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There's nothing wrong with Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games 2020. It's presented with verve and for such a large range of mini-games, the fact that there's no true dud in there is impressive in its own right. At the same time, it lacks the competitive edge of the "proper" Olympics title this year, and is a little too feature light for its own good as either a single player or local multiplayer experience.
If there was forward momentum on the subsequent chapters, or some kind of guarantee that the story will actually be completed, then Corpse Party 2 would be essential. I love this series for its sublime use of horror language and the pictures it paints with words rather than relying on (just) the visual grotesque. But this "latest" entry into the franchise only gets to be great if it's actually finished.
There's no other way to say this: by virtue of being two of the greatest games of all time, this combined edition pack is one of the best releases of the year.
As a “game” Death Stranding doesn’t do much. But as a work of art, Death Stranding is something mesmerising, intelligent, and powerful, and we never see genuine art within the big budget, blockbuster space. That alone makes it a rare treat to play, and I rather like this new-look, independent Kojima.
Throw in a functional, but hardly boundary-pushing combat system, and you're left with something that works, but at this particular time of year, a workmanlike experience is just going to drown under the weight of all the other really good stuff being released, sadly.
Boiled down it's a fairly simple riff on GhostBusters, but Luigi's Mansion has been produced with such a sense of humour and eye for detail that it has a personality and uniquely Nintendo quality all of its own.
Because it is so similar to the original, and because the mechanics are still as bare bones as ever, Cat Quest 2 walks the line between enjoyable and vapid.
Lethis had potential. The idea of a steampunk city builder is appealing and does delight the imagination on premise alone. In execution, though, there's virtually nothing of the steampunk concept, beyond the aesthetics, and the game is so stiflingly limited in how it plays that it becomes dull before measure far, far too soon.
I look forward to the WWE games, but I think WWE 2K20 would have been better served skipping a year and getting more time to work through its issues.
I didn't think it would be possible, but Gust really has managed to craft three completely different Atelier games through 2018 - one for the traditionalists, one pushing new ground, and one purely for the fans - and all three have, in their own way, been of the astoundingly high quality and spirit that has made Atelier my favourite JRPG franchise for quite a few years now.
MediEvil is a rare bit of whimsy from modern Sony, and so while it plays a little bit too much like an artifact of yesteryear, it still got me smiling.
After briefly playing around with the arcade stuff I turned that it off, because PBA Pro Bowling really does work better as a reasonably dull and sterile, but accurate take on bowling.
With Conception Plus you get a really wonderful, albeit uncompromising and traditional roguelike dungeon crawler, with all that that entails.
It doesn't really matter how well Summer Sweetheart actually plays, though, because it's such an poor concept, and its executed so clumsily, that it's just not worth touching.
The way that Felix the Reaper is packaged together, and the light-hearted nature of it all, does drag you back in. It’s charming nonsense, and with plenty of additional options to replay levels to challenge yourself further, it won’t be a game you’re done with in a hurry either, once it has its hooks into you.
Destiny Connect: Tick-Tock Travelers biggest problem is that there are so many more memorable JRPGs available on Nintendo Switch. It's a sweet little entry-level game, and is refreshingly brief in length and scope. It also has a streamlined, nearly retro approach to its combat, and it has fun with its time travel theme. It might not be particularly profound, but it is sweet and cheerful and has a really good soul.
Mary Skelter 2 is more of the same, but given that no one else out there would touch this combination of fairy tale, fetishistic horror, and anime fan service, I can't complain one bit about what Mary Skelter 2 is.
I can't recommend this game enough. It tells a cracking Shinto werewolf story, and the drama of the game's "courtroom" scenes are every bit as compelling as we've seen in the likes of Danganronpa and Lost Dimension. The presentation is a little on the pedestrian side, but don't let that put you off exploring one of the hidden gems of the genre.
It is a truly impressive technical feat that a developer was able to get The Witcher 3 onto the Nintendo Switch in a working state at all. That doesn't necessarily mean that the port should have happened though.
Silk is a noble idea, presented nicely, and once you get the hang of it, the sheer scale of the game, as well as its exotic themes, make it a wonderful blend of history and adventure.