Nindie Spotlight
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While there have been quite a number of titles looking to repeat on the success of Hotline Miami by copying its style, few have gotten as close as Kusan: City of Wolves
With a combination of great looks and a distinctive flow of play, Truxton Extreme has a great base of classic arcade shooting that it then builds on, and throws in some story beats for good measure
Mixing together a coffee shop sim with a dating element, and sprinkling in characters with plenty of personality, makes for a reasonably tasty time
With undeniably gorgeous looks, and fast and intense play, this is a distinctive fighter, it just does a terrible job of getting you properly up to speed with its unique mechanics and the CPU is an unapologetic ass-kicker
A striking monochromatic puzzle adventure that grabs you, but shows some signs of issues which lead to frustrations the further you get into it
A lack of any effort to rise to the occasion and take advantage of the game’s basic setup, instead content to just let you get bored as it quickly gets repetitive, make this one to skip
While I’m not sure how long the game’s quirky charms and unique semi-active racing can maintain interest, I give credit for it plotting its own unusual path
Nintendo’s more single-player-focused spin-off from their unique multiplayer shooter retains its excellent mechanics, and makes for a consistently challenging good time, even if sometimes a grindy one
While I appreciate people finding new types of games to give some roguelike twists to, Barda does too poor a job of helping the player get on board with what it’s trying to do
While it may somewhat work out for people looking for a more casual take on racing, the game’s plainly obvious mobile origins that haven’t been sufficiently removed make it feel like a bit of a bummer on the Switch
While there’s no question that this provides a challenge, the very constrained movement controls too often feel like the hardest thing to survive in the game, and that’s not a good thing
While there’s something to be said for adopting a minimalist look when designing a game to give it a certain feel, failing to back it up with well-honed mechanics and overall polish just make it appear to be sloppy
Somehow feeling less intuitive for getting started than its predecessor, and feeling like it bites off far more than it can chew in terms of scope, this struggles to be fun
While it does provide a reasonably-challenging shooter experience that feels somewhat distinctive, a lack of polish and likely longevity keep it from being more memorable
With a focus on approachability and more innocent fun, Teeto may not appeal to more seasoned gamers, but its innocent charms could be great for younger or more casual players
Hoping to tap into the same sort of room-based puzzling as Blue Prince earlier this year, Looking for Fael has some aspects that do work, but stumbles on some fundamentals at times
This silly budget-friendly sequel preserves the winning formula of the original, while peppering in some new elements to add to the challenge and fun
This follow-up adventure to the excellent Tangle Tower once again delivers on a promise of smart writing, fun characters, and approachable mystery solving
While the retro-shooter-meets-InnerSpace concept is at least fun, and the story that goes with it as amusing, there are simply too many great arcade shooters on the system to give this a pass
While there’s only a somewhat limited amount of content, and the style of puzzling isn’t terribly original, for nostalgia heads it’s still a nice celebration of some NAMCO classics