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While I don’t think this is the best game in the series, Warriors Orochi 4 is far from a bad game. The game runs at a solid framerate, the combat is fun and there are tons of enemies to slay. The lack of alternate routes and some dry storytelling do set this one back a bit, but the massive cast helps make up for it somewhat. You’ll get 20 to 30 hours of gameplay out of this one for its $60 price tag. If you’re a fan of Musou games there is still a lot to love here, but I can’t help but feel a little disappointed since I was expecting something on par with Warriors Orochi 3 and this didn’t quite live up to that.
Just Shapes & Beats is one of the most passive aggressive bullet hell shooters I’ve ever seen, and an interactive Fantasia (that’s more accessible and interesting than the actual one made by Harmonix). It’s a trippy, insane adrenaline rush where every move and beat is superbly choreographed. Although it came out back in May, now’s a good time as ever to revisit Just Shapes & Beats to establish it as one of 2018’s quiet sleeper darlings.
Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk will last you about 10-12 hours. This 3DS package justifies the $39.99 price tag by including a few bonus cases which are ports of mobile entries in the series. There are also hidden passwords to find throughout the main game that can be entered. These unlock all sorts of bonuses including sound tests, character profiles, interviews with the developers and a CG gallery. Overall Ghost of the Dusk is a decent visual novel that’s held back by a localization that tried a bit too hard to appeal to an audience that likely wasn’t interested in this kind of title to begin with. Aksys Games should know better and quite frankly this is concerning. I fear they may have written themselves into a corner and have to now stick with it in order to be consistent with future games. Case in point, a new title in the series was recently released for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. However the game was rated in Korea as Jake Hunter Detective Story: Prism of Eyes, suggesting that they are intending on localizing this one and keeping the Jake Hunter name. Should that actually be the case, we might be stuck with all the pointless localization changes made in the releases by Aksys Games and that’s a shame. As for Ghost of the Dusk, I can recommend it to those of you who really enjoy the genre and are looking for one to play on the 3DS. It may not be the best the system has to offer, but you might enjoy it for what it is.
Overall, Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is an interesting, though fairly short game. The campaign took me 12 or so hours to complete, however, the game has a number of difficulty levels, with the highest being Mythic mode. You could spend a lot more time in the game working your way up to, and trying to beat that mode. For the Steam version (which this review is based on), there are 31 achievements as well. Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics is also available on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. You can get the game for $24.99 on Steam. Can you outwit the Nazis on the battlefield, and put a stop to their insidious plans?
Overall, I feel The Bug Butcher is a success. Fans of classic games are sure to enjoy it, as are those who love vying for the top spots on leaderboards. For $7.99, you get a respectable amount of game here. I probably spent a couple hours playing through Arcade mode, and easily that long playing around with Panic mode. It’s not a huge game, but it also didn’t feel too short. Most of the replay value is found in trying for better scores to earn stars and additional coins in stages. Really, the only thing I wanted from the game that I didn’t get was a bestiary showcasing details about the creepy bugs, as well as a couple actual boss fights. But that’s just cause I’m an old school gamer, and I always want epic boss fights. If you want a fun and challenging game with old school charm, I would highly recommend The Bug Butcher. 2Awesome Studio has published a great game, and I’m eager to see what else Awfully Nice Studios has brewing next for the future.
All in all I had a great time with the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection. I had a wonderful trip down memory lane with great title selections here and I’m certainly glad these titles will now find their way into the hands of this generation. The controls are solid, the audio is top notch and the graphics look great, but I would like to see some more filters added via the next patch if possible. If you’re an old timer like me you will certainly want to snag this one up. If you’ve never seen or heard of any these game before at the $39.99 price tag I feel like this is well worth it not only for the great games, but Museum Mode is great for anyone wanting to learn more about the history of the industry as well. Just don’t try to stick quarters into your Switch, it probably wouldn’t go so well.
All in all, I was expecting more from Trove Geode. More lairs and bosses, more community-designed loot and masks, and more sprawling adventures. Instead, I received a welcome distraction from the usual Trove activities, one that was not my cup of tea after a few hours but could be rewarding and relaxing for those seeking less hectic Trove tasks. Trove Geode was an interesting experience. I enjoyed the user-crafted loot drops and the Bomber Royale mode was a lot of fun. The caverns felt like a slog and didn’t offer enough engaging tasks to keep me at the grind. I’m still figuring out how to expertly pace myself between Bomber Royale and the Geode world cave exploration. The sweet spot I found was in balancing the two.
