Cubed3's Reviews
For all its DLC problems and lacklustre content, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is still a fun fighting game to play both online and offline. It is a much more simplified and newbie-friendly BlazBlue game than any in the main series, but that doesn't prevent it from having anything going for it. These franchises deserved better, though; this should have been a bigger celebration of Arc System Works' characters, and it's a real pity that more love wasn't put into it. With any luck, a complete package will release in the future - hopefully with some extra modes that do the BlazBlue name some justice.
Runner3 is a very well done addition to the series. The new dynamic camera, combined with more visually interesting environments, makes for some memorable locales, which are bolstered by the distinct level design. The new move-set abilities provide some freshness, and there's plenty of optional content to test your skills. It's a shame that said optional content is usually tedious to deal with, and as nice as the dynamic camera is, it can also sometimes lead to a few cheap deaths. Despite that, Runner3 is an addictive (albeit short) experience that platforming fans should look into, if they are up for the challenge.
Aragami: Shadow Edition is a good stealth-based assassin adventure that plays more like an arcade game, as opposed to a gritty, realistic experience.
If Hell does exist, then it's surely the one depicted in Agony, because one can get used to pain and suffering, but these can't compete with utter and complete boredom. Madmind Studios' rushed, "controversial" cash-grab, is nothing more than one of the contenders for the worst release of 2018, and one of the worst survival horror games ever, full stop.
Although flawed and at times painfully inconsistent, Vampyr manages to offer relatively engaging gameplay in spite of a lack of overall polish. Combat is stiff and quite mindless, but Jonathan's progression deeper into Vampiredom is handled well and the abilities at his disposal go a long way towards masking some of the more mundane aspects of the battle system. It's more whether or not Jonathan decides to prey on the people of London, and its consequences, that keep the experience fresh. There's a trade off between making Jonathan and keeping districts stable, each one offering their own benefits. There are technical issues, and the performance is lacking on every front, but Vampyr has enough going for it conceptually that it's worth sinking some time into, if only to be a vampire in 20th century London.
Antigraviator gets a lot of things right.
For fans of the original looking to jump back in, this is a fun detour that adds new abilities and locations into the mix, without trying to redefine the original point.
It is a wonderfully designed point-and-click adventure that truly plays on the emotions, with players having to make tough choices where no option is really good or fully satisfying, just like in real life. This being set in a Supposedly Wonderful Future adds much to the experience as it both opens up for interesting choices with unfamiliar topics, but also shows of a great cynicism, and at times hope and curiosity.
Like Pokémon Shuffle before it, Pokémon Quest proves to be a pleasant piece of gaming that is best enjoyed while doing something else, like watching TV or during short trips on public transport, due to the short nature of the experience and limited amount of free play time offered by the base software. Like Pokémon Shuffle, however, even if it is on a console that is handheld at core, it will be best enjoyed portably on a device that people are carrying on their person at all times, like a smartphone, with notifications warning the player that their free plays have recharged and the like, so it's probably best to wait for a smart device version before investing any money in there that may not transfer between different versions.
It is easy to dismiss Lil Tanks prematurely because of how simple and shallow it looks as a game. This is, however, what gaming used to be back in the good ol' days, and this is one of few modern retro games that truly captures the feeling of simplicity and pure action many of those games delivered, with no frills. While certainly not for everyone, those who are looking for a classic old school shoot 'em up will find this scratches that itch.
Putting a score to a game like Pato Box is painful as parts are worthy of the highest possible score, namely the boss fights that are some of the best seen in ages and truly capture, and even enhance the source of inspiration. However, there needed to be more of those to create a better difficulty curve and less filler content in-between. The story of a game like this does not need to make sense, but the content put into it needs to.
If you are into puzzle-platformers, why are you reading this instead of playing Sling Ming right now? Sling Ming is an extremely creative experience, rivalling many great names in the pure enjoyment stakes, and comes with unique gameplay that is not found elsewhere. It is certainly a must-buy for all fans of the genre, no matter if people want some casual fun or rather prefer brain-teasing puzzles to keep their minds sharp.
