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Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is a standard, run-of-the-mill, hack and slash action RPG. Its shining moment squarely falls on the shoulders of its Infinity mode, with boss fights flying by in a close second. But its lack of polish and attention to detail means gameplay falls by the wayside, leaving a gaping, sore wound that no ultimate alliance can solely heal. Nothing more than a fun beat ‘em up that’s best played with friends, not CPUs.
While the Vehicle kit is no show-stopper, Nintendo Labo is still surprising us in very fun and clever ways. It might not be everyone’s calling, but there’s no limit to creativity. We just can’t wait to see what’s next.
Long gone are the days of piling into a room with your friends to play WarioWare Smooth Moves on the Wii. Perhaps that’s why WarioWare Gold to a veteran player feels like an afterthought. There’s no chance of getting salty with your friends on a 3DS with no local download play and no stereoscopic 3D. If you’ve got a three-hour car journey with your kids over the summer, WarioWare Gold will just about fill that gap. Sorry Wario, we just expected more.
Despite its engaging story and charming characters, Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido undergoes a significant setback when you take its gameplay and controls into consideration. It has a good amount of flair to appeal to different kinds of players, especially those who are also anime fans. But in the end, it comes down to being just another matching puzzle game with tiresome controls at its core. As a side note, one major impression that could be taken from the game is how delicious sushi can be. Therefore, like Musashi, I am also thinking about trying sushi for the first time.
With a 15+ hour storyline, Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers is fun when played in short bursts. The varied map terrain and heated battle action helps keep the monotony at bay, but the daily minigame-to-money grind and the odd, forced inclusion of Amiimals leaves this tower defence game with a bitter taste. Frankly, Dillon deserves better.
What Nintendo Labo achieves is, at its core, exactly what Wii Sports achieved for the Wii in 2006. It encourages non-video gamers the chance to get involved with something their children love. It brings family to the fore, allows for natural teamwork to evolve and both nurtures and inspires creativity. And quite frankly, that’s hard to put a price on.
Given the game’s lucrative appeal, Detective Pikachu comes up short. It’s a real shame the game’s intriguing cast of characters and witty scripting isn’t paired with inviting, challenging gameplay. The overwhelming laziness, coupled with its push on youngsters to give up so easily, reveals weaknesses in its structure. Detective Pikachu needs more than a (thunder) bolt of brilliance to land a critical hit; after all, it’s just not very effective.
Mario Party: The Top 100 often misses more targets than it hits, but it does so in good spirit with its upbeat music, the inclusion of download play and nostalgic artwork. Unfortunately, you can only mask a bad smell for so long before it turns foul. On handheld, the series is in desperate need of a spin cycle overhaul. While it’s got the minigame polish, it lacks the content to be squeaky clean. For now, we’re hanging this one out to dry.
Despite Kirby Battle Royale featuring no stereoscopic 3D, the top-down and side-view visuals are a treat to view. As a multiplayer action brawler, the game certainly has its issues. Though the heart of its multiplayer action is largely repetitive, it’s still an enjoyable co-operative experience with upbeat music and interesting quirks. Just don’t tell King Dedede you ate all his cake.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Miitopia loses its identity along the road. As a genuinely amusing life simulation game, it’s diluted as the support act. But as an RPG it’s lethargic, lacking strategy and appeal. Similar to a much-loved British dessert, Miitopia is like Eton Mess; a beautiful combination but sloppy in design.
Although lacking originality, Infinite Dunamis is a classic JRPG with a sci-fi twist, and fans of the genre will enjoy its vast gameplay and character customization.
Pokémon Picross is a limited, but refreshing take on Picross that is worth a (free) look for Pokémaniacs or anyone who enjoys pick-up-and-play puzzle games.
Human Resource Machine on Wii U, while cute and humorous, is a real head scratcher — one that's better suited for players with programming experience.
Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games offers fun in its Co-op and Heroes Showdown modes, but suffers from being too light on content with not much left for the solo challenger.
Bandai Namco's Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+ on Nintendo 3DS flies high at times, but often lacks fire power in other areas.
FullBlast on the Wii U eShop is your average vertical scrolling shooter that, while enjoyable, brings nothing new or exciting to the shoot 'em up genre.
As long as you don’t approach it with a completionist mindset, Endless Ocean Luminous is a relaxing and overall fulfilling experience that is perfect for short solo gameplay sessions or group dives with friends. The limited variety in the procedurally generated maps means that the novelty of exploration will likely wear off for most long before they catalogue everything, and the story mode is disappointingly sparse and disjointed, but what it lacks in depth it more than makes up for in sheer volume of content. If you are looking to try something with a slightly different flow, this might just be worth diving into.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is, rather unfortunately, far removed from the game it once was. The quality of life additions, changes to Friend Areas, and a distinct lack of challenge until post-game have stripped out what the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon community most loved. It’s a shame Rescue Team DX doesn’t live up to its original gameplay, especially when the storyline deserves so much more. Newcomers may love it; veterans may fear disappointment. Toss an apple to a Pokémon veteran, they’ll hunger for more.
All things considered, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is essentially more of the same with a small handful of minor additions. It’s still a sight to behold to witness the unity of a couple household names in gaming, especially in retro-inspired settings, but two of the most iconic faces in the entertainment world deserve better.
Though not without its redundancies, flaws and general frustrations, Metroid Prime: Federation Force is a well varied first-person shooter with an enjoyable online mode. Perhaps it will never be the Metroid title fans really wanted, but it doesn’t intend to be either with its set up. Repetitive enemies, lack of exploration and solo mode aside, at its core there’s a fun to play title. But as always, we shoot first and ask questions later.