Cubed3's Reviews
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 4: Below the Bedrock heightens the sense of urgency, thanks to Romeo's shape-shifting powers that have granted him complete control of Beacontown.
Looking at single aspects, SpellForce 3 is successful on all fronts, but this does not tell the whole story as on some level the game fails to come together cohesively. Building up RPG characters works largely well, but the RTS strategy sections leave a lot to be desired and the heroes simply melt into the background too much to be in any way meaningful. There is nothing 'wrong' with the game; it is just never an awesome experience.
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 5: Above and Beyond reaches its epic conclusion as the great battle between Jesse and the evil Admin, Romeo, threatens to tear Beacontown apart. Featuring a shorter experience than previous episodes, this is also the most finely tuned one in terms of pacing, as the excitement ramps up from the opening credits right through to the eventual ending. While the decision-making in earlier episodes seems very watered down in retrospect, the final few choices mean that the next Minecraft season will need to answer plenty of questions, if Telltale does indeed go down that path.
Sadly, The Red Strings Club will fool some into thinking it follows in the footsteps of classics from WadjetEye Games purely because of its aesthetics. Do not be mistaken, though. This is not a patch on any of that company's releases, nor is it affiliated with it at all. Instead, this takes an intriguing style and theme of the world gone mad for technology, mixes in some extremely random love story between the lead duo of hacker and bartender that bears no relevance to the underlying tale, adds in a heavy dose of some of the most painful attempts at puzzles, and then perfectly tops it all off with an overly wordy script filled with too much padding.
Violett itself is an enjoyable point and click adventure, but it also has so many glitches and even a game-breaking bug that renders it pointless for purchase on Nintendo Switch. Since the error stems from the touch screen controls, anyone intrigued by this would be better off trying out Violett Remastered on PC to witness its charms without the problems.
The flaws of the free, mobile version have been carried over to the Nintendo Switch port, and as such, destroy what little fun could be had by this word-scramble title, the reason being that, rather than the ability to craft words, Spellspire is all about grinding.
Nicalis brings one of the toughest and addictive gaming experiences from almost every other format to Nintendo Switch, and the transition is seamless. With dastardly levels of difficulty, a quirky aesthetic, and an absolutely sublime soundtrack that has definitely stood the test of time, the major drawback comes from how short the experience is. Once accustomed to overcoming the challenges faced, there is not much left to do after rescuing everyone. Hopefully, an expanded successor is on the way.
Looking lovely and colourful on the TV or portable Switch screen, Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Overdrive is a quality little chibi beat 'em up that deserves a chance by any genre fan.
The franchises represented here are amongst the most popular ever put on film, but it is sad that their content could not be perfectly represented with the content not being fully licensed.
Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a triumph in design, both in terms of how stages are crafted and the way the smart puzzles contained within each world are put together. Held back by its control scheme in the past, the shackles have now been removed, making this the superlative edition thanks to the excellent touch screen system now employed on Nintendo Switch, leaving Cubed3 now hungry for an upgraded version of Max & the Magic Marker in the future.
PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds is not a perfect game, but there is a good reason why it has become one of the most popular, and discussed titles of 2017. A great synthesis of mechanics, map design, and emergent gameplay, as well as a successful reiteration of the groundwork built by previous games, mean that PUBG is a fantastic experience, when it's working as intended.
Applying a new aesthetic to the established gameplay formula of Konami's Bomberman series, BRAWL brings a unique darker feel and subtle mechanic changes, grouped together in a bundle of multiplayer goodness. There are only some frame-rate issues that hold it back slightly, and the lack of online play also proves to be a bit disappointing.
Although Embers of Mirrim doesn't last long, it has some unique ideas and stays entertaining throughout.
The cinematic platformer had a very simple formula to follow and it isn't hard to make an appealing game in this genre. There have been so many over the years and the recent influx of independent developers doing their take on the whole 'kid in a nightmarish world' sub genre, there are more options now than ever. This should be at the very bottom of that list of options as it feels more like a Chinese boot-leg than anything of artistic merit. Dull, buggy, unpolished and, most of all, Albert & Otto is criminally derivative - its best quality is that it is over in about 90 minutes.
InnerSpace falls more than a bit short of the heights it aspires to. The levels feel hard to navigate and they aren't helped by the laggy controls and constant motion of the Cartographer. It feels poorly optimised for Nintendo Switch, with frequent camera stutters and choppy frame-rates. It's overall a very unsatisfying experience, which is made all the more frustrating by the sheer potential InnerSpace has. The beautiful environments and quietly haunting atmosphere are still enchanting, but everything else just feels empty.
The blurb for The Deer God promises to "Challenge your religion and your platforming skills," but it does neither. The platforming moments are ridiculously easy, and the combat is easily abused. The worst of the game, though, is the "story," which constantly stresses a morality that makes no sense at all, all culminating in an absolutely moronic ending. There are many fantastic indie titles that have made the jump to Nindies. This is not one of them.
A World to the West is actually superior to its predecessor. The puzzles are wonderful and offer up some real head-scratching challenges, and the mechanics are engaging and fun. Parallels are evident between this and A Link to the Past and considering the quality of that game, in the comparison, it shows the quality of this one. A real surprise here, it is definitely one of the best Nindies to hit Nintendo Switch yet, and considering some of the titles hitting the console recently, that's really saying something.
Steep: Road to the Olympics is a separate expansion, meaning it's not included as part of the season pass. That's a shame because, if it was, it would be easier to recommend. For a game all about freedom of choice and spontaneous activity, with quite an arcade-centric physics engine, it was clearly going to struggle to convey the technical side of the Winter Olympic Games. The 'Be a Legend' story-mode seems rushed and ill-devised. The footage of athletes is poorly integrated and the narrating and tutoring is all too intense, especially when the experience is so fragmented and dull. Japan, on the other hand, is a beautiful and large region, which really does expand the Steep world with a new aesthetic, new event types, and new challenges. Hence, Steep fans who persevere with the first segment, will eventually receive an impressive content injection. Fans of the Winter Olympics, however, will probably find this one quite underwhelming.
What Bleed lacks in play time, it makes up for with one of the most fluid control schemes to grace a platformer. Wryn's triple jump allows for a flow of movement that encourages dodge heavy, bullet hell style level design. Coupled with a well implemented bullet-time mechanic, stages require quick reflexes to complete, especially when taking rank into consideration. While the main story takes less than two hours to complete, unlockables, Arcade mode, and higher difficulties keep Bleed a highly addictive, and highly replayable, experience.
Energy Invasion shows some interesting and bold design choices that challenge some core aspects of one perhaps the most static genres that is still relevant today. However, these changes are badly implemented, only adding too much unnecessary clutter that is sometimes annoyingly hard to spot due to the small size.