An epic of longtime investment, I was pleased to see that I could pick up and play a handful of turns at a time, blow through an hour or so, and then put down the game to come back to the saga another day. It’s engrossing but not consuming, and it weaves a long, exciting tale like the source material. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.
Slay the Princess: The Pristine Cut is a game without peers and without comparison. It’s a visual novel for players who want to stay for a long time and hear, feel and grapple with a massive undertaking. It’s not nearly as long as some visual novels, but it has a tangibility and density that makes it a meal with every single interaction. There are so many variations to discover, so many lines of dialogue performed, but you won’t even know how many until you get your first “real” ending.
9 R.I.P. is a sight to behold, and I think that it vibes so well with the tone of the game season and the rapidly fading warmth of a long, cruel summer. The character routes are exciting, dynamic and very different. The choices are usually clear, but you’d be surprised where you can misstep. I never felt lost, bored or confused: I just knew that I wanted to know more about Misa, about those who surrounded her, and about the foundation of all these bizarre happenings that get whispered about in her world.
I doubt I’ll pick up this game ever again when this review is finished. But I put it down. I didn’t hurl it from my sight or blast it into space. I’ll simply realize I’m done and move on. As weird as that sounds, that’s probably the biggest praise I can give MODEL Debut3 #nicola. It’s not for me, and I don’t have friends to whom I would recommend it. But I wouldn’t discourage playing it, and I’ll actively praise it as being “pretty okay.”
While this isn’t the very best that the franchise has to offer, I sincerely appreciate the massive step up from Super Mario Party and the lessons learned from Superstars. If I had to rank this, I would put it at maybe number four on my list: higher than any of the WiiU, N64 or handheld entries, better than most of the Gamecube titles, but still falling behind 8, 6 and Superstars.
Soapboxing aside, Shiro and the Coal Town is legitimately interesting and has a pretty sizable tail for a game of this style. There’s tons to discover, the jokes that aren’t inherently problematic are funny (and the puns are even better if you know a touch of Japanese), and it runs wonderfully on the Switch. I can easily see this being an investable game for people looking for a marathon, not a sprint, and it’ll be more easily recognizable for younger players.
My Big Sister: Remastered certainly wasn’t what I was expecting, but I was delighted by what I found. The pacing can be slow at times, and the technical issues make interaction on the small screen a chore, but the game flows well when it wants to. I thought the dialogue was well done, the story is smashing and there is such a craft in the visual and aural design that it cannot be overlooked.
It’s far and away not a terrible game, but it’s just simply not that good. The wonder and excitement gave way to repetition and tedium, and I had to fight to make myself play a bit more in anticipation of this review. JRPG enthusiasts should add it to their wishlists, but I can’t see this fast food game leaving more of a mark other than “Huh, that was something.”
All You Need is Help is cute and welcoming, but can be quite repetitive and directionless. It’s the epitome of a party puzzler: incredibly simple to pick up, play and enjoy. It’ll get you a few minutes of joy, and you’ll probably want to get it when you return home so you can recapture that excitement. Yet, if you do, be sure to always have friends on hand or a good online connection, because solo play will simply never be a part of this game’s future. Yes, you do need help, but all you really need is someone else to play with.
Still, it’s an engaging and interesting play. One Last Breath will test your reflexes and your fortitude, and potentially your own constitution for bearing the weight of guilt. This unapologetic and direct accusation of the pollution that plagues this world may not have a solution, but it certainly has a memorable presentation, and it compels me to keep playing all the way to the bittersweet end. Give an indie title a chance to hit you in the heart instead of your mind. While the horror titles of the year slowly roll out, why not take a moment to pick up something that may scare you in a different way?
It keeps calling me back and and I keep going, so something is going right in the design. While I personally feel there’s a lack of long term game investment, not every title needs to consume your waking existence: sometimes a game can just be fun and done.
You won’t end up ripping out your hair with Super Meat Boy-style anguish or develop blisters from Super Mario Wonder moments of precision, but you will have a long-form romp of fun with Crossy Road Castle. If you have family and friends locally or afar, you can all don your favorite silly accessory and head out for some superb platforming that asks you not to be the best, but simply try your best: this game’s got your back, your fellow players do, too, and it’s just so nice to feel like a game is happy you’re there. In truth, it makes me very, very happy as well.
I never quite got over busting myself down to the very easy difficulty, though it actually made the game both fun and attainable while still being shockingly hard. BZZZT takes no prisoners and you shouldn’t expect mercy if you plan to spend any time with this game whatsoever. If you like to bleed, strap in. If you don’t, you might want to find another robot with whom to party.
The presentation, the pixel art, the purposely sparse soundtrack and the compelling tale makes this a game that’s a step above the pulp nature of Bahnsen Knights, but certainly not the caliber of any Phoenix Wright adjacent games. You will be able to enjoy No Case Should Remain Unsolved and move on in a satisfied state of mind. You will not turn this into your new weekend obsession. But, like returning to The Devil in the White City, sometimes you’ll come back to see this tale through once more. After all, the details keep you locked in, and, at the end of the day, it’s always nice to see justice being served.
The tonality and presentation of some subjects – abandonment, insecurity, bullying and anxiety – are not doled out in a balanced manner and hurt the vibe of the game. The constant presence of hurt and self-loathing really make it difficult to enjoy the game outside of combat. While the subject matter may be important, I don’t feel it was delivered in the right way.
There are so many shortcomings in terms of single-player mode, lack of online, and low incentive for replay outside of the fun, but I really had a great time with this and my family. We still load it up daily for a match or two before school, and I hope that more comes to make the game have better longevity for everyone.
Fans of the franchise will get a good session from WHAT THE CAR?, and I can see that it’ll do well in the streaming category as well, especially with the fan-made levels already reaching ridiculous proportions. If you don’t gel within the first ten minutes, there’s a good chance this isn’t the game for you, and that’s alright. But if you have a little spark of joy after your first gold crown, follow that vibe and keep on driving. Your tires – or feet, or bears, or roller skates – are taking you on a journey of a lifetime.
Once again, I’m in awe that Aero the Acro-Bat 2 was crafted, and I think I’m grateful for the ideology. Clearly, the devs saw something in the game that players did not, and they were able to craft a second one. Sure, Aero may have been “best new character” of 1993, but they were also giving away the game to anyone who sent them a postcard, so it’s a tossup as to what the success level truly was.
All in all, these artifacts that date back almost forty years are something really special, and this is the only way to play the official English versions. Sunsoft is Back! feels worthwhile for gaming historians and curious spelunkers like myself, and I hope that Red Art considers a physical version at some point in the future for even stronger preservation. Still, as it is, the price tag is right for a time machine to let you see all that was in the world of Sunsoft.
I can’t believe how nostalgic I felt for a game I’ve never played before. Engrossing, engaging and constantly evolving, players can expect to squeeze every bit of fun out of every second that they’re in the world of Bakeru. I’ll understand not loving it to the degree I do, but I’d be shocked to find someone who didn’t at least have a good time.