Genghis Husameddin's Reviews
The Talos Principle: Reawakened is a fantastic remaster of an already great game. The other two campaigns, “Road to Gehenna” and the new “In the Beginning”, offer additional puzzles that will really wrack your brain on top of being able to hear more from Elohim’s architect and the mother of all that came after.
Sports: Renovation is a cool take on the cleaning simulation genre. Its love for sports emanates in just about every corner of the game, across multiple levels. It can be clumsy at times, but it’ll eat up your time like no tomorrow. Put on some headphones, learn about sports, and scrub those venue floors clean.
With Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark, there’s a solid solo and fun cooperative campaign that offers a good 15 plus hours of action, depending on how often you get lost. Level design has improved since the last game, humour is on-brand with Gal Guardians’ preceding series of games, and movement feels great. Here’s another Metroidvania I can recommend to the newbie and veteran alike. ∎
I’m really happy with the features that are available in inZOI right now and I’m really looking forward to what will be added in its future. Right now, I hope the developer can resolve some of the more basic but key features such as more hair styles and presets for body characteristics. This is a really charming game (fluffy cats and their ability to help aside) and I’ll be coming to inZOI very often over the coming months for further impressions and to follow the game’s progress. If you’re a life simulation fan, you’ve got to try out inZOI. ∎
Atelier Yumia’s first bout is a fun, open world crafting game that offers more than just clearing icons on a map—its verticality while offering player creativity through movement and housing tools make for a good time. It’s everything its developer has been building towards, and I’ve come away quite impressed with what they’ve got to offer.
Ivy Road brings up the question “is something wrong with me”, something we all might ask ourselves at one point. You’re probably narcissistic if not. It’s a question lots of stories ask and, for many, said stories never really answer the question in any satisfactory way. Wanderstop instead opts to do what we all do when faced with questions like this—trudge about, skirt the line, use lots of adverbs. And for what it’s worth, it’s a refreshingly grounded take on the matter. Yes, something might just be wrong with me and will likely be the death of me. Can something be done about? Maybe. A bit of self-awareness never hurts, though.
FAIRY TAIL 2 is best left for fans and potentially players of the first game. A fun combat system and entertaining character interactions are strained against a linear, dull boss rush adventure with poor performance and weak sidequesting. I don’t think I can call this game an RPG in any capacity. ∎
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii brings about solid 3D brawling combat back to the series alongside tonnes of minigames, fun pirating sections, and intense set piece battles the series is known for. It’s more Yakuza—are you going to say no to that?
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- may ultimately be a good fan service title, and it has the modes to boot! But too many cardinal sins add that make for a rather frustrating shoot ’em up experience.
Big Helmet Heroes is a charming little cooperative beat ’em up that’ll be a delight to smaller family members and parents alike. A lack of unique objectives throughout most of the stages might be a bit of a bore and visibility issues can sometimes frustrate, but there’s enough here for an amusing local coop experience. ∎
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is bigger and better, giving the player more combat options and opportunities while offering a map full of movement and combat-based challenges. There’s a solid variety of enemies and bosses along with unique scenarios that keep gameplay fresh and you on your toes. Tie it up with great visuals and music, and you have the best sequel to Ender Lilies that could possibly exist. ∎
Team Ladybug’s latest release is a grand one—the slower-paced nature of the action feels good to play especially as you get a better grasp of Shin and his companion’s move sets. The downtrodden Osaka city landscape has plenty of exploration potential and baddies to encounter, meaning that I can wholeheartedly recommend Blade Chimera to the 2D Metroidvania aficionado and novice alike. ∎
Playing Tales of Graces f again gives me a chance to reflect on the game’s story, which I enjoyed more so in my last playthrough some eight years ago. But I enjoyed running through the game’s campaign way more than Vesperia’s (which is nothing but a blur to me) thanks to fun cast members with a great English dub and an incredibly fun combat system. Don’t go into Tales of Graces f Remastered expecting deep worldbuilding and level design and I think you’ll have a lot of fun that way. ∎
Make no mistake, I had fun playing DRAGON QUEST III. I appreciate what it’s done and brought to the table. But over the course of its runtime, I found myself losing interest thanks to a bombardment of random encounters and not enough between all that. So many games have come since then (and are still coming out today!) that have been greatly influenced by this JRPG classic, bringing their own twists and turns to storytelling and battle systems. There’s a good time to be had here in the HD-2D Remake, but if you’ve never played DRAGON QUEST III before, walk in with tempered expectations and to be down a few more hours than the game really should’ve been. ∎
But despite all that, when things worked out. When I found matches, I had some good fun running dungeons with folks. There’s something special about watching twenty people unleash explosions all over your screen, a health bar being whittled down faster than pizza leftovers in a family of six, and callouts coming left and right. SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream brings about the chaotic nature of MMOs I really haven’t seen in a long time, especially in casual play, and for all its caveats it’s not a bad cooperative action game—but do mind the fractures. ∎
Matsuro Palette offers a unique concept to the point ‘n click narrative adventure genre. A solid visual style and accompanying sound design gives this game an allure that kept me going, in search of the mystery behind this young lady in the painting. If you’d like a short, bittersweet tale that involves you dying in many ways, look no further than here—a unfinished canvas that desperately needs your help.
Mindcop is a great detective adventure that puts emphasis on creativity and critical thinking for the player to find the perpetrator. The tools you’re given are adequate for its open-ended approach to game design, and ultimately, it’s up to you to help Mindcop uphold his reputation against a townspeople who carry plenty of baggage. ∎
Toy Tactics is deceptively simple yet a lot of fun. It’s got the charm of toys clashing about as environments, spells, and the right tactics change the course of the game. And all the while offering varied objectives, great level design, and quite a number of modes for play. If you’re in the market for a unique real-time strategy game, look no further than Kraken Empire’s latest hotness. ∎
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival keeps to its core tenants by offering a simple yet fun rhythm game for all to enjoy. This is the ultimate package, so to speak, and I can easily recommend it to just about everyone.
SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS is a good collection of two fun games. Sonic Generations is still a solid romp even if this port adds more issues to the game while Shadow’s offering is action-packed and builds on the former’s strengths. This is the most you’ll ever get of Shadow the Hedgehog for quite a while, so dig in while it’s hot. ∎