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Okami HD is a beautiful and enjoyable game and I'm glad I finally got the chance to play through it. You now have three ways to use the Celestial Brush and each way has certain instances where it might work better than the other two. Between the great cel-shaded graphics and relaxing music and atmosphere, Okami HD is an amazing game that fans and newcomers to the game should check out.
Playing Another World feels like more than a dusty visit to the video game museum. It is something more akin to an exciting examination of modern gaming's DNA under a powerful microscope. For those interested in the origins of Souls games, rogue-likes, and cinematic adventure games, this is the place to look. Be ready for some wonky old-school controls and bewildering level design, but know that working your way past those limitations is absolutely worth it.
As a free-to-play game, the PvP version of the online multiplayer Mech-based battle arena Archangel:Hellfire is an obvious must-have for fans of the mech genre. The co-op version requires the purchase of the Archangel single-player campaign, but that too is a pretty good deal. While the campaign is a rail shooter, which won't please players that prefer to have a bit more control over the path they take, it is quite good too. The co-op battles are a lot of fun, but an inefficient means of setting up the gaming sessions can be burdensome.
Crush your Enemies! is a fun strategy title on Switch that fills a need that I didn't realize I had. By cutting out a lot of the hoops RTS players are accustomed to jumping through, the shiny core of the genre is revealed.
Earthfall is a solo or multiplayer FPS that pits four remnants of a human town against some underwhelming aliens that are rampaging and at times swarming. It will not stand out from the other dozen games of its type but it is another reasonable choice that - at least - doesn't require lessons.
Smooth and beautiful to look at, VSR: Void Space Racing packs a difficulty curve the likes of which I have never experienced in a racing game. It is best to go into VSR with the mindset that you will not be playing a racer, but a whole new genre. Even with that in mind, I would expect a large percentage of players to bounce off of VSR the same way that my racing ship bounces off of space debris. This is a game for dedicated, patient players.
XBox One owners have no excuse to miss out on this game. It is one of the best examples of video games as a medium of entertainment and needs to be played by every person possible. I cannot stress enough how important this game is, or how good it is.
Stifled is a stealth horror game that brings its own flair to the genre by using echolocation to see in the dark. The player has to use their own voice to see, but also must be cautious to avoid attracting the attention of creatures hiding in the void. Stifled has a truly unique core gameplay mechanic that is both interesting and nerve-racking, but it seems underutilized throughout the game. The repetitive design of the levels minimizes the horror impact of the gameplay, and the lack of diversity and AI in the monsters leaves much to be desired. At a $20 price tag, the game felt more like an overpriced proof-of-concept juxtaposed with a completely unrelated story rather than a full-fledged horror experience.
Mega Man X Legacy Collections 1 and 2 are a great set of games featuring the history of X and Zero. While we don't have any stage challenges like the original Legacy Collections or the ability to rewind or use save states, the new X Challenge mode is definitely a challenge on normal difficulty and even on easy difficulty I enjoyed just whaling on Mavericks with just the X Buster. Overall, fans of the Mega Man X series should enjoy these collections, even more so on the go with the Nintendo Switch.
With a unique presentation unlike anything I've seen before in gaming, Salary Man Escape creates its own singular vision of workplace hell. But with frustrating controls and a bordering-on-broken physics model, the stellar puzzle design is lost in a mire of irritation and exasperation. If I wanted to feel stressed, I would just go to work.
If you've played the first two, The Banner Saga 3 is impossible to ignore. In this final chapter, everything is broken and mended and broken again. I was never sure if there would be--or even could be--any kind of happily ever after to this massive mythology Stoic Studios has built.
With a trippy art style reminiscent of the LSD-enhanced art of the 1960's and a unique musical sound, GNOG is a game that doesn't take itself too seriously and encourages you to just play with it, and maybe even solve a puzzle now and then.
Overall, Sonic Mania Plus is a great game. While the Plus part really only gives you two new characters and a harder version of the game, current Sonic Mania owners will only have to pay five dollars for the DLC which isn't too bad. Even 30 dollars for those wanting a physical version is still worth it for the main game alone if you don't already have it. Either way, fans of Sonic who haven't played this yet should definitely pick it up at some point.
Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus plays great on the Nintendo Switch, though if you have a chance to play the game docked, it is definitely the way to go. But either way, New Colossus is an amazing game, with a rich universe, gonzo cinematic storytelling, and great-feeling combat. Not having played the first title is no reason not to jump into Wolfenstein II, and the Switch is a completely viable way to experience the touching lunacy of this series. Highly recommended.
By alternating between quiet mood-building moments and "Did I just see that?" religious horrors, The Exorcist: Legion VR delivers chills that are every bit up to the standards of the franchise.
Wreckfest offers the eRacer something not available anywhere else: the ability to race on the computer in cars and at tracks that are accessible to the common man. Don't let the 70's era rust buckets fool you, though - the driving and damage physics are quite good, the damage models are entertaining, and the racing is close and brutal. It's astonishingly fun!
Songbringer's general aesthetic and sense of humor rubbed me the wrong way, but the procedurally generated worlds are actually a lot of fun to get lost in, and the art style and music, though occasionally harsh, have a lot of love and nuance put into them.
Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy give you a tremendous amount of bang for your buck. The three games contained within are long, detailed and beautiful, and they feel right at home on the Nintendo Switch.
Bus Simulator 18, at its core, is a good simulator game with a whole lot of soul. It brings a lot of playability options to the table, whether you want to just drive a bus or manage the whole company. The driving is complex enough to keep the player involved, and the economic systems provide a respite for players tired of being behind the wheel. However, the game is hurt by some frustrating bugs and sub-par traffic systems.
In a way The Crew 2 is a better game from the old, but in another way, it is also very much the same flawed racer. There is a lot of good here: open world, four racing types, huge customization, and tons of races. However, as a racing game, you'd do better with Mario Kart.