VideoGameTim
BACKER
Utterly frustrating game to play and interact with. I despise how RDR2 controls and handles, but its sole saving grace is the tale of Arthur Morgan which carries it quite well.
RealSports Volleyball in 1982 for the 260p was an admirable attempt at an early volleyball game. It looked pretty good for its time and controls were tight and responsive. This game is none of those things. The character models are blobby potatoes like what Street Fighter 4 would look like in 1993. The controls are loose and imprecise. Do not bother.
2024
When I try to think of notable examples of games in the space of co-op mission-based PvE, it's kind of crazy how the only big ones that come to mind are Left4Dead, Deep Rock Galactic, and PAYDAY because (for the most part), these are all really successful and fun when they work. Helldivers 2 most certainly joins the company of these aforementioned titles, and one I can see myself coming back to (friends-willing) over and over.
In the galactic effort to spread democracy for Super Earth, as a Helldiver you pick a planet on the galactic map (currently inhabited by either giant bugs or terminator-style robots) and from there, choose an operation. Depending on your difficulty setting, your operations will consist of varying numbers of missions and objective types. Drop in and run around to launch an ICBM, defend an outpost from a swarm, collect planetary samples, and so on. Depending on the mission type (and how thorough you can afford to be), missions usually range from 12-30 minutes and you are rewarded extra for completing an operation, making it very easy to play for long periods of time as it's just that fun.
After you return from a mission, you can use your hard-earned currencies to unlock new strategems (airstrikes or weapon drops called in by performing a DDR string on the D-Pad), as well as progress in the battle passes and modules to upgrade your ship. There's much to choose from and each player gets 4 strategem slots per mission, so there's plenty of room for synergy and customization.
Overall, it's a pretty good combat loop and the movement and shooting feel very reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid V. If I had something negative to say about it, I would say certain currencies being hard locked to higher difficulties is a bit unfortunate because 1) Communication and Cooperation is absolutely mandatory the higher you go (playing with randoms rules this out), and 2) The difficulty level really starts to feel less about spreading Democracy and more about running for your life from every encounter in the name of efficiency. Getting stomped doesn't feel great, getting stomped after 40 minutes of commitment just sends me into Dota 2 PTSD. While I also don't normally factor this sort of thing into my reviews unless it was a real detriment, but there have been a litany of bugs and glitches hampering the experience since launch, and each patched introduced something new and frustrating. I'm sure this sort of thing will work itself out as the devs chip away at it, but for now simply playing with friends has been a hassle.
Still, if you are looking for a really solid shooter to co-op with, this is definitely a great new offering. There's a ton of unlocks to keep the gameplay loop feel engaging, and if they keep their current cadence up I'm sure there will be lots more crazy new things to try out or shoot at within the next year.
In the galactic effort to spread democracy for Super Earth, as a Helldiver you pick a planet on the galactic map (currently inhabited by either giant bugs or terminator-style robots) and from there, choose an operation. Depending on your difficulty setting, your operations will consist of varying numbers of missions and objective types. Drop in and run around to launch an ICBM, defend an outpost from a swarm, collect planetary samples, and so on. Depending on the mission type (and how thorough you can afford to be), missions usually range from 12-30 minutes and you are rewarded extra for completing an operation, making it very easy to play for long periods of time as it's just that fun.
After you return from a mission, you can use your hard-earned currencies to unlock new strategems (airstrikes or weapon drops called in by performing a DDR string on the D-Pad), as well as progress in the battle passes and modules to upgrade your ship. There's much to choose from and each player gets 4 strategem slots per mission, so there's plenty of room for synergy and customization.
Overall, it's a pretty good combat loop and the movement and shooting feel very reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid V. If I had something negative to say about it, I would say certain currencies being hard locked to higher difficulties is a bit unfortunate because 1) Communication and Cooperation is absolutely mandatory the higher you go (playing with randoms rules this out), and 2) The difficulty level really starts to feel less about spreading Democracy and more about running for your life from every encounter in the name of efficiency. Getting stomped doesn't feel great, getting stomped after 40 minutes of commitment just sends me into Dota 2 PTSD. While I also don't normally factor this sort of thing into my reviews unless it was a real detriment, but there have been a litany of bugs and glitches hampering the experience since launch, and each patched introduced something new and frustrating. I'm sure this sort of thing will work itself out as the devs chip away at it, but for now simply playing with friends has been a hassle.
Still, if you are looking for a really solid shooter to co-op with, this is definitely a great new offering. There's a ton of unlocks to keep the gameplay loop feel engaging, and if they keep their current cadence up I'm sure there will be lots more crazy new things to try out or shoot at within the next year.
