 asking price. If they built off the great mechanics found here for the next game, this series will only get stronger and better for years to come. I personally think that’s a wonderful thing, and very much look forward to the next adventure.