ann3lid
2008
I was so pleasantly surprised by this game!
The only experience I'd had with the series previously was Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii and I enjoyed it enough, but I wasn't sure how the series' worldwide debut would compare.
As a Rhythm game there are really two critical elements that need to be nailed for a satisfying experience: the music needs to be good and the controls need to be responsive enough that losing feels fair. Needless to say, Nintendo SPD nailed both. The tracks in the game vary in terms of how fleshed out the music is, but I always found them catchy and it was always easy to understand what beats the game wanted me to hit. This was in no small part due to the call-and-response style that the game sticks with throughout its run time. The controls are simple and responsive: tap the touch screen and/or flick it depending on the action required. I never felt like my inputs were missed or registered without me touching the screen.
With the fundamentals out of the way, why else do I love this game so much? For one, the game has a sense of absurd humor that pervades everything from the characters (the chorus boys are by no means the wackiest cast members) to the game over screens. Visually, the game is also stunning: all of the pixel art is crisp and the polygonal elements are used sparingly. Once you've explored the rest of the game, there's side content that's pretty engaging but is obviously meant as a distraction.
Something worth mentioning is that the DS is held on its side, like a book, for the entirety of the game. Some games adopted this as a gimmick but I feel like it genuinely enhances the experience of the game here by making the flicking motion much less restricted.
This game also deals with difficulty in a fascinating way. After playing for a certain length of time, a level you've previously beaten is highlighted and you're incentivized to shoot for a perfect score on it. However, the catch is that you only get 3 tries after which another level gets highlighted. This ups the stakes when you're going for completion and de-incentivizes grinding a particular level until you happen to get one perfect run by chance.
Anyone who has a DS owes it to themself to give this game a go. If you're into rhythm games or love the absurdist humor of the Wario Ware series you have even more reason to check this gem out.
The only experience I'd had with the series previously was Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Wii and I enjoyed it enough, but I wasn't sure how the series' worldwide debut would compare.
As a Rhythm game there are really two critical elements that need to be nailed for a satisfying experience: the music needs to be good and the controls need to be responsive enough that losing feels fair. Needless to say, Nintendo SPD nailed both. The tracks in the game vary in terms of how fleshed out the music is, but I always found them catchy and it was always easy to understand what beats the game wanted me to hit. This was in no small part due to the call-and-response style that the game sticks with throughout its run time. The controls are simple and responsive: tap the touch screen and/or flick it depending on the action required. I never felt like my inputs were missed or registered without me touching the screen.
With the fundamentals out of the way, why else do I love this game so much? For one, the game has a sense of absurd humor that pervades everything from the characters (the chorus boys are by no means the wackiest cast members) to the game over screens. Visually, the game is also stunning: all of the pixel art is crisp and the polygonal elements are used sparingly. Once you've explored the rest of the game, there's side content that's pretty engaging but is obviously meant as a distraction.
Something worth mentioning is that the DS is held on its side, like a book, for the entirety of the game. Some games adopted this as a gimmick but I feel like it genuinely enhances the experience of the game here by making the flicking motion much less restricted.
This game also deals with difficulty in a fascinating way. After playing for a certain length of time, a level you've previously beaten is highlighted and you're incentivized to shoot for a perfect score on it. However, the catch is that you only get 3 tries after which another level gets highlighted. This ups the stakes when you're going for completion and de-incentivizes grinding a particular level until you happen to get one perfect run by chance.
Anyone who has a DS owes it to themself to give this game a go. If you're into rhythm games or love the absurdist humor of the Wario Ware series you have even more reason to check this gem out.
Growing up with a DS, I’d always had a passing interest in the Professor Layton series, but I didn’t get a chance to experience it until I picked up one of the entries for the 3DS. Years later, I wanted to go back to the origin of the series to see what the debut had to offer.
Fundamentally, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a mix between a narrative point-and-click adventure and puzzle game. This game was inspired, in part, by the Phoenix Wright series and this comes through in the moment-to-moment gameplay which consists of navigating the environment to progress the story and solving a variety of logic puzzles along the way. The Curious Village was released when the Brain Age series was becoming a household name and those games probably factored into the puzzle focus in the Layton series.
The Curious Village exudes charm through its atmosphere and gives the game a sense of coziness that pervades the experience. The art direction is a major contributing factor to this and is reminiscent of classic French animation like The Triplets of Belleville. The music perfectly complements the art and is a moody mixture of piano, accordion, and violin. All of the characters are drawn in an exaggerated style, even minor ones, making up for the relative lack of personality that the protagonists (Layton and Luke) are generally pretty flat themselves.