2022
I'm one of those people that fairly enjoyed Octopath Traveler. While the story and party interactions were a little weak, the artstyle, music, and overall charm carried it a long way for me. I am happy to say, Triangle Strategy is a dramatic improvement.
The story and characters have superb writing, and many of the choices feel genuinely difficult to make. They actually do shape the course of the story rather well. The music is just as good as it was in Octopath really makes some of the battles memorable.
From a gameplay standpoint, what makes it stand apart from other TRPGs I've played is that each of the ~20 or so units you have gets a totally unique moveset and role to play. Several different kinds of healers, magicians, mounted units, and so on can really be used to customize your ideal party composition. For example, one healer is a traditional mage with a basic heal spell that later can cure ailments, do AoEs, etc. While another can use items from distance and use multiple per turn, so they have a different sort of versatility since that also means damage items. While there's no permadeath like in other similar titles, this also allows for freedom in battle where you could end up fighting to the last without a compulsion to save scum.
Admittedly, I'd love to play it on a platform that isn't the switch because it drains the battery hard and has some noticeable performance hits (though not a huge deal for this genre). However regardless, I'd like to play it again soon just to see another one of the multiple endings. What a fantastic game.
The story and characters have superb writing, and many of the choices feel genuinely difficult to make. They actually do shape the course of the story rather well. The music is just as good as it was in Octopath really makes some of the battles memorable.
From a gameplay standpoint, what makes it stand apart from other TRPGs I've played is that each of the ~20 or so units you have gets a totally unique moveset and role to play. Several different kinds of healers, magicians, mounted units, and so on can really be used to customize your ideal party composition. For example, one healer is a traditional mage with a basic heal spell that later can cure ailments, do AoEs, etc. While another can use items from distance and use multiple per turn, so they have a different sort of versatility since that also means damage items. While there's no permadeath like in other similar titles, this also allows for freedom in battle where you could end up fighting to the last without a compulsion to save scum.
Admittedly, I'd love to play it on a platform that isn't the switch because it drains the battery hard and has some noticeable performance hits (though not a huge deal for this genre). However regardless, I'd like to play it again soon just to see another one of the multiple endings. What a fantastic game.
2009
I originally watched the anime and loved it to pieces, and when I finally played the VN I loved it even more. My favourite visual novel of all time. Highly recommend to anyone who's into sci-fi. Tuturu!
2002
CUM GUARDIAN
1992
Aesthetically it's kind of interesting, the character designs and backgrounds remind me of SMT in a way. Gameplay is nothing special though, one powerup more or less trivializes the already short game by shooting projectiles in all directions constantly.
FAITH: The Unholy Trinity is a fantastic retro-style horror game split into three acts, released over a span of 5 years. It follows the journey of Father John Ward as he fights various evils with his crucfix.
Chapter I (2017) is a pretty solid base to begin with. You spend a lot of time wandering around in woods that repeat themselves, in a style somewhat reminiscent of the hunting/foraging segments of Oregon Trail. There are quite a lot of possible endings as you progress through, with notes to collect by exorcising various objects.
Chapter II (2019) was a significant upgrade over Chapter I and IMO my favourite part of the trinity. While more linear, it gave way to a lot more environments and plot, as well as some neat puzzles.
Then finally we have Chapter III (2022), which serves as a great finale. Once again we have more multiple endings with lots of well-hidden secrets to uncover, and some really rad segments. One level in particular did go on for a little too long however.
All in all, this is an excellent choice for fans of horror and retro-styled games alike. The animation/cutscenes are incredibly well done with their eerily high framerates and the atmosphere/music is just the right level of creepy.
Chapter I (2017) is a pretty solid base to begin with. You spend a lot of time wandering around in woods that repeat themselves, in a style somewhat reminiscent of the hunting/foraging segments of Oregon Trail. There are quite a lot of possible endings as you progress through, with notes to collect by exorcising various objects.
Chapter II (2019) was a significant upgrade over Chapter I and IMO my favourite part of the trinity. While more linear, it gave way to a lot more environments and plot, as well as some neat puzzles.
Then finally we have Chapter III (2022), which serves as a great finale. Once again we have more multiple endings with lots of well-hidden secrets to uncover, and some really rad segments. One level in particular did go on for a little too long however.
All in all, this is an excellent choice for fans of horror and retro-styled games alike. The animation/cutscenes are incredibly well done with their eerily high framerates and the atmosphere/music is just the right level of creepy.
