Cubed3's Reviews
Halloween: The Game could've been awesome. It's too bad it's grossly unpolished, and its story mode is a lazily constructed, half-hearted attempt. The core game will probably get better with patches and updates, but it’s still doomed to face the inevitable service shutdown that tends to hit these kinds of games a year or two after release. If it had a substantial offline single-player mode, that would have saved it. Maybe this Halloween it’s better to spend it with Pinhead rather than Michael.
Has Nintendo finally recaptured the magic of Wii Sports, two decades later? Short answer: a resounding yes. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort doesn't reinvent the idea, but it serves a surprisingly content rich package with plenty of mechanical depth and content. The simplicity is still very much at its core, but there's a significant amount more nuance and refinement. Nintendo Switch Sports Resort is very much a game that anyone can enjoy, with room for competitive players to push further. Most importantly, it's a lot of fun!
Maestro is such a novel concept for a game and to get it working so seamlessly on Switch 2 is great for those who don't have access to the VR version. It's the kind of title ideally made for the platform and the Joy-Con. It uses them to great effect in delivering a simple but intuitive rhythm-action game. There are one or two hiccups when using the controllers in what is such a precise method of playing. But in most cases, it was so easy to get fully immersed into feeling like leading an orchestra that technical hitches faded into the background. Some more tracks or minigames to enjoy would have been good to freshen things up but there is a solid chunk of fun here and priced at just over £30, it's the kind of game that would be a cheap buy for parties and enjoying as a family.
Toy Story 3 Complete Edition is a sure-fire hit for any kid and maybe even a few grown-ups who are in touch with their inner child. While ideal for children, older audiences and seasoned gamers may find the core campaign and Toy Box quests to be boring. Aside from hunting down hidden collectibles, the game offers little gameplay depth or difficulty curve. It looks and sounds like Toy Story 3, even if the music is sleep-inducing, but this is still one of the better movie-to-game adaptations from the 2010s. Come for the story, but stay for the Toy Box mode.
Dog Man: Bark in Action is a great platformer for people with less experience in the genre. For those with a bit more platforming under their belt, though, it still manages to be a worthwhile genre inclusion, even if it doesn’t always feel particularly challenging. At the very least, it's an endearing and cute game that manages to evoke the basic reaction one should want from a video game: fun.
Silver Pines stands as a hauntingly beautiful, if flawed, love letter to the golden era of survival horror. While its central identity twist leans perhaps a bit too heavily on the well-worn tropes of Silent Hill 2, Memento, and Twin Peaks, the journey through this storm-ravaged mountain town is an absolute triumph of atmosphere. It suffers from some noticeable technical bugs and optimisation stutters, but the sheer mechanical tension of its clunky combat and punishing payphone save system keeps you entirely glued to the screen.
Steins;Gate Re:Boot opts for a middle ground of sorts between the original game and Elite. By using the latter as the script’s base, certain story details are brushed over, but the result is a more condensed novel that remains one of the best and most emotional in the genre. The redrawn art is lovely, especially on the portable Switch 2 screen, and the re-recorded voicework and new music help to deliver a little freshness. It’s difficult to recommend Re:Boot to anyone that has time travelled with Okabe before, though. The few narrative extras aren’t worth the price being asked for until a discount comes around. For everyone else, if Switch 2 is your preference and you’re in the market for a rollercoaster reading experience, this is a must-have.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun II offers a fun, adrenaline-pumping excursion into the grim darkness of the far future. Once the beautifully rendered smoke clears, it becomes easy to see that beneath the glorious bloodshed lies a shooter that struggles to offer much beyond its basic premise. Encounters quickly become repetitive, levels are forgettable, and uneven balancing and uninspiring mechanics prevent it from reaching the upper echelons of the genre - and yet it manages to remain tons of fun despite all this. In conclusion: the bolter will roar, the Imperium’s enemies will turn into tasty paste, and the galaxy will once again be reminded of an Adeptus Astartes' thoughts on foreign policy.
At its core, One Piece: Grand Gourmet is an extremely niche title that will only appeal to two specific types of people: die-hard One Piece fans and fans of restaurant simulators. Anybody who fits into those categories will find countless hours of enjoyment with this cosy game, as it achieves everything it sets out to do, resulting in a surprisingly engaging experience that not only is brimming with content but also rewards players who are extremely knowledgeable about this long-running series. Despite a few minor technical issues (which will most likely be patched out soon), this is still a refreshing anime-based game that stands out from its competition.
