Halo with a fresh coat of paint but you'll likely revert the graphics to the originals anyway. Everything thing good and bad about the original Halo still holds true here, with gorgeous but at times repetitive levels and simple but satisfying FPS gameplay with a good variety in the enemies you face down. One con of playing this on PC is the default keyboard controls are horrible and I had a hard time finding something comfortable for me. It's a great time with or without a friend, and the multiple difficulty levels with added modification options and achievements to unlock give you plenty of reason to replay if you so desire.

Definitely a nice little co-operative puzzle/platformer, the game comes up with new gimmicks every level to keep things fresh and has solid controls to boot. The overall presentation is fantastic and the game maintains a good balance between platforming challenges, puzzles, co-op mini games and boss fights along the way. There are some problems though, a lot of the levels can go on for way longer than necessary, and sometimes glitches can cause certain level sections to break entirely, forcing restarts. The game is also very much a one and done experience, at least for me. That one time had plenty of good moments though, so I can recommend at least one try to anyone interested.

This one's an odd duck to say the least. A slightly remixed version of Turtles in Time made for the Genesis trying to pass itself off as an original game, Hyperstone very awkwardly recycles assets from Turtles in Time and includes original assets of markedly inferior quality, particularly the bosses. The game also generally has weaker progression with a very underwhelming final two stages. Sound and visuals also take a bit of a dip in quality. The main thing that saves this game is the excellent play control, with a smoother feel and noticeably faster gameplay putting it closer to the arcade original Turtles in Time than the SNES version in that regard. Having a dedicated dash button also makes the dash attack moves much easier to use, though the Cowabunga Collection does kind of undermine this upgrade. It's definitely a fun game, and a different enough experience that I'd say fire it up from time to time, but the overall package falls pretty short of either version of Turtles in Time.

Devil Survivor is like a cult classic within a cult classic franchise. Absolutely love this game, it being one of my first 3DS games and a super nostalgic game to go back to. It improves upon the base DS game in several major ways, though it does still have its share of balancing issues. The story has a nice combo of grit and uplift, and it moves at a nice pace with story and gameplay in good measure to each other. There's plenty of additional events and mutually exclusive scenes to keep multiple playthroughs fresh, and decent variation in the ending routes along with immense variations in the new Day 8 Scenarios.

The game does have some cons. Progression can be very grindy, with intense downward scaling for exp gains while also slowly giving you money. The late game also sees a massive spike in difficulty, and more than half the game's cast is only available to play for the last 6-12 fights. As a final problem, the bonus bosses aren't very well balanced save for Lucifer, and most of them you either get stomped by or roll with overtuned demons you carried over from previous playthroughs.

The pros heavily outweigh the cons though, and if you can find an easy way to play this I'd highly recommend it. Devil Survivor is one of the more unique sub-series of MegaTen, and it'd be nice to see it get more love.

The seemingly more dire yet somehow more lighthearted follow up to Devil Survivor, DS2 is a mixed bag. Mechanically and game design-wise, it's much more solid than the first game, with expanded skill options, much improved demon types, and a much larger cast that are more available to use giving you much more interesting and flexible party compositions throughout the game. The story on the other hand is much more lighthearted and often takes the premise as a farce at many times, which can be a dividing factor for people. It is decently funny at times, but I do feel the overall narrative is weaker. Still, there's a lot to like here and it's a good companion to DS Overclocked if you wanted a more polished version of the tactical gameplay present there. Record Breaker ups the bonuses in the transition to the 3DS hardware by giving a whole extra story mode to play, which is very nice.

I'm not sure how to feel about this game on the whole, though obviously I enjoyed it a lot. The game has far more quality of life features than Totori, a better new game + system, an improved alchemy system that's easier to make effective items with, and superior production methods that become available at an earlier time. On the other hand, the world has been downsized heavily, and while the game is technically longer at 5 years to the end instead of 4, it feels much shorter and less grand due to the lesser game world. The story progression doesn't reach quite the same highs as Totori either, taking the game back to Rorona's almost purely grounded approach. Interesting in its own way, but I did feel that Totori had a good balance between the mundane and the epic. The game is also a bit easier than Totori, with less stressful time limits and generally easier bosses. If I got stomped by a boss, it didn't take too much improvement to my loadouts to come back and return the favor, with the only one taking a bit more than that being the Wyvern. Still, if you like the series and are more interested in the time management driven games, this is definitely one of the better ones and worth checking out.

