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The Mario & Luigi series began to grow stale over time, so I’m happy to say that Mario & Luigi: Brothership is a welcome refresher in several gameplay areas. When it’s fun, it’s very fun, and there are a lot of neat ideas and sections that make this game get generally better as you get more into it. The Plugs and some of the overworld abilities make those sections some of the most fun I’ve seen from the M&L series to date. It also made the leap from handheld to console quite well, with some really nice aesthetics and animations to its visual components. In some ways, Brothership feels like two steps forward and one step back for the series. While not quite the worst game in the series pacing-wise, Brothership still has its share of slow sections that drag on a fair bit more than I would have liked. This ultimately holds it back from being as tight and consistently great as it could have been. I also appreciate that the game’s attempts with its story are a touch more earnest rather than just being fully comedic, and the game still has its charm, but I found its narrative a touch too basic and lacking in interesting developments despite the amount of its runtime taken up by cutscenes. Ultimately though, there’s a lot to like with Brothership. If you want a generally upbeat and at times wacky RPG with a neat and skill-rewarding combat system and don’t mind something a bit simple on the story, it’s a pretty fun game.
Terrifying in its implications on death, DEAD DAYS is an interesting look into our relationship with our mortality. With interesting characters, relatable themes, and heartfelt struggles, it's a great read for those who might want a change of pace from their usual romance or action-filled visual novel story. The only thing holding it back is its focus on its own freak arousal.
The stronger routes make Kakenuke★Forward to Our Sparking Youth! worth reading, and even the weaker ones still have good heroines. I did think certain aspects became too repetitive at times, but there was a lot to laugh at.
Sonic X Shadow Generations is the best 3D Sonic package that money can buy. A solid upgrade to Generations’s performance and features makes the best 3D Sonic title even better. Meanwhile Shadow Generations represents a resounding leap in level design and visuals compared to some past games, and is a rock-solid compliment to its predecessor. I have my issues with it, and I don’t think it’s as great as Sonic’s portion of the package, but it’s still good and largely well-rounded. It feels as though the series has finally shed its curse of each game being a “good first step”, and what we have now are simply good, if not great games. The future doesn’t just look bright for the Blue Blur, it may be looking better than it ever has.
I absolutely love Killing Time: Resurrected and couldn't be more surprised, when I saw the fact this has similar origins to the horrendous PO'ED as a 3DO shooter. I went in expecting the worst and came out with a new game for my top 10 classic first-person shooters list. It's quirky, it's fun, and in my personal opinion, it pushed the envelope at the time. The game isn't going to be for everyone. It's almost punk in how janky and strange it looks and plays. But, if you can go in with an open mind and just allow yourself to get absorbed by the Water Clock and its mystery, you've got yet again another banger remaster by the kings and queens of remasters Nightdive Studios.
Astro Bot is a game with an incredible amount of love put into it. It’s not quite at the level of a game that makes a PlayStation 5 worth owning all by itself, and it’s not especially long, but it’s the kind of game that any console would gladly feature in its library as a key title. It’s a game with a fair amount of nostalgia behind it, both in terms of its wide array of cameos and it being a collectathon, but it stands on its own as a triumphant adventure of fun and charm in its own right. My playthrough had me smiling at so many points and served as a great reminder of all the hours of joy that I’ve had with PlayStation games over the years.
Destiny Star Girlfriend 2 works well as a short experience, focusing on a single heroine. The comedic moments are great, as are the visuals. Maja may not stand out as much as some heroines, but I enjoyed the time spent on her story, especially after discovering parts of her story at the start of the Destiny Star Girlfriend series.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is great fun with friends, with a core experience that works incredibly well, but allows the flexibility to tailor it to your own preferences. There'll be laughter and perhaps more than a few four-letter words flying around in each match. The fact that it has so much beyond the core experience is just icing on the cake.
Metaphor: ReFantazio might just be the best JRPG of 2024. With a great story with more to it than it first seems, characters that have their own journeys worth experiencing, and excellent gameplay from the day-to-day events to the dungeon delving and battles, it's absolutely worth picking up.
Given how long the series has been going, I had higher hopes for SINce Memories: Off the Starry Sky than I felt was able to deliver on for the series’s English-language debut. It hits a few of the right notes but doesn’t quite put them together enough to truly strike a chord. It’s well-presented, but presentation alone doesn’t carry it, and the script errors don’t do it any favors either. The cast of characters have their moments, but they’re scattered between lengthy sections of ultimately both predictable and often forgettable story routes that at times feel like inorganic drama was put in for the sake of it. The end result is a fairly cookie-cutter and by-the-books romance visual novel that doesn’t truly shine in any particular area.
