Roger Reichardt's Reviews
While the races are thrilling, the lack of any features found in other racers, such as sliding or braking, prevents you from building skills to master the game. Most times, it feels like you win on sheer luck. Coupled with the fact that the tracks all feel relatively the same, the experience gets stale fairly quickly.
The Legend of Tianding is a beautiful sidescrolling beat 'em up that deserves to receive more attention than it's getting. Its comic book art style carries through from the story to the gameplay. The action is fast-paced, the level designs well thought out, and the boss battles are challenging but fun. If you're a fan of kung fu movies, you need to add The Legend of Tianding to your library.
I respect the idea that Circa Infinity is going for; a unique puzzle arcade game that will attract speedrunners and those looking for a challenge. If you enjoy punishing titles and can handle motion sickness, then this release may be for you. However, a game's supposed to be fun. With the brain-breaking movement scheme, flashing lights, and constant moving images, I felt sick playing it.
Hermitage: Strange Case Files does many things right, with well-written characters, interesting cases, and incorporating gameplay that affects the story's outcome. If you are looking for a very good visual novel and enjoy creepy mysteries with a twist of supernatural to solve, Hermitage: Strange Case Files is a solid choice.
It's too bad Takorita Meets Fries isn't good. As there are few hero quest stories with female protagonists, Takorita could've been great for a younger audience. Unfortunately, Takorita Meets Fries struggles with its identity and who the intended audience is supposed to be. The simplistic story, lack of gameplay, and cartoon artwork might appeal to a much younger crowd. But the crude humor takes away that option.
Visual novels aren’t for everyone - but those of you that enjoy a good story and the many choices that a good visual novel has to offer, then this is a good game for you. The story is straight out of 80's film with a ragtag group of characters each having their own aspirations and dreams, and with your help they can fulfill those dreams...or not. It’s all up to you based on who you interact with and how you interact with them. The story is solid and a lot of work was put into the creation of the characters, the options you have, and the outcomes of each possible choice. Even those that aren’t fans of visual novels can appreciate hard work and good art when they see it, and Arcade Spirits exudes passion that the creators put into it.
Overall, Airheart - Tales of Broken Wings is a fun and challenging roguelike twin stick shooter that incorporates resource management and crafting. Even with the short falls of some of the UI issues and crafting lacking much direction, the game is fun to play. You may find yourself frustrated with the difficulty that quickly ramps up, but each run is short enough that it doesn’t become overly tiresome. Airheart is a perfect fit on the Nintendo Switch, allowing you to pick the game up for short bursts of time to complete a resource run.
Mages of Mystralia has a familiar and nostalgic feel. The beautiful artwork, the puzzles, and the boss battles all are done right. The game is hindered by the lack of world and character depth, and the loading screens can be a pain. However, overall, Mages of Mystralia is an enjoyable journey and for those of you that enjoy puzzles and spellcrafting, this is certainly a good choice.
It’s hard to understand the overall purpose of this game, is it supposed to be funny or taken as a serious fighting game? The game’s tone deaf approach to the character design and actions putrefies any positive aspects it has going for it. The stale teenage humor leaves a bad taste in your mouth. With no redeemable aspects and no incentive to play through the game after one play through, it’s hard to suggest this game to anyone, outside of maybe the religious studies majors looking for an off the wall topic to write a paper on.
Hive Jumper does roguelikes right. The risk/reward system is fair and balanced, and it leaves the players with a sense of accomplishment. Even a failed run allows the user to keep some of the goo that they earned, which allows you to level up your character and your bases. The combination of base defense building and run and gun gameplay certainly adds a new and welcomed dynamic to the roguelike genre. Overall the game is just pure fun, a wonderful nod to the SNES/Genesis era games while incorporating new aspects of modern gaming.
Razed accomplishes what it sets out to do, provide you with a fun and challenging platform racing game. It looks great and the musical score fits nicely with the game’s overall motif. Be prepared for a challenge, however the sense of accomplishment after beating a difficult race is a really good feeling.