Losing the battle, better microwave the baby!

In all seriousness, this game was a pleasant surprise that popped into my Steam feed. Naturally, as a war story involving children, it can go to some dark places, but you can also minimize that through skilled play. The game also allows you to set your challenge to your ambitions, with dangerous routes that give more rewards or safer routes that make it easier to get through the level but give less long term benefit. There's a good balance of strategic gameplay, with all elements from buffs to status effects to healing support and raw damage having all their places in the game and being useful throughout. The difficulty curve is a little lopsided, with a fairly difficult early and end game and a breezy mid game. It's not the most involved or diverse RPG I've played, but I never felt bored or like the combat was played out at any point. About the only criticism I have past that is that 100% completion is very grindy, and will likely take multiple new game + runs to get everything. Give it a look if you can foot the price or if it's on sale!

Pure Ice Blue's follow up to Lily's Well, and as a game it plays much the same way (For good and for bad). I'm a bit torn on this one, there's a greater variety of fail states and it's more of an actual adventure/puzzle game than Lily's Well. On the other hand, having more present threats and actual game overs can make the game a bit more frustrating to play, and I find the body horror visuals to not rattle me as much as Lily's Well did. On the other hand, there is a lot of tension exploring the library, and the greater threat to your character's safety funnily enough makes the less dangerous situations all the more terrifying. The puppet theater in particular is a highlight of the game for me, no immediate threat to your health but the atmosphere is extremely unsettling, especially with the creepy backing track for it. This game will have content updates much like Lily's Well, so I can see myself liking it more if more additional scares and surprises make their way into the game.

Overall a good step up for Zeboyd games although it is far from perfect. Gameplay-wise it's very strong, the binary character development systems of Breath of Death and Cthulhu Saves The World have been shed and you now have an expansive ability and equipment system that let's you change up your characters on the fly. Lots of options to experiment with, and if you love burst damage playstyles then you'll love this game. One problem though is that once you get the strongest options, the short format of the battles can lead to them being a tad repetitive. This is aided by the game being short and fast paced though.
The biggest weakness ties into the previous point however, this game is very quick and unfortunately with pretty shallow writing. Consequently, this can actually make it really hard to follow what's going on as you get little room to process things, and characters are seldom developed beyond their introduction, especially painful due to the expansive cast. Tying back into gameplay, the extensive cast and line up changes forced on you make it a little undesirable to experiment with new combat options. Still, I've played far less polished independent RPG's, and by the standards of that field this is one of the better ones out there. If it was a little less derivative, I'd probably rate it just a bit higher.

I'm not about to drop any mind blowing takes for this game. The story is definitely as generic as all get out, though I will give some praise to the supports which kept brevity as the soul of wit and had some good interactions within. Gameplay-wise though, this is the most fun I've had with an FE game since the GBA titles. Everyone is usable with tons of customization options. While the mission objectives are still largely just boss kill objectives, they make this a lot more interesting and difficulty to accomplish than in 3 Houses. Highly recommend this game if you're looking for a more tactically rich experience.

You get what you pay for with this, which is probably nothing since you can get it in a bundle with Cthulhu Saves The World at no extra cost. This game is essentially a glorified tech demo for CSTW, and as you'd expect from a freshman outing it's pretty rough. The balance is awful with many dud skills to pick that make the game harder than it needs to be if you play Hard mode, and while it has many modern conveniences I did find myself needing to grind an annoying amount. That said, the game is only about 4 hours long and it moves at a good pace in spite of the grinding due to how short battles are. The writing has also held up pretty poorly, being heavily referential for the sake of it, though there are a few clever bits like the resolution of the Usurper fight.

If you want to see the origin of the Zeboyd-verse then absolutely check it out, but otherwise just go straight to CSTW because it does literally everything this game does but better and more polished.

This is one of my all time favorite games, and I'll fully admit there's a nostalgia bias. The balance is terrible, the post game is lacking in some content and certainly the pacing can be a little slow (Though since you can't skip animations they didn't get too carried away with them in this game) but I love it warts and all. Being able to build up your units into certified badasses is super satisfying, the Lift and Throw mechanics give it a super unique play style that most strategy games don't have, and the story is the perfect blend of comedy and tragedy, hitting the right notes at all the right moments. If you love PS2 RPG's, check this one out, I highly recommend it.

