Unboxed's Reviews
The game plays similarly to the original God of Wars with fixed moving cameras over a 3D world, although the camera feels incredibly far away making Raji almost a speck on the map. Combat is a standard affair with normal/heavy attacks and the dodge button, but Raji can also pull out some Prince of Persia moves with her wall jumps and swinging around poles to attack the beasts that show up.
While there are certainly some difficulty curves, the creators behind Skully were far from dropping the ball…..or skull in this case. I actually got fairly invested in the story, especially the third act twist even though I did see it coming from a mile away.
The truth is, Fall Guys feels like that quick little game you boot up between other bigger games, its the little snack break in-between titles or the one you play with something else in the background. Much like Tetris 99, it’s best to play Fall Guys in small bursts throughout the day rather than a marathon session.
The world is absolutely stunning, especially the new enemy designs and the completionist in me loves finding all the Toads and holes to fill. But on the other hand, the game is plagued with niggling issues including the complexity of the ring battle system potentially driving new players away.
I had a lot of fun playing through Shantae’s latest journey. But I knew I was going to enjoy this, because I did 4 years before. Again, this is what terrifies me, Shantae is coming back again and again with the same basic concept, and I know this girl, I know this STUDIO has so much more potential.
From the very beginning with the opening cinematic, it’s clear the small crew over at MegaPixel Studios are certainly Panzer fans like myself, putting a lot of time and effort into making this as familiar as possible, the recreated opening cinematic runs in sync with the original version on Saturn, just with far much more detail.
Unmetal walks a fine line between 80's action movie stupidity and a narration of the absurdity of game design and mechanics including where your inventory items go after you've used them. I honestly believe that Unmetal isn’t just a Metal Gear parody Kojima would be proud of, I wouldn’t be surprised if he worked on this himself.
The main issue with No More Heroes 3 is that while the bosses can be wild and flashy, everything between them can get incredibly samey and monotonous, there’s only so many times you can be grinding the same mini games and going only vague scavenger hunts before you feel bogged down with it all. What’s worse is that even though they are featured at the beginning, neither Shinobu or Bad Girl are playable during the game.
The Last Campfire is a simple yet heartfelt story that really anyone can pick up and play, my biggest gripe with it all is that it is far too short and would have really liked to have spent more time in the world with the game barely clocking in at 8 hours.
Even with all the issues with performance and objectives that are more mystery than the game’s actual case, I still thoroughly enjoyed Deadly Premonition 2 and could barely put it down. The characters, York’s continuous Movie References, even the combat works a treat with no need for melee whatsoever. But, like the original, this game is gonna be just as polarizing, you can either look past the decade-old graphics or not, you can see Morgan as endearing or insane. But one thing you can’t call Deadly Premonition, is boring.
If you liked the previous titles then you’ll like Bayonetta 3 because its more of the same with action set pieces ramped up to 11, while there are some behemoths when it comes to bosses, the game has enough leeway with dodging and health so things don’t get frustrating and average players should at least see a silver medal in most of their battles, while it’s difficult to tell what the future holds for Bayonetta, for now, it is always special when she finally pops around.
While Live A Live wouldn’t have been the first game I would have picked to get the HD-2D treatment, I am certainly glad to see this underappreciated gem finally get the respect it deserves, while full 3D remakes certainly have their place some games are just better conveyed it that old school art style and Live A Live is no exception.
While the game promotes itself as Kirby's first foray into 3D, at this point it really isn't anything to celebrate with it now been over 25 years since Mario wowed everyone stepping into the new dimension. The big difference here is that Kirby plays exactly the same as he did in 2D and that is probably my biggest issue with the Forgotten Land, with its barriers, directional arrows and no real diverging paths except for some secrets, the 3D feels like an imposter or at the very least outdated.
Axiom Verge was a game so well crafted, that it honestly didn’t need a sequel, while a lot has indeed changed it still at its core feels like the original. It goes without saying If you were a fan of the original or Metroidvania in general, you should definitely check it out.
Olija is a fun mystical little game that doesn’t overstay its welcome lasting only 6 or 7 hours at best, boss battles aren’t really that difficult even the final one felt way to simple. Really the only thing that will impede your gameplay is the game locking up, we were playing on the Switch and we found the game having moments of slowdown nearing the end to the point it crashed in the middle of a boss fight and even silently crashed during the final cutscene with the screen staying black and the music fading away.
Age of Calamity seemingly fixes all those niggling little qualms that people had with Breath of the Wild, first and foremost there is no weapon degradation. It was without a doubt one of the most frustrating parts of the game, constantly having to find a new sword halfway through a battle. While you still collect numerous items, food and weaponry in Age of Calamity you really only address that between missions where you can sell or even fuse loose weapons together. Even frustrating enemies from the original game like Lynels have been essentially neutered here to the point that you can easily defeat them,a lot of aspects from Breath of the Wild have been brought over here including Flurry Rush, Paraglider, even the freaking Koroks.
There isn’t much challenge or strategy with I Am Dead and honestly, there really doesn’t need to be. It’s more about the sights and the people we meet along the way, it goes to show that even after we’ve passed on we are never truly gone, our stories, our legacies will be remembered by the people around us, sometimes even for centuries. The design of the world is incredibly basic, with a simplistic vector style that doesn’t even have any shadows, but honestly, I don’t hold that against the game.
While there are certainly some complex sections, especially with Bonus Stages it is a real stretch to consider this game “hard”. We’ve gotten used to so many games hand holding us that we have become blind to any real challenge. Anything even considered hard is automatically paired with Souls or Cuphead. But anybody who is going to strive for full completion, you are certainly getting your money worth with each level having a “Twisted” version with its own set of gems to collect.
When you play A Short Hike to its fullest you receive a wholesome experience. This is a positive game with positive characters and positive metaphors that I will admit are a bit on the nose.
Accompanying the game is an absolutely stellar soundtrack that captures the atmosphere of a giant research facility perfectly, reminiscing of similar tensions in movies such as Alien. The cries and whimpering of terrified scientists cowering in a corner before making a satisfying leap from the shadows and throwing them around like an absolute ragdoll.