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Sadly it is very tough to suggest anyone picks Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl in the state it is in currently. It is very bare-bones in content, unbalanced, and feels soulless and cheap. Apparently, the developers are looking to further add to the game post-release but this model makes it feel like an overpriced Early Access run. The basics just aren’t here for the game, and I can’t help but feel that between the memes and rollback inclusions, they just doubled down on meme culture to sell copies of the game and hoped the fighting game community would stick with it.
Despite mentioning quite a lot of issues with Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars in my review, I still enjoyed playing it. It’s not the best hack and slash gameplay around, but it was fun seeing the Neptunia characters and how they interacted with the Senran Kagura ones. Still, if you want a hack and slash game, Senran Kagura Burst Re:newal might be a better option.
I had a great time with Renai Karichaimashita: Koikari – Love For Hire. I found the comedy hilarious and it never felt like it went overboard. The premise was interesting and it was used well to set up fun situations. The eccentric cast of heroines was particularly great. I hear that the fandiscs are planned to be translated too and I look forward to them.
I enjoy playing card games casually with friends, but Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold’em fails to capture that same charm. The game is obviously just doing the bare minimum, both in terms of its gameplay and presentation, and it’s very apparent throughout. You’ll have a much more enjoyable time buying an actual deck of cards; that way, you can play with more than one deck, play against people with different strategies, and have more varied locations to play on.
I’ve got to be honest with you, I’m put between a rock and a hard place with Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles. This is a 3D fighting game from one of my favorite game studios with a popular anime franchise backing it; it sold me from the very moment it was announced back in March 2020! The fact it was published by one of my favorite game companies, SEGA, didn’t hurt matters either! I’ll admit, I had a blast of a time playing it, even though I’m not the biggest fan of Demon Slayer when compared to Naruto, but there are some inexcusable problems that hold it back from excellence. The lack of online options, the input delay, and the slow-paced story deter me from making a solid recommendation, but I know more than anyone that there is a market for a game like this. If you’re the slightest bit curious about this game, I implore you to give the manga or anime a try and see if it’s your thing. If you like it, great! This game was tailor-made for you and you won’t regret your purchase! If you’re someone who wants to dabble your toes into fighting games but are afraid of the heavy time commitment to play them at a competitive level, this is definitely a game I’d recommend as an entry-level fighter. But I must warn you: there are imperfections present and you’ll have to accept them to see the quality title that’s buried within, especially if you intend to play it on the last generation of consoles.
With elements and features that allow players to truly take their time playing, Garden Story is an excellent choice for those looking for an easygoing game. Although some core activities can get tedious due to the system design, and gardening and building could have been more fun or at least more purposeful, it has been a wonderfully pleasant journey on the whole. From the melodious music to the pleasing pixel art and cute characters, there is plenty to savor in this game.
Besides its stylish cutscenes and bold color palette, Fire Tonight has little to offer. The gameplay is simplistic while the characters and story have no chance to develop over the game’s paltry one-hour runtime. Even at the budget price of $5.99, I don’t think Fire Tonight is worth it.
Lost Judgment feels like a worthy successor to the original. While I feel it’s a great story, perhaps it doesn’t live up to Judgment as a crime thriller. In its place, it makes notable improvements in gameplay and brings in some new elements. I really enjoyed it, but certainly recommend that you go and play the first title, then come back and play this one.
While I have my complaints about the Eternal Cylinder, I'm ultimately glad I played it. It takes a bit to get going, can meander at times, and the storytelling often frustrated me. It also consistently nails the most important moments, and by the time the credits rolled, I realized The Eternal Cylinder had been something special that I’ll remember for a long time. Maybe The Eternal Cylinder isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s an experience unlike anything else--one well worth having despite its flaws.
Metroid Dread is one of the finest games to release this year. It not only encapsulates everything that makes Metroid, Metroid, but it does so in a way that feels new and fresh. Dread stands on its own two feet and demands to be played. The genre has been missing its namesake for far too long now, so I am happy to say that Dread is a worthy crown-bearer. I hope to see more from Samus, Nintendo, and Mercury Stream in the future.
