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If you had told me one of my favorite retro adventures in a long time would be sports-themed, I would have called you a filthy liar. But it’s true that Bat Boy is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. Though the adventure is relatively short, with only one ending, and can feel occasionally overwhelming, it’s also well-crafted and fun. I spent a good 7 hours with the game, though you can probably beat it in less if you don’t replay stages or go for completion. It’s not a perfect experience, but it’s a worthy one, and I hope this isn’t the last adventure for Ryosuke and his merry band of athletes.
With its unique twist on combat and a great sense of style, I went into Strayed Lights with high hopes. However, while its presentation and challenging parry-centric boss battles certainly shine brightly, its largely nonexistent story, a lack of enemy variety, and frequent crashes caused that light to fade well before the conclusion of its four-hour runtime. If you’re simply looking for a novel take on the action-adventure genre, maybe pick this one up once it goes on sale. For anyone else, Strayed Lights is tough to recommend.
Homestead Arcana is a welcome addition to the cozy gaming space. A complete lack of combat, interesting magical farming techniques, and rewarding yet tense exploration that focuses on using spells to outwit your opponents rather than destroy, all contribute to an experience that manages to elevate itself and stand out. It may lack the engaging side content that ultimately keeps many around games such as this once the critical path is completed, not every game needs to be a time-devouring behemoth, and some may actually appreciate the breezier experience that Homestead Arcana presents. If you’re looking for a distraction from the genre’s heavy hitters, then the adventures of Billie and Huckleberry are well worth experiencing.
So once again, I’ve tried another deckbuilder, only to come out disappointed. Three Kingdom: The Journey isn’t a terrible game, and there’s kernels of greatness that could grow into something much better. That will just depend on Senmu Studio putting in the time to fix the translation and tweak the game balance. Until that happens, this is just one of many frustrating deckbuilder experiences.
Put simply, Cyber Citizen Shockman is a peculiarity of a retro game. Though I appreciate it being brought to new audiences some 30 years later, I can’t say it holds up very well. My hope is that the series grew over time and got much improved, since I know Ratalaika is bringing other games from the franchise to the West. But if you’re looking for an amazing retro experience, you’ll probably be disappointed with it.
Volcano Princess is definitely one of the more addictingly fun games I’ve played in recent memory. It has that same “one more turn” kind of feel that got me hooked on the likes of Civilization and other strategy games of its caliber. Although I wish there had been more effort put into the English localization because the story deserves to shine as much as the rest of the game, the clunky translation didn’t stop me from pouring 40+ hours into it. If you’re looking for a very sweet but surprisingly deep (and absolutely addicting) experience, Volcano Princess could use your careful guidance to reach its full potential.
Sometimes, as a gamer, you long for a game that you can just let your hair down with. That inner child wants to get some fresh air from time to time, and LEGO 2K Drive is there for just that. Not everyone will be here for the numerous puns and hammy dialogue, but I think anyone picking this up won’t be disappointed in the classic fun of screwing around with a vat of LEGOs. While the vehicle editor has a bit of a spazzy camera and seems to be missing a couple of parts, it’s still so robust when it comes to bringing those childhood fantasies of racing your custom LEGO car to life that it can be easily forgiven. It’s just a shame the same can’t be said about the egregious microtransactions that are about as painful as stepping on a LEGO. Still, if you have a taste for arcade racers and a love for LEGO, or are maybe looking for a good first racing game for the kids, you can’t do any wrong taking a pit stop at LEGO 2K Drive.
The Path of Destiny mode may not have been much of a hit for me, but everything else available here is more than enough for a Magical Droppin’ good time – keeping this franchise within my pantheon of favorite puzzlers. If the price seems too steep at the offset, then there’s no shame in waiting for a sale or until more of the free DLC drops to see if it adds value to the purchase for you. But if money is no object, then get on this bad boy and start having some fun! Just get some backup controllers on standby because these bad boys are going to take a serious pounding!
With a chunky new campaign that presents a significant spike in difficulty, and a whole new endgame to grind out, along with a plethora of new optional quests, new gear to craft, and a new wave of best-in-class monsters to hunt, Sunbreak might not present much in the way of surprises, but it’s a terrific addition to an already fantastic game that continues Capcom’s trend of complimenting the series base experiences with stellar expansions. For new players, the more logical difficulty curve that Sunbreak presents, with a meaningful endgame challenge now correct and present, means there has never been a better time to jump into Monster Hunter Rise. Similarly, for lapsed players who were eventually put off by how trivial things had become, Sunbreak provides the perfect excuse to jump back in. Whatever angle you’re approaching Sunbreak from, sharpen those blades – you’re going to need them.
That’s actually a frequent issue with Darkest Dungeon II. I admire that the team at Red Hook Studios took a real swing here, trying new paths forward for the series instead of just tinkering around the edges and making an iterative sequel. The issue is that most of the game’s strengths are still the parts that came from the first game, with most of what’s new feeling fine but also like downgrades to what they’ve replaced. It leaves Darkest Dungeon II in a strange place where, on its own merits, it’s an interesting and well-made game that doesn’t quite live up to the example set by its predecessor.