Sometimes you stumble across games and they really surprise you! Fear and Hunger Termina is a hybrid Survival Horror/RPG with great emphasis on the former. The game is all about resource management, and makes no bones about your first playthroughs falling into guaranteed failure states. Learning the game is a blast though and once you get the hang of things it's very exciting to see the various approaches you can take for every situation in the game. With 8 playable characters with a host of different skills between them, along with 3 endings that have fairly different requirements for reaching them, the game has excellent replay value too! The atmosphere is rich and there are a host of spooks and thrills to keep you on edge most of the way. Particularly note goes to the sound effects and dissonant soundtrack.

On the downsides, as you'd expect of an open world game made by one person, the game is RIFE with bugs, particularly for recruitable characters who are notorious for breaking horribly and just disappearing from the game altogether. It's unlikely you'll complete a playthrough without seeing at least one bug. While I don't consider this a negative, the game is also big on disturbing content and imagery, from drug based to sexual to of course violent. If these things are a bit much for you to stomach, I wouldn't really recommend this game. Lastly, and once again I don't consider this a downside but some might, the game is VERY punishing. Enemies outclass you immensely, so you really need to know what options you have to declaw them for the inevitable encounters you WILL have to fight. Plus, the game has extremely limited save opportunities, so you can see a lot of progress go up in smoke if you aren't cautious. If that doesn't sound like a fun time to you, you'll probably want to pass on this.

All said, if you're a fan of the the horror genre and resource management games, I'd highly recommend this, I had a blast getting through it.

I'm not sure how to feel about River City Girls 2 at the moment. I can see my opinion of it rising with time and patches, but currently I rate it slightly lower than the first game. But it's still very good!

For pros, I much appreciate the new characters and expanded starting roster, giving you many more options out the gate. Online Co-op is a huge get obviously, and it runs well in any version of the game, save some connectivity issues on Switch at times. The recruit system has been overhauled and it much more useful, allowing you to have two at once and pull any recruit you've gotten from the hideouts in the game. The new combat moves are fun to use and open up a bunch of new options for stringing attacks together, and the greater enemy variety encourages exploring more effective kill options.

On the downside, there's quite a few recycled areas in this game. The game is longer and more content packed, which is good and bad, as the game has noticeably worse pacing than the first game. Additionally, many objectives revolve around back tracking through areas, which is annoying since it's repetitive and plays badly with the game's longer loading times. Bosses are more unique and varied, but also have slower attack patterns that you have to wait out until you can whale on them again, which I'm not a fan of. Finally, the game also has some noticeable bugs, but this will probably lessen with time and patches so I don't hold it too much against the game.

Ultimately, it's kind of the opposite of what you'd expect. I'd imagine someone who never played the first game would enjoy this a lot more as it would come across as much fresher. I still had great fun with it though, and I plan to fully complete it and do New Game+ playthroughs so it certainly did enough right. I'd especially recommend it if you have friends to play with as co op is very fun.

NOTE: I played this on the PC version, which currently has a Beta patch correcting the game's frame rate problems. I'd highly recommend this version if it's viable for you, deduct half a star off this review for the console versions until the patch goes live.

Probably one of the most impressive solo efforts I've seen since Cave Story, Fight'n Rage is another throwback beat 'em up made by someone who is obviously a genre enthusiast. The combat is fast, satisfying, very flexible and diverse between the 3 characters and there's a good variety of enemies in the mix. The branching story paths lead to a surprisingly wide array of different levels so no one playthrough has to be the same thing every time and the game is loaded with unlockables giving it excellent replay value. It's not perfect though, the very intense and busy visuals can make this game a headache to look at after extended play so I really can't recommend the game for photo-sensitive people. (you can modify the visuals to tone down some of the effects but there is a limit to it) On a more general note, it's a very difficult and not beginner friendly game at all. While it has many modern conveniences, the enemy count is very high, and they can drain your health in a hurry. That can just as easily be a pro for some people though, so I don't count it against the game that much. If you love classic beat 'em ups but would like something that has the control feel of a Vanillaware game, give this one a check.