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Masters of Anima mostly succeeds in implementing an inherently troubled concept: a strategy title on a console. It provides some frustrating and subpar moments, but it always comes up ahead with a fun, demanding, and good blend of gameplay styles to pull you through its 10-hour campaign. You'll want to see it through to the last fiercely fought battle.
Your enjoyment with Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is going to mainly come down to whether your primary focus is online play. If so, then this isn't going to be your game due to the online play that is spotty at best and non-functional at worst. If not, then this package will definitely be for you, as you'll get 12 arcade-perfect games with gameplay that's still enjoyable today. With the Switch becoming a system that is getting some really good fighting games, this makes for a perfect addition to that genre library.
City of Brass brings some interesting features to the dungeon-crawling genre, but its overly generic style and atmosphere don't break any new ground. It's a game that can be picked up and put down easily, which would make it a good candidate for a Nintendo Switch port. City of Brass' qualities are unfortunately marred by its lack of personality and other technical blunders.
There's a good idea in RPGolf, but it doesn't have the game mechanics to shine. The simplification of the golf mechanics is fine, as is the idea behind the combat. However, the enemy behavior and the other missing quality of life issues make this game more of a chore than something you'll want to be excited about. Its relatively cheap price means it's reasonable to buy it to check it out anyway, but don't expect much from it.
It becomes readily apparent that those who will enjoy Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time the most will be existing fans of the series. The storyline and new animations are worth checking out, especially since the second season is still a ways out. Even then, they may be hard-pressed to deal with both the tedious exploration and the unreliable combat. For them, the game may be worth getting for cheap. For everyone else, this should be a pass.
All in all, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is an exploration-based, open-world collect-a-thon with crafting and quests that are both beautiful and fun when played in small bursts. Ultimately, it doesn't provide any substantial challenges and doesn't run too well on the Switch's hardware. Unless you're a die-hard fan of relaxing games that you can play for the sake of playing, Yonder may not be your cup of tea.
Juicy Realm has the presentation nailed down, but everything else is merely serviceable. The shooting is fine, and the guns can be wacky, but the roguelike elements are lacking, dampening any reason to replay the game once you beat it. The short length doesn't help things, either, and while co-op is a nice touch, it doesn't extend the game's longevity. It's a fun title while it lasts, but don't be surprised if you quickly forget about it.
Gang Beasts never pretends to be a single-player experience; it's a party game through and through. Even though there's only so much depth that can be found in imprecisely manipulating ragdoll physics, the end result is still oddly compelling. While Gang Beasts is not the kind of game that will find its way into the eSports circuit, players will still find a lot to love as they fight and fall and laugh at all the ways they succeed or fail in its oddball arenas.
Despite its flaws, Forgotton Anne has such fantastic qualities that may charm you to overlook these inconveniences.
Your enjoyment of Jurassic World Evolution is going to depend on what you're looking for from a park management sim. If you want a full campaign without worrying about minutiae, then you'll find this to be a well-done take on the genre that looks stunning and sounds very nice. If you want freeform play from the beginning, you'll come away disappointed at what this package offers. Evolution is still a good use of the license, but you can't shake the feeling that it could have been better.
Ode is one of those games where you may only play it once, but the experience sticks with you for some time. There's simply a sense of joy as you go through these levels and make music organically; you see the tunes start from humble beginnings before transforming into a full-blown melody that you can enjoy before trekking to the next stage. Ode looks and sounds beautiful, and although it can be finished very quickly, you'll be glad to have given this game a spin.
Skies of Fury DX is a very simple but very enjoyable arcade shooter. The campaign is long, but the missions are short enough that they can be enjoyed in bursts, while the progression system gives you enough reason to keep coming back. Controls and presentation are good, and despite the issues in some areas, the core is enough to provide an overall fun experience. Skies of Fury DX is a pleasant surprise that's well worth checking out.
After five iterations in the modern era, R.B.I. Baseball 18 remains a terrible series for any type of baseball fan. The modes may be serviceable, but everything from the AI to the presentation and the overall performance is severely lacking in quality. PS4 owners have a choice, so if you need your baseball fix, opt for Sony's offering once more with a tiny bit of hope that MLBAM will finally get something going next year.
Hyper Knights is a game played best in short bursts. The quick fights are fun on their own, even if you never become strong enough to take on entire armies without dying, and taking over a territory is effortless but still exciting. Having said that, the flaws — from the unresponsive AI to the inability to do simple things like break structures on your own — seem like baffling omissions.
Unravel Two is equally as good as the emotionally pleasing original.
There's little to no reason to recommend Tennis to anyone. The paltry amount of modes is unsatisfying, and the characters' only differences lie in their limited speech bank that repeats incessantly. The presentation is bearable, but seeing it struggle is bewildering. More importantly, despite the number of control schemes available, it feels like wasted work since your only real interactions with the game are reduced to hitting the ball. Despite the tempting $8 price tag on the game, you're better served waiting for any other tennis game to come along for the system.
There's the seed of a good game here, but it's underdeveloped. Garage has style and wit to spare, but its cheap deaths, poor map design, murky graphics, and frequent bugs all add up to a frustrating experience. I'm usually willing to give any zombie game more credit than most sensible people would, and even I can't recommend this.
Vampyr is a rough but interesting game. The story starts off in an intriguing manner, and the character interactions show that Dontnod still knows how to make them the most compelling part of any game. The quandary of whether to give in to your base desires seems like a good moral dilemma, until you realize that the combat heavily favors you upgrading early to make the progress less of a grind. That means the game leans heavily toward an evil ending before you attempt a good one. Due to the lack of good vampire games in the market, Vampyr is worth a look, but don't expect a masterpiece out of the gate.
What The Fall Part 2: Unbound lacks in difficulty, it makes up for in intrigue. The transformation of narrative from horror to sci-fi makes you look at the series in a new light, and even though the questions about humanity and robotics have been brought up before, the game's take on them remains interesting enough that you'll want to see what's in store for the third game. The gameplay length is decent, and there are satisfactory combat and puzzle elements. If you've already checked out the first game, you should take a look at Unbound as well.
Agony is obsessed with getting the atmosphere right at the expense of gameplay. From the bones and viscera adorning every the world to the torture and writhing bodies, the developer has certainly succeeded at creating a place that is disturbing and fascinating. Once you get over the edgy environment, you'll recognize that there are many issues with the game: broken tutorials, inept stealth elements, a possession system that isn't explained, poor checkpoint placement, gamma issues, and mediocre voice acting. In a way, the experience you'll have with the game matches its name perfectly, so unless you're desperate for a masochistic experience, Agony gets a hard pass.