Some games take you on an emotional roller-coaster. For us, PlateUp! was more of an emotional freefall. First impressions were great, it was challenging, but doable, and even failing had an element of fun to it. However the constant new options meant that practised recipes and restaurant layouts meant nothing, each attempt was totally new and this started to frustrate. However, the lack of explanation of how appliances, upgrades, speed-runs and franchises work took away the enjoyment. One of my co-oped friends would rate it as ‘I don’t like it’, bitterly disappointed to have wasted so much time. The other would rate it as ‘I like it’ but would not play it again. I know PlateUp! has a loyal following, but for us, it was undercooked
Although I enjoyed the different course locations and the concept of unicorns rather than karts or motorbikes, Wildshade: Unicorn Champions doesn’t bring anything new to the racing genre. If more could be made of the breeding option, allowing the characteristics of the horse or unicorn to have some bearing on performance, it would make Wildshade: Unicorn Champions a more exciting and memorable racing game. As it is, it seems off the pace and, for me, fell at the first hurdle.
If you like the pressure of timed levels and find fun in mashing buttons, then Agriculture might be the farming game for you. The concept and graphics are great, and the strategy in some of the levels is appealing. However, for me, there needs to be a few quality-of-life updates for it to be a truly enjoyable game.
Alchemic Cutie is a game of highs and lows. The concept is great, and I adore the pixelated format. Wimba Island is full of mystery, and I’m keen to find out more. Unfortunately, the faded or night time colouring when it’s raining and the complexity of the jelly colour palette make it hard to give our top rating. The developers have clearly invested a huge amount of time and passion in the game, and I hope they continue to do so. Ideally, I would rate this as “I Like it a Lot”. However, the poor performance on the Nintendo Switch version renders it impossible to recommend at the time of review.
The concept of Animal Shelter Simulator is really great. I like the idea of running my own animal shelter, and the game gives some great educational insights into animal care and management. However, the awkward use of the controls and the game’s instability left me feeling too frustrated to find it truly enjoyable. I hope the developers can spend more time improving Animal Shelter Simulator, as there is a really good game hiding in the current offering.
Has Digimon World: Next Order made me a Digimon fan? No. I’ve got a love/hate relationship with Digimon World: Next Order. I love the strategy involved in Digivolution, the auto-battling suits my gaming style, and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the vast map. However, I found the unpredictability of death slightly distressing, the relentless cycle of caring for and retraining my Digimon frustrating and the unbalanced questing disappointing.
Memorrha is a game of two halves. A fantastic start, with a steady flow of puzzles (which can be solved with logic or trial and error). In addition, there are some amazing locations to travel through and enjoy. The second part, still featuring marvellous graphics and clever puzzles become a little too repetitive.That, combined with performance issues, didn’t make it enjoyable. I wish Memorrha had ended at the hidden sanctum and left me wanting more. Instead, it continued and fell short of my expectation.
Horse Tales: Emerald Valley Ranch has taken me on an emotional rollercoaster. At times, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing it – galloping around the wide and varied landscape (the scenery is stunning), planning and building my estate. At other times, I’ve plummeted into an abyss of despair, dangling in mid-air with no option but to reset, and losing hours of gameplay as the autosave didn’t work properly. This is a brilliant game but it needs a lot of improvement to reach its potential. The publishers said that all versions are going to receive additional development to improve quality and fix some bugs. However, at the time of publishing this review, it’s not clear when that content will be released and what will be fixed. So until then, I can’t give this game any thumbs up.
TEMPUS has moments of brilliance, some of the puzzles are cleverly constructed and satisfying to complete. However, the console controls for moving the on-screen cursor are too frustrating to make the overall experience pleasurable.
I really wanted to like Yum Yum Cookstar. I enjoyed the bright colours, some of the recipes were inspiring and the music was fun, but overall the game failed to keep me engaged. Learning the techniques was repetitive and took the joy out of making the recipes. There was a distinct lack of balance between the number of actions per mini-game and number of mini-games per recipe. The long loading time between each recipe step just made the whole process tedious. This was a game that promised so much but failed to deliver
Sharing a style similar to all the Kairosoft management simulation games, TV Studio Story is reassuringly familiar with bright colours and cute pixelated characters. However, I wish there had been more opportunity to see the adorable characters wander around, but the pop-up messages got in the way. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the same satisfaction in playing TV Studio Story as I have with similar games. The allocation of TV show stats was a bit too random for my liking, and although selecting the best genre, theme, and set combination was a fun challenge, it didn’t have the same appeal once I’d completed all the viewer requests.
Hamster on Rails definitely has some momentum behind it. The beautiful dioramas are a joy to look at. There is a good balance between challenging and straightforward levels, with many techniques to learn and apply. There is also the added bonus of customising your hamster explorer.
Alchemy Garden is a pleasant life sim, with growing flowers and making potions as the source of income to buy decorations for your house, shop and garden. At the moment, it’s more decorating than farming, but I hope the developers continue to invest time and passion in the game to expand its repertoire. Unfortunately, the port to the Nintendo Switch isn’t as smooth as it could be, which has lowered my final verdict
Manic Mechanics is motor mayhem in every sense. In each neighbourhood, there are different vehicles and different challenges. Sometimes the levels were really enjoyable with a feel-good factor. At other points, they were too frustrating, and it took willpower to battle through. It’s a bit soulless for one to play, but it is definitely better with friends.
I don’t get the same warm, fuzzy feeling playing Zoo Park Story as I have with other Kairosoft games. It shares a similar style, and the pixelated animals are adorable especially the baby ones. I enjoyed building my zoo and collecting all the animals. However, it isn’t as addictive to watch and too time-consuming clicking through the numerous on-screen messages.
In its style and presentation, Pretty Princess Magical Garden Island is aimed at a young princess-type gamer. I don’t fit that description, but I still enjoyed my time on Carrot Isle. It’s a stress-free dip in and out of the game, which is bright, colourful and full of sweetness.
Skye Tales is a beautifully crafted and carefully thought-out game. There is a wide-ranging selection of puzzles with varying degrees of difficulty. There is much to delight the casual gamer!
Garden Simulator is a great gardening game, balancing the strategy of unlocking all the items with the simple pleasure of creative design. Unfortunately, the size of the text reduced my overall enjoyment.
Although the controls are slightly awkward, Railway Islands – Puzzle is a fun little puzzle game. There are a few challenging levels to test your puzzle-solving skills, but every level, regardless of complexity, gives an air of satisfaction when completed.
Cubic Light is a delightful minimalistic puzzle game. Although not overly challenging, it is satisfying to complete.