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Speaking of variety, Cotton Boomerang is best thought of as something of a “companion piece” to Cotton 2 in that rather than being an entirely new game, it is instead something of a remix of Cotton 2. It’s quite a bit harder, too, thanks to some tweaks to the mechanics that make quite a difference to the overall feel of what is going on.
Cupid Parasite is super entertaining, and it is a breath of fresh air for the genre in the west. I’m hoping and praying for even more games of this calibre to be localised in the future, because now it’s all over, I wish I could play Cupid Parasite blind once more.
Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water is a truly wonderful horror game, and it’s a delight to see it finally available to a broader audience. Here’s hoping it does as well as it deserves this time around — perhaps well enough that we see at the very least a remaster of the earlier games in the series, and maybe even a new one sometime soon.
I really liked My Big Sister; it was an enjoyable, thought-provoking, short-form game that really hit the spot when I was in the mood for something a bit different from the other games I’ve been tackling. It has a distinctive atmosphere, a lovely aesthetic, some wonderful writing and characterisation and a really pleasant blend of horror and light-heartedness. And I suspect if you try it for yourself you, like me, will find yourself very interested in exploring the rest of Stranga’s catalogue!
More than anything, though, this is a thoroughly charming, well-crafted game that those who enjoy hack and slash action RPGs will get a lot out of. It may be relatively brief, it may follow the Neptunia trend of heavily reusing environments and enemies with palette swaps — but while it lasts, you’ll have a great time with Neptunia x Senran Kagura.
Fact is, Raiden IV x MIKADO Remix is one of the finest shoot ’em ups you’ll ever play. It’s a great introduction to the fundamentals of the genre for newcomers, but provides plenty of long-term challenge for grizzled veterans. And however you choose to play, you can do so accompanied by a fine, fine soundtrack that is just begging you to crank up the volume and rock out. Just watch out for that bu– oh, you’re dead again. Never mind. Continue?
Ultimately it’s a small issue, though; The Coma is a fascinating horror game that, on a surface level, offers an atmospheric and spooky “escape from a killer” scenario while simultaneously having a lot of much deeper, more meaningful and scathingly critical things to say about modern society. It’s a great example of intelligent horror — and a great addition to your library if you’re looking for something spooky to enjoy.
Before long, you’ll be nimbly dodging in and out of terrifying bullet curtains without a second thought — and you’ll be ready to take those skills over into a shoot ’em up with less abstract presentation. Well, maybe, anyway; with those 160 levels to blast through, rRootage will certainly keep you plenty busy in its own right, and for under a fiver on the Switch (and just 30MB on your SD card!) that’s pretty great value.
This is a good one, then, so long as you’re on board with the “running away from monster” gameplay. It takes the lessons learned from Aka Manto and applies them to a new setting — and the result is a game that, while recognisably similar to its spiritual predecessor, is considerably more well-executed. Thumbs up!
I praised the gameplay loop to death already, but even just moving around the map is seamless, fast-paced, and with each pass, you find something new thanks to your newfound abilities. Ultimately the game just feels like a perfectly refined, classic Metroid game — and I cannot wait for more!
So, then, if you’ve come to the end of Metroid Dread — which, judging by social media over the course of the last few days, a fair few of you have already — don’t despair; your sci-fi action-exploration adventures don’t have to be over just yet! In fact, they never have to end if you don’t want them to — A Robot Named Fight is just waiting to drag you into its meaty world and keep you there for a very long time indeed. I’m certainly in no hurry to escape from its clutches.
The developers succeed at making the game look and feel like Demon Slayer, but unfortunately that isn’t quite enough to make the game good enough for a universal recommendation. Hardcore fans will likely get a kick out of it, but for the more casual fans, this may be one to pick up on sale down the line.
For now, though, if you’re a fan of the “strip ’em up” subgenre — the origins of which we talked about earlier this week — Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy is a fine use of your time. It’s a well-crafted, nicely polished game that is simply fun to play — and sometimes that’s exactly what you want after a hard day.
And while I most certainly wouldn’t say no to a “Pretty Girls Complete Collection” or something on a nice physical Switch cartridge, even as a dedicated collector of physical games I must say it’s nice to have digital versions of games like Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire always on hand — they’re absolutely perfect for those quiet moments when you have your Switch with you and a few minutes to kill. Just be careful, though; those few minutes can easily turn into a few hours!
If you think you can look past these issues, sure, Hot Wheels Unleashed is definitely worth a pop. For everyone else, I’d say it’s one to keep an eye on quietly for a month or two, just to see what the updates look like — and if it looks like they’re going to start gouging players’ wallets. And maybe treat yourself to a copy of Cruis’n Blast in the meantime.
Overall, though, I am loving my time in Tales of Arise. The entire world is beautiful, the characters as I mentioned are fantastic, and the animations for team-up attacks and mystic artes never get old. It’s just not quite perfect.
There’s still a lot to love in Lost Judgment. Nearly everything outside of the main story has been improved since Judgment, and I’m still not tired of scouring the city for new side-content. But it’s hard to ignore how poorly the story often handles one of its main subjects, and the way that certain characters are written. You’ll still get the usual mix of chaotic fights and funny one-liners though, alongside a slew of new side activities and stories, so it’s still easy to recommend Lost Judgment to fans of the franchise.
Slipstream seemingly wants to be liked and it wants to excite and thrill its players — but as soon as you get a little too close and present any sort of indication that you might want to get to know it a bit better, it gives you a solid punch right up the bracket and tells you to fuck off outta ‘ere, loser. It is, not to put too fine a point on it, one of the biggest cockteases in the entire arcade racer genre — a subset of gaming known for drawing players in with its spectacular visuals and exhilarating speed.
All in all, Actraiser Renaissance is a great game that serves as a wonderful introduction to Quintet’s work. It might perhaps have been nice for the package to include the option to play the original SNES version as well as the new version, but the new additions to the formula work extremely well and make the strategic aspect of the game feel much more fleshed out. This feels like a modern game now — even if it looks like a Saturn game — and once you let it get its hooks into you, you’ll want to see it through right to the end, if only to hear more of Koshiro’s magnificent music.
There’s plenty to enjoy here, for sure; it’s an extremely well-made game that provides a very authentic Mega Drive-style shoot ’em up experience that will particularly delight Truxton fans. The only real question is whether you’re up to the stiff challenge that Crisis Wing offers — but then, you’re a big strong gamer, aren’t you? What are you afraid of? Nothing, that’s what. Get in there and get blasting.