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I'm left wondering just who would want to play Postal Redux. The game works, sure, but there are a lot of top-down isometric shooters that work. I understand the appeal in playing both transgressive and offensive games, but Postal isn't actually transgressive, since it has so little to say and while it clearly caused offence in the '90s, there are games that are much more capable of causing offence now if that's what you're looking for. Play Hotline Miami. Hotline Miami upset plenty of people. Postal, meanwhile... Postal in 2020 comes across as bland, and for a game (and series) that relies entirely on upsetting people, even when the gameplay is competent, for it to be "bland" is to make its very existence pointless.
I will also say that I have enjoyed Liege Dragon more than some of the others from Kemco, too. There is a more solid narrative to it, and I really like the visual design of that combat system. Though, being entirely honest here, it was probably the sexy princess that got it over the line for me. That really is one very inspired costume design.
But as a cinematic story, set against some of the most gorgeous art we've seen in visual novels, Piofiore is also memorable, deftly-written, and for those that can stomach it, affecting in the right kind of way. It's less repulsive in both intent and application than it is sobering and reflective. I must admit I never thought otome games would go to this kind of extreme. Sure they often have their dark edges, but ultimately, the romance wins through. Piofiore is the inverse of that. It's deeply romantic, but those dark edges will be what haunts you well after you're done.
There is nothing wrong with Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2. If you enjoy Mario Kart, and like Nickelodeon, then you're the demographic for this game, and you'll get a kick from it. There are no nasty surprises in the way the kart racing action is executed, and it's so overwhelmingly competent it would have been something truly special if it was just a little more interesting. Sadly, the really, really good character mashup games are enjoyable even if you're not a fan of the properties, and Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2 doesn't quite get that far.
Prinny 1 & 2 will endure on and be remembered, if only because they have that infamous challenge level and the highly amusing approach the developers took to address that. Who doesn't want to throw a thousand-strong horde of Prinnies at a problem? Scratch beneath that surface are two platformers that are more bluster than refinement, relying more on humour than adventurous design to keep players interested, and while there's nothing wrong with that, it does need to be noted that as far as the platformer genre is concerned, these efforts are neither stand-out nor inspiring. You might not have favourite levels or scenes by the time you've ground out victory across these two titles, but as raw entertainment, they really are hard to put down. As a double feature, NISA is providing real value and entertainment, and hopefully plenty of people are willing to tackle the challenge.
With such a convoluted, complex narrative going for it, Robotics;Notes is the kind of game that you'll end up musing over for quite some time. It's a little more grounded in the human experience than Steins;Gate, but the eclectic mix of genres, themes and motifs that the narrative scattershots its way through means that it needed to have that groundedness to keep players connected to it. So successful is it in its writing and presentation that Robotics;Notes will be remembered as one of the truly great visual novels. It's perhaps not as philosophical or dense as Steins;Gate, but it is more emotive and evocative.
This game, to me, is a reminder of the dozens upon dozens of hours I would play Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 with family and friends, at a time before anyone cared about a "meta-game" or the tiered rankings of dozens upon dozens of characters. Kirby Fighters 2 gets the party fighting game genre right back to the most simple of basics, and it's adorable in the process. That's a win-win.
Undead Darlings comes across as a work of passion and creative energy, and I rarely see a game as inherently enthusiastic as that one. However flawed and rough it is, this is one very admirable little experience
Warsaw is an interesting concept which does do quite a few things right, but its inconsistency of vision prevents it from achieving the same greatness as the games it was clearly inspired by. Pixelated Milk are at their best when they are holding players in the desperate struggle for survival, where each tactical decision matters a great deal between life and death. But it takes real concentration on the player’s part to make these systems work, compounded by UI issues on the Switch which only further exhaust players. There are plenty of games which set out to do things similar to what Warsaw does, but more effectively.
Nonetheless, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 is a delight on Nintendo Switch. It's the ideal pick-up-and-play game for those commutes, it's also the kind of game that you can play while also doing something else, like watching a movie or TV show. And it's the kind of game that, if you want it to, can occupy hour upon hour of your time. The Nintendo Switch is steadily building up a library of excellent simulators, but even among them, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 might be the most playable, blissfully entertaining of them all.
Hades is an end-to-end delight, from one of the most vividly creative studios going around. Supergiant Games has taken a genre that is overused to the point of exhaustion, and found a way to make it interesting all over again. It's a game that plays on the primal, viseral sensations of movement and rhythm, but it delivers it with such precision that it is nothing short of hypnotic.
Hangar 13 have done an amazing job in modernising Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven into a truly powerful narrative experience, one which I hope that fans of the original will be pleasantly surprised by.
Port Royale 4 is the sum of easy-to-understand systems, making it entirely accessible, but it's not necessarily easy, and that's an important distinction. You'll still be challenged by what seems to be an endless stream of competing demands on your time and resources, while lacking the resources to do anything about them.
Nevaeh is easy-playing stuff. It takes familiar, comfortable genre conventions and splices them together in a way that is imminently playable. With such a strong, compelling art style it would have been nice to see the developers push the artistry a little further, either to subvert or confirm the fairytale themes in a compelling way, but you're not going to regret your time playing this one. Not by a long shot.
I am disappointed that the history is such a light brush that it’s barely present and I walked out of Grand Conqueror Rome with little better understanding on where to begin learning about ancient Rome than I had going in, but for most people that won’t be an issue. What they will get is more than enough tactical strategy action to last them for many months to come.
Fight Crab is very much my kind of game as someone who considers a trip to a Salvador Dali exhibition to be a good time. I realise that I'm in a very limited niche in that regard, but this is a horn I've trumpeted more than a few times in the past: if we're going to be on board with this games as art routine, recognising that subversive experiences like Fight Crab have value is step #1.
Wasteland 3 certainly is enjoyable. It's true to the series' roots and the proto-Fallout, and understands what it is that makes XCOM-style tactical RPGs so captivating. But most of all, it uses its sense of humour and sharp writing to keep its post-apocalypse interesting, despite how well-worn that path has become in the decades since Wasteland first hit.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with homages. Vampire’s Fall is a little on the nose with its love of Diablo at times, but there’s a lot of merit to Diablo, and a turn-based open world RPG with that aesthetic and tone is certainly worth paying attention to. It’s just unfortunate that the developers were unable to elevate this beyond being a shallow grind, with more misfired attempts at humour than a narrative that’s actually worth following. Vampire’s Fall is lengthy and content-rich, but it will be quickly forgotten.
Crystal H does what it sets out to so well - be an outrageously perverse work of extended sex humour - that if you can enjoy that, on those terms, you're not going to find something more amusing on a console, likely ever. There's something almost noble about that purity of vision.
What I can say, however, is that this game stands proudly with the likes of NieR Automata, Persona 4 and Danganronpa as something truly intelligent and meaningful. Without ever losing sight of its need to entertain players, 13 Sentinels intellectually engages with and challenges them, respecting their ability and willingness to engage with the game on that level.