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I am happy to see that Drawn To Life is still mulling around in the minds of the creators. I'm not the world's biggest fan of platformers, but I greatly enjoyed the playful creativity and customisation that the original games offered. That Two Realms has somehow pulled back on a concept that even primitive DS and Wii titles managed perfectly well is very disappointing, but I hope that the low price point means that this was just a token first effort that will lead into a more substantial, and conceptually true, re-boot down the track.
Criticisms aside, Football Manager Touch 2021 is impossible to put down. The bugs and crashes don't matter. The presentation doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter that this game is so dangerously close to crossing the line to become actual work that I wouldn't be surprised if the developers actually collect people's play data to pass on to the real-world managers to give them ideas for their actual decision-making. Football Manager is emergent narrative brilliance, and Touch 21 doesn't let us down there by any means.
As a relatively low-price collection of three retro JRPGs that will last you for a long time (if only because each offers dozens of hours of classic grinding), the Collection of SaGa is obviously niche in terms of its demographic, but these are games that are very easy to love. It would have been nice to have some of the features that more comprehensive retro collections have – digital art books, histories, music players and so on, but no-frills or not these are valuable, pioneering pieces of video game history, and they’re both worth owning and persevering with.
Not every game needs to be infinitely replayable, though. Crawlco Block Knockers is perfect as a little diversion in-between bigger games, or because levels are short, it's the ideal time-filler. I would have said that it would be ideal to take on the commute, too, except that other people would most certainly judge you for playing this in public. It really is good fun though.
Combining the JRPG and Rhythm genres can make for some very engaging gameplay experiences, but Taiko Rhythmic Adventure 1+2 does not do it meaningfully enough to achieve any lasting appeal.
Throw in the superior character portraits, art, and musical score and Mercenaries Blaze represents a confident step forward. Of course, it’s not of the standard of a Fire Emblem, Disgaea or God Wars, but for people that enjoy the core gameplay loop of the tactics JRPG – and it is a very compelling one – Mercenaries Blaze is a lean and effective example of it.
Ultimately if Ubisoft can work out the kinks that were to be expected from a first excursion, Immortals has real potential to become another marquee property for the company. Expected DLC will take players to Asia as a brand-new character, which could potentially be an inkling that Ubisoft plans on exploring many other mythologies yet. The biggest challenge that the company will face is finding a way to bring out a distinctive personality on the mechanical side of Immortals, because as it currently stands it most certainly feels like a case of “throwing everything at the dartboard to see what sticks," and Ubisoft is cribbing a lot from games that are already excellent.
SEGA snookered itself a little with the original Puyo Puyo Tetris. The reality is that that game was so perfectly complete that whatever came next was going to feel slightly diminished because its core strength - the ingenious ability to combine two very different puzzlers in a cohesive manner - was no longer new and exciting. Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 does everything that original game did. It's every bit as charming, entertaining, and downright fun. The problem is, it doesn't have the same impact now, and if there is going to be a Puyo Puyo Tetris 3, the development team is going to need to come up with a new trick, else the prestige of the oddball crossover is going to start to fade.
The reality is that at this point Dragon Quest XI is an older release, and Dragon Quest XI S: Definitive Edition is itself not really that new. I have no idea what percentage of prospective Dragon Quest fans have somehow avoided playing this yet, but I imagine it's a now a very small number. With that being said, that "8-bit" mode really is a breath of fresh air to the original 3D game, so if you don't own a Switch and haven't had the opportunity to play this game that way yet, then it's actually worth the upgrade and replay even if you own the original.
Root Double lets itself down in the way it indulges nonsense like scientific explanations and science fiction when really it wants to be a taut psychological thriller about a group of people caught in a truly desperate situation. Thankfully, when it focuses on what it's best at it's a near-on perfect example of the genre. It can be both bewildering and exhausting, but one thing Root Double will never let you forget is that it is also compelling.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate was excellent on PlayStation Vita, and it remains excellent on Nintendo Switch. There are a lot of roguelikes available on this console at this point, but there's something about the classical elegance and adherence to genre tradition that makes Shiren the Wanderer appealing. It's a little like how some people still love the sound and experience of vinyl records, really. You're not going to be blown away by innovation with this game, but you may well find yourself in love with its sincerity and near-perfect refinement.