You know, in hindsight, I should have known better. A game purely reliant on gyro controls for your movement of a ball around many narrow courses where you can (and DEFINITELY WILL) fall off the track. I get it, Nintendo has always loved experimenting with motion controls. As another review here suggested, maybe this would actually be better on the actual Gameboy with less responsive gyro capabilities so it would be easier to handle. As it stands however on the Switch, it is far too easy to send Kirby off a cliff or over a jump at ever so slightly the wrong angle.
Despite being a utterly frustrating experience, it does still get a couple of points for effort. It is still well made, and it looks pretty good. While most of the boss fights are reskins of each other, the final one was pretty enjoyable at least. As another virtue of being a GameBoy game, it also has some positively CRUNCHY audio (especially on Kirby's lines) so be prepared to hear some garbled screams or even drowning(!) sound effects that sound straight out of the GameBoy speakers.
Overall, I recommend you do not play this. But if you absolutely must (perhaps out of a love for Kirby), I recommend being prepared to abuse the NSO rewind features if that's how you're playing it.
Despite being a utterly frustrating experience, it does still get a couple of points for effort. It is still well made, and it looks pretty good. While most of the boss fights are reskins of each other, the final one was pretty enjoyable at least. As another virtue of being a GameBoy game, it also has some positively CRUNCHY audio (especially on Kirby's lines) so be prepared to hear some garbled screams or even drowning(!) sound effects that sound straight out of the GameBoy speakers.
Overall, I recommend you do not play this. But if you absolutely must (perhaps out of a love for Kirby), I recommend being prepared to abuse the NSO rewind features if that's how you're playing it.
2021
FIGHT KNIGHT is an absolutely phenomenal game that combines classic, grid-based dungeon crawling with a rewarding Punch Out!-styled combat system.
In the dungeons, the level design is impeccable with plenty of shortcuts to unlock, puzzles to solve, and unique gimmicks for each themed floor of the tower. Plenty to collect too, between enemy drops and hidden upgrades to your movelist and equipment.
The combat is highly responsive and satisfying to master, with each enemy in the game having their own quirks to learn to expedite battles. Some enemies even synergize with each other if they end up paired together.
Between these two aspects, the game is quite challenging at times but not frustratingly so. Dying will return you to your previous save, so saving often is a good practice lest you lose lots of exploration progress.
I really really do recommend giving FIGHT KNIGHT a go if anything I've written here sounds appealing, because everything (including the fantastic soundtrack as well) comes together in a spectacular way. This might be my biggest surprise of 2021.
In the dungeons, the level design is impeccable with plenty of shortcuts to unlock, puzzles to solve, and unique gimmicks for each themed floor of the tower. Plenty to collect too, between enemy drops and hidden upgrades to your movelist and equipment.
The combat is highly responsive and satisfying to master, with each enemy in the game having their own quirks to learn to expedite battles. Some enemies even synergize with each other if they end up paired together.
Between these two aspects, the game is quite challenging at times but not frustratingly so. Dying will return you to your previous save, so saving often is a good practice lest you lose lots of exploration progress.
I really really do recommend giving FIGHT KNIGHT a go if anything I've written here sounds appealing, because everything (including the fantastic soundtrack as well) comes together in a spectacular way. This might be my biggest surprise of 2021.
Really rad side scroller with gorgeous environments and boss designs. Movement is fluid with quite a number of different attacks. Platforming is a little finnicky at times and it's a little unforgiving, but such was the style at the time. I had not played the previous Shinobi games at the time of writing this, but this was strong enough to make me want to try them out.
Going into this game, I knew very little about Touhou other than it being a bullet hell franchise about cute girls with silly hats. The only reason I even picked it up was I happened to see a friend playing it and I thought the pixel art was positively gorgeous, and the music was pretty comfy as well. What I did not expect was that I would be writing this review after ~35 hours of playtime, for what was (on sale) a $5 game.
Mystia's Izakaya is nothing short of a wonderful product of passion. The gameplay is simple - you spend each day running around, talking to characters and collecting ingredients, occasionally completing little delivery tasks. At night, you open your Izakaya to serve food to customers. If you have played games like Diner Dash or Overcooked, you have a pretty solid idea of what to expect here. Regular unnamed NPCs will show you their food and beverage orders, whereas named characters will tell you the kind of dish they want (e.g. "I want something sweet!") and you will have to infer what dish they want (or customize an existing one with appropriate ingredients) to get the best reception. Your journal keeps track of dishes and their tags, as well as each characters likes and dislikes. Make one of the named NPCs happy, and they'll grant you a spell card with a positive effect specific to them (maybe you'll get an assortment of ingredients, or maybe some gathering points get refreshed the next day). The reverse is also true - screw up their order and they'll mess with your operation as a penalty. Additionally, when preparing dishes you have the opportunity to do a brief rhythm game in time with the music to earn other temporary buffs like being able to throw dishes from any distance. It ends up getting pretty addicting as you become more and more familiar with customer preferences and set up your Izakaya in a way that makes sense to you.
