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Don’t Die, Mr. Robot! DX is a disappointingly simple experience further let down by its unappealing presentation. While there is some enjoyment to be had when you first start playing, that feeling doesn’t exactly last.
I guess Ninja Striker! is a platform game, with rhythm mechanics. It could also be a title that just requires you hit the attack button at certain points to breeze through levels before reaching the real fun in the boss fight. If you don’t care about scores or stars, the game loses so much appeal, because the ‘story’ is non-existent. This will appeal to perfectionists and maybe speedrunners who want to showcase skills, but it left me wanting so much more.
Word Search by POWGI isn’t going to that’s blow you away with its ingenuity nor is it a particularly exciting experience. Instead, it’s 300 plus word search puzzles with a four-player element thrown in for good measure. It’s an easy way to pass the time sure, but one that’s also devoid of any real substance. Exactly what you expect it to be, no more, no less.
Most of my time with Devious Dungeon saw me walking through levels destroying everything in sight for coins, then buying the next best gear I could get, before grinding through the next batch of levels.
Even looking past the game’s sordid perversions, Gal*Gun 2 never becomes as entertaining as it needs to be to hold your attention for long. In many ways, that’s a shame as, while the game’s erotic nature may be an immediate turn off to some, it exists in an uncontested genre on Nintendo Switch.
Beneath the hue of its pulsating neon glow, Neonwall constructs itself around an interesting concept but struggles to find a way to make it as engaging as it needs to be. It will boggle your mind in ways unlike any other Nintendo eShop release, but lacks the staying power to maintain your attention for long beyond completion.
In essence, Radiation Island is a zombie-infested survival adventure game on a budget. It is yet another mobile game that has washed ashore on Nintendo Switch and one that fails to ever become a memorable experience on the portable home console. It has clear potential but ends up feeling incomplete, in needing more content to help keep the player both engaged and motivated.
Would I recommend it? Not really. Is it a good game? No. But I love the fact that it’s out there. I also love the fact that it’s a game where death is encouraged. However, because we want him to die, it does remove any tension or risk of failure, therefore lacks excitement.
Nearly every aspect of Scribblenauts Showdown feels like a missed opportunity. Whether it’s the disappointing mini-games, uninspired sandbox mode or even just the limited amount of content on offer the experience overall feels shallow. Which is a real shame, because we know the series is capable of much more. So while it’s exciting to see the Scribblenauts series alive, it’s far less so in this current state.
For the price that RXN -Raijin- costs, you could easily buy a handful of much better arcade shooters instead. While its eastern flavour attracts to some degree, it doesn’t substitute the sluggish performance and cheap presentation that this game provides. If you want a moderately easy arcade shooter with tiny levels that you can grind to death, then RXN -Raijin- may very well be something you’re looking for. Otherwise, you may be best saving your pennies.
Tiny Troopers Joint Ops XL is one of those games which is perfectly fine. It isn’t a bad game and it isn’t going to blow the doors off of the barn. It’s an ideal game to burn ten minutes in between other experiences and there are some nice little moments throughout. Playing isn’t going to change your life or deliver any deep narratives, but if you want to blow stuff up and shoot mindlessly for a while, you could do a lot worse.
Plantera Deluxe feels like the video game equivalent of junk food – you know it’s not great but it does the job regardless. And while there is certainly something to be said for Plantera Deluxe’s surprising addictiveness in the early goings, the shallow nature of the game, unfortunately, means this effect soon starts to wear off. Simple and sometimes fun for short bursts but an average affair overall.
At £7.19, Metropolis: Lux Obscura is affordable enough to land a quick fix should you desperately need one, although in comparison to the average mobile match-three puzzler it stands highly overpriced.
Mario Party: The Top 100 could have been so much more. The minigame assortment is a strong one and a fun nostalgia trip for fans of the series, however thanks to the game’s underwhelming selection of single and multiplayer modes that enjoyment is short-lived. A rushed release that sadly squanders its potential. Here’s hoping an inevitable Switch entry can get the series back on track.
This passion project has evidently been created with a modest budget, but Heroes of the Monkey Tavern is unremarkable in execution. It is the painting by numbers approach that leaves an overriding impression that the developer was arbitrarily ticking boxes as to what is expected in a first-person dungeon crawler, rather than making their own mark on modernising the genre. Instead, we’re left to brave a distinctly average experience that doesn’t hide many riches.
Spiral Splatter is your typical smartphone port – visually simple, light on content and lacking some features in the move to Switch. While the core idea works, everything else about the game feels uninspired resulting in an experience that’s fine for an hour or two but likely forgotten the moment you move onto greener pastures.
And, that’s it. Super Ping Pong Trick Shot certainly has an addictive gameplay loop but it exists within a mediocre experience that fails to ever truly engage and maintain your interest. Even Paper Toss is more entertaining, however mindless it is.
Spelunker Party! is the kind of game that fails to make any real lasting negative or positive impression. It’s a better experience when played in a group, however, the game’s overall mix of frustrating platforming, bland presentation and uninspired level design mean this is a party you might want to pass on.
Squareboy vs Bullies: Arena Edition stands up to make itself known on Nintendo Switch, but, rather than choosing to pay homage to greats such as Double Dragon and Final Fight, more inventiveness was needed to make it memorable. There’s enough to entertain for a short while, but the repetitive design and lack of any real ambition hold back its potential – resulting in an average experience that’s little more than a pushover.
That largely sums up my experience with Yono and the Celestial Elephants, a passion project that wearily falls short from the potential that it clearly had. It is probably best that you wait for another millennium to see what adventures await the next elephant, which, we can hope, will be far more exciting than this one.