TheGamer's Reviews
Rytmos is a meditative music-making experience with a specific goal in mind – sharing the music of the world, with the world. With well-designed puzzles and diverse influences, it’s worth the play if you’re keen on a relaxing, musical experience.
For everything Digimon World: Next Order offers, there is something better. If you want monster-taming, Pokemon and Monster Rancher are right there. If you want specifically Digimon, Cyber Sleuth and Survive are more than enough to have your fill. If you want anything other than wonky pacing, shallow combat, and frequently cringeworthy writing, Next Order probably isn’t for you.
The adorable art style and quirky concept of Void Terrarium 2 reeled me in, but the moreish gameplay kept me hooked. Repetitive failure can sour an experience, even if that’s part and parcel of roguelites, but Void Terrarium 2 alleviates the frustration a little by offering a blend of genres and regularly evolving gameplay mechanics. After all, there’s nothing like taking a break to redecorate your terrarium and destress after 20 failed runs.
In comparison, the most unique thing that Clive ‘N’ Wrench has going for it is its focus on speed and its wider pool of moves, which doesn’t feel like a defining feature. How much that bothers you is going to depend on what you go into Clive ‘N’ Wrench expecting. If you’re hoping that it’s going to revolutionise or build upon the collect-a-thon platforming genre, you’re going to be disappointed. If you’re just looking for a simple, nostalgic adventure that calls back to the platforming days of old, then you’ll Clive ‘N’ Wrench might be worth grabbing a backpack for, but its dated design makes it a tough recommendation for anyone other than the genre diehards.
Additions like Magalor Epilogue, Mecha, and the cel-shaded visual overhaul make Return to Dream Land Deluxe the best way to play one of Kirby’s most important 2D adventures. It may be a bit simplistic compared to more experimental games in the series and its main gimmick isn’t much to write home about, but the impact it had on one of the main tenets of Kirby, Copy Abilities, is undeniable.
Atomic Heart is three times too big and beats erratically, but its more confident components prevent it from flatlining.
Loretta’s story is one of a woman trapped in her circumstances, desperate to escape. It’s also a story about fate, where as hard as you may try to guide Loretta away from the bad thing, events keep unfolding that force you to take more and more dramatic actions and suffer her decline with her. The game was harrowing, but your actions can’t change the narrative that much – she is doomed from the first bad decision she makes. All you can do is stop her from going too far, or let her freefall.
Blood Bowl players no longer have to make their own fun. Tournament creation is easier than ever, cosmetic upgrades are plentiful and varied, and the core game is the same as ever. Question marks still loom over the live-service elements like towering punctuation-shaped advertising blimps, but if you’re a Blood Bowl fan, you’ll like Blood Bowl 3. But you probably knew that already.
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a near-perfect package for fans of the series. It weaves an intriguing tale founded in historical events that has you hooked from the very start and eager to learn more at the very end. There’s a wealth of lighthearted substories, minigames, and slice-of-life gameplay, which offer a nice change of pace from the dark storyline. The weapon-based combat is a much-needed reinvigoration for the series that offers fast-paced, bloody carnage in style. The only real letdown was the few graphical issues I experienced, which hopefully a patch will soon resolve.
When all is said and done, and the eight storytellers have finally found a way to make their narratives line up and come together to deliver the exciting finale, Octopath Traveler 2 makes for a satisfying night at the bar. It’s full of pathos and excitement that pushes you forward, and the gameplay is tight and enjoyable. You can’t help but wish it was a little more well-structured, but seeing how the storytellers learned so much from their previous attempt, it’s hard not to look forward to the tales they’ll tell next time.
Call of the Mountain has wonderful elements to it, and it lands the most important part - the physical experience of climbing - perfectly. Trailers and even my own video capture don't quite convey the speed and agility you feel while scrambling. Unfortunately, other parts of the game are too thin, with the inability to wander back the way you came and the constant stop-start nature of its thin narrative working against its own appeal. With some fresh ideas, huge scope, and clever adaptation of an existing property without relying on a simple remake, Horizon Call of the Mountain is an important game for VR. However, I'm not sure it's a great one.
