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Serial Cleaner is one hell of a game. It captures the style and appeal of the seventies greatly, layering it with a surreal 'job' to do, and a solid sense of humour.
Enemies and locations are varied enough to keep things from getting stale, a selection of upgrades add a sense of progression and customisation, and though this isn't a game that could work just as well without VR, it's implemented well. Really, the gameplay is there to service the story, which is where Archangel shines brightest, and I'm just fine with that.
It's a little limited for what I ultimately want VR to deliver, but it's worthwhile nonetheless.
Not much has changed in the years since Planet Minigolf, but the not much needed to. This is still an excellent little game, and it's a good fit for the Switch's portable functions.
It's a pointless time waster, but it's a fun way to relax the mind with something mindless in short burst.
Match-3 games are dime a dozen, so it's hard for any of them to really stand out. Boost Beast is another example of that. It's adorable and cute, but with well over 200 levels, the grind becomes real and tiring with three quarters of the game still to go.
Overall Cryptark is a great, albeit limited, fast paced experience. While it could have benefited from having a greater narrative scope and dialog between the characters, the action and replayability will be more than enough to keep you going for a long time.
It's nice to know that I have a package like this on the console for when I'm feeling nostalgic. And the inclusion of Pac-Man Vs. is an absolute masterstroke of brilliance. That is a rare retro game, and finally having it readily available on a modern console is something that anyone who enjoys local multiplayer should get excited about.
99Vidas is a perfectly competent brawler game that does nothing to reinvent the genre, but is a solid enough example of it. Short without a lot of variety, I wish the story and main characters were more interesting, but at least the visual style suits it and the music is fantastic.
I hope the developers are able to take the experience from this game and build on it, because the industry needs more people like this than it does indies churning out yet more pixel shooters and aspiring eSports games, but The Girl and the Robot is a lost cause, I'm afraid.
To be honest, the only redeeming factor of Toby: The Secret Mine is that it's not one of the many, so many, "roguelikes" or pseudo 8-bit platformers that are the norm these days from indie developers. It felt kind of refreshing to go back to 2014, even for a fleeting moment. The ideas in Toby are sound, the execution however is a lot to be desired.
Ghost Blade HD lovingly embraces the history of bullet hell shooters, providing classic substance with modern polish. Though these modern aesthetics proved vexing at times, it's an experience worth seeing through.
It has been a real joy playing Aven Colony.
Nintendo has taken one of the few genuine highlights that it enjoyed with the Wii U and successfully brought it to the Switch and, one suspects, a new audience to do with the old.
I always wondered if I had a threshold when it comes to games about pretty anime girls. I guess this is it. I hope Bandai Namco wasn't using Cinderella Girls as a gauge for interest in Idolm@ster in the west.
Inverness Nights tells a unique, unpredictable and touching story which encourages audiences to foster an empathy for its main cast, and the result is an emotional payoff which cannot be understated.
Fallen Legion shows all the potential in the world to become a great IP. The core ideas are strong, and the attempt to tell an interesting, deep story is admirable. Unfortunately this one doesn't execute on its ideas as well as it should, and, critically, this lets down the game's themes, but it is on the cusp of being something special.
Levels+ is a completely forgettable game. It's got some gorgeous aesthetics, and functionally it's a refined, balanced, and perfectly competent Threes clone, but there is no longevity to the game whatsoever, and the lack of an online leaderboard for a game like this is downright amateur.
Transport Giant takes itself seriously. It's enjoyable and rewarding, but as a serious simulation, rather than something fun to unwind with on the weekend after a long week's work. It's not a game for everyone by any means because of that, but it is the kind of game that will continue to reward you the more you put into it.
What this all amounts to is an expansion that doesn't push Final Fantasy XIV in bold new directions because, quite frankly, it doesn't need to. Stormblood takes everything that makes the game good and doubles down on it, expanding the world of Hydaelyn and filling it with more to see, do, and experience. Minor issues with its story and storytelling notwithstanding, this is everything I could want from a Final Fantasy XIV expansion.