Anyhow, I digress again. LoveKami, for better or worse, is the kind of game that, for all its merits, is going to keep driving you back to its most overt elements; those giant cup sizes, and the costumes designed specifically to highlight them. That will put some people off immediately and irrecoverably. Others will come to the game entirely because that's what's on offer. In the case of both groups, there's an enjoyable reflection on a very Japanese way of thinking in the game that is going to be overlooked for interest in the fan service... but then I imagine that my efforts here of trying to intellectualise this game has been one giant exercise in futility.
There is no doubt that Project Highrise is a more dry experience. Its minimalistic kitsch is a stark contrast to Mad Tower Tycoon's bombastic colours and bright energy, and I'm certainly aware that there are a lot of people that would prefer the higher energy approach. Assuming, that is, that the game is patched to the point that it becomes playable.
That aside, Planet Coaster is indeed the best theme park creator we've ever had. In Australia, there aren't many theme parks left at all (can you believe that Sydney - a major global city - only has one theme park, and it's a tiny space that can be walked across in a few minutes), but there was a big one when I was growing up, and this game takes me back to looking forward to going to that theme park every so often. There are some UI issues, and one or two clunky moments within the management side of the game, but nothing that detracts from the sheer creative joy of playing around with those coasters and creating the park of your dreams. I can almost smell the churros.
I haven't been as conflicted about a rhythm game as I have Melody of Memory. On the one hand, the rhythm game action itself is wonderful and the music, across 140 tracks, is sublime. On the other hand, being forced to play through a truncated and baffling summary of the Kingdom Hearts narrative just to unlock those tracks has done little to enamour me to the series, and there are far, far too many little additions that distract from what the game does best (i.e. the rhythm action). The grand sum of it is that Melody of Memory is much more a game for existing fans of Kingdom Hearts than it needed to be, and once again Square Enix has struggled to fully capitalise on the rich opportunity that the Disney license provides them.
I wanted Replica to say a lot more than it did. We're living in a time where governments are becoming more aggressive in snooping into people's lives and for the first time since McCarthy, being branded as a "communist" is shifting from being someone who the right-wing impotently laugh at to someone who could be in some real danger. Replica does the right things in many ways, name-dropping real-world events and giving it enough context that the game is clearly anti-fascist in tone. Unfortunately, it lacks the intelligence and emotional resonance to be the interactive Orwellian experience that it wants to be.
QV is another puzzle-shaped feather in the eShop’s cap. Its brainteasers successfully balance accessibility with sophistication. Its vibrant art style and subdued soundtrack evoke pensiveness. However, it’s the small cast of characters and playful comedy that truly solidify it as exceptional. I wish the developers doubled down on these low-key moments since they breathe new life and context into the underlying puzzle game. Even so, QV is an adventure I won’t soon forget.
With an average run length of about a half-hour, Azurebreak Heroes is simple fun at a low cost, with an engaging gameplay loop and some creative options for character development. You’ll get great bang for your buck here, especially if you’re looking for something to scratch that ARPG itch after finishing Hades. For all the game’s imperfections, there’s still a lot to like – the challenge is just right and it’s a delight to push ever further into the world of Heldia.
There’s not much else that can be said about Pure Pool (also we’ve reviewed it previously, so check that out). VooFoo Studios has successfully made a game that remains relevant and feels current over half a decade after it first released it, and for “sports games”, that’s a rare achievement indeed. You’re not going to find better ball porn anywhere, and so, even though this is a port of a six-year-old game with very little added to it, it’s great that it’s now portable and on the Switch.
Serious Sam remains the perfect foil to all the self-serious and often toxic shooters that we see today. All three games (and the two DLC expansions) that are contained in this collection are pure, unmitigated fun, and there's not a single (admittedly high-quality) rendition of Ronald Reagan across any of them. Not coincidentally, while I've already deleted that CoD off my hard drive, the Serious Sam Collection will stay on my Switch for quite some time to come. In short bursts - particularly on the commute after a hard day's work - there's nothing more cathartic.