Ultimately, Wild Hearts shows up as a colorful and curious contender in the hunting game genre, and a very welcome one right now. With games like Monster Hunter Rise going for a less challenging approach, this game brings fascinating ideas that make it the breath of fresh air that the genre needs, combining difficult battles with some twists in mobility and construction, in a completely unexpected fashion. Some improvements to the unfortunate performance issues are needed, but the overall experience isn’t less enjoyable because of them.
I have always considered the original City Building series to be some of the best games in the genre, and A New Era elevates Pharoah to modern standards spectacularly well. You’ll come for the charming style and intricate building mechanics but stay for the sheer wealth of content available, allowing you to spend hours building the Egyptian city of your dreams. I hope to see remakes of the rest of the series in the future, or maybe even a brand new ancient civilization city builder.
Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is the platonic ideal of fanservice. There are plenty of people who would have been happy with a port of Curtain Call or simply bringing All-Star Carnival over to the West, so it’s a delightful surprise to see just how much effort and care has been poured into a title like this. It is endlessly charming, bursting with content, and treats its content with reverence. This is a game built with love for Final Fantasy, and that expression of love is resplendent, infectious, and mellifluous. I love this game with my entire thesaurus.
Blanc is nice. It’s not revolutionary, both as a single-player experience and a co-op puzzle game. However, it’s pretty and simple, and doesn’t overstay its welcome. It’s the sort of game that serves a purpose. It’s a pleasant way to spend a night in with someone else.
While the levels are varied and challenging, and the story is serviceable for the kind of game NeverAwake is, they weren’t the things that had me blasting through levels to see what was next - it was the excitement of seeing what kind of horrible beastie was waiting for me around the corner. The game excels at turning the mundane into monsters and doing so manages to set itself apart as one of the more unique shoot ‘em ups out there. Add to that some demanding but entertaining boss fights and NeverAwake is a decent (yet depressing) time for any fan of the genre.
In attempting to emulate the cinematic aesthetic of many narrative-driven triple-A games, Deliver Us Mars lost a lot of what made Deliver Us The Moon work. Instead of a charming indie, we’re left with a disappointing wannabe. There’s an interesting story in here that’s able to shine through the dust occasionally, alongside some gorgeous vistas and wonderful sci-fi imagery, but if we get a third entry in the series, I hope it returns to its roots instead of trying to be something it’s not. Bigger isn’t always better.
Tails: The Backbone Preludes is a beautiful game with an intriguing plot and some absolutely fantastic puzzle mechanics, but it does itself the disservice of playing second fiddle to its predecessor. It’s too brief and leaves too much unsaid to feel like a game in its own right. It’s as though it aimed too low and decided to settle for being a teaser or demo that’s made to tempt players to jump into the full story of Backbone, rather than take on a role of a fully-fledged game in its own right.
Perish could’ve brought Hexen and Heretic’s medieval boomer shooter vibes kicking and screaming into the 21st century to the tune of howling metal riffs, topped off with a roguelite twist. However, it offers little to incentivise you to go back for replays. Every death feels like starting the whole game over from scratch, with so little changing that each run turns into a chore. The striking set-pieces, like the twisted Herculean monster, with a cage of heads for a, well… head, crumbling the moon just to beat you, are fantastic, but they’re too few and far between to justify Perish making you start from scratch and slogging through shallow mechanics to reach those exciting moments.
Even with these issues, I hope this isn’t the last we see of a Purple Lamp-developed SpongeBob game. The final level alone - with its wonderfully daft premise and unique mechanics - is proof enough that the folks over there have a lot to offer. Even if I’m not quite ready to take Employee of the Month away from Battle for Bikini Bottom, we have the makings of something amazing here. Nickelodeon needs to recognise this potential, and sets its sights higher with the next SpongeBob game.