Card-en-Ciel is a game made better by how much it revels in its own excess. “How much is too much?” is a question that it proudly eschews in favor of throwing everything in the kitchen sink at participants. My primary issue with the game is that it’s clear it’s stretching itself thin in some areas as a result of this, mostly in rather repetitive visuals and a lack of non-vocal music. On occasion it can also grow a little long-winded, but these moments didn’t happen too often. As a card game and especially as a celebration of all things Inti Creates, it’s fantastic.
I cannot recommend Sword Art Online: Fractured Daydream. To anyone. Even the most committed Sword Art Online fans are unlikely to find much to love here. It is a live service title without legs. A real disappointment coming from the developers of Fatal Bullet. Perhaps with more development time and a clearer idea of what the game should be, it could have been a worthwhile endeavor. As it stands though it’s a sad, vapid outing for the series.
I cannot say enough positive things about Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO. In my opinion, there hasn’t been a better representative for the product in the whole history of the franchise. It has more depth than a traditional arena fighter, and that goes such a long way to staving off the repetitive nature of the genre. While your mileage may vary somewhat depending on how much you like the source material, I feel it would still be very fun even if you didn’t know what was going on, and if you love Dragon Ball you’ll be hard-pushed to find a better celebration of this much-loved franchise than in Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO.
I’m thrilled to report that Ys X: Nordics isn’t just good, but in many ways it represents Ys at its best. I have some foibles with it, such as an occasionally inconsistent presentation and a comparative lack of memorable environments. However, it’s a mostly successful modernization and refreshment in a series that was in need of exactly that. Coupling this with improvements to cutscenes elevating an already great story and some of the best boss fights in the series, and you have a game that won’t be leaving my mind any time soon. I’m always excited for what’s coming next with Ys, but as I reflect on this title, I’m downright impatient as I think of the ways they can push its changes even further. Our 10th is always a big deal, and it’s clear that Ys understood that.
If you’re craving a little bit more of that girls’ love story spiced with a unique blend of Esperanto, consider getting Distant Memoraĵo! Simple yet relatable, it presents the difficulties of communication through the use of an unfamiliar language, common misunderstandings, and a cast of cute girls. Comfortably heartfelt, it’s definitely a read that you’ll remember for its unique charms!
Shashingo: Learn Japanese with Photography can be helpful, but it doesn't quite pull off making learning both effective and fun. It's a nice way to pick up some new vocabulary and supplement your learning if you happen to be a beginner at the right level. It won't, however, teach you certain things you might need at that level or be as effective as more typical learning methods and is best as a supplementary tool. I do feel it could do with more gamification too. With that said, it has a wonderful relaxing atmosphere and it’s a really unique idea. It makes a nice break from the textbooks while still learning and it’s more engaging than typical methods like ANKI flashcards.
For me, Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster plays exactly how I remember Dead Rising, but without the annoyances that the original had. Almost all of the changes have been made for the better, and it's an absolute joy to play from start to finish, infinity and beyond. I can see some old school gamers being annoyed at the changes in the game but I feel what they changed would have been very problematic in today's climate. I highly suggest any fans of Dead Rising or even just zombie pop-culture in general pick this up. Even if you just fancy a fun sandbox that rewards experimentation and exploration with an enjoyable and sometimes tongue-in-cheek story with a unique sense of humor, you need to run down to your nearest store, fight off a zombie horde, down a smoothie and grab this game as soon as possible. Your 72 hours start now!
While Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is one of the franchise’s weaker entries, it’s still good fun, and Ace Attorney Investigations 2: Prosecutor’s Gambit improves on everything its predecessor got wrong. Bundle them together in a convenient package finished with polish and extras, and Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is an easy recommendation.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is an ambitious change to an old formula that’s stifled by a lot of growing pains. It’s still a decent game, but they wound up pushing the formula too far in some areas, and not far enough in others. The end result is an experience that’s stuck in a rather awkward middle ground. It’s still Zelda, so expect a lot of polish (besides performance) and charm, but this time it felt as if it came at the cost of some much-needed substance. I’m happy that 2D Zelda is finally back, but it’s clear that there’s a lot more work to be done for this format to reach its full potential.
NanoApostle is the epitome of a “pretty good” game. Combat is fun, presentation is well handled, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. This is one of those games where it does almost everything it sets out to do well but doesn’t quite reach particularly highs at any point either. It sticks to doing what works but rarely gets aggressive with its ambition or does something to truly go off the rails, falling into few pitfalls but also not being as creative as I would hope for a boss rush game. Nonetheless, I had a fun time playing it from start to finish and can definitely give it a recommendation for people interested in a short but relatively dense little action game.