Cubed3's Reviews
It's not often that you find a Metroidvania that actually measures up to its models, while still managing to put its own attractive spin on the old formula. Record of Lodoss War -Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth- absolutely delivers and manages to capture the Symphony of the Night look and feel brilliantly, while still being its own title. There are only two real drawbacks that keep the experience from being perfect: performance can have dips, manifested with slowdown rather than dropped frames, but only in circumstances where it doesn't affect gameplay at all. Then, newcomers to the Record of Lodoss War universe will be left completely lost as to who the characters are, and how they relate to one another, making the story tough to care for. Everything else however feels perfect and proved memorable in a way that Konami's eponymous franchise always managed to deliver with its 2D incarnations.
In the words of AC/DC, if you want blood, you got it! Blood delivers on the promise of its name, offering one of the goriest first-person shooters of its generation (and not only). A couple of issues, like it's rough-around-the-edges mouse aim, occasionally irritating and/or boring levels, as well as a difficulty level that's a couple of kilometres too high, keep this from being the classic that it could be, but it's strong horror atmosphere, coupled with its fast-paced action (at least in 'Easy'), and comedic mind-set, makes it a solid cult classic, and a strong recommendation to old-school aficionados.
Continuing the startling violent theme coupled with many moments of raw emotion related to the utter awfulness of humanity, Death end re;Quest 2 certainly delivers for old and new fans alike. While aspects of the battle system could have been explained better, and elements of the voice overs be tweaked, overall it is a superb horror RPG on Nintendo Switch. Replayability will depend how much of a fan of the original players are, and completionists can happily use the skip event mode to make the second play through faster, along with the option of keeping weapons, attack skills, and character levels the same as the end of the first playthrough.
Forgiving it may be, but OlliOlli World has heaps of challenges to complete, and getting through all of the objectives in the last level is no easy feat. The new hand-drawn graphical art style makes it easier to have branching paths and a better sense of depth than ever before, which allows for grander levels and more mechanics to be added. The controls are simple enough, and quick reactions will be needed to fully master all the levels by stringing together one long-combo throughout. An absolute joy to play, and while it is different from the original two, its evolution was much needed to bring the title forward to the current generation of consoles.
Within Persona 4 Arena Ultimax players will find a more-than-decent fighter, that those experienced with Arc System Works games will like quite a lot. Persona fans will enjoy seeing their favourite characters once more, but be warned that the story hasn't been handled as well as one would expect.
For Sci-fi strategy fans Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector is a pretty good hit, even without any exposure to the lore. There is just a lot of good things to say about mowing down aliens hordes. There are some small, but ever-present issues that drag down an otherwise really good experience. The UI is particularly abysmal, and some parts of the game really drag on and bog down, but overall it's a pretty fun deal.
While the overall package is lots of fun, it's not without a few issues. The lack of a truly driving story is by far Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream's weakest point. Furthermore, progression is in general just slow throughout, with endless backtracking. The simplified alchemy system is a mixed bag. It does little to stray from the formula and will be picked up by players exactly for that. It would be nice to see Gust take some risks and really step out with some new ideas rather than re-hashes of the same thing over and over.
Halo is back to its best with Halo Infinite, tight controls, and seriously thirst-quenching gunplay that feels so intuitively satisfying. Traversal has been improved hugely by the addition of the grappleshot, allowing Master Chief to zip around at speed, as well as adding a unique element for multiplayer matches. A particular dampener has to be directed at the online multiplayer, which is riddled with cheaters, but, if they were to be removed then the multiplayer offers a solid free-to-play experience that is fast and frantic. Halo Infinite, alongside a number of other Xbox first-party titles is a great addition to Xbox Game Pass, and it is certainly a marquee game that warrants a subscription to the service.
Hal Laboratory and Nintendo smashed it out of the park with Kirby and the Forgotten Land, adding yet another gem to the already stacked Switch library. No, it's not the most challenging or taxing gameplay experience going, but that's not what one should expect from Kirby either. Perhaps it could be described as the perfect palate cleanser or antidote to those more difficult experiences - and more importantly, unlike those titles, doesn't require as many caveats to its recommendation. For those who enjoy their character designs round, this will likely appease, but at the end of the day, it's just… fun!
