Cubed3's Reviews
Valkyria Revolution has the confidence of a much better game. The story is presented in a historical lense meant to pull at the player's heartstrings, the gameplay combines action RPG elements with strategy features, and the cast is depicted so as to highlight the realities of war. While that all looks nice in concept, Media Vision's execution is seriously lacking. The plot simultaneously needs to let scenes breathe more, instead of dragging them out for minutes on end. What should be thought-provoking combat turns into mindless button mashing. The depiction of war, as poignant as it can be sometimes, never manages to hold onto its brilliance for longer than a minute. There are genuinely great ideas present, both from its narrative and gameplay, but Valkyria Revolution fails to live up to the potential of either.
Oceanhorn is a competent, budget, bite-sized Zelda-like experience that is not without its flaws, both in terms of glitches and in terms of sheer game design.
NBA Playgrounds plays well to the strengths of the Nintendo Switch, providing a fun multiplayer basketball game, with authentic players and commentary. Difficulty spikes in solo play are too steep to ignore, though, and the current absence of online play greatly diminishes long-term viability. A great game is here, but not yet at the surface.
Blitzkrieg 3 is Blitzkrieg… but without its tactical approach to the battlefield. It's fast and bombastic, but it lacks the depth that made so many strategy fans love the 2003 original. Even worse, Nivel removed the Early Access label from its product, but "forgot" to actually reflect that in it, leaving behind a flaw-ridden piece of software.
As creative as First Strike: Final Hour is, it suffers from a lack of necessary strategy, barebones content, and high price tag compared to its iOS counterpart.
Witchinour isn't worth the hassle. While it does have a firm grasp of the basic essentials, it's difficult in all of the wrong ways. The stages are boring, the bosses are insufferable, and the spells are woefully inadequate. Even in games where the learning curve is akin to a steep cliff wall, there's at least something the player can do to make it palatable. That simply isn't the case here. Fans of shooters beware; nothing but misery awaits.
Ever Oasis is a masterfully crafted piece of gaming software that manages to introduce a lot of original town management elements into an action RPG without feeling overwhelming or too hard to understand even for younger audiences, all while offering a solid experience gameplay-wise, as well as visually and audibly.
Seasons After Fall is a wonderful platform adventure that uses the ability to change seasons perfectly, with some cleverly thought-out areas that are small at first, but smartly open up considerably when rotating through Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. With gorgeous visuals, and a wonderful soundtrack, plus powerful voice work, the only thing that holds this back is the aimless wandering that creeps in towards the latter stages, thanks to the lack of a map feature.
While 13 years is certainly a long time to put a series on hold, perhaps another 13 could have been used to help Syberia 3 ready itself for release.
The deal with Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni is that it's a risqué and sometimes outright perverted videogame. Undoubtedly, not everyone is going to appreciate being practically smothered in breasts, butts, and everything in-between. Some might be able to look past that and laugh at the absurdity of it all; others would do better to simply walk away. That said, this title has thrilling combat, an intriguing story, well-written characters, and enough content to last a long while.
A highly intense arcade shoot-fest, the combination of the talent at Housemarque and the expertise of Robotron and Smash TV creator Eugene Jarvis has come together to deliver another exemplary title in the Finnish developer's catalogue. The faster paced gameplay and tighter areas over that of previous game Alienation pile the pressure on, whilst the strategic edge of trying to keep score multipliers going for as long as possible adds another layer to the bullet mayhem on show. One or two extra levels and online co-op really would have iced the Nex Machina cake, but either way, this is not to be missed by any shoot 'em up fan.
Whilst it starts off somewhat slow, Shantae: Half-Genie Hero quickly kicks into top gear and stays there right until the end, making for one of the most engrossing 2D platform adventures of recent times.
Viewed strictly in a complete bubble, on a technical level, this is one of the best titles in the series so far. Some of the previous issues mentioned hold it back from widespread enjoyment beyond those in the niche, but fans will like the new characters and game.
LEGO Worlds feels like a tech demo for what could be in TT's future. There's a lot of promise here, but it lacks direction and purpose. It ends up feeling like TT's signature LEGO elements meets No Man's Sky meets Minecraft. That means it contains all the problems these other titles suffer from.
A New Frontier doesn't just refer to a part in the story - it works just as well as a metaphor to what the season eventually settles into. Coming into these five episodes, it was hard to imagine that it could live up to the quality that the first two seasons dished out, but it ends up as something far more ambitious and special than anyone would have imagined.
If Under Pressure was meant to serve as a platform to build up the third episode, then it surely succeeded at that.
There is nothing ground-breaking about Crossout, and it has some flaws here and there. Despite all this, it is a solid experience that really captures exactly what the people who are going to be interested in a game like this are looking out for. It puts importance on everything in the game, and it is difficult to pick away specific aspects that aren't interesting when playing it. While it is the biggest strength of the game, it is also its biggest flaw. It is like a meal; you have to eat the veggies before getting the dessert, whether you like it or not.
Overall, ARMS is delightfully quirky, surprisingly deep and, most importantly, strikingly self-confident. Whilst its vibrant and over-the-top aesthetic might have some expecting a shallow and simplistic experience, persevering with and embracing the game's sharp initial learning curve reveals a strong-willed and very detailed gameplay core. Nintendo made the right choice in highlighting the motion controls, which is by far the best way to play. Thankfully, it also showed a more practical side in allowing room for the other traditional control methods, too - an additional set of Joy-Con is expensive, after all. As with the original Splatoon, it is slightly disappointing that single-player content seems like an after-thought to the multiplayer. However, considering how that game was supported and expanded during its life-span, something Nintendo is likewise committed to here, there's no doubt there's plenty more to come from this instalment, and (presumably) from this refreshing new series.
If it wasn't for its faithful retro presentation and soundtrack, Mighty Gunvolt Burst would be a pretty forgettable and by the numbers Mega Man clone. This is fine for children who are just getting into 2D run-and-gun action since, at the time of this review, there is no Virtual Console on the Nintendo Switch. The best part of playing Inti Creates' latest release is just experimenting with the possible combinations to make all kinds of wonderful weapons of death.
The same problems as the first episode return. Outside of Rocket's flashback and some interactions with Nebula, the story fails to really grip the audience. The usual Telltale problems are once again in attendance, too, with some terrible performance and too many easy choices to make. That being said, the glimpse into Rocket's history is fantastic, and for those who have enjoyed the films thus far and want to dip their toe into the comics, this is seeming a fitting way to do so.