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All in all, I really enjoyed Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist: Link Evolution. Even with its flaws, it’s easily the best video game in the series to date. There’s a ton to keep you busy, and I’ve easily spent 30-40 hours already just for the sake of this review. The biggest issue I have with it is that it doesn’t do enough to court players unfamiliar with the nuance and newfound complexity of the game. Things like the Forbidden and Limited List are also confusing, in that they aren’t the most recent version, but instead seem a mishmash of previous lists. But if you can look past that sort of thing, you get a lot of bang for your buck for only $39.99. If you’re a fan of the series and are eager for an excuse to dive in and test out new deck ideas, then you’ll enjoy the game. Just be ready to spend a long time grinding for the cards you need.
Horgihugh accomplishes what it sets out it do, in that it provides its players with a no-nonsense, action-packed experience. The 16-bit stylizing and the cutesy anthropomorphic aesthetic add plenty of charm, furthering its appeal to a wider audience. Yet, with a forgettable story, missteps in its gameplay; controls, lack of innovation, and limited number of levels; and with achieving high-scores or going for perfect playthroughs as the only reasons for replay, the overall experience lacks enough punch to take it beyond average territory. The price tag of about $12 (original price) is steep for what the game provides and unless you’re an avid fan of SHMUPs, charming aesthetics, or you’re looking for a solid entry point into the genre, you may want to give this a pass. If that price were to ever drop by half or more, then I would whole-heartedly recommend the purchase to anyone interested. PiXEL has provided an acceptable first release, as Horgihugh is, overall, a fun experience throughout. They’ve impressed me enough that I’ll be keeping an eye on PiXEL in the future.
Buying these games individually might’ve been a hard sell for some due to the almost non-existent story and generally very low run-time. The whole collection is a great value, though. For $20, you get three amazing platformers, and 20 hours worth of playtime, minimum.
While World End Syndrome may have some strange and unnecessary elements and somewhat lackluster romance arcs, the mystery and presentation are both excellent. There are also some cute references to other Arc System Works properties sprinkled throughout, but for the most part not overused. The amount of inconsequential events as you explore the town are nice for seeing character interactions, but I found there were too many of them, and I would’ve preferred to see a greater number of more substantial events for your chosen route, which goes back to the problem of not enough time being given for the romance to develop. That being said, it’s a good mystery story with some supernatural elements and romance, and if that sounds like something you’d be interested in, I’d recommend it, especially if you enjoy the demo. It’s not particularly long, listed on VNDB in the “medium” 10-30 hour category, and I believe my playthrough came out to around 20-25 hours, not bad for $39.99 USD. Even if the romance isn’t fantastic and it seems like there’s a lot of wasted time, it’s an engaging mystery story with beautiful visuals.
Pawarumi has an interesting combat system that takes a little getting used to, but it’s fun once you do. Having to always restart from the beginning of the game upon death makes it certainly more repetitive, though. However, its greatest flaw may be that it handles difficulty in a much more punishing way than Rolling Gunner does. That game is a bullet hell, and yet much less grueling than Pawarumi. If you don’t like punishing difficulty, then you will likely want to pass on this game. If you’re a fan of the genre and harder games in general, then it may be a good fit for you. I’ve spent about 4-5 hours blasting through foes so far across two difficulty levels. The game is available on the Nintendo Switch, Steam, and Xbox One for $14.99. Do you have what it takes to get all three story endings, and uncover a dark secret?
If this were just a review of the first ninety percent of Unruly Heroes I’d give it a higher score. It’s enjoyable and challenging enough to keep wanting to see what’s next. However, the perfect storm of problems near the end left a bad taste in my mouth. It’s still a fun experience, one that lasted almost seven hours for me, though one that comes with a big asterisk. If having friends along for the ride helps, there is local and online co-op, inexplicably called “Player Vs Player” in-game, for up to four people (though I couldn’t find anyone to try it with). At $20 across all storefronts, I’d recommend it as long as you’re patient enough to make it through the endgame.
I had put off reading The Song of Saya for years and I can safely say I was missing out one the most thought-provoking and well-written visual novels of all time. This is one of the most gory and violent games out there, but none of this is done for shock value, it all has a point. I know some of the more extreme elements here such as cannibalism and rape will turn off many readers, but for those willing to take the plunge you will find something much deeper here. This is a very short visual novel clocking in at around 6 hours, but it is worth every penny of the $19.99 asking price. In fact I am very tempted to order the Limited Physical Edition over on JList for $24.99 + shipping just have to a physical copy and the amazing soundtrack. If you’ve not read this one and can get past its very disturbing aspects, you find a one of kind experience that will leave you with the question – how far would you go for love?