I can see Gal Metal work for music game fans, casual players who are taken in by the motion controls and wacky antics, and anyone looking for something super Japanese and esoteric. It’s also arguably producer Tak Fujii’s best game in a decade. Grumblings about pricing and length aside, this is another welcome slice of eccentric, accessible Japanese game design available on Switch.
Despite my issues with Joggernauts, I still had fun with it. It’s a short game for $14.99, but it can keep you entertained for 2-5 hours. I managed to beat the game with 55% of everything unlocked, but sadly have little desire to spend hours trying to find those Glowtonium trophies. Still, it’s a colorful and enjoyable experience, and I thoroughly enjoyed the character of C.O.A.C.H. The domineering little robot was the cherry on top of a brightly colored sundae. That said, I don’t think Joggernauts is for everyone, and would only really recommend it to hardcore fans of the genre. For everybody else, there’s probably more frustration than satisfaction to be found here. But I still applaud this effort from Space Mace and Graffiti Games, and look forward to the next game they come up with.
If you haven’t played this game and read this review anyway, I still highly recommend playing this game if any aspect of this sounds compelling to you. I didn’t go over every little thing in the game, and it’s worth going through yourself. It only takes a few hours to play, and despite the somewhat steep price tag of $30, it’s well worth it. Judging it on the mechanics alone, it might seem underwhelming. But the way it ties all of its mechanics into the narrative and theme is fantastic, and the final sequence just knocks it out of the park, and had me in tears. Despite the odd direction in voice acting and the really lackluster visuals, its sincerity is what makes it compelling. It’s easily one of the more memorable games I’ve played this year, and it’s one I’m gonna be thinking about for awhile.
Despite my small issues with Death Mark, overall I was pretty pleased with it. Though it is a little pricey at $49.99, I feel it was a well-rounded and frightening adventure. You’ll get caught up with the plot and unraveling the mystery at the heart of the game, which will only fully reveal itself with the good ending. I spent about 10 hours beating the main game, and upon doing so with the good ending, you’ll unlock the final DLC chapter. For consoles, this DLC is absolutely free, which is even more added value. If you’re a fan of horror and want more scares on your Nintendo Switch, you really can’t go wrong with Death Mark. It satisfied this fan of Creeping Terror and was different enough to keep me interested. It’s good to know Aksys Games is still a great purveyor of quality horror.
Though I only spent 7 hours with Timespinner, there are features to keep players coming back for more. One is that there are 4 different endings in the game. Towards the climax you can make a choice, and depending on it, you will unlock different paths towards the final battle. The catch is that doing so locks you out of the other choices in the same save file, which provides good incentive to try out the New Game+. Another reason to keep playing is that there’s a super dungeon called the Temporal Gyre. It’s totally optional to tackle, but after beating the game once, I am very tempted to play again. If you truly want to challenge yourself, there’s also the unlockable Nightmare Mode, which is sure to make those less difficult boss fights much more of a struggle. This is one of those Metroidvanias that does many things right, and it inspired me enough that I’ll keep on playing til I get 100%. I really want to get all those achievements as well, since after beating it I only had about half of them. Overall, I was quite pleased with Timespinner. It’s hard to go wrong for $19.99, especially if you’re a fan of the genre. It wasn’t perfect, but it satisfied this longtime Metroidvania fan. I find myself eagerly looking forward to what else Lunar Ray Games has up their sleeves with future projects.
Transistor, from start to finish, is immersive, charming, emotional, imaginative, the list goes on. This is a true gem, not to be missed. The one real regret is that it had to end eventually. I knew this, but so badly did I want it to last just a little longer. Just one more encounter. One more conversation. One more touching moment. Just one more, just a little longer. As an experience, it would be impossible to forget. Emotionally, few games have left such a lingering impact. It has so much to share and will make your imagination run satisfyingly wild. It pains me to judge this game professionally, giving it a 4.5 (closer to 4.8) instead of the 5 that I so wish to give it. I genuinely want to forget its few tiny flaws; this is how much I love this game. It may not be flawless, but that doesn’t take away from its sheer magnificence. Transistor is an absolute masterpiece.
Save me Mr Tako! often improves on its inspirations as well. It plays like Kirby, but offers a longer quest and an admirably meatier challenge. It has the kid-rescuing angle of Moonwalker but without being clumsy and awkward. The story and character dialog feel balanced between the simple localizations of the Game Boy era and the recent trend of quippy writing in modern retro indies. For me, Save me Mr Tako! is a case of tough love. There’s so much to admire, but it can often be cruel to get through. If you’re down for a retro tough love letter, dive right in where it’s wetter and see if things are better.