It is difficult to find a more realistic economy simulator than this. All focus is on the core of how a market works, rather than to make it work well as a videogame. The result is a fantastic experience for those who are looking for just that, but few others will do so, and that is fine as Epic Car Factory never claims to do anything else. If this sounds appealing, this is certainly a game to get. If not, it is very unlikely that trying the game out will change anything. It is great for its audience, but not too many others.
If there was ever a bullet-hell shooter that was also a cure for insomnia, Earth Atlantis would be it. Ugly, droning, and tedious to play; it is hard to find anything worse than this on the Xbox Store. While it is a functioning game, it is another example of poor design and miscalculated art direction that undoes any technical know-how the programmers implemented. It is always sad when the talent portion of a poor game is on the side where there is no artistry. After how far game development has come, having to compliment Earth Atlantis's code is the most depressing accolade to give.
For casual players there is not much beyond childish delight but in the scenario sandbox of destruction and design Cities Skylines - Natural Disasters makes a gameplay experience that is tense, trying and terrifically satisfying.
If there was more attention given towards improving what was already a great game, Dark Souls Remastered could have been perfect. Instead, it falls somewhere in this half-hearted limbo. Finally, it has a very stable and high frame-rate, but the collision and hit-detection is still unfairly off. This is one of the defining classics of the seventh generation consoles. It spawned its own sub-genre of action RPGs and gave From Software an unfathomable amount of credibility. It deserves better than this. If Scholar of the First Sin gets extra polish and refinement, it is tragic that the first entry in the trilogy does not get the same effort. When the inevitable day comes when Demon's Souls gets a remake or remaster, hopefully it gets more care than Dark Souls.
Even when taking into account that some of these games are not very different from one another, the content on offer in Street Fighter II 30th Anniversary Collection presents arguably the best value for money in that specific genre on Nintendo Switch and the bonus features, like museum and sprite viewer, are actually well worth checking out for lovers of the series. However, one of the main components, the online mode, is not really enjoyable in its current state so, unless a fix is on the way, this removes some of the fun that there would otherwise be in playing this on Nintendo Switch. What remains, however, is the only version that can easily be enjoyed wherever, whenever, and with whomever and that should never suffer from disc rot due to the sturdy cartridge format, and which won't look any worse here than anywhere else due to these games not being exactly very recent.
Where Disco Dodgeball Remix lacks in creative map design, it more than makes up for in just how engaging its core gameplay is. Lobbing around dodgeballs at the opposition is incredibly addictive as balls fly all around the screen. Matches are encouraged to be fast-paced and respawning occurs relatively quickly. It's easy to jump into any match and have fun while losing thanks to just how quickly everything moves. The alternate game modes do a fantastic job of adding some much needed variety, but the main goal of throwing dodgeballs around is never lost. Disco Dodgeball Remix could have benefitted from some more thoughtful maps, but it's nonetheless an addictive take on the first-person shooter.
Colossal Order might be asking a little much for what some would consider a small DLC, but there's no denying that it has created something pretty special here. Focusing the DLC on zooming down to street level and getting into the nitty-gritty of placement of pretty much everything in the park was a stroke of genius, and something it will hopefully implement into future DLC releases. In a genre about building a city, it's interesting to get players to come down from the clouds every now and then and really set up something unique to their town, and serves as just another reason why this game is special among others of its ilk.
As far as throwbacks go, Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a worthwhile venture. It captures the essence of yesteryear's classics, while offering numerous options to comfort an audience that might be unfamiliar with that time period. The game is also quite entertaining, and the replay-value is quite high. Still, it is not possible to shake the feeling that something is missing. It's as if the developer decided the safe choice was the right one, and left all of the risk-taking up to the player. Will this game be remembered in thirty years? Only time will tell.