Last Word on Gaming
HomepageLast Word on Gaming's Reviews
Not every game has to bring the State-of-the-Art graphics that bigger companies install. The game is able to bring an old, campy style of art design that appeals to the roguelike playstyle of action-packed dungeon crawling. What the game lacks in high-quality graphics, it makes up for in retro-style visuals. The visuals of the game make the gameplay feel smooth yet consistent. The art is well-done including the OC, the enemies, the setting, and the action taking place. It isn’t a game that takes itself too seriously with the content, but they go beyond the visual standards of arcade-style roguelike games to give players a thrilling setting. The camera setting is also solid, but it can be moved to adjust to the players’ dependability and turn into previously hard-to-see areas.
Train Valley: Console Edition is a very good transition to consoles for the PC staple. While the User Interface at times isn’t great almost all PC-focused games struggle to make that change for consoles. Ultimately, the gameplay is very enjoyable and strategy fans will have a good time thinking three steps ahead to make sure things at the station continue to run smoothly.
Overall, Nine Noir Lives has everything you’d want from a point-and-click adventure. The memorable characters, interesting item combinations and solvable puzzles are strung together in a fun and engaging mystery narrative that will keep you playing for hours on end. When you factor in the vibrant hand-drawn art style, the orchestral soundtrack and impeccable voice acting, it become a hard game for point-and-click adventure fans to miss.
I don’t think any number grading could ever fully translate my thoughts on Trifox. It’s a game that does so much right and stands out in the action-adventure genre as one of the more well-designed and creative titles I’ve played in a while. Despite that, there are just too many small things that hold it back from reaching its full potential. I would love to see this team get another swing at a Trifox game, a tightened-up sequel could be a contender for best indie game of the year, but for now, Trifox stands as a pretty good game, but one limited by its own faults.
SpongeBob SquarePants The Cosmic Shake is a charming, funny, and sometimes great game. At its heart, it is a masterful platformer but it gets sidetracked too often with underexplored mechanics and a desire to focus on tedious combat. It is still a very easy game to pick up and play through, but it falls short of the excellence that this franchise expects in the video game world.
3D platformers with this much quality are rare nowadays. A mix of Mario Odyssey and Sonic is sure to appeal to a wide array of players. Odyssey players especially will have a great time finding out the full array of abilities the yo-yo offers. There’s enough replayability and interest on offer to make this worth the purchase.
It’s tough to find criticism with Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes without leveling criticism at the genre itself. One thing that I found detrimental was the encounter rate of battles; at times I felt I hadn’t moved five steps without another battle occurring. There is an “auto” battle feature but I didn’t find it quite as helpful as it tended to select moves that wasted skill points or moves whereas I could have set it up to not even require half-a-turn. I wanted to learn more about the developing story but consistently had to wait for another battle to pass. And yet, I find it hard to critique that because experiencing random enemy battles is literally one of the cornerstones of the role-playing genre; it’s a benchmark. How does one fault that? It’s been said in the foodie world that to judge a pizza place, it all comes down to a slice of their cheese pizza. If that’s good, the rest will be too. Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes is the RPG version of a slice of cheese pizza. It was good then, and it’s good now.
Bat and ball games are not for everyone but if you do have a love for the genre there is fun to be had with this title although non fans will not get much joy I suspect. The solo mode could be better but the co-op is where the game does well and for a couple of hours play there is definitely enough to make this a worthwhile purchase for a low price. The platforming game element is a neat twist. This is a decent game that does what it needs to do well whilst not setting the world on fire.
It’s difficult to give a score to The Suicide of Rachel Foster. I could have loved this game. And I did really enjoy it, right up until the last moment. It was everything I wanted in a walking sim. Creepy, atmospheric, with interesting characters and a rich, detailed environment. But it was ultimately let down by the end of the story, which mishandles a pretty sensitive topic, and left me feeling disappointed and frustrated.
If you are fans of the Cotton series then I can say you will enjoy this port as it remains true to the original games and is certainly a collectors item. For anyone else it is just so hard to recommend it because it isn’t as good today as it was back in 1994. It is just a harsh reality that sometimes games stand the test of time and sometimes they don’t. Cotton 100% is somewhere in the middle and it’s okay, nothing more.
