Maybe when I just want to have a pulpy storyline with a bunch of turn based combat, I pick up a short RPG and blast away at mutated animals and doomsday cultists and call it a day. Perhaps, when I’m hungry for it, For A Vast Future is just the snack I need. Sadly, today, I was looking for something a bit more filling, and this left me just a bit dissatisfied.
If this is your jam and you have been waiting, you’re a truly fascinating individual and I’m glad you can get this title for less than a movie ticket. Enjoy it, unlock all the hidden achievements, have fun because it’s a cute and simple game. For everyone else… I don’t know what to tell you. I’m at the point where I don’t know how I got here and I need to call an adult. The sheep made me do it.
It wasn’t always clear what should be done, it wasn’t always easy, but it did always manage to be unerringly true to itself. Like skydiving or another extreme activity, I would cautiously tell the right people to give it a try and find so much that, honestly, is like nothing else. Are you the right people? You may just need to buy a train ticket and find out.
This game has no future for my own interests. I can nod and say “I played it,” followed by shrugging if asked if I liked it. If my friend wanted to try it, I’d give it another spin with them, but it’s far, far down the list for a game I’d recommend to pick up and play.
Nitro Kid has potential, but there’s a key factor missing that keeps it from just popping on the screen. The Codex is hilarious and I want to read more, the boss variety is interesting and the concept isn’t bad at all: I like the animation from rescuing the Nitro Kids and from certain enemy attacks. But the repetition and the need to basically luck into a strong route build keep it from being something I want to come back and play again. In a gaming ecosphere that is currently flooded with roguelite deckbuilders, Nitro Kid is barely able to tread water.
I think Amnesia: Memories is just a tad cold, a bit too mean, and left me feeling restless and unresolved. It hits the notes, but it hits them in the wrong key. A classic, certainly, and I’m glad Switch owners have the option to play it. I just don’t know if it’s one I’d pick up if given the choice.
Looking at other games released in 1991, it’s honestly stunning to think that Japanese players had Final Fantasy IV, A Link to the Past and this jaw-dropping sim all in one year (and my family decided to get me Captain America for the NES…cool). So, while it may not have aged great (and honestly has been poorly ported), fans of the series can take a look in this time capsule for a few bucks, nod in recognition, and then probably never pick it up again. Sorry princess, your audience is in another castle.
With a forgettable soundtrack and decent, if somewhat generic, graphics, Soda Crisis feels as middle of the road as you can get without it being inherently bad. I can see what they were going for, and I get glimpses of success, but that’s all it is: just glimpses. The input lag from controllers, the fidelity going to hell, and the pretty mundane nature of it all just left me very nonplussed about the entire game.
In the end, I just had a bad time playing B.I.O.T.A. I should have been thrilled to be fighting my way through aliens and mutants and blowing things up, like when I was a child. Instead, I was watching the clock and figuring out if I’d put in enough work to stop, like when I’m an adult. A game should never feel like a chore, and there was just too much being asked by B.I.O.T.A. for me to have a good time.
All issues about graphics and cameras aside, the largest fallacy of Hotel Transylvania: Scary-Tale Adventures is that it’s got nothing to it when all is said and done. If you really want to be a completionist and get awesome scores on each level, or find all the monster trading cards, you can with minimal effort, just more time.
It’s not a terrifically long title, but it’s got heart and a proud showing of individuality in both concept and execution. But having the game become so difficult, not because it’s intended to be, but because it’s performing poorly, reminded me less of Goodboy Galaxy and more of Faceball 2000. If there becomes a more economic way to get the straight Gameboy version, I highly recommend that and think it could be exciting for retro enthusiasts and modern players.
When it comes to Match Village, here’s what I can say: it’s here, it’s cheap, it’s decent enough as an engagement piece and you can suggest it to anyone without the risk of offending them. Looking for something else to occupy your thumbs while you and a friend/loved one/forced roommate move through the latest season of Survivor? Then come make some cozy pairings with Match Village, and see how far you can move your island along before you decide to get up and move on from it.
It just gets to be too much. From Madness With Love makes no attempt to balance the oddities with actual connection, and it lost me as a result. I’m sure there’s some genuine feelings in there somewhere, but I couldn’t find them amidst the noise. I was ultimately quite put off by the overall tone, and it didn’t incentivize me to continue going any longer than I felt I had to. This clearly will be a big hit with streamers and offbeat VN fans, but it simply couldn’t find a place in my heart. I’m not keeping this catch, it’s going back in the ocean.
Mon-Yu is exceedingly well-coded, runs well, and is just exceptionally boring. The story is cookie cutter, there’s zero stakes ever, and the exhaustively long name just proves that there was the intent to distract from the very beginning. This can be fun if you’re a real dungeon junkie and just want to make a team of different catgirls to wreck house over and over again. Don’t expect anything more than surface level and you’ll be fine.
I personally wouldn’t return to this game in the future, even if they do manage to bring over the Japanese audio so it doesn’t sound like a 70s martial arts dub. The amount of detail is intense, the campaigns are especially long, and the exceptional animated sequences are few and far between from simply staring at a small map and even smaller menus to do a multitude of tasks. This game is definitely for someone, and, if you’re even remotely interested in Japanese history, this is an incredible feat of a title. But it’s too big of an ask for too little of a reward.
It’s a dark tale about a broken man and a total disregard for everything that goes into a player’s time and money. If you’re properly gelded against cynicism, you might enjoy the graphics, soundtrack and some of the better combat moments. Otherwise, you’re stuck in the same paradox as Thorn: unable to admit that it’s all been a lie.
The story, the music, and the interface are all great. You can spend way too long trying to work out the details yourself, or find a fast track to solving the crimes and getting the best ending possible. Again, I have to stress this, I didn’t get a crash, just general disappointment over the terrible menus and the janky performance. But I can’t promise you won’t, and I don’t want anyone to be disappointed in this game.
Jumping online to play something, fair enough, that’s everyone’s responsibility. But Chinatown Detective Agency is asking players to commit, unfailingly, with the penalty of wasting your own time. That’s a stopper for me, and I think that it should be for anyone else who has a life outside of their computer.
While it’s far from the worst visual novel I’ve ever played, I think you need to want something sweet and lusty in order to fully enjoy it, and I have a hard time getting into that headspace while holding my Switch. Come for the premise, stay for the game icon of two women kissing on your Switch home screen, and then enjoy a ton of maid outfits that only fulfill a fetish incidentally, not purposely. But please remember: if a woman kisses you and then demands you go out in a storm to look for her doll, something has gone wrong with your life.
Here’s what I’d say: if you’re the type of person who consumes this sort of pulp-grade mystery story, then you’ll have a fun time. There’s enough meat here to spend a full day with, the ambience of the voices and music are good, and the first time through the pieces make sense. If you’re looking for a long-time investment with a game, you seriously need to look elsewhere.