Matthew Pollesel

Ottawa

262 games reviewed
71.8 average score
75 median score
47.7% of games recommended
6 / 10 - Lifeless Moon
Jan 12, 2024

Lifeless Moon spends way too much time telling, and not nearly enough time showing. And on one level, I get it: a small indie studio isn’t going to have the budget to show how a civilization on the moon fell apart. But at the same time, when you’re this good at creating an atmosphere, it can’t help but feel a little disappointing when the rest of the game doesn’t quite measure up.

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Jan 11, 2024

The big drawback to The Lost Crown is that if you’re not already a fan of Metroidvanias, it’s hard to imagine anything here will suddenly make you a believer in the genre. It’s a well-made Metroidvania, to be sure, but there’s nothing here that breaks new ground.

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7 / 10.0 - Super Solitaire
Jan 9, 2024

A quick look at the eShop shows more than 40 other solitaire games, many of them a lot cheaper than Super Solitaire. Given all that, it’s hard to see why you should play Super Solitaire over any of them. Mind you, that could probably be flipped to say that there’s no reason why you should play any of those other games over Super Solitaire. So, with that in mind, go for it, I guess?

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8.5 / 10.0 - Loddlenaut
Jan 4, 2024

If you go into Loddlenaut expecting anything in the way of stakes or drama or a challenge, you’ll probably be underwhelmed. But if you just want a relaxing, chill game that you can escape into for a couple of hours, it’s hard to think of a nicer, more pleasant way to pass the time.

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Much like Dragon Quest Treasures last year, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince is a fun entry point into a long-running series that doesn’t ask too much of players in terms of prior knowledge (though that surely helps). If you’re after a solid monster-training game with colourful cast of characters, it delivers solidly on that front.

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3.5 / 10.0 - Guns and Spurs 2
Dec 18, 2023

While it certainly deserves praise for its ambition, and it can’t be faulted for not delivering a Rockstar experience on a fraction of the budget, it’s not too much to ask that game asking for your money to deliver more than this. If you can buy it on a deep discount and have no expectations – and, of course, you’ve exhausted everything else there is to do in Red Dead Redemption – it might be worth it, but otherwise you’ll want to give Guns and Spurs 2 a pass.

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Murder on the Orient Express is proof that even if you mess around the edges of a classic murder mystery, as long as the core remains – and it does here – you can’t help but make a worthwhile game.

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Dec 14, 2023

This is a destructible, semi-open world where you can run (er, roll) around smashing things to your heart’s content. That may not be enough to fully redeem Bang-On Balls: Chronicles, but it’s at least enough to make it fun in doses – even if it’s not as fun as I would’ve hoped.

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Dec 11, 2023

With all these complaints, you might think I hate Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, but I don’t. I mean, I don’t love it, but given such a huge, richly imagined world, it’s hard to be too annoyed with it. There are definitely plenty of improvements that would make it more enjoyable to play, but as it stands, it’s a perfectly serviceable open world adventure.

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8 / 10.0 - Subpar Pool
Dec 5, 2023

Like grapefrukt games’ previous outings, it’s made for both quick gaming sessions and lengthy hours spent trying to get just a little bit better, and regardless of which way you approach it, you’re going to have fun.

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8 / 10.0 - Super Mario RPG
Dec 4, 2023

It’s an interesting look at a neat experiment, and it’s fun to get a chance to discover – or rediscover – a game that finds Nintendo breaking out of their comfort zone. It may not be a perfect game, but it’s an interesting one, and that’s enough to make it worth checking out.

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Nov 30, 2023

That’s what makes DreamWorks Trolls Remix Rescue so frustrating: it’s <i>so</i> close to being good, but its flaws make it almost impossible to recommend. It’s far better than it has any right to be or than its pedigree suggests, but it’s still going to be a letdown to almost everyone.

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7 / 10.0 - Teardown
Nov 27, 2023

It ultimately comes down to how much you want a game that gives you insane levels of power but that also puts checks on it. You’re the creative type who appreciates that balance, there’s plenty to like in Teardown. If you just want to go smashy-smashy, you can do that here, too, but the end result may be more frustrating than you’re expecting.

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7.5 / 10.0 - Abomi Nation
Nov 24, 2023

I feel like comparing Abomi Nation to Pokémon is just about the highest praise I can give the game. It’s not on the same level in terms of…well, anything, really, but at the same time, it’s well-made enough that if you’re the kind of person it’s targeting, it’s absolutely essential.

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Nov 20, 2023

For the second year in a row, Jackbox Party Pack 10 delivers a set of games where everyone is bound like at least one of the games on offer – certainly a far cry from earlier editions where you knew that an entry would have at least one dud.It's an outstanding collection from top to bottom, and it shows that as the Jackbox series enters its second decade, it's as strong as ever.

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Nov 17, 2023

I know that DINOSAURS: Mission Dino Camp is intended for a younger audience, so some allowances need to be made, and you shouldn't go in expecting the greatest game ever or anything. But even kid-oriented games can be good, and when they’re done right they can offer hours of entertainment. DINOSAURS: Mission Dino Camp is definitely not done right, and for that reason should just be avoided.

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5.5 / 10.0 - Die After Sunset
Nov 15, 2023

While Die After Sunset may have spent a few years in Early Access, it still doesn't feel like a game that should have been given a full release. No matter how good its premise may be, and how interesting an idea “single-player Fortnite” may sound on paper, it's clear that Die After Sunset still isn’t something worthwhile.

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All things considered, Borderlands 3: Ultimate Edition is a pretty neat achievement that’s only slightly undermined by the fact that we had an even better port of an even more well-received open-world game from a previous generation just a few months ago. Even so, this is a fun game in its own right, and if you’re after a big, open-world shooter with lots of guns and gore on the Switch, this is definitely one of your better options.

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Incredibly dull combat is enough to make The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone a clear step down from Mission Vileaf. You could do a lot worse, for sure, but its predecessor shows you can definitely do better, too.

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B- - Jusant
Nov 3, 2023

I have no doubt that some people are absolutely going to love Jusant – but it’s definitely not for me. If you’re a fan of climbing, you’ll find plenty to love here, but I found it all too frustrating to ever get lost in the game.

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