Cubed3's Reviews
More than living up to the "rhythm violence" tagline, Thumper leaves a lasting impression. Presenting a distinctive and adaptive score, together with an insane visual style and a difficulty level that rarely shows mercy, Thumper is a very effective showcase for the hardware abilities of the Switch, and a highly engaging experience on its own merits.
Strictly as a collection of hard-to-find games, Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 is largely okay, but from a gameplay point of view these games simply do not stack up to modern conventions in the slightest. Even the "modern" 9 and 10 go back to when the series was at its worst. The lack of dashing, wall slides, and anything to reduce the annoyance of edges, and "trial and error" style gameplay, all serve to remind of the progress the genre has made. As a historical piece, this compilation is interesting, but for any sort of recommendation, this does not get it - even from a fan of the series.
Some will be disappointed that there is no story progression, or revelations of any sort, with this first DLC release for Little Nightmares, but even the way The Depths is selected from the in-game menu screen implies "prequel" or "side-story" and that is exactly what this is. If the tense run-and-jump sections of the base game were appealing, and the thought of a few more jump scares sounds right up your street, then dropping a few quid for another hour's worth of intense action is certainly well worth it.
Sudden Strike 4's biggest takeaway is that market saturation means nothing in the face of a good game. Kite Games might not bring anything new to the table, but it does offer a refined RTS experience that sincerely has fun with the World War II premise. Five separate campaigns for a total of 25 missions give the single-player a considerable amount of longevity. The inclusion of the Battle of Dunkirk from both sides is a surprising, but welcome addition. A lack of base building traditionally found in most RTS titles gives each unit weight. Side missions, likewise, create a sense of urgency that feels right at home with Sudden Strike's aesthetic. While multiplayer does admittedly feel scarce, there's more than enough solid content in the single-player to make up for a lack of online material. World War II is far from the most original setting at this point, but that doesn't mean it can't still be fun.
Dr. Kawashima's Devilish Brain Training: Can You Stay Focused? is an admirable attempt to mix up the formula, and there are glimmers of greatness here - the dynamically adjusting difficulty is fantastic, for instance - but it just can't measure up to its predecessors and the new ground that they broke. The decision to wait five years to publish the game in Europe is to its detriment, too, making the formula seem even more dated than before. It does its job well, but it lacks Brain Training's focus and accessibility, making it a difficult recommendation compared to the past iterations.
The story of blurred lines between life, death, and imagination is actually really interesting, and enough to keep the player enduring for a while in what is otherwise a simple grind and unfun combat system. While the story is compelling, eventually there is simply too little to keep players going through what is an incredibly frustrating dungeon crawler with little sense of progression and too frequent combat.
The Norsca expansion is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin. The beast hunts are a nice and interesting way to deviate from the traditional building and recruitment structures, while the mechanics of the four gods is very distinct and allow for some potentially interesting choices and decisions to be made. However, it likely won't persuade anyone outside of the franchise to join in, and is pretty obvious in both what it provides and what said provision will do.
Moero Chronicle is just straight up disappointing. It's a lacklustre dungeon crawler, with time consuming, wasteful mechanics that pad out dungeons. It's a subpar ecchi game far too invested in its own subpar story to excel at the fanservice it offers, and it does all of this with creepy undertones, frustrating interfaces, and an overall aggravating vibe. There might still be a niche Compile Heart fanbase that gets something out of this, but even then, it's a stretch.
Asdivine Cross turns out to be a surprisingly pleasant adventure to plod through. It is not too expensive and not too long, either, so it can easily fit in between meatier titles played at home and in shorter sessions on public transport and the like. Its shortcomings in terms of presentation may make it harder to grow fond of, especially early on because it does not do quite enough to make its interesting characters and story stand out. It is nevertheless a title with enough good qualities and even some surprising efforts that wouldn't normally be expected from a smaller title such as this, which all contribute to make it a recommended buy for people yearning for a 16-bit style RPG that is not a remake of something already existent.
