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Anyone interested in a laid-back comedy adventure game with a soul will have a lot to chew on with Repella Fella. It is a surprisingly lengthy and epic game that is twice as long as you’d expect and feels like bingeing a short season’s worth of episodes or an exceptionally long animated film.
Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is another hit for Tengo Project and Natsume Atari. This feels like it is their best work yet given the scope of the game, added content, and gameplay enhancements. You won’t find a better 2D action ninja game than this and it is not for the faint of heart.
White Day 2: The Flower That Tells Lies – Complete Edition is a disappointing reiteration of the original. It removes features and streamlines the experience, while also telling a story incoherently. At the very least, some scary moments managed to make my blood run cold thanks to the impressive atmosphere and the puzzles were stimulating.
If you miss Goemon and the kind of off-beat Japanese humor that came with it, BAKERU delivers the fun while also being a gigantic platformer epic. This is the kind of game you used to see during the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube days but made with the dazzling veneer of modern technology and effects.
If you’re looking for a game that will ease someone into the VR experience, or allow someone who might be prone to sensory overload, Grokit‘s Mixed Reality approach might be the perfect tool to bridge that gap.
Nihon Falcom used to be a pioneer in the game industry. They revolutionized action RPGs and set the standard with awesome character art. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ feels like a fall from grace. Now Falcom copies whatever is trendy. They recycle concepts and assets and the art used in Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is utterly bland and generic. It is an unfortunate sign of the times that Falcom has resorted to these practices to keep going and stay afloat in an industry that is spiraling out of control.
CYGNI: All Guns Blazing is a heart-stopping, adrenaline-fueled shoot-em-up. Its steep learning curve may initially deter gamers, but mastering its intricacies leads to an incredibly rewarding and satisfying experience. The sheer intensity of the action is almost overwhelming, pushing the limits of human perception, yet it’s undeniably impressive in its fearless approach.
STAR WARS™: Bounty Hunter™ was never a great game and while this new port does address many of its issues, it still isn’t the best it could be. Despite its flaws, this is still a very enjoyable action game and a lot of that has to do with its sensibilities being tied to the early 2000s when games could let players indulge in their inner sadist and didn’t morally grandstand about their actions. STAR WARS™ might be lame and gay today, but Bounty Hunter™ will always be the cool edgy kid that smoked behind the school.
Cat Quest III is a very light and fun action-adventure game with pleasing visuals and an open world to explore with a friend. Kids or anyone who enjoys the Lego games will find that there is a lot to enjoy in Cat Quest III. Even with the awkward ship combat, the gameplay is breezy enough that it won’t hinder the experience.
Natsu-Mon! 20th Century Summer Kid is excellent despite its terrible frame rate. The West is very likely never going to get an official release of Boku’s games, but the truth is that Satoru has the better summer break.
This is the kind of game that attracts a certain kind of gamer who hungers for a hearty challenge and high skill ceiling. Eden Genesis will certainly deliver on that front, but it won’t satisfy players who want a compelling story with characters they care about, which is a shame because Eden Genesis does try to offer. If you like pointing at the screen at things you recognize, then you’re going to feel right at home.
There is a reason why used copies of Tomba! fetch prices past the $100 range in the second-hand market. It is a blissfully enjoyable experience that makes you feel like a hyper kid again with snot running down your nose as you hold in your pee because you don’t want to stop playing. Given how many remakes and remasters get things wrong, maybe it was for the best that Tomba! Special Edition is as safe as it is.
Bloodhound is such a massive failure that it gets nothing right. Everything a gamer looks for in a shooter is bungled and it creates new issues with its staggeringly bad design choices. Compounded with the technical failings that make it almost unplayable, there isn’t anything worthwhile here at all.
There is a good amount of content to be found in its story DLCs, and if you are lucky enough to find matches with good ping, then there is some fun to be had here and there, but maybe it wasn’t the best idea to spend your budget on actors instead of tightening up the game.
CLeM is an enjoyable mystery adventure game that incorporates some metroidvania elements with great success. It would have benefitted if the game was a bit longer to flesh out some of the late story components and maybe a redesign of that tiresome firefly puzzle. At the very least, it has the easiest platinum trophy I acquired and I never actively seek any trophies/achievements.
Noreya simply doesn’t do enough to differentiate itself from other Metroidvanias and ends up feeling like a bad imitation of the genre. The game has some good ideas, especially pertaining to the map changing depending on what deity you decide to align yourself with, but it’s too little when compared to all that it does badly.
The developer understands what makes an enjoyable survival horror game and he made one that is very respectful of The Great War, while also showing just how terrifying the experience could be. It feels very authentic and the deftly executed story and atmosphere kept me drawn in every moment.
If you haven’t wishlist Anger Foot yet, then you probably should if you don’t buy it right away. With multiple levels to each act, you can get at least 4 to 8 hrs of gameplay depending on how you play. If you want to put on the stuff to make it easier, then yes it will be faster. The characters within are comical and in a way relatable. The game’s comedy was a nice blend of the corny moments from High on Life with the action-pact pacing of Doom Eternal or Bulletstorm.
The Y2K sensibilities of the game design hold up and there is a quaintness to the French cartoony aesthetics that crystalizes the moment in time this game came out. Beyond Good and Evil aged well; even without visual updates, it would still be a good-looking and fun game. Maybe it is setting things up for the next game Ubisoft has been cooking up for over a decade, or perhaps it’s bringing new players up to speed; either way I am curious about what comes next.
It may be described as Final Fantasy XIV meets Touhou quite frequently, but Rabbit and Steel manages to be a lot more than the sum of its parts, and it fully deserves the overwhelming praise it has received so far.