SmashPad's Reviews
So if a Zelda-like game from Team Asano interests you, I'd absolutely recommend The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales. I'd also advise that going the extra mile and sweating out the repetition for that true final ending is absolutely worth your time, and I think you're doing a disservice to yourself if you stop at any of the initial two endings.
Monopoly Star Wars: Heroes and Villains, as Anakin may put it, isn’t “rough and irritating” like sand, but it isn’t particularly playing “soft and smooth” like Naboo either. It’s somewhere in the middle.
I’m very disappointed in Disgaea Mayhem. I do very much enjoy the combat and the item worlds can be fun since they’re one of the only ways to fight actual hordes, but the game is far too short, the levels are far too simple, and the devs have simply added in a bunch of dull grinding in lieu of anything substantial.
Denshattack! is fun, fresh, vibrant, stylish, bold, joyous, and effortlessly cool; an adrenaline-fueled adventure of defiance and friendship, brimming with hope and heart. What a great game. This is a masterclass of design and mechanics, inspired by its differences and uniqueness.
This was a short but sweet game about finding your place in the world, pushing boundaries, and making sure people around you felt comfortable being who they are and, most importantly, happy.
If you are looking for an interesting story, unique puzzle mechanics, and enjoyable exploration, Moss: The Forgotten Relic is hard to beat, and you would be hard-pressed to find a more adorable protagonist in gaming this year.
Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced is a great remake of the classic pirate adventure, with some small additions and adjustments. It’s the perfect entry for newcomers looking to finally sail the seas with Edward and crew. For returning fans, it’s the same swashbuckling good time, just refreshed. It doesn’t go above and beyond, but it does enough to justify its existence.
College Football 27 has been the hardest sports game to review in my time in the industry because so much of my time playing it has been spent feeling frustrated by the many stupid bugs and errors that waste my time. Everything in this version of the game puts enough barriers to the fun parts of Road to Glory and Dynasty to make me hope they get it fixed in future updates, or even a Day 1 patch, which would make this review functionally useless. Even then, these are the experiences I’ve had playing the game since the seven days before launch, and it’s been such a surprise that it’s hard to really describe it that well here. I’d recommend waiting to see how things go with the updates in the future, and hopefully those updates address all our problems.
Casual players should think twice (or thrice) about committing to a purchase, but for the diehards who have been finding new ways to turn Relink on its head and smash into its boundaries for the last two years, this expansion hands you the keys to nigh-boundless adventure, as expansive as the skydom itself. Enjoy responsibly, and I won't think any less of you for wanting to tap out.
Despite issues like an unnecessary maze and out-of-place sci-fi premise, Deer & Boy is an adorable narrative adventure that I would recommend. Some of the puzzles are a bit confusing due to a lack of visual cues, but the puzzle gameplay is rewarding for the most part.
At the end of the day, Star Fox’s biggest strength and most fatal flaw are one in the same: It’s just Star Fox 64 again. On hand, that’s why it’s so much fun to play. It is a pretty good remake of a borderline perfect video game. But it also has to measure up to a borderline perfect video game, which it simply doesn’t in some important regards. I’m satisfied with what I’ve played, but also beyond ready for an actual new Star Fox game.
As a Filipino-American, one of my biggest issues with Afterimages was that it didn’t feel Filipino. Aside from actually mentioning the Philippines and using Tagalog words (and having the UI immediately translate them), I just felt like the game’s setting was generic, and while I can understand making a game that’ll appeal to more people, Until Then isn’t that kind of game.
I’d recommend and Roger to anybody looking for a captivating story about relationships with loved ones and empathizing with issues both physical and mental. The way the game moves the story forward with such simple gameplay mechanics should be considered a triumph, and I’d love to see the people I love play through the experience as well.
It has the charm, looks, and challenge that the genre thrives on, but its presentation and systems set it apart in ways that fans of this type of game need to check out. The full game is chugging toward a late 2026 release, and I’m excited to see where this indie team takes it.
For raw action roguelite enjoyment, there are better games for sure. As it stands, this is a solid experiment from ArcSys with a beloved franchise. Where does River City Saga go next? Hopefully, the team has some cool ideas for us.
It’s a good thing that we hadn’t reviewed the game so quickly, too, because we just learned that new missions are on the way in the form of DLC, and I can’t wait to get back into Bond’s shoes. If you’re even remotely a fan of James Bond or secret agent flicks, you owe it to yourself to play 007 First Light. This game made me a fan, and now I’m considering exploring all of the 007 media to see if there’s anything I can predict, now that this game has set a new standard for future Bond experiences.
R-Type Tactics I • II Cosmos gives you two full games and an Epilogue to sink your teeth into. It presents a narrative that, at first, may seem like a simple “Repel the Alien Threat”- style story, but quickly turns into something far darker and much more poignant. The game doesn’t hold your hand; it expects you to learn from both reference material and trial and error. But it will reward you with an excellent tactical experience, and one hell of a gut-punch.
NBA THE RUN is a classic instance of style over substance, but that’s not to say it’s totally bereft of the latter. There’s a lot of game to wrap your palm around, it’s just stuck behind the same online infrastructure that so many other games are. Generally, it’s fine, and Play By Play have such a good opportunity to fill it out more with a solid launch and attentive follow-up to make these issues worth the trouble. I’ll return to it as much as I want, but I’ll need to see the value and reasoning for doing so.
LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight is hard to knock. There are some hiccups, but generally, the game is a fantastic way to celebrate the impact of Batman in another way. Blending the movies was a smart move to tell a familiar but somewhat new story. The combat is familiar yet fresh. It’s the perfect balance of fun and broodiness that a LEGO Batman game should be.
The retelling of the story is great, the production value (even from a Switch 2 standpoint) is phenomenal, and you can tell a lot of love went into the game's development. It is undoubtedly filled to the brim with content for you to enjoy, but at the same time, it's hard to ignore the fact that it doesn't feel like the game actually cares about all the hours you poured into it. These newer versions of the game sort of scratch the surface of addressing that problem by offering Streamlined Progression and the ability to unlock unlimited MP and HP modifiers to make things less challenging, and that's all well and great if you wanna get through the game quickly, as we wait for news on the game's conclusion.