So, would I recommend it? I think you have to be a real fan of the genre to want to stick with it all the way through (or really obsessed with Lovecraft). While the characters and setting are interesting, the middle sections of each case drag on a bit too long. And I would have liked it to be creepier for a horror game. Check it out if you’re a fan of visual novels and you want a new one to try out.
Staxel is a game with potential and there’s a lot that I liked about it. Ultimately, it gets in its own way by trying to spread itself too thin and leaving too many elements of the game feeling tacked on. Having so many quests going at once with materials not being available ends up feeling more frustrating than anything and while graphically the game looks good and stands out from the field, this only gets you so far. Admittedly, the creative mode would alleviate some of my issues but that would essentially make this a sandbox game. Unfortunately, Staxel winds up as an ambitious project that couldn’t keep up with its own potential.
For those hankering to play a Fire Emblem style game, Dark Deity will no doubt scratch your itch. Its tactical gameplay is satisfying and engaging, with a wide array of units at your disposal to lay waste to your enemies. The story and characters are lacking, however, which leads to a lot of the game feeling like a slog to get through. The contestant addition of new characters leads to a “shiny new toy” mentality with other characters being forgotten about and left to waste away in the meaningless bonds
Lone Ruin is a solid addition to the roguelike genre, especially for those in need of a challenge. It’s got a strong art direction that enhances the darker mood the game is going for. The boss fights are an easy highlight as the developers really get to flex their muscles with those but the gameplay loop isn’t quite good enough, or long enough, to thrive otherwise. The weaker abilities and items render some attempts futile without me even doing anything wrong and success largely feels down to luck rather than my own choices for the most part.
AEW: Fight Forever is a solid first step into the gaming world for All Elite Wrestling. They’ve already got the gameplay down and have something they can expand on in future games to really make their mark. It is, however, a game that lacks any real depth, and with the CAW options being so bare they’re going to be relying on multiplayer fun to carry the game’s momentum. With some minor improvements and polish, they could make an exceptional follow-up but their first foray into gaming is merely a solid entry that will leave single-player users without much to do after a few days.
Sons of Valhalla has some ways to go. I’m hoping a couple of updates will ease some of the tedium of the city building and waiting for units. It felt like I was stuck through a lot of my playthrough, having to wait for something or another rather than forging ahead. I wouldn’t even mind waiting for tactical purposes, but there really isn’t much more to the game aside from clicking at enemies and watching your army take care of business. I died during 2 sieges. When I got back to the camp, my army had played the game without me and took them. It just feels a bit disconnected. With a little push, this game has something special. For now though, I’d recommend waiting some time.
There is quite a bit to like about Dungeon Munchies, but unfortunately, the major components that matter in a video game, especially one that is a side-scrolling action platformer, let the rest of its parts down. The platforming is extremely unwieldy and frustrating. The fact that I have to intentionally injure my character to try to progress through a stage should tell you enough. Throw in the combat that’s just kind of there, and it ultimately just winds up as an unsatisfying gameplay experience. It’s sad really because I liked the story enough to want to keep pushing through, the characters are silly and funny, and it has good music and art design as well. It is quite possible that Chapter 3 gets added to the game eventually, maybe by then some of these issues will be fixed.
While the developers certainly deserve credit for their unique concept and magnificent atmosphere this game is a bit of a misfire, the gameplay is just lacking in too many areas and the creativity is put into little references rather than the actual gameplay itself. While this is certainly a game that people can, and have, enjoyed it was a very tedious experience for me and one that I can’t recommend unless you enjoy a more passive gaming experience.
The feat of getting Apex Legends onto the Nintendo Switch at all is impressive and Panic Button has done all they can to make this work. The problem is that when you are up against other players where the game runs better you are at such a disadvantage that the whole concept quickly falls apart. The muddy graphics, the dips in an already compromised frame rate, and the lack of clarity in the visuals just make it too hard to make a recommendation for Apex Legends at this time. I say ‘at this time’ because future patches may come along that rectify some of the issues and if they do then we have a game that has something to be built upon. In its current state, the only way you will want to play this is if it is the only way you can play it.
Fighting is a big part of Bush League Hockey but it is also undercooked. Punching doesn’t feel naturally responsive and although it’s got it’s charms it fails to hit the mark. Where the game does shine a little is when you play with friends. Grab a few mates round with a few beers and there is fun to be had for a few hours but the overall package is buggy, laggy and just not as much fun as it could and should have been.