A wonderful atmospheric ride that can be powered through in just over an hour if dashing by everything along the way, but it will actually keep the majority of gamers plugging away for a few hours longer as the timed-puzzles and conundrums found within this thrilling escapade, complete with platform challenges to add to the already high tension levels, and extras to uncover, provide plenty of entertainment.
While in strict gameplay terms this lacks depth, and although it feels as if it tries to bite off more than it can chew on the storytelling side of things, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice turns out to be an epic journey through madness and Norse myth, and one that's worth a play-through or two despite its problems - as long as you aren't here for something more action-packed.
West of Loathing makes remarkable use of the space it inhabits. It just doesn't make navigating that space very fun at times. There is enough to this adventure to make it is easily recommendable to fans of CYOA style games, and those who enjoy tougher RPGs all around. For those who don't fall into those categories, there's nothing here that will likely entice you to stick around very long.
Fictorum is an ambitious game that certainly needs more time and polish to really give it a strong presence in any PC library. A lot of promise is found in the utilisation of spells and magic, but the combat against foes is a complete mess in many situations. The ability to destroy nearly any structure is always an exciting act, and the story, being the strongest aspect, is easy to follow and understand. After all, vengeance is a plate best served on a magical icebolt.
Without a doubt, Collar X Malice is a required pick-up for fans of the genre. It features a thrilling storyline and some of the best characterization seen in an otome visual novel. Exploring every route will take dozens of hours, yet the viewer will never lose interest. Even the most mundane scenes are buoyed by the awesomeness of Ichika Hoshino and the rest of the cast. Also, it goes without saying, but the game is drop-dead gorgeous. Obviously, a game shouldn't be recommended on that quality alone, but the icing on the cake is quite nice.
There doesn't seem to be anything that makes Energy Cycle feel like a necessary entry into the puzzle genre. Even for fans of the core mechanic, there are plenty of alternatives in existence that look and play a lot better. Energy Cycle is, in truth, less barebones and more chalk outline, and doesn't add much more to the mechanic than a shining example of how not to do it.
Graceful Explosion Machine is a thoroughly solid title with enough content to last. However, it lacks passion. It has an almost clinical approach to everything, which makes for a shmup that's only enjoyable with the right mind-set. This genre is designed around stoking a flame in one's heart. After spending enough time mere pixels away from death, there is this feeling that takes over. It's hard to describe, but it's amazing. Every moment thereafter is earned. The best STGs pummel and exhaust the player, but after succeeding, it's almost as if EVO has just been won. When playing this game, there isn't even a spark.
In a generation that has struggled with finding the right balance of pace, it is refreshing to see a developer place a great deal of emphasis on patient gameplay and actually pull it off. Vertical progression and slow movements are valued over everything else, and these are the two elements that allow TumbleSeed to thrive as much as it does. Unfortunately, that same level of importance given to fine tuning the controls and concept is noticeably lacking in the level design, as roguelike randomisation is given priority over traditional, handcrafted stages. Along with too many power-ups and unlockable skills that trivialise most of the difficulty, TumbleSeed fails to live up to all its potential despite the clear amount of creativity put into its premise and a strong first impression.
TumbleSeed can be described as a dexterity rogue-like action game that's easy to love everything about it… apart from the whole "playing it" thing. It's not just the fact that it is ruthlessly hard, but that it's a certain kind of hard that will either captivate or aggravate.
Archangel a pretty straightforward rail shooting experience that has put a strong effort in presenting its narrative and characters, even if it does come at the cost of replay value. The inability to skip cutscenes really hurt this one. The story itself lays out everything in a fairly predictable fashion and really only serves as the excuse to get inside of a mech and blow up ships. It does not reach the absurd heights as seen in Armored Core games, so it isn't exactly a story worth experiencing more than once. The physical act of playing Archangel is its strength, since it feels like how operating a turret from inside a large machine would probably feel like.
As far as shoot 'em up bullet hell games go, Sine Mora EX is a pretty strong entry. The audio is lacking, but the video really does make up for it thanks to impeccable designs and art direction. This is a pretty hard game, but it is also a short one. However, the various modes and challenges even out the experience to keep the adrenaline junkies coming back for more. Just don't bother trying to get invested in the story; come for the pulse-pounding scrolling action.