While there are some nagging issues, Soul Calibur VI represents a huge step in the right direction. It does not make me more of a fan of this series than I am of their other 3D fighting game, but I had a lot more fun than I expected. One disadvantage to having so much fun with the game is that I now want to go back and play through The Witcher 3 again as soon as possible (for the seventh time through). That is only a problem because of how many other great games there are to play right now, and Soul Calibur VI is definitely one of those great games. Not only is the $59.99 full price justified, but I can’t blame anyone for spending an additional $29.99 for the Season Pass. That is a bit steep, but 2B fans are going to be chomping at the bit to get their hands on her as a fighter. Meanwhile in the fighting game community, we are again flooded with a glut of riches for new quality games. Plan on seeing a very large presence for Soul Calibur VI at the next Evo. With this game, the series is at it’s best place in a very long time, possibly ever.
When all was said and done, my total playtime came in at just over 15 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed all 15 of them. The artwork was excellent, the voice acting was stellar, and the music (while a bit generic at times) fit the atmosphere very well. Combining those elements with an interesting and engaging story, I feel that this visual novel is definitely worth playing (even if you’re like me and generally aren’t interested in playing visual novels). You can grab your own copy either physically or digitally on the PSN store for $39.99 USD. To give you an idea of how much I appreciated this game, I felt compelled after playing it to purchase a physical copy. I also went ahead and snagged a physical copy of Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly. For those who don’t own a PS Vita or a PS TV, there is a PC port of Black Butterfly releasing in November and I would not be surprised if Ashen Hawk saw a port shortly thereafter. I would highly suggest that you check this one out.
In the end result, while I didn’t love everything about The Midnight Sanctuary, I do feel it’s a story worth experiencing. There’s a lot of poorly designed elements, but they are outweighed by the good. For $9.99, you get a 3 hour adventure that’s perfect for playing while you’re trying to unwind. There are plenty of quirky and interesting characters, and a subtly unnerving plot here. Despite wishing the ending was less abrupt, I do feel the main story gets resolved. I just wish there was more story to draw us further into the strange village of Daiusu. If you enjoy VNs or just want to support a strange story this Halloween season, you might enjoy The Midnight Sanctuary.
Similar to Visual Novels and the Disgaea games, there are several Bad Endings on the way to the real story end. Thankfully in this game the Bad Endings won’t require you to start all over again or reload a previous save. They will just show you what could have happened, and take you back in time slightly to change those events. There is a story reason for this, but it is a massive spoiler so I won’t touch on it. Also like the recent Disgaea entries, there is the normal story ending and the True Ending. The normal ending took me around 60 hours, but the True Ending took around another 60 hours both due to the size of the new maps and because you really need to do a lot of Soul Transferring if you are going to beat the True Last Boss on anything but Easy difficulty. There is also a New Game+ that you can start any time after the normal story end, in case you would just rather go back through the game instead of grinding out those extra levels you will need. But all the best weapons and armor in the game is in the Post Game dungeons. So really you are getting a lot of value out of the game, even for a dungeon crawler that is $59.99. These games are typically on portable systems and typically are slightly discounted from full AAA game pricing. However this game does justify its price, even if the story isn’t to my taste. What I really would like to see is as similar jump made in a sequel to this game that they made in the Disgaea series. There were a lot of good ideas they added into the genre with this game, and I would like to see it expounded upon even further.
Rigid Force Alpha is a fun little game, but it can also be frustrating. It includes controller support, and I played using my Xbox One controller. If you’re up for it, you could spend a lot of time in this game, as it has some truly crazy challenges beyond the main campaign. There are 40 achievements across all three game modes, and some of them will probably have you tearing your hair out! For example, one involves beating the campaign on hard mode without taking any hits! You could spend 10 hours or longer just beating the game for the first time, and far more on everything else. I’ve spent upwards of 10 hours shooting down baddies so far. Rigid Force Alpha is available on Steam for $19.99, and you can also get the soundtrack. Are you an ace pilot good enough to survive this mission and stop the escaped creatures from spreading?
ETHEREAL is a very competent, well designed puzzle game. The way it introduces things makes playing it pretty intuitive, even though it kinda looked like nonsense just looking at the trailers. There’s really not many things to criticize about it, but there weren’t exactly many high points either. If you’re craving for a puzzle game that won’t take up too much of your time, this is certainly a worthy game to look into. Beating it only took me maybe 4 hours. There’s no price listed on Steam as of writing this, but I’d say it’d be worth picking up between $10 and $15.