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It’s presented well, it plays well and it’s fun — and this time around it has the added bonus of being based on a solitaire card game we rarely see given much love. In other words, it fits perfectly into the rest of the Pretty Girls series, and is yet another eminently worthwhile addition to your lineup of casual games.
f you have to pick one for yourself, I’d say your choice will primarily come down to your preferences in terms of two things: the overall game structure and the combat system. If you prefer action gaming, Tower of Fantasy is the obvious choice, as it has the feel of a single-player character action game. If you prefer more traditional role-playing games, Final Fantasy XIV is where you should hang your hat, as while the game isn’t turn-based, the cooldown-based nature of the combat is quite akin to the series’ classic Active Time Battle systems with added movement.
It all ends up pretty well, though; after finally causing the evil sorcerer to blow himself into oblivion by overusing the magic of the Phiel Rings, Rance ends up releasing the spirits of the 40 girls who had previously had their magic absorbed by the deadly jewellery. And when they promise to grant him any wish he wants in exchange for releasing them — whether it be riches, fame, immortality or anything else he might desire — there is, of course, nothing he wants more than a forty-onesome with this bevy of naked magical beauties before their spirits finally dissipate and find peace once and for all.
Strider is still worth experiencing today, don’t get me wrong — just don’t expect to get through the game without at least a bit of frustration along the way! But at least it won’t clean you out of pocket money any more…
Is it better than Genshin? No frickin’ clue; I never played Genshin. But as a first foray into this “shared open-world” subgenre of online RPG, I’m having an absolute blast with Tower of Fantasy — and I suspect I will continue to do so for quite some time, at the rate I’m going.
Today, Bosconian is an early Namco title that holds up very well indeed. It’s something a little bit different from the other shoot ’em ups of the era — and its accessibility makes it a great title for taking your first steps into early ’80s blasters if you’ve previously found the unforgiving nature of fixed shooters a bit tough to get to grips with!
Tower of Fantasy may not be doing anything especially new — it’s fairly shameless how much of a Genshin clone it is in terms of presentation, with even the dialogue window layout and font bearing an uncanny resemblance to MiHoYo’s hit — but it does what it does very well. It’s a good-looking game with an intriguing storyline, likeable characters and enjoyable mechanics — at least in its early hours.
Don’t expect an easy ride — this was an arcade game, after all — but take the time to learn Gun.Smoke’s distinctive mechanics and overall feel, and there’s a really rewarding shoot ’em up experience to be had here, for sure.
I truly think that Xenoblade Chronicles 3 combines the best features of its predecessors and gives us something that goes beyond both of them, certainly as far as gameplay is concerned. As I mentioned earlier on in this piece, I am currently at chapter 6 and while I don’t want to jump the gun, it’s looking to be the best of the three numbered entries so far!
My one hesitation with MultiVersus right now is that there just aren’t any characters that I really care about. Wonder Woman is neat, yes, and I’ll always have a soft spot for Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry, but there just isn’t the same “magic” that Smash has in terms of the roster. I’m sure this will change over time — Warner Bros. has a vast catalogue of characters they could potentially draw from over the long term, after all — but right now Smash absolutely still has a significant lead in terms of making me excited to try different fighters.
It’s just a shame that the actual mechanical and structural aspects of the game make it so difficult to enjoy. There’s a great game in here really struggling to get out; perhaps a patch or two from the developer can allow this game to really shine, but for now I’m sad to say this is probably only one for the most hardcore masochists out there.
My initial impressions of Rance 02 were that it probably wasn’t quite as solid a game as Rance 01 is, and I think that’s probably still true; after all, Rance 01 was completely rebuilt for a modern audience, while Rance 02 is mechanically almost identical to its original incarnation. But that doesn’t mean Rance 02 is a bad game by any means, either; on the contrary, it’s a title that becomes more rewarding and satisfying to play the longer you spend with it — and when you couple that with the excellent story and characterisation, you have the perfect recipe for a thoroughly compelling RPG that will keep you gripped right to the end.
Ahem. Anyway, Dungeon and Gravestone is a good time, and has the potential to become really addictive with its solid pacing and varied challenges. Its voxel-style characters and environments coupled with a fun tilt-shift effect provides a nice “toy-like” feel to the entire adventure, and the arcade-style scoring system and online features provide plenty of replayability. This is definitely a great game to have handy on your Switch for when you fancy a quick bit of adventuring; its short-form play sessions make it ideal for play on the go, but there’s enough substance here to keep you busy for a very long time indeed.
There are plenty of fun red herrings and even a few well-implemented, infrequent jump scares — it’s certainly not one to forget about any time soon. With two endings for each character — one good, one bad — and a single playthrough taking around seven hours to complete, it’s well worth its asking price.
Hooked on You will be quick to remind you that you’re pretty suspicious for trying to hook up with a murderer, so if you don’t mind a game you’ve purchased constantly shaming you for buying it, then be my guest.
Sofiya and the Ancient Clan could have been pretty good with a bit of tweaking here and there. Unfortunately, it’s clear that the developer’s priorities were on the game’s aesthetic rather than making sure it plays well — and as such it’s tough to recommend this one. It’s by no means as poor as the aforementioned Arsonist Heaven was, and if you have a soft spot for mediocre 16-bit platform games you may get a kick out of this — but for everyone else, there is much better fare available.
However you choose to play Galaga today, it’s still a worthwhile experience. While the inherent limitations of early ’80s fixed shooters may initially prove frustrating to those raised on later titles, Galaga is a great means of developing your shoot ’em up skills, and is regarded as an all-time classic with very good reason indeed. It holds up extraordinarily well today, and is one of those titles I suspect we’ll still be playing another 40 years from now.
My initial reaction to Rance 02 is that it’s probably not quite as solid a game as Rance 01 was, but this is understandable given that it’s not as substantial a reimagining of the original as Rance 01 is. Instead, the intent here was to provide a modernised experience that is still very true to the original game — and so far, at least, it feels very much like it’s succeeded in that regard. I’m looking forward to diving deeper.
Ghouls’n Ghosts is a game that requires a certain degree of patience and persistence to truly enjoy from a modern perspective, then. It’s by no means a bad game by either the standards of 1988 or today — but it is definitely an acquired taste. I’m just not quite sure I’ve fully acquired it yet, even after all this time!
Essentially, then, how much you get from Avenging Spirit depends on how much you generally get out of arcade-style experiences. Blast your way through with unlimited credits and you may well be done and dusted with it in less than an hour, but give yourself some self-imposed challenges — or just step back and enjoy the lovely pixel art and sprite animation throughout — and there’s plenty of fun to be had over the longer term.