Credit should be given for Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin trying something different, and nobody could argue that it certainly is that. With a distinct lack of the plot and character polish, players approaching this as an RPG, can easily overlook this. With such excellent combat options and a real sense of fun throughout though, it more than stands alongside its peers in both the role-playing and Souls-like genres. Why it looks so bad, that's a mystery in itself…
Every now and then, the stars will align and Chocobo GP will provide a fun, frantic, and genuinely fantastic race. A rare moment where the track layout isn't too obnoxious, the item RNG isn't too oppressive, and the monetization isn't too distracting; a brief snippet of a solid racer with tight controls and a colorful world. If the game was like this all of the time, there would be no issue, but the ways in which it fumbles before the finish line cannot be overstated. What could have been a solid, long-lasting Mario Kart alternative has already been tossed aside by the masses and forgotten. Maybe Square Enix can fix it, maybe they won't bother, but at this point, not much of value has been lost.
Dungeon Siege is a relic from the past. A mundane one. Not a shiny gold necklace worth doing research about, but one more piece of insignificant pottery; one that wasn't that great to begin with. This "Diablo Killer" is way too repetitive as it almost plays on its own, the story and world building is nowhere to be found, and the audio-visuals are now more dated than titles on the NES. A collector's only item from a bygone era that, unlike this game, has offered gems worth playing even now.
Tales from the Borderlands's visuals have aged poorly and the animation quality won't impress anyone, but the centre of the experience is the characters and story. Coming into this and expecting a traditional Borderlands experience will only lead to disappointment. This is enjoyable for people who have never played any Borderlands title, or for fans of the setting who want to see the universe get further fleshed out. The sense of humour is still intact, for better and for worse: it can be a bit exhausting for every character to be a snarky and sarcastic rogue, but at least they do have heart where it counts.
KINGDOM of the DEAD is nice. Sadly, that's all there is to say about it. Putting the neat "ink & paper" art style and unique synth OST aside, what's left is a way too simplistic love letter to mid '90s FPS games that just doesn't manage to impress in any way. Fun, but it's the one evening kind of fun.
It's a strange one. There couldn't be a title that's more due of a remake yet also still a really good time as Knights of the old Republic. Although it came out around the same time as when the prequels were in cinemas, it has more in kin with the classic trilogy insomuch as what was once cutting edge is now low-fi and that very aspect comprises a large part of the charm. Not without issues, but to focus on those issues in the harsh light of day would feel too much like pestering an old person for losing their teeth - an influential old person, with lots of great stories. So, while a remake is most welcome one does wonder if it'll lose something in the translation about what makes this version work. It's the OG that captures the scale of the Star Wars Universe unlike any other Star Wars game. It absolutely deserves play in 2022.
KUR doesn't have what it takes to join the slowly, but steadily growing family of old-but-modern FPS games. The gunplay is generic at best, the visuals not that appealing, and, most importantly, this is undoubtedly a title that left Early Access way too early. Wait for many an update before trying this out.
AI WAR 2 is the type of game that would normally be very good. The concept and guerrilla warfare are both interesting ideas. However, this just doesn't really click or feel that interesting. Given players have access to so much stuff from the beginning, there is no sense of progression which might be the largest killer, if not the steep learning curve. Some might really enjoy it, but general strategy players won't want to hop through all the hoops.
There are some rough spots with the UI, a bit of repetition with some overworld aspects, but nitpicks aside Trials of Fire was actually highly enjoyable both as a strategy game, and a deck builder. The fact the game has some strong Heroes of Might and Magic vibes going on is icing on the cake. The problem comes through that a single play (~2-4 hours) is about all it takes to get most out of the game. After that players likely won't be back.
Level design is perhaps too restrained when it comes to eclectic set pieces, but the open world packs itself full of secrets while pacing its main content out appropriately. Ghostwire: Tokyo is a worthy entry in Tango Gameworks' catalogue.
There is no doubt that the Booster Course Pass is going to heralded as "must-have", but so far Wave 1 hasn't set the track on fire. The runaway winners of Wave 1 are the three courses featured from Mario Kart Tour, but that is not to say the other courses are bad, but are lacking in imagination compared to other retro-courses featured in the base game of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. The lack of anti-grav and some questionable graphical decisions also mount up to disappointment and it is interesting to see if Nintendo are going to address this with the remaining 40 courses. However, in the grand scheme of things it is great to have new courses to race on and is certainly thoroughly recommended for all Mario Kart fans.