Cubed3's Reviews
Last Day of June is a great example of how to turn a short tale into an engaging interactive experience, one that importantly does not overstay its welcome. There may be one or two frustrations along the way but, all-in-all, it tugs at the heart strings in the right places on the story front, and also engages the brain on the gameplay side of things enough to make everything feel extremely satisfying once it reaches its conclusion.
Kiryu's final chapter is a beautiful one that has its heart in the right place, but feels slightly let down quite likely due to the new engine not allowing the developers the time they required to flesh out other areas such as the battle system and sections of Kamurocho. Despite slipping in parts, though, Yakuza 6 recovers with a compelling and intricately woven narrative featuring an appealing cast, rounded off with the side distractions expected of an entry in this series. This is an emotional sayonara to Kazuma Kiryu that may not have been all it could have been, but serves up a fine game befitting the Yakuza name.
The gameplay is explosive and dynamic, the ODMG is an absolute joy, and there's enough content to keep playing for a very long time. A.O.T. 2 is a must-buy for anime fans and one of the best spin-off musou titles out there.
Sedna paints a bleak future for this series. It is a sloppy mess that gets off on the wrong foot, only to shoot itself in the foot right after. It is a weird hodgepodge of body horror, cyberpunk sleaze, and secret agent shenanigans that, in theory, should work, but don't.
There is no doubt that Q.U.B.E. 2 owes such a debt to a rich past, and with such a strong design direction and philosophy there is plenty to enjoy inside this geometric puzzler. Where Q.U.B.E. 2 really succeeds is reminding the player what is great about being locked in a room alone with a puzzle. It's a shame that the execution doesn't spread across all the areas, but there is certainly enough to enjoy and cherish in this gratifying design.
Fun for all your friends and family, Kirby Star Allies is a Kirby-by-numbers, sticking to the formula that has worked for so long, and proves to be just as fun as ever before. Mixing in the four-player element makes for some hilarious antics, and the augmented powers that can be utilised make for some extremely exciting scenarios. The only drawback is the age-old concern of things being a bit simpler than desired, but HAL has packed in plenty of entertaining content to appease fans new and old alike.
What a way to end the Little Nightmares saga! Tarsier Studios has taken its original fantastic experience, and split up the core concepts to craft some sublime DLC episodes, and this final one, The Residence, brings with it some real thrills and chills, whilst also delivering on the puzzles front. Admittedly shorter than the previous two, yet more satisfying overall, it leaves gamers thirsty for more, with an eventual sequel hoped for.
The state of KARAKARA 2's post-apocalyptic world is of no importance, as this is nothing more than just another harem visual novel that is not as funny, sexy, dramatic, or interesting as it thinks it is - but at least it doesn't overstay its welcome…
Old Man's Journey is such a gorgeous looking title, complete with a beautiful soundtrack. Those aspects are then draped over a moderately engaging puzzle idea, and comes with a story that aims to be touching, but will leave many feeling either apathetic to the theme, or actually frustrated by the progression of the old man's life and foolish choices. It also ends extremely quickly with nothing to come back to after. It will pass and fade away quicker than it should, but deserves to receive an expanded sequel (or prequel, perhaps?).
Tesla vs Lovecraft is a wonderful action-packed shooter that combines H.P. Lovecraft's monsters with the magical electric inventions of Nikola Tesla.
It is hard to come to The Fall Part 2: Unbound after experiencing the (very) rough diamond that is its predecessor, as everything feels inferior. Most puzzles are annoying, the controls are even clunkier than before, and the plot feels less... hard sci-fi than it previously did, as well as less focused on what it wants to offer.
As shallow as it is boring, Guilt Battle Arena is a conceptually fine attempt at a fast-paced party shooter that does very little with its mechanics and premise. Constantly being on-rails adds a layer of difficulty, but doesn't feel necessary to the core design of the game; the obstacles are charming enough, but the static layout of each stage keeps them relatively easy to avoid with some muscle memory; and the one-bullet mechanic, as interesting as it is, doesn't feel properly taken advantage of as its held back cramped layouts. Levels and matches are certainly fast-paced, but the core gameplay isn't addictive enough to warrant long play sessions. With some mechanical re-tweaking, varied stages, and an improved main mode that doesn't boil down to endless waves of shooting and dashing, Guilt Battle Arena could turn into something worth playing. As is, however, there's nothing particularly impressive about it.
Captain Flinthook is a fun character to play as and the way the procedural levels are generated, they just do not do him justice.
The Fall is a fine example of an adventure, with the better puzzles demanding some out-of-the-box thinking, and a hardcore, almost Isaac Asimov/Ghost in the Shell-ish sci-fi plot revolving around robots and AI, which is so good that it's easy to forgive this for its less impressive segments, and its unwieldy control scheme.
Will fans enjoy Life is Strange: Before the Storm's Bonus Episode: Farewell episode? Without a single doubt, yes! However, for a chapter revolving around what is probably such a pivotal moment in the franchise's history, it's also kind of disappointing, as it's a bit too short, the drama is not as strong, and the choices at hand don't alter things that much. In fact, most of the fun will stem from snooping around, rather than everything else.
Surprisingly, thanks to, and not in spite of, its roguelike elements, Steredenn: Binary Stars takes what would otherwise be a decent shoot 'em up and turns it into a highly addictive frenzy where each run is heavily affected by whatever weapons are found along the way.
Poisoft Thud Card goes past the standard for being bad; it becomes anti-entertainment.
Some may look at Toki Tori 2+ and immediately embrace it or dismiss it because of its cute-looking nature. Both parties need to understand, though, that this is in no way a simple platform adventure. Instead, it is a gruelling puzzle-adventure, with so much hidden depth and challenge that hardcore gamers will rejoice from the rooftops. It is the game that just keeps on giving, and with tweaks to perfect the formula, now is the best time to pick it up.
At its core, Bleed 2 is ostensibly a step up from the original in every single department
The abundance of bouncing, wet boobies that Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash is full of is, strangely enough, not capable of making this something more than what it is: a subpar, repetitive, extremely grindy third-person shooter that's actually boring (yes, boring) to look at.