Cubed3's Reviews
For almost four years, The Banner Saga has provided a thoroughly enjoyable alternative offering to the standard tactical RPG.
The story mode and equippable tiles give something unique, while the extra modes give the same type of replayability that makes these types of puzzle titles so popular.
Nintendo Switch is becoming the go-to home for indie titles, and that's become something of a double-edged sword. It has meant that Switch is becoming the new Vita, stuffed to bursting with indie darling ports from PC, giving a whole new audience the chance to experience them. However, it's also meant an influx of mobile ports that are not quite as memorable. Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops XL falls somewhere in the middle. There's a ton of content here for the low price of £9.99, but these games are sadly artificially inflated with repetitive, boring gameplay that really shows its age.
A mobile-esque, generic, repetitive, and mind-numbingly easy shooter, with subpar audio-visuals, Assault Gunners HD Edition is a waste of time and money, even for the most passionate of Mech fans.
Ultimately, I Hate Running Backwards is a fun, worthwhile experience. At the same time, though, it is largely a fleeting sort of fun. For some reason, it feels eerily reminiscent of those mobile games that people play in brief spurts while waiting for something better to do. It is that same kind of hectic, fast-paced fun that sadly doesn't really last and is forgotten about almost as soon as it gets turned off. It is sort of the videogame equivalent of being chased by a bear. Heart pounding, thrilling, but once you get away, you are just sort of glad it is over. This is just a couple steps shy of greatness, and even with its failings it is probably worth checking out for fans of shmups.
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Donkey Kong Adventure turns out to be much less focused on strategy this time around but more on the actual enjoyment of the story and universe with more laid back battles that are easier to approach than the rest of the full package, in no small part due to how powerful Donkey Kong and Rabbid Cranky are in battle. The base game had lots of charm with its colourful and humorous universe and this is all intact here, if not even more pleasant than ever before. The small downside to this is that those who loved the base for the challenge and variety of possible strategies will not quite find the same depth here. For others, though, this will be a solid addition to an already solid experience.
Koihime Enbu RyoRaiRai is a solid fighting game that feels satisfying to play, while being accompanied by a great soundtrack and pleasing graphics. It may not have many modes, but what's on offer is enjoyable enough to be worth recommending to fighter fans, even to those who aren't necessarily experts. The removal of Scenario Mode is unfortunate, but the rest of the new features still make it superior compared to Koihime Enbu.
There could have been potential for Dream Alone to be at least a run-of-the-mill adventure platformer. Instead, the developer chose to see how far it could make a game so infuriatingly bad. It plays with the grace of a gorilla's knuckles being smashed in with a metal bat and it always looks like it's being viewed through squinting eyelashes, while a child is switching the lights on and off with great rapidity. Nothing in Dream Alone makes any sense at all; it is a void that sucks everything where no light can escape.
Aside from a few minor grievances, this port of Groove Coaster is more than suitable for fans of rhythm and music games. The included songs are all great and will definitely put up a stiff challenge. As for the user-interface, it's minimalistic and easy to navigate. The support for various control schemes is really appreciated. Given enough time and dedication, players will find a style that works for them. The Non-Stop Mix mode is a really fun addition, as well.
There is not much to Clustertruck, yet for a game with that kind of title, it is far more enjoyable than it would suggest. This is a silly, arcade-style guilty pleasure that manages to delivers a satisfying laugh and not much else. There is not much substance here, but there is enough that does put it above most Youtube-bait schlock, since it does have a thoughtful rising challenge and unlockable abilities that can offset the unpredictability of the physics engine.
Despite all its exterior polish, TurtlePop: Journey to Freedom is a bit of a mess. It's trying to pull elements from multiple different genres, but it does it in a chaotic way that leaves the player little time to process what's happening on-screen. It's a constant battle with the controls to switch between the various turtles you need to control, and to also manage the genie, all while various on-screen hazards endanger the player's shot at a perfect score. The co-op mode slightly alleviates some of these issues, but it doesn't do enough to fix the fundamental issues with this quirky puzzle-platformer.
LEGO The Incredibles is a mediocre action-adventure brawler that fails to live up to the LEGO franchise's reputation. While it's certainly charming to see both films adapted into the LEGO format so succinctly, the whole experience is bogged down by tedious gameplay, technical issues, and sound design that's rough around the edges, at best. Along with a rather uninteresting roster and short play time, LEGO The Incredibles doesn't even come close to the comparatively high standards LEGO Star Wars set nearly a decade and a half ago.
A Rite from the Stars is worth playing through at least once, if only to appreciate how rich Makoan culture is, but it fails to improve upon the point-and-click genre in any substantial way.
The asking price of £8 for Animated Jigsaws: Beautiful Japanese Scenery is simply far too high for this. The fundamentals are heavily flawed; the puzzles are far too limited; the animated features are completely underwhelming; basically, there are far too few positive aspects here. The scenery is nice, at least, but not worth buying this game for. It feels like a free phone title.
As Rifter is in some dire need of some polishing here and there, it falls under the category of those titles that are very good, but also hard to recommend to just anyone. Those who can handle its flaws, however, will get to enjoy a tough, and surprisingly fast, platformer that's built for those who love speed-running.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is an absolute joy to behold, from its cute visual styling and delicious soundtrack and audio utterances from the main characters, to the expertly crafted self-contained stages, jam-packed with smart puzzles to solve and a plethora of goodies to uncover. This was one of those Wii U gems that thoroughly deserved another shot at the limelight, and with its excellent new additions now, it is indeed time to shine bright.
It may not be the ultimate version of the game, but a smaller screen doesn't obscure the genius behind Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker's meticulously-designed, charm-packed puzzles.
All of Milestone's racers impress and disappoint in the same ways, and that hasn't changed here. MXGP succeeds in catering for both a casual audience and the hardcore fans, but neither will feel particularly satisfied with their serving. That's especially true in the case of MXGP Pro, because the 'Pro' subtitle was bound to raise expectation levels. While minor enhancements are always welcome, it's far too much of an incremental process across iterations here, making it difficult to recommend to anyone who bought MXGP3. The assumed time constraints and the developer's 'one size fits all' approach to generating improvements (where only additions that can be diffused across all its franchises seem to be encouraged) is now a significant source of frustration. While MXGP Pro is mostly an attractive, enjoyable experience, that represents the sport quite well, even avid fans should ponder long and hard over its longstanding flaws before indulging.
The experience that can be found in Mooncrash is just as exciting as what is in Prey. At times it feels as though it could be even better due to the lack of an official story; it feels as though the trials and tribulations that come with each attempt make for amazing stories themselves. The best part is that even though there are five characters and five escapes, the variations of how to guide each of them to successful escapes are seemingly unlimited. The only downsides are the excessive loading times and a fairly lengthy commitment to get all the character progressions rolling. Story expansions are fun for most titles but this completely separate rogue-like experience is a refreshing way to revisit the Prey universe and is a justifiable purchase for all survival simulation fans.
MUSYNX is an excellent entry point for anyone looking to get into rhythm games, but the difficulty can ramp up early on, despite the fine-tuning and customisable controls that are available. With over 90 tracks here, it certainly isn't light on content, but there really needs to be improvements made to the presentation to make it a little bit more accessible.