ZTGD's Reviews
Its not often that you find such a dark and adult story wrapped up in such a whimsical and beautiful package, this one could be a contender for RPG of the year.
If you are a fan of rogue-lites there is absolutely no reason for you to not be playing Hades, and if you aren’t a fan of the genre but enjoy action RPG’s with the above ingredients then you should give this a try. If Hades becomes the gold standard for rogue-lites going forward, then consider me a willing convert and long live the rogue lites!
I don’t think anything is gained by playing either Famicom Detective Club that can’t be gained by watching a playthrough because the puzzles are at best throwaway and at worst barely present. These are inherently flawed games, but if somehow the idea of slogging through menus isn’t a turn off there are absolutely two great, down to Earth murder mysteries to be experienced here.
Coming off of what was a year in Early Access on PC I had high hopes that most if not all of these things wouldn’t be an issue. But the team can correct these things with some patches, and hopefully that is what they are going to do because its going to be a shame to let this universe languish and go to waste because the potential is definitely there for greatness.
As tower defense games go, this should be the new gold standard as it’s chock full of strategy but levels that with being able to actually control your hero and let you go hands on with the action. Hopefully this one doesn’t get forgotten due to its exclusivity to Stadia because it will be a real shame if this is the last Orcs Must Die…especially since I am now a huge fan.
The Ascent is a wonderful experience that is easy to recommend thanks to Game Pass. It has some technical issues, some bugs, and also takes a while to get to the point, but it is worth the investment. There is little reason to not check it out if you have Game Pass. This is a game that is great with friends and even solo manages to entertain. I hope they continue to clean up the bugs over time, but for now it is easily one of my favorite experiences of the Summer.
I really can’t recommend this game enough, even with the lackluster facial animations this is an experience that shouldn’t be missed if you value narrative; in particular mysteries.
After half a decade of playing the “will it or won’t It get localized” guessing game, to see the Great Ace Attorney Chronicles see release in the States is an event worth celebrating indeed and doubly so as it was done well for a pair of games that weave an intriguing storyline well worth reading all the way to the end.
Mario Golf Super Rush feels rushed. There are no bones about it. I feel like they could make it a great game over time with more content, but I worry the tail of this particular game won’t be as long as some other Nintendo titles. You wonder how much the pandemic was involved in its lack of content, but for the first time in a long time this feels like a $40 Nintendo game, and that just never happens.
As I said before Samurai Warriors 5 is a beautiful game, and not to be missed if you enjoy the genre. The team has done a fantastic job of refreshing this franchise, and I am hopeful that they garner some new fans to keep this series of games going for years to come.
Death’s Door is a wonderful experience that should not be missed. Don’t be scared off by the comparison to the Souls games. Sure it shares a few mechanics from those, but it feels more like a macabre interpretation of Zelda with some Souls twists. I simply adore this title and cannot wait for others to experience it. It is one of the best games I have played this year and it will likely be top of mind when the awards of 2021 come up. Do not sleep on this title.
Necromunda: Hired Gun is a perfect example of a game that does the Warhammer 40k license justice. If it had the time to hammer out the bugs and issues it could have easily been a sleeper hit of 2021. As it stands it remains a forgettable release that launched with too many issues to keep players’ attention. Even well after launch the game remains in a bad state that makes it hard for me to recommend checking it out. I hope the game gets ironed out at some point, but by then it may be far too late to return to.
I honestly loved this game more than I thought I would. I’m not a huge fan of racing games or anything but much like Tony Hawk’s games this one just did something for me. The fun of pulling off tricks, or trying to keep my multiplayer high and see how many flips I can do before I hit the ground took me back to those days of trying to beat my little brothers score in Tony Hawk 2. Admittedly I prefer multiplayer, being able to put my skills against other people is fun to me, but as I said if you don’t enjoy other people the single player gives you the same experience with none of the folks. Crash Drive 3 is a lot of fun, it’s a great game to pick up have a little fun and move on till next time, but if you choose to stay longer you’ll find a ton of stuff to unlock and secrets to chase that will keep you busy for quite a while.
Overall, Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a fine game. It does nothing offensive while still having some great mechanics thrown in. The story is decent, the combat is fun, but can get a little long in the tooth and the overall progression system was fine albeit a bit one note after a while. Monster Hunter fans can have a fun time with it while old school RPG fans will get more out of the mechanics of the combat mixed with the rite of channeling that can really get the maximum stat boosts going. It has it’s pacing issues here and there with the combat and the quest progression, but overall, these are minor compared to the sheer amount of things you can do while still raising the best team of Monsties you can make.
In the end, it is a slick looking, great sounding little game that is never overly offensive with its issues, but still has a decent amount of them. The gameplay revolves around a simple mechanic that players will see the majority of before getting halfway through it, but it was never something that I didn’t like playing. It is most certainly unconventional, and I think that’s what gave it enough charm to keep me playing. It’s a strange one to recommend, but I still recommend it if this sounds like something up your alley.
In closing ill say it again, Dark Alliance is not a perfectly executed game but the fun to be had when everything works is worth enduring the little issues. It delivers a fun D&D adventure with some epic combat moments. Even with the issues that I experienced I think this is a solid game and with a bit more polish via patches will fit quite nicely among its dungeon crawler brethren.
All in all, I came away impressed with this game, will it make me a convert to ‘bullet hell’ types? No, but it will be a nice change of pace between some of my other games. If you are just looking for some frantic, twin stick action that will test your reflexes as well as your resolve then look no further than the beautiful landscapes and twisty levels of Curved Space.
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a massive endeavor that I fear we may never see the end of, but the ride so far has been fun. I really hope the next chapters don’t span years in development as the original is still one of my favorite RPGs of all-time. I would love to see this end before the end of the PS5-era, but I somehow feel like that is asking a lot. Still this free update for owners is a nice tie-over and the DLC is meaty enough to keep me enamored in the world.
So it is easy to recommend this to fans of the original game and it is easy to recommend this to fans of Pokémon, but what about people who may have no interest in Pokémon’s main series? Well, if photography is a passion then I think there’s definitely fun to be had here because New Pokémon Snap does feel like a fantasy animal safari where the whole goal is to capture the best photos. The interactions between Pokémon feel natural and while they do things that no animal equivalent does, I think that makes them all the more interesting. New Pokémon Snap is like nothing else on the market and proves that this spin off series should have never been gone for this long.
If you like action RPG’s, DMC, or are a fan of anime you will find something good with Scarlet Nexus. Even using the more simplified combat system the game is a blast to play and ultimately tells a really compelling story all in a beautifully done in Japanese anime style.