Cook, Serve, Delicious! is a restaurant simulation/arcade game where players are tasked to (you guessed it) cook and serve various meals to the plethora of NPCs that will come knocking. The series first saw the light of day back in 2012 with an initial release on PC via Steam, followed by mobile ports. Players had to wait five years for the first sequel, Cook, Serve, Delicious! 2, which released in 2017 once again for PC (via Steam) and also marked the series’ debut on MAC devices.
Once you’re done with the game’s main story, the fun doesn’t end there! You can revisit the story in order to unlock the plethora of portraits, clothing for the girls; you can also jump into a “fantasize” mode where you’ll need to get the girls into the right position in order to… “observe” them.
The game’s boss battles are incredibly fun and intense; when first trying to take them down, you’ll fumble a bit and get your ass kicked; especially when you have a sliver of the boss’ health. But once you get into a groove and learn the enemy patterns, they are definitely some of the most fun boss battles envisioned. They feature a perfect blend of fun and challenge.
Katamari Damacy ReRoll has one of the most original, quirky, and unique presentations. The game is very much color and cute; the Prince looks to be made of various shapes while in the few cutscenes we get, the characters are all blocky; which is quite humorous.
Aside from the visual upgrade, the Special Edition of the game allows players to play as Vergil, Dante’s brother. While you’d expect a new perspective or shorter storyline from Vergil’s point of the view, it’s basically the same game minus the cinematic cutscenes; same areas, same bosses.
DiRT 5 is a mix of arcade-style racer and racing simulation. While the driving isn’t as stiff as typical racing sims, it doesn’t require careful manipulation around corners and also while stuck in a pack of vehicles.
Johnny Rocket is a game to be avoided at all costs. It’s short, frustrating, cheap and full of questionable design. Cheap and unpreventable enemy attacks, questionable detection issues, unresponsive jumping, boring bosses, zero replay value, the only redeeming quality about the game is its unique visual presentation. I guess it’s something right? Given the amount of better run n’ gun available, don’t waste your time with Johnny Rocket.
To be honest, Cinders is one of the most enjoyable visual novels I’ve had the chance to review; a new take on a classic fairytale is an interesting way to go; it feels familiar and new at the same time. Thanks to the bevy of choices, replay value is through the roof, but as with any visual novel, it sometimes feels tedious going through the “same” story again, even if it leads to a different ending.
Touhou Luna Nights is definitely one of the best Metroidvania games. It’s fun, addictive, easy to pick up and play and features a setting that can be reminiscent of the Castlevania games. The time manipulation definitely adds to the fun factor as it can be used in a myriad of ways. Finding and using new skills that opens up more of the map is always one of the best things about Metroidvania games. If you can overcome and push through the difficult boss battles, you’ll definitely find one of the most action-packed experiences of the year.
Tony Stewart’s All-American Racing is an interesting, fun albeit shallow racing experience. The content that is there is pretty solid and easy to pick up and play; responsive and very simplistic controls combined with a plethora of difficulty settings is sure to make it enjoyable to all types of gamers and makes for a nice diversion from the bevy of racing sims we’ve seen this year. Unfortunately, it can get boring and tedious pretty quickly for non-fans of the sport. Doing circles on very simplistic circuits over and over doesn’t account much for a challenge. I understand there’s a limitation to the racing genre, but Tony Stewart’s All-American Racing feels empty and very limited.
As a fan of the rhythm genre, I was hopeful to play something new with Hexagroove: Tactical DJ. The problem is the game is a confusing mess where you never really know what you’re doing.
To be honest, I was looking forward to giving Cooking Simulator a shot. Unfortunately, the game will make you go through some unnecessary loops to understand what to do or how to do it such as cutting ingredients. Once you finally graps the concept, it’s pretty enjoyable for what it is, but gets old fast.
Mortal Shell follows the Souls/Borne genre to a tee. Lacks any accessibility, combat feels sluggish and cumbersome. Considering the game will only appeal to a limited niche of gamers, I cannot recommend Mortal Shell. The clunky combat, the dated visuals, lack of accessibility features, this feels like a cheap Dark Souls clone.
I’ll be honest, New Super Lucky’s Tale took me by surprise. When it first came out under the Super Lucky’s Tale moniker, I kinda dismissed it as it looked generic. But the more I played New Super Lucky’s Tale. It’s easy to pick up and play, perfect for gamers of all ages, features a great variety of gameplay mechanics. The long load times can be annoying, but it doesn’t deter the whole experience. If you’re looking for something light, play New Super Lucky’s Tale. It’s definitely worth your time.
She Sees Red is a great addition to the FMV genre. It features a thrilling, griping story which will have you guessing through the 2/3rds of your second playthrough to find out the truth. While the English voice-acting is told in a robotic kind of manner, it doesn’t take away from the story-telling. It takes about an hour and a half to do both runs so it’s a nice diversion. Don’t miss it.
Zero Strain is a great addition to the smhup genre. It’s frantic, hectic and challenging; maybe a bit too much. The unique arena like level design will definitely add an additional level of challenge as it reduces safe area space, but it’s definitely worth a try. Shmup aficionados, definitely do not miss this one.
Bite The Bullet is one of the most clunky run n’ gun games I’ve ever played. While the idea behind the eating mechanic is a unique and interesting approach to the genre, the execution falls flat thanks to floaty controls and levels that drag on forever. There’s a decent variety of weapons to keep the gameplay fresh, but it’s not enough from saving this rotting leftovers.
PGA Tour 2K21 features a handful of game modes. You can either play a local match, play online with friends, practices and of course, the pièce de résistance, tackle the PGA Tour with a custom created character. The PGA Tour mode will have you go through qualifying rounds in order to be considered worthy of the PGA Tour. While the qualifiers are pretty perfectly balanced (also according to the selected difficulty; more on that below), the PGA Tour is a progressive climb through the golfing world ladder. As you clear courses, the difficulty, complexity, and challenges increase progressively making for a fun and perfectly balanced challenge.
Through my multiple sessions of Lost Wing, I realized that the only thing holding back is the nuisance caused by actually running out of ammo; it’s a bit unfathomable given that this is a shmup. Otherwise, this is an interesting entry in the hardcore genre. Fans of the shmup genre will be delighted to play something different, unfortunately it’s not the ideal game for newcomers.
The Mean Greens – Plastic Warfare is a great game and diversion for fans of the online modes of the Call of Duty games. Either the typical PvP mode such as Capture the Flag or Team Deathmatch or unique twists on PvP such as the Table football map will be a nice diversion from Call of Duty. Unfortunately, the lack of single player is a huge miss here because it could’ve given the single player games aficinados the closest thing to the movie Small Soldiers.