Chernobylite is a great game that has suffered through the porting process. While held back by some ideas that were only partially baked, it still offers a good ol' Chernobyl time. I would just suggest playing it on a PC and using mods to tidy up aspects, along with hopefully much better performance.
Xuan Yuan Sword 7’s biggest sin is that it’s boring. Really boring. It might look nice, sound great, and be steeped in culture, but actually playing is closer to a chore than anything else. It’s also really long, coming in at 20+ hours. The gameplay on offer here can barely sustain a game half – or even a quarter – of that length. This is scratching at the heels of mediocrity, and it’s not with the time.
Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is a roaring success and a fitting anniversary title for a mostly forgotten series. When it comes to fun, challenge, and charm, Banana Mania delivers in spades. It’s a crying shame about a lack of online, even if the leaderboards were a neat inclusion. I don’t think I have smiled, raged, paddied, and cheered this much in any other game this year. It’s a good time to monkey around, and I am excited to see what the future holds for the series.
Harem Kingdom is a laugh-out-loud comedy. I’d not say to come here for the story, but you get to know some rather interesting characters and have fun along the way. It’s a fantasy where you get whisked away to another world, but instead of fighting and adventuring like most isekai stories, you get to relax and enjoy yourself.
Overall, The Medium left me with feelings of general frustration. Not at the quality of the game, or the mechanics themselves, but the length of the ride. The game is simply too long and the vast majority of my issues are a result of the core game growing stale, or the story being broken up by long stretches of nothing. All that being said, I had a good time with The Medium. It’s not something I’d recommend people rush out and buy at full price, but it’s certainly a game worth experiencing.
While WarioWare: Get It Together! does occasionally feel unfair, it’s tempered by the random nature of the game and that each round is only seconds long. The brilliance shines through minor letdowns, between the variety of characters and minigame matchups, additional modes, multiplayer integrated into all areas, and a surprising amount of longevity.
Overall, Monster Train is outstanding. The few issues I have with it are minor at best, and what the game delivers shines through with ease. This is not only the best Roguelike I’ve played all year, but quite possibly the best game. Period. It’s taken four long years for the genre to move beyond Spire, and Monster Train manages to stand beside that titan and carve its own path to greatness. This is highly recommended for any Switch owner.
Overall Islanders is a game that I was not expecting to like - at all. It didn’t take long for it to sink its hooks into me and gently coerced me down a winding path of tranquillity. Genre be damned, in a world full of elevated heart rates and perpetual soul-crushing stress, Islanders is a nice break from reality. Its gaminess can be a bit off at times, but for the most part, this is a fantastic hybrid of a game.
As it is, Ambition: A Minuet in Power’s story is solid and its romance is satisfying. The writing is polished with few typos seen, though bugs have made certain dialogue choices become invisible and some others to overflow past the textbox’s width. Characters are lively and have a depth to them, plus Dušo the cat never fails to bring a smile to my face. Details in the art are amazing and the music is captivating. Additionally, I find the stats-raising difficulty to be comfortable for a casual play. Still, when looking at the technical side, there is much the game can improve upon, and for now, visual, audio, and game bugs are a regular occurrence even if the majority of them are not game-breaking. As much as I think visual novel fans who do not mind stats-raising elements would likely enjoy what this historical title has to offer, I would say to wait for the game to be further patched first.
El Shaddai: Ascension of Metatron has always been a title I've enjoyed but often struggled to recommend. It's repetitive due to shallow combat and few and far between set pieces. Visually the game is untouchable, but in such a way it almost damages the game by trying to make such rich visuals with an experience that's otherwise average at every turn. It's not all bad, the game does what it sets out to do and provides a memorable and unique experience. It's just a pity that shallow gameplay and a lack of significant improvement in the PC version knock it down somewhat. I do think gamers who enjoy more cult classic titles will find enough to love here to justify a few nights of angel chasing.