Control is a game with an enjoyable variant of standard third-person shooter gameplay, an excellently unsettling atmosphere and setting, a big but not overwhelming world to explore, and surprisingly fun and charming collectibles to find. However, it’s held back by an underwhelming crafting system, some particularly frustrating boss fights, and sometimes-severe performance issues, at least on an original PS4. The length and amount of content is respectable for $60 USD – I’d estimate my playthrough took 20-25 hours for the main story – and there’s still things to do once you finish the story missions, mainly cleaning up any side missions you have left and the few postgame missions, or just exploring more of the Oldest House and finding more collectibles. If you like Metroidvanias and you want one with its own special brand of weirdness, I’d definitely recommend Control.
Attack on Titan 2 was already a pretty massive game and this Final Battle version only sweetens the pot with tons of new content. You could easily spend 50 or more hours unlocking and exploring everything this game has to offer. If you haven’t picked up the base game I feel this one is well worth the $59.99 price tag. You can upgrade the base version to the Final Battle version for $39.99. I think for the amount of new content here it would be well worth it. The Nintendo Switch version of the game does have some slowdown when lots of Titans and characters are on screen moving at the same time. I didn’t encounter this too often, but on a couple of missions it is very noticeable. I wish they had added a few new mission types to the game as well, just to add a bit of variety. Those are really the only two complaints I can find with this outstanding title. Fans of Attack on Titan, buy this game today. You’ll be very happy you snagged it up. If you aren’t a fan of the series or found the anime’s pacing too slow, you should pick this up as well. I was not a fan of this until I played the first game back in 2016 and I’m very glad I decided to give it a chance.
Rolling Gunner is a Japanese bullet hell shoot ’em up. The game may have limited staying power, as it only has six stages. The four difficulty levels and three ship variants can certainly keep you busy for a while. If you like going for high scores, it will probably keep you busy much longer. I’ve beaten the game on three of the four difficulty modes, and that took two to three hours of total gameplay. The game is available now on the Nintendo Switch eShop for $19.99. There is also a PC version, but it is only available through two Japanese distributors, which you can find out about on the official website. Can you survive the grueling onslaughts of bullets and stop the BAC computer?
Vambrace: Cold Soul is certainly a not an easy game, but I feel like you are rewarded with a pretty good story for putting in the work. Exploring the dungeons and managing very limited resources is both challenging and fun. The multiple endings do encourage you to play through the game more than once, at around 10 hours a run. this makes it well worth the $24.99 price point. If you’re up to the challenge there is a lot to love here, but if you’re a more causal RPG gamer, you may want to pass on this one.
All in all, I can safely say I’m a fan of Dicey Dungeons. I respected Terry Cavanagh after playing VVVVVV, but this adventure is no slouch either. For only $14.99, there’s a ton to experience in the game, and it’s beyond easy to get fully immersed in the art and tunes as hours slip past. My only minor complaint is that this game is not for everyone, and if you’re not patient and ready for the difficulty, Dicey Dungeons can be pretty daunting. But for fans of the rogue genre, this is a must own. Now if you’ll excuse me, I still have tons of challenges and Episodes to beat, as well as all those shiny Steam achievements to collect!
Steins;Gate Elite is for people who have either never experienced Steins;Gate before, people who have never read a Visual Novel, were turned off by their lack of animation or those who want to experience the story in a slightly different way. If you find the anime visuals to be too off-putting, then the original Visual Novel is available on PC, PS3 and the PlayStation Vita. Not only are those available both in physical and digital format, but they are also cheaper than this new $59.99 release. However if you have played the original and are curious about Linear Bounded Phenogram, then you should consider checking this release out as well. No matter which version of Steins;Gate you experience, you’re in for a hell of a ride that can last you a solid 30 hours or more if you try and get every single ending or route.
If you’re a fan of Kill la Kill, you’ll probably be able to get some enjoyment out of Kill la Kill – IF. Just how much enjoyment that may be depends on how much you like janky, fast-paced, and aggressive combat, without much tolerance for patient or defensive playstyles. The story isn’t much to write home about, and the single-player content in general is somewhat lacking, but if you’re willing to dive into online play or find people to play with locally you’ll likely either love the wildness of the fights or find them frustrating and hate them. I personally enjoyed it, and would look forward to potentially getting chances to get more into online play as well as playing offline. It’s poorly balanced and it seems like every character has some kind of ridiculous things they’re able to do, and it may not have any viability for major competition, but I think that’s fine in this case; Kill la Kill simply wouldn’t work as a more balanced, grounded, less crazy game. I totally understand how some would bounce off of it pretty quickly; if you’re interested, I’d recommend that you give the demo a try before dropping $60, and if you enjoy the gameplay, then go ahead and pick it up.
