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New Frontier Days: Founding Pioneers is a game for those that don’t mind waiting, maybe best played while watching TV or doing something else around the house. I can’t imagine playing while traveling, as you’ll be staring at your pioneers while they complete their tasks. While this style of games works in browsers, the fact is, waiting around is not fun. I understand it comes with the territory of a simulation strategy title, but there just isn't enough to do while yo wait. The colorful visuals are easy on the eyes at first glance, but zooming in everything becomes a blurry mess.
Human Resource Machine may be light on story elements, but the programming gameplay is where the game shines. While I came into the game with no programming skills, I felt the game’s difficulty took a wrong turn quite early on in the game. After learning more about the commands and thinking through the puzzles, it greatly helped me complete even more challenging tasks later on in the game.
theHunter: Call of the Wild is a patient man's game. It can take upwards of 30 minutes from the time you start tracking your prey to the time you claim your trophy. Even then, there is no guarantee that you will kill your target, let alone even find it. I started the game without a background in hunting, but I was able to get by with the educational tutorial popups. One of the few things that put me off was the pace of "sprinting." If you haven't unlocked the outposts then getting from one point to another in such a huge map can take a long time. There is also online multiplayer for up to eight players.
The reliance on trial and error gameplay does a disservice to the disturbing setting that 2Dark creates. The lack of checkpoints is frustrating, and I fail to see how having them would have harmed the game’s tension. Simply having to replay large sections of levels or stopping to manual save after every room just isn’t fun. The combat could be improved if bonuses were provided if you were able to sneak up behind someone, but as it stands, melee attacks are too weak to be effective.
Snipperclips is certainly a surprise, something that you don’t see at the launch of a new platform all that often. While featuring both a single-player and local multiplayer experience, Snipperclips is at its best when played with others. The lack of Pro Controller support is regrettable, but sharing Joy-Cons with a family member or friend and working together to solve a puzzle is quite enjoyable. With that said, there isn’t too many reasons to play through the game multiple times, and Snipperclips is a digital-only experience. If the game added daily or weekly challenges, there would be a reason to return to the game once you figured out the solutions to the included puzzles.
Blaster Master Zero is certainly one of the better games to purchase on the Nintendo Switch. If you are like me and never finished the original game, Zero is a much easier, and refined experience. You can easily spend eight to ten hours to play through the entire campaign, but there doesn’t appear to be any New Game + or additional difficulty settings once completed.
1-2-Switch seems like a missed opportunity. With 28 minigames in total, there are too many of them that are wasted and limited in terms of enjoyment, The couple that seems to be the most enjoyable grow stale over time when played with the same crowd. Sure, forcing eye contact while you are dueling in the wild west or milking cows produces many hilarious moments, but the lack of depth keeps it from being a must-play title. On top of that, the asking price is too high for what the game offers and would have been better suited as a pre-installed game.
Ubisoft's gamble on transitioning the tactical shooter Ghost Recon: Wildlands to an open world sandbox has been a nonstop enjoyable thrill ride.
Fast RMX is a must-have racing game for those looking for an F-Zero racing experience or simply any racing game on the Nintendo Switch. Local split-screen multiplayer works better than I thought it would, and there are plenty of ships and tracks to choose from. The lukewarm online integration is to be expected on a platform where Nintendo has been quiet on the precise details of the upcoming online system that is coming later this year.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is without a doubt one of the best games and freshest takes in the series, and should be played by every Nintendo Switch owner. Whether playing docked or in handheld mode, the game is reminiscent of gaming bliss. There are frame rate issues in both modes, but dock mode certainly has more technical problems. Breath of the Wild has surprised me at every turn, and after the lackadaisical Skyward Sword, I’m elated to see the series try something new and become one of the best games in recent memory. I am disappointed that the overall narrative is lacking and Link’s lost memory since quite cliché, but the gameplay makes up for any shortcomings.
