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Most otome visual novels are a dime a dozen, and they're usually a guilty pleasure. Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly stands above the rest with its unpredictable, deep mystery and its pathways to the various endings. If you're looking for an atypical otome, especially one where the romantic endings aren't always the happiest, then you owe it to yourself curl up into your couch with this one.
I really like the story that Omensight sets out to tell, but I really wish that it was more fun to actually play. The characters and learning about their motivations made it worth seeing the game to its conclusion, but a finicky fixed camera and somewhat lacking gameplay made my playthrough less satisfying than it should have been.
Engaging puzzles and colorful personalities set to a negative landscape make Forgotton Anne a delightful tale that is accessible to anyone vaguely interested in the genre.
On the surface, Super Mega Baseball 2 looks like a pretty face that lacks the substance necessary to have any sort of staying power. On closer examination, however, the depth of the mechanics provide a far more gratifying gameplay than would be expected. Slap an amusing layer of over-the-top animations on top of a roster of cartoonishly disarming characters, and the result is glorious throwback to the yesteryear of sports gaming. Being a filthy casual has never been so appealing.
Killing Floor: Incursion is perhaps everything you might expect from a first-person zombie shooter in VR. It checks all of the boxes, sometimes to its own detriment. While billed as a shooter, the guns are unwieldy in the most frantic of situations, which will see players bringing a knife to a Zed fight. Incursion isn't the kind of VR experience that's a must-play showcase of the best of virtual reality. It sits firmly in the realm of expected fare, armed with a few gimmicks that keep it entertaining. Longevity is maintained through cooperative play with friends and the ability to slap mutant zombies in the face with their friend's dismembered arm. Despite its problems, that's not really the type of experience I can say no to.
Tacoma‘s simple premise expands into something much larger, and it invites each of us to examine what it means to be human, and how we might pretend to be if we can't actually achieve that. There's a game there, underneath the questions it's asking, and it's a wonderful, technologically sound port. I'm not sure what else needs to be said about the achievement of Tacoma, because so many smart people have already discussed it at length when it was released on PC in 2017. All I can say is that is has aged well, attacks concepts like human will and capitalism on angles that seem fresh in 2018, and remains a must play for those willing to set aside a few hours of their time to experience some very fine, challenging work within the video game medium.
I had a lot of fun with Death Road to Canada. The title can really sink its zombie teeth into you, inviting you to do just one more playthrough before calling it quits. Everything about the package comes together well. Even though the developers could have taken shortcuts and brushed issues aside as nostalgia for The Oregon Trail, they instead gave us a game that invokes that nostalgia while improving upon the old formula.
The ideas on show in AO International Tennis do suggest that with the bugs ironed out and a little more development time put into livening things up a bit in career mode, it could be a contender. The stamina and timing systems are enough to differentiate the game from the slew of tennis titles that have come before it and are undoubtedly good ideas. Ultimately though, the poor execution and the cracks in the gameplay cause this wildcard entry to fall well short of being a grand slam effort.
Dragon's Crown Pro is that same Dragon's Crown we all loved and remember from 2013, it's just shinier, prettier, and on the latest console. If you've already played it to completion (or simply to death) on other platforms, there's very little reason to come back for a second purchase.
Guns of Icarus Alliance will appeal to those who love working on teams. A good selection of ammunition and ability modifiers can help to craft a personalized loadout, even if the class selection of players feels limited. While the presentation is a bit generic, it will please steampunk fans. A metagame that runs constantly helps to make even a small match feel like part of something bigger. Still, a small selection of character classes makes one wonder what else could be done with the fantastic idea of battleships in the air, and an already small player population might mean there won't be many battles in just a few months' time. At just $14.99 USD, however, Guns of Icarus Alliance is recommended for those who want a different kind of co-op experience.
All that said, there's a fun and entertaining game here. Despite its problems, I walked the scorching sands again and again until I reached the center of the city and completed the game (yes, I did end up using some blessings and portals to do it). City of Brass is a really fun first-person roguelike, but the die-rinse-repeat formula wears thin far more quickly than it should. There's simply not much more to do or see once you've played for a few hours or reached the end. Combat remains largely the same simple fare throughout, apart from intense boss encounters that account for a comparatively small portion of the game. Upgrades earned over time and different ability setups through the genies offer the promise of varied gameplay, but City of Brass does little to entice the repetitive play that the genie's curse asks of you.