If you are waiting for any negatives, I simply don’t have any. It’s entirely possible that a game of this type will not be for you, and especially when it comes to a monthly subscription. But for those who are enthusiasts of the genre, that is no real barrier to entry. This was simply the perfect release for me, and is now my favorite MMORPG experience of all time. The one issue they might have going forward is how to continue at such a fantastic level. It is a really difficult balance to make a single player story feel so immediate and important in an MMORPG setting. And one casualty of that process is that I now love the First so much, that I don’t even want to go back to the Source. Of course, there are much worse problems to have in a game. And as the story of Shadowbringers continues, there will be more story hooks that will lead us back into the Source. This is a meaty RPG on its own, but the structure of Final Fantasy XIV expansions is always that you get about half of the story up front, and the other half will progress across the next two years leading into the next expansion. Even what is here more than justifies the $39.99 expansion price, but the continuing story also makes it satisfying to keep renewing that $10-$15 a month subscription fee. It’s much more than busy work, they truly care about this game and they always listen to their community. There is just nothing more you could ask for a MMORPG, and this is the new standard for which other developers are going to have to reach for in order to have any chance with us switching over to something new.
At first, I honestly thought Fire Emblem: Three Houses was going to get a perfect score. There’s a lot of great stuff here, both old and new. Unfortunately, a few minor issues coupled with an ultimately disappointing story kept it from those lofty heights. That said, I’m still very impressed with the game. I spent about 48 hours to beat my Blue Lions campaign, and you can multiply that by 3 to fully beat the game. Then there’s New Game+ which lets you get through the game faster and bring over hard to get items with you. If that wasn’t enough, there’s cool features such as finding spirits that provide weapons and extra experience when you play the game while connected to the internet. And that’s not even talking about the DLC and amiibo functionality. When you factor all those in, you get a lot of game for $59.99. I’m happy I was able to play this latest Fire Emblem, even if it stops short of being perfect. Even then, this easily might be the best Fire Emblem game in a decade. If you’re a returning fan or just like strategy RPGs, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Clocking in at just over 3 hours for a full playthrough (for this reviewer), Vectronom is certainly not a very long game. It is a very engrossing title though and I feel that given the hypnotic, relaxing nature of its levels, it has a relatively high replay value. You can also revisit levels that you were previously unable to obtain the highest scores in and replay them. This is the type of game that you put on when you have a great deal of outside stressors to worry about and just want something to get lost in. There’s no story, no characters, and no great prize at the end of your tale. There’s just you, your cube, and a bumpin’ EDM soundtrack to become entranced in. It may have been relatively short, but for the time that I spent with this one I couldn’t find any glaring flaws. Combined with a relatively low price point of $9.99 USD, I’d say this one’s worth your time if you’re looking for something to play around with in your down time.
In the end, It just didn’t feel like Area 35 tried anything that dramatic in this sequel, just more of the same with some minor upgrades, and taking ideas from games that did it better. TINY METAL was born in the shadow of Advance Wars, and sadly, Full Metal Rumble never steps out of that shadow. I know that sounds harsh, and much as it pains me to say, I don’t know how else the next game can improve without criticism. Because I honestly still like TINY METAL, I just expect much more from it. That said, for $14.99, you get a lot of game for your money. I spent almost 30 hours just on Story mode alone, and there’s a lot more to do, such as Skirmish, Multiplayer and many, many goodies you can unlock with in-game currency. There’s also labs you can find in Story mode to unlock optional side missions. And if you are a perfectionist, each mission has optional conditions you can achieve to get more points. If you’re a fan of strategy games, TINY METAL: Full Metal Rumble might still be worth a look. But if you’re a stickler and want a better adventure, there are far better options available right now.
Bubsy: Paws On Fire! is a simple, but fun game. If you’re a completionist, this one will probably keep you busy for quite some time. You can beat the game in under 10 hours, but it’ll take you much longer if you go for 100%. In most levels, getting the majority of collectibles is fairly easy, but getting them all can be pretty tricky in many cases. This is especially true since you have to get them all in a single run for it to count. Bubsy: Paws On Fire! is available on Steam for $24.99. It is also available on PlayStation 4, and will be launching on the Nintendo Switch on August 29th. Do you have the skills needed to stop Oinker P. Hamm and nab all the shiny collectibles?
After all that I don’t think there’s a whole lot more I can say. After the story is finished you can replay the levels with a higher difficulty. You collect keys and then get to the end, but I never found myself wanting to go back through it. The game works, it just isn’t all that fun. As far as music there really isn’t much to talk about. It’s very painfully okay ambiance. The only issue with it, besides it not feeling inspired, is that you can’t manually adjust the volume in the options menu. Just mute it or have it on full blast. It really feels like a mobile game that was ported to home consoles and the PC just for the sake of it. Even for $5.99 I can’t really recommend it, not for two hours of fairly okay puzzles. There’s just nothing to sink your teeth into.