SmashPad's Reviews
STAR WARS Zero Company won me over. It was obviously made by and for fans of the world's favorite sci-fi universe, with great respect to the source material and spinning established lore into something fresh and entertaining.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is proof that the series, even if it changes genres, is fantastic. With excellent acting, breathtaking graphics, and a gripping narrative, fans of the franchise will be happy to know it still has it.
As far as boomer shooters go, Cultic is an excellent entry into the genre with fun gameplay and a stellar environment that kept me playing for hours. This is a great experience for fans of the shooter genre, but it’s also an excellent experience for fans of any horror medium.
Addictive? Yes. Strategic? Hell yeah. Gratifying? You bet. Messhof have another potential underground classic on their hands here because they put in the work to make the game feel good, look intriguing, and make your neck snap from the whiplash of slapping you with fun unlocks at just about every turn.
In summary, my criticisms are that I want more updates. If you love Stardew Valley and Story of Seasons, Fields of Mistria is an easy decision–buy it, play it, love it. The game is so easy to get into, and I suspect many of us will keep this in constant rotation for a good while.
MARVEL Tokon: Fighting Souls really nailed pretty much everything it needed to get right out of the gate, and most of the aspects that are floundering can still be tuned up to the high standards of the rest with updates. This is a hell of a fighting game that stands up to the storied greats in the tag fighter subgenre, many of which were built with the help of Marvel anyway.
I'm loving Madden NFL 27. From its snappy interface to its more realistic Franchise and its retooled play mechanics, this really feels like a monumental season. Of course, the season hasn't started yet, so I'll be wary if EA does what they did last year and makes a good game rough with each update.
Duskfade is a well-made 3D platforming adventure game, taking clear notes from larger titles in platforming controls, music, and character design. For all its impressive visual style and ease of control, it falls short of an engaging combat system, which sours the experience during enemy wave encounters.
I spent a lot of time pointing out the things I did not like about Wild Blue Skies, but that does not mean I think it is a bad game. Nothing that I mentioned is unrecoverable. There is a good foundation here that, if Chuhai Labs takes the time to refine in a patch, will put the game up into an easy recommendation. Right now, though, it lands in the category of a good game that just fell short of what it wanted to be.
Agent 64: Spies Never Die is an almost ill-advised exercise in extremely specific nostalgia, veritable catnip for Millennials like me. One person put forth a worthy spiritual successor to some of the ’90s and early aughts certified sleepover classics, warts and all. It comes highly recommended for those who can still get down with the aesthetics and jank of games from nearly 30 years ago.
ReStory does everything really well and makes it easy to keep fixing more electronics with a “one more day” mentality that's hard to put down. Check it out if you’re interested in one of the year’s best games.
BALL x PIT is a wild genre mash-up I didn’t know I wanted. With a progression system that rewards every success or failure, constant rewards for experimentation, and now three free updates, BALL x PIT is one of the best roguelites I’ve played in a while.
I enjoyed my time with Big Walk, but I don’t ever want to play this kind of game ever again. It’s an easy recommendation if you have more than one friend down to play with for the more than 15 hours it takes to beat it, but to many people, those are few and far between.
Beast of Reincarnation just has too many problems to recommend it right now. Beyond the game’s stellar graphics and combat, its exploration leaves much to be desired, and it suffers even more from a weak story and a weaker cast of characters.
This is a fantastic Splatoon game, and that’s exactly what me and millions of other fans were looking for. If you’ve been wanting to experience this series but wanted a single-player focused experience, this is where you’ll want to start.
If you’re the type of person who doesn’t mind randomly playing a video game with a friend, family member, or loved one present, they probably already know that you’re someone into the medium and will likely not bother you for the rest of the session. Every once in a while, though, there’s a game that’ll get the attention of such people, likely to a point where they’ll want to join you or at least ask, “What are you playing?” That’s one of the best feelings in the world, and it’s a feat that I think Rhythm Heaven Groove accomplishes whenever it’s played around people. It’s a big part of what makes the series great.
In all, it’s a worthwhile trip back to the original Halo installation. Halo Studios captured the vibes for this one, reminding us why this was so successful in the first place.
Despite its missed opportunities, Truxton Extreme is still a good game at its core. The story mode can provide a challenge for the most hardened shmup vets, the heartstopper mode can offer a casual entry point into the genre for new players, and the arcade mode is there for players who want to experience a little more.
Kusan: City of Wolves is kinetic, deliberate, bloody, and fun. There are many ways to play it, which is commendable for individual expression and replayability. I hope it finds an audience and a tight community to show us how the game can really be played.
While it can be on the shorter side if you’re not aiming to crack open every treasure chest, Fading Echo is a fantastic action-adventure game with some simple RPG mechanics for upgrading your combat and traversal skills.