James Cunningham's Reviews
Metal Wolf Chaos XD is an exercise in pure Americana filtered through the cheesiest anime imaginable.
Most of the time the game is working properly, though, humming along with an endless series of pleasant tasks to chase after.
When story, mechanics and general weirdness and humor are taken all together it adds up to a wonderfully-unforgettable RPG about making an RPG. The story feeds into the game and the game leeches into the story until the two are utterly inseparable, but even if they could be divided the dungeon crawling is incredibly playable.
Amid Evil is a fantastic arcade-style FPS, fast and stocked with weapons that provide a satisfying impact.
Even with forty levels, My Friend Pedro can be beaten over the course of a few sittings.
There's still more buried in One Finger Death Punch 2, such as bonus game modes, unlockable and upgradeable skills, bonus levels, customization options, and entire maps filled with levels that aren't actually necessary to beat the game.
Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain is a different beast than the standard series but still an incredible pure-action run & gun shooter.
Islanders is a relaxing little builder more concerned with letting you get right to making the town than bogging you down with the details.
Despite all that One Piece World Seeker can't do, it's still a solid B game.
Ape Out is an absolutely fantastic action game with an incredible sense of style.
Sonar Beat is a clever rhythm game with a pleasant soundtrack and a good visual style.
Polybius looks like a frenetic shooter that constantly has the player in a state of heightened tension, but the truly amazing thing about it is that it's almost the complete opposite in actual play.
Minotaur Arcade Volume 1 is a great little bundle of two games that deserved better than to be lost to an obsolete mobile phone OS. While Gridrunner is clearly the star of the show, Goat Up is a fun little oddball that also has the distinction of being Llamasoft's first platformer.
You need to come up with a strategy on the fly and then stick with it, carrying it off to perfection to earn a decent score. That’s Scintillatron 4096’s biggest strength and harshest weakness, because there’s no recovering a level from a single mistake.
Dusk is easily one of the best pure-action FPSes to come along in years, mixing gunplay and exploration in equal measure.
I'll admit that I went into Earth Defense Force 5 a little concerned about series fatigue.
Despite its issues I kept on plugging away at Crimson Keep, not just to review it, but because it feels like if I can just figure out how to work around its shortcomings there's a great dungeon crawl waiting to be found.
Nostalgia is a tricky thing in that it tends to be a liar more often than not.
Cheap Golf is a far smarter game than its simplicity and retro style make it look.
Black Bird is a wonderful, sad, strange, funny, cute and bizarre shooter that can't quite make its gameplay match the quality of everything else.