The story itself is fairly straight forward - you make your way around Gensokyo, opening up new food carts and having X number of days to make up the yen for the loan repayment or else Chen will break your kneecaps. It culminates in a pretty challenging final mission and a very rewarding and cute finale. Ultimately it gets a smidge repetitive towards the end, especially if you are like me and wanted to grind out the last couple of character social links to be maxed out - but it definitely was worth it.
At the time of writing this, DLC 1 and 2 are translated so I am making my way through those. Each one adds two new areas to set up shop in with 6 characters to befriend and some new dishes and ingredients.
Overall, this is a tremendous game for the value. There are a couple of minor complaints like some weird UI hiccups and a bit of tedium towards the end, but if there was any game that was going to get me more interested in Touhou, this one has made a pretty compelling case. Except for Tewi - she is a blight.
Mystia's Izakaya is nothing short of a wonderful product of passion. The gameplay is simple - you spend each day running around, talking to characters and collecting ingredients, occasionally completing little delivery tasks. At night, you open your Izakaya to serve food to customers. If you have played games like Diner Dash or Overcooked, you have a pretty solid idea of what to expect here. Regular unnamed NPCs will show you their food and beverage orders, whereas named characters will tell you the kind of dish they want (e.g. "I want something sweet!") and you will have to infer what dish they want (or customize an existing one with appropriate ingredients) to get the best reception. Your journal keeps track of dishes and their tags, as well as each characters likes and dislikes. Make one of the named NPCs happy, and they'll grant you a spell card with a positive effect specific to them (maybe you'll get an assortment of ingredients, or maybe some gathering points get refreshed the next day). The reverse is also true - screw up their order and they'll mess with your operation as a penalty. Additionally, when preparing dishes you have the opportunity to do a brief rhythm game in time with the music to earn other temporary buffs like being able to throw dishes from any distance. It ends up getting pretty addicting as you become more and more familiar with customer preferences and set up your Izakaya in a way that makes sense to you.
The story itself is fairly straight forward - you make your way around Gensokyo, opening up new food carts and having X number of days to make up the yen for the loan repayment or else Chen will break your kneecaps. It culminates in a pretty challenging final mission and a very rewarding and cute finale. Ultimately it gets a smidge repetitive towards the end, especially if you are like me and wanted to grind out the last couple of character social links to be maxed out - but it definitely was worth it.
At the time of writing this, DLC 1 and 2 are translated so I am making my way through those. Each one adds two new areas to set up shop in with 6 characters to befriend and some new dishes and ingredients.
Overall, this is a tremendous game for the value. There are a couple of minor complaints like some weird UI hiccups and a bit of tedium towards the end, but if there was any game that was going to get me more interested in Touhou, this one has made a pretty compelling case. Except for Tewi - she is a blight.
1989
The OG that started it all. Before holding and quick drops that later became staples, but not before that ever timeless Tetris A theme. I won't lie that it's hard to go back to without the aformentioned quality of life (mainly quick drop), at the end of thd day Tetris is still Tetris.
2023
I never really got into Street Fighter; 2 and 3 were well before I really got interested in fighting games, and I really did not care for the visual style of 4 and 5. However, between World Tour, the crazy character creator, and overall just general aesthetic of the game I felt like this was finally the one I wanted to jump in with.
First and foremost, the story in World Tour mode is by no means great. The plot is fairly cut and dry, your created character is on a journey to find out WHAT IS STRENGTH and meet the cast of the actual fighters along the way. As you meet each new "master", you can change your normal moveset to match theirs, and as you rank up the style/develop your social link with them, you can learn more of their specials and supers as well. Running around the world itself feels almost like a Yakuza game where random goons will run up and start STREET FIGHTS with you, and how easily you can kick their ass depends on how close you are to them in level. Beyond that, there's also a clothing/equipment system to upgrade your stats (and a glamour setting you unlock fairly early to ensure you can separate your desired look from your best stat gear), as well as a selection of fun minigames that teach you some fundamentals like motion inputs, charge inputs, and parrying. The highlight really is being able to give gifts to the masters, rank up your bond and style with them, and even their text messages to you get pretty entertaining. They even made it so maxing out their bond unlocks the second costume for each character in online/versus modes. It took me about 25 hours to beat while I was scraping all the side quests I could, so the content is certainly there and it's one of the most impressive story modes I've seen for a 2D fighter.
