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For now, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge comes highly recommended. It may be the best Castlevania in years at heart, but it’s also unmistakably its own distinct thing, too, rather than simply being a slavish recreation of a Konami classic. Its solid gameplay, well-crafted mechanics and interesting structure all show that there’s still very much a place for classic 2D side-scrolling action in today’s video game market, and I sincerely hope it ends up a big success.
It’s generally better to have more options than fewer, particularly if there’s no fixed “best” way to enjoy the game. And Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line sets an exceptionally high standard in that regard. If, indeed, this is the last entry in the series, Square Enix have certainly found a means of letting it go out with a bang.
So regardless of whether or not you’re a Hololive fan — you certainly don’t need to be — I urge you to check out HoloCure if you haven’t already. It’s sure to become your new addiction.
That’s a bold creative statement, and one I very much respect from a passion project like this. Sure, certain elements of Violet Wisteria may cause some folks to bounce off the game — or even steer clear of it in the first place — but for those who are on board with what it has to offer, it’s a very good game that offers a stiff challenge and a decent amount of longevity.
Still, this isn’t a bad game. The cast isn’t quite as good as previous entries but is still solid. The combat mechanics are stellar and will keep you excited throughout the 30 or so hours it takes to complete the main plot. Everything outside the combat, however, feels like it was added simply because they couldn’t possibly ship a JRPG without a host of mini-games to pad out the runtime. I went into Fire Emblem Engage expecting “great”, so “good” feels like a disappointment.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter too much, but for a game that clearly wants to push the boundaries of erotic content on Switch, it seems peculiar that its unlockable content is so flaccid in comparison to the main event. Still, this aside, Shuttlecock-H is a great, genuinely enjoyable game. The gameplay is fun, the art is nice, the erotic animations are excellent and the soundtrack is an absolute banger. So I call that a win.
Suffice to say, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors remains a classic with good reason. If you’re not an experienced visual novel reader, its relatively brief length (by comparison to some other titles) makes it quite accessible, and its interactive room escape sequences help break things up with some actual “gameplay”. And if you’re a visual novel veteran, you owe it to yourself to check out a true masterwork of the medium; a wonderful example of how the interactive elements of visual novels can very much distinguish them from traditional linear media.
While the majority of these features are ultimately rather unnecessary, it adds some pleasant downtime after all the nightmarish sights and descriptions you’ll find yourself interacting with. It’s a perfect balancing act that helps us show that some characters are genuinely redeemable — and that some are absolute, legitimate sweethearts — compared to the majority, who are walking red flags. But that just makes any piece of fiction all the more exciting.
I recommend giving GoldenEye a go, whether you’re a grizzled veteran of the ’90s or a newcomer to this retro FPS classic. It still holds up a lot better than you might expect — and if you have the opportunity to get three friends together for some multiplayer, you can learn what true joy really is.
With fully realised characters who lead complex lives with some of the most engaging character arcs to come from an indie otome, The Spanish Privateer is truly a riveting time.
Some minor technical issues aside — like hair clipping through character models in a way that feels lazy and haphazard for a big release like this — there is more to like than dislike in Fire Emblem Engage thus far. My biggest worry, looking forward to the next several dozen hours of my life, is that some of the more interesting characters aren’t being introduced as early as I would like. But we shall see!
Whether you’re new to Neptunia or a grizzled old veteran like me, Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters is a must-play entry in the series — though in the former case I’d perhaps recommend at least playing through mk2 or Re;Birth2 first — and it’s a delight to see the series thriving. Here’s to many more years of Nep ahead of us!
As something of a scrub myself, I found that just a short time with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters for NES helped enormously with both my own sense of confidence and my understanding of some of the genre fundamentals. And while I’m under no illusions that I’m now in a suitable position to jump online in one of today’s fighting games and come anywhere even remotely close to participating on a competitive level, I feel like I’ve definitely improved. And that’s got to be worth something.
Like most of the other Neptunia games, Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory stands by itself as a self-contained storyline and is as good a place to start with the series as any — though once again, you’ll likely get more enjoyment out of it if you play mk2 or Re;Birth2 at the very least beforehand.
As previously noted, there’s actually no need to play the first AI: The Somnium Files before jumping into Nirvana Initiative thanks to its excellent spoiler-limiting option — you even have to prove you played the original by answering a couple of questions about its finale — but, having now played both in immediate succession, I highly recommend that you plough through both as one big project. This is an exceptionally well-realised narrative world filled with absolutely wonderful characters — and after a while, you won’t want to leave them behind.
Hissatsu Buraiken is worth persevering with, though, because aside from its cumbersome boss fights, it’s an enjoyable game and an interesting twist on both the beat ’em up and top-down run and gun formulae. It’s presented well, has some catchy music and is a decent amount of fun in two-player — just don’t take it too seriously, particularly while you’re getting to grips with it, and there’s fun to be had for sure.
All in all, Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2 is a well-liked installment in the series for good reason. It introduces some popular characters, it features solid mechanics, it has a great story and one of the most notorious endings in the whole series. Were it not completely superceded by its revamped version Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 2, which we’ll talk about in good time, I’d recommend it unreservedly; as it stands, however, the latter version is not only easier to find today thanks to its release on PC, but it’s also a superior experience.
All in all, Hyperdimension Neptunia is a bit of a tough sell to people today due to its many peculiar idiosyncracies, but if you enjoy the series it is still worth exploring to see where everything stemmed from. In some respects it’s kind of remarkable that a game this odd managed to spawn such a formidable franchise, but I guess it’s testament to the lovely art, the solid writing and the imaginative, satirical setting that people still found things to enjoy here, even if they didn’t necessarily get along with the gameplay.
I could happily talk for hours about AI: The Somnium Files and the many strange and wonderful things that happen over the course of its various narrative routes. But I feel my own experience with the game was helped enormously by the fact that I didn’t really know what to expect going in to it, other than an awareness that a lot of people I know and trust really enjoyed it.
All in all, Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes is a solid entry in the Kunio-kun series, whether you’re playing alone or with friends. Its simplistic take on basketball makes it accessible and enjoyable even to those who aren’t big sports fans, and its consistent presentation and feel with the rest of the series gives it a distinct appeal that remains somewhat timeless.