The rich narrative and quest design in Torment: Tides of Numenera makes it a suitable spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment. Along with the tidal system, and the different conversation options, there is plenty of reasons for multiple playthroughs. You can find yourself spending countless hours reading lore and chatting with companions and random townsfolk.
Although I never considered myself a competitive fighting game enthusiast, I found both the combat mechanics and the flow of engagement in For Honor refreshing. Individual matches don’t overstay their welcome, and it’s a hard game to put down due to the faction metagame. Seeing your faction losing a territory is a strong incentive to place additional war assets, requiring you to play one more match. Not to mention the game has additional legs with a rewarding loot system and customization options.
Being a fan of Musou games isn't a must to enjoy Berserk and the Band of the Hawk. The hack and slash gameplay is certainly repetitive, but there is a certain enjoyment from mindlessly slaughtering thousands of enemies in outlandish ways. What I truly enjoyed about Berserk was well how it incorporated elements of its source material. It maintains the bloody aesthetics, showing the brutish rage of Guts, and uses excellently crafted segments of the anime to convey the story.
At the end of the day, Double Dragon IV feeds off the nostalgia of those that spent their youth playing the NES classic titles. While some may argue that the Arcade version of the game was a better version of Double Dragon, there is a certain charm to the 8-bit NES visuals and sound effects. If online multiplayer had been added to Double Dragon IV, it might have helped alleviate the lack of replay value the game suffers from.
Although Rocketbirds 2: Evolution feels different than the previous game, I enjoyed the majority of the changes to the game. With Hardboiled Chicken being a throwback to classic platforming adventure games, Evolution feels like a modern take on the series. While I thought the cel shading in the previous games was visually better, Rocketbirds 2 still has a very clean visual aesthetic. The puzzles can feel repetitive at times, but I thought the run-and-gun style of gameplay works for this room based still of platforming.
Yakuza 0 is clearly an early frontrunner for one of the best games of the year. Even after spending 80 hours with the game, I've found myself surprised by side-missions and all of the optional forms of gameplay. Heck, I’ve probably wasted thousands of yen on the UFO catcher, millions playing poker and blackjack, and tens of millions on purchasing new real estate locations and betting on fights. The overarching story is deeply satisfying, and the side missions are a bonus.
Rise & Shine is an enjoyable side-scrolling action game that perfectly blends the run and gun gameplay of past games with puzzle elements that make you think. The artwork is nothing short of spectacular and the sheer amount of nods to other franchises in the game will make you smile. The game can be completed in a handful of hours unless you become stuck on the final boss like I was, which added a couple more hours to my total. Upon completion, you can go back and find missing collectibles or try your hand at the Ironman mode. Besides a couple of puzzles that bring the game’s pacing down to a crawl, I thoroughly enjoyed everything from the gameplay to the atmosphere in Rise & Shine.
Space Hulk: Deathwing is a solid title. It's got a fun cooperative mode and a decent single-player storyline on top of it. It just unfortunately suffers from some issues, like semi-useless teammates and random online disconnects. The collection of weapons and sheer feeling of power stomping around the darkened corners of the hulk are worth at least a look for fans of Warhammer 40k.
Saturday Morning RPG is a solid title and worth taking a look into if you're either a fan of the 80's or RPGs. While the QTE aspects can tire out early on, the rest of the game is solid enough on its own with a decent plot. Toss in all of the references and callbacks to the 80's and you're in for a treat.
With only three pinball machines available in the base game, you’ll want to purchase additional tables on the PlayStation Store. The Season One expansion adds CastleStorm, Wild West Rampage, Paranormal, BioLab, and Earth Defense. Like the original three, none of these tables are new. Each of these tables provides a satisfying challenge. Wild West, for example, has a wide open middle section to the pinball cabinet, harking back to the days of open country and towns tucked away in the middle of nowhere. BioLab, on the other hand, is full of twisting tubes, and pathways for you to use to your advantage, covering most of the play area with various types of bumpers.