From an accessibility standpoint, however, HIVE: Altenum Wars does little to make the player feel welcome, and even less still to reward their perseverance in staying. It feels very much like an alpha gameplay demo for a game years down the pipeline. HIVE is a shooter that misses the mark almost entirely, but does, at the very least, provide a very solid foundation upon which Catness Games could build something truly special with more time spent iterating and refining the process.
Dead Secret works as a mobile VR game, but its simplistic roots are painfully obvious on the PlayStation. The ability to play the game on a TV without a headset feels like a tacked on addition that wasn't optimized. Using PSVR, Dead Secret certainly has its frightful moments, and the story is intriguing enough to drive a player through to the end, but with all the great PSVR games out now, Dead Secret feels like a dud on the platform. It takes more than an intriguing story to make a great VR experience. While I had a fun rifling through Dead Secret's mysteries and more than once found myself spooked, it's not an experience I have a desire to play again or showcase on my headset.
I can't say The Swords of Ditto is a flawless experience. But I can say that the combat, progression, aesthetic, and couch co-op combine to create something wholly unique and engaging, to the point where I will gladly continue to play long after review, with the hope that future patches may resolve my complaints. The love and attention to detail that went into its conception is apparent and permeates to the player. There's a lot going on here; a burst of emotion and detail pour out of the experience. Yet somehow, the game remains simple and elegant. The road ahead may be filled with death and sadness, but the kazoos and cartoons keep rolling, making every play session of The Swords of Ditto a real treat.
This doesn't mean that all is lost for lone adventurers, however. With a debt being owed to Castle Crashers and Adventure Time in terms of both humor and visual style, The Adventure Pals has enough going on to keep you interested during the slightly more repetitive sections of play. Had it packed more of a challenge – even if it was optional – The Adventure Pals would be running close to the front of the indie platforming pack. Though the final product doesn't quite get there, it's still plenty enjoyable, especially in co-op.
PlayStation 4 owners certainly got the best deal out of the ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ collection, as the Future Blessings title is tacked on, price-wise, as DLC. Vita owners, I am so sorry that each costs $39.99, and you don't have access to this collection. The combined duo is certainly the best way to go, even for die-hard otome fans. As sweet as the romances are, there simply isn't enough in Future Blessings to warrant an additional purchase. Fortunately, PS4 players have ~Bouquet of Rainbows~ to see all of these romances through to the end, and despite the glaring typos, jumps in logic, and overly simple gameplay, it's worth it to press X to get to the various conclusions.
Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality is another hilarious creation by Justin Roiland and Owlchemy Labs. It brings the world, characters, and humor of Rick and Morty to life in a way that you simply can't experience outside of VR. It's relatively short length is easy enough to complete in a single VR sitting, but aside from Easter eggs for hardcore fans and difficult challenges for completionists (good luck with the battery), there aren't a lot of reasons to jump back in to play it again once Rick and Morty vanish through that portal for the last time. Virtual Rick-ality is for those who love Justin Roiland's style of humor. Others might find some moderately intriguing puzzles and fun object interactions, but the humor and licensed content are the central constructs that really justify the purchase.
It's not the dated graphics. It's not the inexplicably long loading screens. It's not even the fact the hammy voice acting, or the fact that the game has a pretty steep price point considering what it has to offer. The main thing that stands out in Beast Quest is the lost potential of what it could have been: a rich, engaging RPG about a young knight finding his feet in a magical world. It wouldn't have reinvented the wheel, but it could have at least tried to give us something more to work with than the bare bones of a game from the 2000s.
God of War is an epic reboot of an epic franchise. The evolution of Kratos could have gone horribly wrong. Instead, Santa Monica Studio has given the franchise the treatment it deserves. This new narrative tone has heart, and serves to make Kratos much more relatable in his new role as protector, while remaining as brutal as past installments. Reworked and improved combat options make for an enjoyable and customizable experience, and phenomenal audiovisual performance ensures that each trip to the mythical lands before the Vikings is a wonderfully grisly experience. God of War is a must-buy experience well worth the wait.
Super Daryl Deluxe could be something really special if it was better curated, but there's simply too much fluff for it to be at its best. Developers need to remember that sometimes less is more, and that it's better to leave players wanting more rather than wanting to bounce before the credits roll. There are some great ideas here, and some really funny writing, but the good moments are all surrounded by a bunch of middling ones.