Azure Striker Gunvolt Trilogy Enhanced is a love letter to the old-school game design philosophy of "less is more" replayability. The few levels in each of the three games hold up across multiple playthroughs without feeling dull or repetitive thanks to strong level design and solid gameplay. However, while this is an amazing handheld experience, its age and laser-focused handheld design show up in the worst ways on a big-screen TV: it feels busy and the graphics look a bit too blocky. However, this is definitely a title to recommend for those looking for a Switch 2 game to fill ten-minute gaps in their day-to-day life instead of doom scrolling online.
Playing Final Fantasy Resonance, one is repeatedly struck with the feeling of how much better the games it references are than this game. The sprites are absolutely awesome and the ‘job’ system is pretty cool, but that is about the limit of its good points. Combat is frequent, long, grindy and repetitive. The story goes nowhere, and it’s sad when the two-minute vignettes of the heroes from past games are far more interesting than the actual story taking place.
Final Fantasy Resonance is a perfect title for lovers of the series that have been there from the start, and for anyone who can appreciate turn-based battle, sound settings, beautiful soundtracks, and chocobos. Nostalgia may hit hard when acquiring Visions, and the harmony between gameplay and cutscenes keeps this title alive and vibrant throughout.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a pretty good fantasy RPG that excels through pure mechanical ambition. Capcom successfully delivers an unparalleled open-world sandbox defined by a spectacular, emergent and brilliant, highly interactive AI Pawn system that turns every journey into an unforgettable, unscripted adventure. It's fun as hell to scale massive mythical beasts in any game, but it falls just short of greatness due to lingering technical jank and an undercooked main narrative and quests that fail to live up to the spectacular gameplay.
Dragon's Dogma 2: Dark Arisen refreshes the gameplay by removing most of the old frustrating elements. The update expands active class skills from four to six, improving combat flexibility and enabling powerful new "Grand" ability combos. The wealth of new dungeons and the Norgan region is enough content for an entire game. Quality-of-life improvements, such as multiple save slots, an optimised hard mode, and the Eternal Ferrystone for fast travel, reduce backtracking while maintaining the best feature of the core game: exploration and adventuring. Overall, Dark Arisen balances accessibility with challenging gameplay, delivering a content-rich experience for both veterans and newcomers.
Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus isn't the best metroidvania available, but it's one of the most unique and a solid games to consider for fans of the genre after the heavyweights like Hollow Knight and Ori are completed. Its striking artistic identity, enjoyable exploration, and generally well-balanced challenge make it an easy recommendation for experienced metroidvania fans willing to look beyond the genre's biggest names.
Spy Drops Gaiden is a competent and well made retro stealth action game. It's a bit of a lightweight compared to something like Ghost Babel, which was stuffed to the brim with content and interesting challenges, but it's also priced accordingly. The whole thing is over in a couple of hours and ends when things get interesting. With a solid foundation in place, adding more areas and puzzle-like environments could unlock great potential for similar games.
This score comes with a huge side-serving caveat that it requires a serious revision over time, personally speaking. One suspects it will climb its way up closer to 10, if not a 10 itself, if it is indeed what it deserves. The score here is arrived at chiefly for the level of commitment required to even begin to understand what is possible in Dwarf Fortress and more a reflection of one's own lack of intellect rather than a mark against the game.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is an easy recommendation for people who already like this kind of experience, but it could easily overwhelm newcomers. It has a great story and excellent combat, wrapped in a lot of things to learn, and it's not always the most digestible package. Long story short: if you think you’ll like it, you probably will.
Odd Town offers a distinctive visual style, a nice blend of silly and dark humour, and an interesting mystery wrapped in a compact French town. Unfortunately, the world isn't dynamic enough to turn the sandbox into a truly immersive experience, while the limited variety leaves little reason to keep playing once the novelty wears off. The story half fares better, but numerous parts of it walk a fine line between challenging and aggravating. There's a great idea here, and plenty of personality, but not quite enough depth or refinement to make it all work. It feels small and unfinished.
Marsupilami 2: Salsa Palombia takes some of the best elements from classic 2.5D platformers (like Donkey Kong Country Returns and Rayman Legends) and uses them to craft a wonderful experience that's filled to the brim with colorful environments, catchy music, fast-paced gameplay, and impeccable level design. Only a criminally short duration and some occasional clunky controls are its only real shortcomings. This is a game that everybody should try, from young children who are looking to get into gaming to die-hard fans of the platforming genre.