When you get down to it, Ducky’s Delivery Service feels very much like a classic platformer – if not the archetypal 2D platformer. It’s obviously not going to have the same level of fame or influence, but it’s fun enough that it’s worth playing.
I really wish I could say that Hammer of Virtue is a fun game despite its many, many issues. Really, I do. As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing as fun in games as making the world around you come crashing down. But Hammer of Virtue shows there’s limits to even that. You need to be fun and functional, and Hammer of Virtue is very clearly neither of those things.
It’s a pity that the football part of Legend Bowl is so underwhelming. The ideas here are good, and the developers deserve credit for making a game that feels both modern and retro at the same time, but if you’re looking for a football game where you’ll actually want to play the on-field game, this isn’t it.
While its action kind of drags, Adore also deserves plaudits for taking a well-known genre and formula and trying something completely new. It may not work enough to sustain it for a 10+-hour runtime, but there are enough interesting ideas here that it’s not hard to imagine it evolving into something fun.
Koa And The Five Pirates of Mara is perfectly serviceable, as 3D platformers go. And it’s certainly more fun than Summer in Mara. But it’s lacking in any kind of spark of inspiration, and for that reason, it’s every bit as forgettable as its predecessor.
Given how nice the game looks and how well it’s put-together, there’s a very solid argument to be made that Disney Illusion Island is the perfect way to get kids of all ages hooked on this genre. It may be a well-worn genre, and Disney Illusion Island won’t win any awards for originality, but on the whole, this is a pretty polished game.
Drill Deal is far better than it has any right to be. It’s not about to make me run out and buy a car or change my attitude towards the oil industry (for the record: still wholly against it), but as these kinds of simulators go, I’d be lying if I said it was anything other than a solid game.
Crime O’Clock shows that even within a genre like hidden object games, evolution is possible, and the end result is a lot of fun.
What makes Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward interesting is that it’s built around an interesting idea, except it sabotages itself by then allowing two of the dumb ideas – one of them possibly dumber than anything else I’ve ever seen – to take precedence over that interesting idea. It would be fascinating if it weren’t for the fact the end result is so mind-bogglingly awful.
Arcrunner has its explosive charms. It may not have the same sense of promise as a game in Early Access, but if you find it for the right price – or if you just want to grab a squad and blast your way through wave after wave of enemy AI – Arcrunner has its share of positives too.
How would Katamari work as a 3D platformer? I’m not sure that’s a thought I’ve ever had in my life, but judging by Togges, some folks somewhere did, and the answer is: not too badly, though a little frustratingly.
Even with its problems, however, AEW: Fight Forever is still worth playing. Like AEW itself, it offers a welcome change from the slickness of its main rival, and while there are definitely areas for the game to improve, it fully captures the spirit of the games it’s trying to emulate. If you’re looking to play a wrestling game on the Switch, your search pretty much begins and ends with AEW: Fight Forever.
Having the Baba Yaga myth wrapping it all together ensures that Blacktail takes well-worn gameplay and gives it a unique spin.
With time and with patches, it’s easy to imagine it becoming a game worth playing, but it’s definitely not at that stage yet.
It’s a pretty good game for anyone who misses the days when games like What Remains of Edith Finch and Firewatch were gracing best-of lists. Return to Grace is probably a little late to get the same kind of widespread acclaim and reputation, but if there were any justice, it would get both, and deservedly so.
The good news, I guess, is that Crime Boss: Rockay City isn’t a disaster. It’s competently made, and I’ve played far, far worse games. The bad news? That still doesn’t mean it’s any good.
There are few things as fun as a game where you get to destroy everything, so you’d think that Demolish & Build Classic would be a slam dunk. Instead, it’s just a total mess of a game.
Ambition: A Minuet in Power makes its historical setting come alive, and the end result is one of the better visual novels I’ve played in quite some time.
Daydream: Forgotten Sorrow’s lack of originality is just a minor complaint compared to the fact that it doesn’t achieve what it sets out to do from a gameplay perspective. You can’t be a worthwhile puzzle-platformer when the platforming sections feature controls and physics and a field of depth that are this finicky.
It's hard not to wish that Circus Electrique had simply tried to whittle everything down to, say, half a dozen of its best ideas. If you’re after a dense game, this will deliver exactly that – but at a certain point, you kind of wonder whether it’s all worth it, and I don’t know that it is.