Qualbert.com's Reviews
Right off the bat, Shadow Warrior 3 wears its influences on its sleeves. Anyone familiar with the tightly-packed bang-bangs of recent years, whether it be the DOOM series or perhaps a Painkiller, when you come across a baddie, you’re bound to come across tons more – and you’re stuck fighting in that area until either your enemies die or you do. These battles are insanely intense – you’ll have to manage prioritizing tougher enemies, conserving your ammunition, finding opportunities to regain health, and much more.
Offering a solid turn-based JRPG with engaging crafting elements and a cute visual aesthetic, Atelier Sophie 2 is a follow-up that will no doubt appeal to fans of the original game. Despite some new gameplay elements which attempt to keep the series feeling varied and fresh, the cut-and-paste formula of Atelier games becomes quite obvious and tiresome, especially when comparing to other modern JRPGs.
OlliOlli World is everything you could ask for in a side-scrolling skater. Simple and intuitive controls, a tonne of unlockables, and varying difficulty choices based on each track to suit the play style of any player paired with its unique vibrant art style and chill lo-fi soundtrack, and you’ll find yourself in Gnarvana before you know it.
Shin Megami Tensei has been and always will be the JRPG for JRPG fans, and Shin Megami Tensei V is yet another entry that cements its status in the gaming community. If looking for a light-hearted and user-friendly romp through a fantasy world, look elsewhere, because Shin Megami Tensei V can be a punishing and melancholic spiritual experience that appeals to a more hardcore audience.
Other than some minor gripes with the controls, I was never really frustrated when playing Flynn. However, I don’t think I was truly challenged either. To me this feels like a really good entry point to 2D platformers and Metroidvania style games. I don’t hesitate to recommend this game as a worthy use of your time (about 8-10 hours worth), but don’t expect anything particularly ground-breaking or unique here.
The simplicity and stripped down nature of Loop Hero helps its addictive nature quite a bit. Although wholly unique in its melding of concepts, another game similar to it (at least in the deckbuilding roguelike/lite aspect) that you might enjoy if you enjoy Loop Hero is Mega Crit Games’ ‘Slay the Spire’.
I enjoyed my time with The Wild at Heart. Though it is a relatively short single-player adventure clocking in between 12-20 hours (depending on how much of a completionist or trophy hunter you are), it is an entertaining experience all the way through. There are a couple of enemies and gameplay elements that when encountered the first time will likely cause a ‘death’ – which can be a little frustrating. However, once enemy patterns are learned and your collection of Spritelings is high you can instead focus your energy on the smart puzzles, endearing characters, excellent presentation and slightly tragic yet wholesome story.
Few games can achieve world-building and gripping gameplay in an 8 – 10 hour experience quite like Death’s Door. Through its unique story and characters, stunning presentation, clever exploration and thrilling intuitive combat, this is yet another superb indie game to add to Devolver’s arsenal. It's a game to die for.
Lost Judgement continues the high quality output of the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio over the past few years. Yakuza 0, Yakuza 6, Yakuza Like a Dragon and Judgement are all excellent titles and Lost Judgement is on par with these. If you enjoyed any of those titles, then obviously you will enjoy this one too. A focus on the main story will still take a good 20+ hour time investment. However with everything you can do here there is well over 80 hours of gameplay. Not only are there fully fleshed out minigames such as Drone Racing, Boxing, Dancing and Motorcycle racing, there are also at least 10 full Sega Master System games here, plus some classic Sega arcade ports.
A lot of doubt was cast over a single-player, narrative-driven, linear game still being worth the risk in a multiplayer, shared-world climate of gaming, but this game hearkens back to a time where you paid full price for a full experience. Nothing held back behind future DLC, no lack of polish due to a rushed schedule, no need for a persistent online connection. It’s a relief to have this much fun with no strings attached, and for that, the game gets my full endorsement.
Even the simplest moments of the game have the ability overwhelm the player with joy and happiness. Witch Beam have created a game unlike any other I’ve played, and if you are a human with a heart, I implore you to experience it as well. Unpacking truly is a moving game in every sense of the word.
With a unique blend of creative combat and traditional Japanese influence, it’s now clear why the series has gained such a dedicated cult following and a reputation for being one of the best in the horror genre. While the Maiden of Black Water may be showing her age in some respects, this is still a title that’s bound to satisfy those who enjoy playing games on the edge of their seat.
Not only will you be hitting notes, you’ll have to swipe in designated directions and hold notes when their shapes appear. You’ll have an understanding of when to hit these notes based on the shapes closing in on the outline of the note. As such, it gets tricky when you have to move to different sides of the screen rapidly.
An interesting and charming concept is sadly ruined by frustrating gameplay, dodgy controls, and an overall lack of polish. Even if you truly love skateboarding and are obsessed with birds, I’d still be hesitant to recommend playing SkateBird.
So is AWAY: The Survival Series the definitive nature-based videogame that would impress the likes of even David Attenborough himself? Not quite. There are sadly many details of AWAY that feel unpolished and detract from what could have otherwise been an insightful and engaging adventure. Its lush and detailed world is unfortunately marred by poorly-responsive controls, troublesome platforming, and a camera that spoils the intent of being a cinematic adventure. If these flaws can be overlooked, the detailed world and its myriad creatures offer entertainment that aims to delight players like myself who grew up engrossed by watching nature on the screen.
With an engaging story, plenty of clever humour, and typical monster capturing and combat that fans have grown to love, this is a game almost certainly made to appeal to Pokémon fanatics. While it is obvious that many aspects of Nexomon draw heavily from Game Freak’s series, once you look past these similarities, you’re in for an excellent standalone adventure over the course of a 20 hours story.
Tales of Arise requires a massive time commitment if you want to see this excellent story through its various twists and turns to its satisfying conclusion. If you want to watch all of the awesome ‘skits’ and complete all available side quests, you are looking at spending a minimum of 60 hours with Tales of Arise. That being said, I never felt bored while playing the game. I always wanted to keep pushing on to complete one more side quest, find one more owl, catch one more fish, or uncover one more secret in this twisting Tale. After finally accepting that it was time to get some sleep and turn off the game I continued to think about the well fleshed-out characters, their individual motivations, and their overall quest. I counted down the hours until I could jump back in and continue from where I left off.
Anyone who’s cut their teeth on the combat of a roguelite will have a headstart in Dreamscaper. With the ever-present threat of losing your life in just a few hits, your moves are calculated and careful – you’re put to the test with scaling baddies between each level and you’re bound to die. This is where my favorite part of roguelite comes in – you can manage some upgrades to make subsequent runs a bit more do-able.
Alongside an attractive aesthetic and a perfectly-matched soundtrack, this proves to be a visual novel that is likely to impress most fans of the genre. Those who enjoy engaging narratives will be left satisfied upon leaving the Terminal, especially thanks to the uniquely Australian writing and humour of each of its patrons. This hidden gem nestled in a Melbourne alleyway will certainly have players dying to come back for another drink.
Life is Strange: True Colors gets everything right that the previous games got wrong. The voice acting is superior, the motion-capture is finally spot-on, the length of the title maintains a fast pace from start to finish, and the few bugs are getting squashed with post-launch support. This is indeed the best Life is Strange game to come, and an easy GOTY candidate.