Another big driving factor behind my SF6 rating here is the option for Modern controls. Admittedly, as a gamepad/anime fighting game player, I really never thought 6 button fighters felt good. The modern control options reduce your available buttons down from 6 to 4 and trade a higher selection of normals and higher damage for some easier inputs. It certainly makes the game more accessible for less hardcore fighting game fans, and it makes trying out new characters a lot more fun.
Beyond that, there is the standard fighting game fare. A battle hub where you can run around with your highly detailed (or highly monstrous) created character and sit down at arcade cabinets for unranked matches, a selection of built in Capcom classic arcade games that rotate in and out, the traditional arcade and training modes, tutorials, character, guides, everything you can think of. The menu-ing is a LITTLE bit too cumbersome, but most things you need to change are easy to set and forget.
SF6 really does have it all. Good netcode, lots of content, and is just in general really fun to pick up and play. I really hope Capcom does a good job supporting it, because I could see this being one I stick with for awhile.
First and foremost, the story in World Tour mode is by no means great. The plot is fairly cut and dry, your created character is on a journey to find out WHAT IS STRENGTH and meet the cast of the actual fighters along the way. As you meet each new "master", you can change your normal moveset to match theirs, and as you rank up the style/develop your social link with them, you can learn more of their specials and supers as well. Running around the world itself feels almost like a Yakuza game where random goons will run up and start STREET FIGHTS with you, and how easily you can kick their ass depends on how close you are to them in level. Beyond that, there's also a clothing/equipment system to upgrade your stats (and a glamour setting you unlock fairly early to ensure you can separate your desired look from your best stat gear), as well as a selection of fun minigames that teach you some fundamentals like motion inputs, charge inputs, and parrying. The highlight really is being able to give gifts to the masters, rank up your bond and style with them, and even their text messages to you get pretty entertaining. They even made it so maxing out their bond unlocks the second costume for each character in online/versus modes. It took me about 25 hours to beat while I was scraping all the side quests I could, so the content is certainly there and it's one of the most impressive story modes I've seen for a 2D fighter.
Another big driving factor behind my SF6 rating here is the option for Modern controls. Admittedly, as a gamepad/anime fighting game player, I really never thought 6 button fighters felt good. The modern control options reduce your available buttons down from 6 to 4 and trade a higher selection of normals and higher damage for some easier inputs. It certainly makes the game more accessible for less hardcore fighting game fans, and it makes trying out new characters a lot more fun.
Beyond that, there is the standard fighting game fare. A battle hub where you can run around with your highly detailed (or highly monstrous) created character and sit down at arcade cabinets for unranked matches, a selection of built in Capcom classic arcade games that rotate in and out, the traditional arcade and training modes, tutorials, character, guides, everything you can think of. The menu-ing is a LITTLE bit too cumbersome, but most things you need to change are easy to set and forget.
SF6 really does have it all. Good netcode, lots of content, and is just in general really fun to pick up and play. I really hope Capcom does a good job supporting it, because I could see this being one I stick with for awhile.
While it feels a bit odd to review at this point considering it's only half the story, I'll keep it brief since it's hard to talk about without spoilers anyways.
Umineko so far has been a fantastic and unsettling murder mystery of sorts full of horrible people, great detail/world-building, and an immense build-up over the four chapters in this 'Questions Arc'. It is disturbing in many different aspects whether it's through descriptions of gore or various emotional struggles, while also being contrasted by numerous absurd and even silly moments. It has provided me with countless ideas to ponder as the true mysteries slowly unravel themselves, and I have constantly been unsure of what will happen next.
I've docked half a star only because it loses the pacing a little bit towards the climax of this first half, but I am absolutely excited to read more.
Umineko so far has been a fantastic and unsettling murder mystery of sorts full of horrible people, great detail/world-building, and an immense build-up over the four chapters in this 'Questions Arc'. It is disturbing in many different aspects whether it's through descriptions of gore or various emotional struggles, while also being contrasted by numerous absurd and even silly moments. It has provided me with countless ideas to ponder as the true mysteries slowly unravel themselves, and I have constantly been unsure of what will happen next.
I've docked half a star only because it loses the pacing a little bit towards the climax of this first half, but I am absolutely excited to read more.