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores may be more Horizon, but if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll be very happy with this new content. With an excellent story, interesting new characters, awesome new weapons, and enemies, as well as some of the most exciting sequences in the entire game, Burning Shores makes Forbidden West an even stronger experience than it already was.
If you’ve been salivating for a new old-school RPG on modern consoles, Live A Live is a proper treat. The selection of stories you play are lovely and varied, the beautifully upscaled look of the game brings details to vibrant new life, and there is a lot of retro arcadey goodness in here to bask in. Furthermore, the shortness of each individual story makes each of them easy to play without feeling overloaded or that you’re missing something. Live A Live can get tricky, its grid-based battle system is a little passe, and it isn’t the most awe-inspiring remake you ever saw, but it’s a lovingly crafted revitalization that will please anybody with a fondness for old-school JRPGs.
While it’s true that Bend the Roo’les is a pretty affordable experience and one that’s easier to recommend, it still has its share of problems, both in terms of glitches and bugs, but also in terms of unbalanced game design. But if you still want to take your chances and spend more time in the Kao the Kangaroo universe, you might still find some limited enjoyment here.
Even though the game’s balancing and AI issues try their best to spoil the fun, ArcRunner still manages to deliver a satisfying cyberpunk roguelike experience. Despite its shortcomings—and they are plentiful— it can feel great to give into the temptation to jam to some synthwave and gun down some nameless bots for a few hours. It’s just a shame that, apart from the killer aesthetics, there isn’t much to compel players to return to its neon-saturated streets once they’ve finished their initial playthrough. That said, if you’re looking for an in-depth approach to the familiar roguelike formula, you might want to look elswhere. Which is a shame, since ArcRunner offers a fairly decent gameplay loop along with a striking cyberpunk playground to go with it. If you’re looking to soothe that very specific aesthetic itch ArcRunner scratches, by all means, go for it and indulge in the wavey synths and rain-slicked streets. Just know that your mileage may vary.
Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp offers two excellent strategy titles which will keep players busy for a ton of hours. Whether you’re an old fan happy to be back in command or someone enlisting for the first time, there’s a lot to recommend here. A bit more work updating things, particularly the balance of the latter half of the first game and the multiplayer experience, would have been welcome but that shouldn’t stop those wanting an excellent strategy experience from picking this one up.
As reductive as it may seem, Mia And The Dragon Princess is just another Wales Interactive FMV drama. Nothing here stands out besides a smidge of animation here, and a bit of foreign language there – oh, and a few minor laughs at some of the idiotic dialogue. There’s a minor level of entertainment you can summon from Mia and Marshanda’s exploits, but once you’ve polished off a first run, you will only bother going back either out of curiosity to see how alternative scenes and endings play out, or for trophies or achievements. At the end of the day, there simply isn’t much here to hold your attention. And like in previous Wales Interactive efforts, a lot of the scenes become skippable, so Mia And The Dragon Princess is another title that can be gorged through like a starving child when he glimpses a box of Celebrations. But unlike Celebrations, it doesn’t have the quantity nor the quality to entice you to keep on feasting, it’ll instead make you feel full all too quickly.
There’s no denying that Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin has its unintentionally awkward moments when it comes to the story, but at its core it’s a solid experience from both a gameplay standpoint and in terms of how it links back to the entire Final Fantasy universe. In fact, fans of the franchise will certainly be blindsided by nostalgia when it comes to music and settings, so I encourage newcomers to the series to try a few of the mainline entries first if they want to get the most out of this one. As for me, I found myself enjoying Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin in the same way that I enjoyed Final Fantasy X-2: preferring combat to story. Simply put, as long as you set your expectations accordingly, you’ll have a good time.
Labyrinth of Zangetsu is a solid, addicting, enjoyable game. Yes, there are some annoying shortcomings, but the story and art style are both intricately connected, with the story being surprisingly engaging for a first-person dungeon crawler, and the art style likewise remarkably deep and beautiful for the genre. Exploration is addicting, and character classes can be changed or upgraded as you progress through the game, giving you access to advanced classes. First-person dungeon crawlers can often be a bit of a slog, but Labyrinth of Zangetsu manages to avoid that particular pitfall by being a reasonable length. While the difficulty can, at times, be quite steep, it’s worth the occasional pain and suffering.
Overall, DNF Duel was and still is one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I’ve played in a long time and one of the better ports on the Nintendo Switch, taking everything there was to love about the game while still retaining its sleek gameplay and killer sense of style. Sadly, while the characters and animations still look great, and the game runs like a champ, it took a slight hit in terms of graphical fidelity to be able to run the game at its most optimal on the Switch. Nevertheless, while it may not be an entirely new game, it does a phenomenal job showing that an old dog doesn’t need new tricks to be great. So if big beautiful sprites, bone-crunching combat, and vivid visuals are your cup of tea, don’t be afraid to give DNF Duel a try.
While Square Enix didn’t nail every element of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, they got enough right that I can’t imagine revisiting any other version of any of these games. Some of the greatest RPGs of all time are once again available to players on modern platforms, and that’s a cause for celebration. Whether you’re yearning to reexperience epic journeys from your youth or are just curious about what all the hype is about when it comes to Final Fantasy, this is a collection well worth your time.