The puzzles themselves are varied and, in general, well constructed. Some are simple riddles, others involve manipulating blocks around constrained areas, and others are just straight up math questions. Sometimes, the hints don’t reveal enough leading to an unsatisfying guessing approach, but genuinely solving a puzzle that characters in the game were moaning about is always fun. There are also some odd minigames that I can’t stop thinking about. Namely, the bizarre tamagotchi-esque sim where you decorate Layton and Luke’s bedrooms in an effort to make them happy.
The major gripes I have with the game have to do with the puzzle solving UI. This game desperately needs a whiteboard feature. Oftentimes, I would find myself pulling out a physical whiteboard to take notes while working on puzzles and this is something that could have easily been implemented with the touch screen on the system. Once you have the solution to a puzzle, inputting the numbers or letters to answer it feels like its own puzzle. Single strokes are recorded as inputs so adding an “E” to your answer is needlessly complicated.
The game’s story is the vehicle that moves you from puzzle to puzzle and, for what it is, I found it to be quite satisfying. Like the gameplay itself, the narrative is a series of puzzles in the form of mysteries that are gradually revealed. The resolution to some of the mysteries feels obvious by the time you reach them, but this is mostly due to appropriate clues being given beforehand. Refreshingly, the character of Flora, who is crucial to the resolution of the story, is actually given some agency of her own rather than being relegated to the damsel in distress as was typical of the time. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the story is quaint, a little sinister, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the DS trilogy has to offer. The Curious Village showcases the charm that the Professor Layton series would be known for. UI gripes aside, any puzzle aficionado or cozy game enjoyer should give this one a shot.
Fundamentally, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a mix between a narrative point-and-click adventure and puzzle game. This game was inspired, in part, by the Phoenix Wright series and this comes through in the moment-to-moment gameplay which consists of navigating the environment to progress the story and solving a variety of logic puzzles along the way. The Curious Village was released when the Brain Age series was becoming a household name and those games probably factored into the puzzle focus in the Layton series.
The Curious Village exudes charm through its atmosphere and gives the game a sense of coziness that pervades the experience. The art direction is a major contributing factor to this and is reminiscent of classic French animation like The Triplets of Belleville. The music perfectly complements the art and is a moody mixture of piano, accordion, and violin. All of the characters are drawn in an exaggerated style, even minor ones, making up for the relative lack of personality that the protagonists (Layton and Luke) are generally pretty flat themselves.
The puzzles themselves are varied and, in general, well constructed. Some are simple riddles, others involve manipulating blocks around constrained areas, and others are just straight up math questions. Sometimes, the hints don’t reveal enough leading to an unsatisfying guessing approach, but genuinely solving a puzzle that characters in the game were moaning about is always fun. There are also some odd minigames that I can’t stop thinking about. Namely, the bizarre tamagotchi-esque sim where you decorate Layton and Luke’s bedrooms in an effort to make them happy.
The major gripes I have with the game have to do with the puzzle solving UI. This game desperately needs a whiteboard feature. Oftentimes, I would find myself pulling out a physical whiteboard to take notes while working on puzzles and this is something that could have easily been implemented with the touch screen on the system. Once you have the solution to a puzzle, inputting the numbers or letters to answer it feels like its own puzzle. Single strokes are recorded as inputs so adding an “E” to your answer is needlessly complicated.
The game’s story is the vehicle that moves you from puzzle to puzzle and, for what it is, I found it to be quite satisfying. Like the gameplay itself, the narrative is a series of puzzles in the form of mysteries that are gradually revealed. The resolution to some of the mysteries feels obvious by the time you reach them, but this is mostly due to appropriate clues being given beforehand. Refreshingly, the character of Flora, who is crucial to the resolution of the story, is actually given some agency of her own rather than being relegated to the damsel in distress as was typical of the time. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the story is quaint, a little sinister, and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the DS trilogy has to offer. The Curious Village showcases the charm that the Professor Layton series would be known for. UI gripes aside, any puzzle aficionado or cozy game enjoyer should give this one a shot.
I almost quit this game because I kept trying to play it like Elden Ring, but I am so so so glad I didn't. Once you start to read the cues the game is giving you enter a flow state the likes of which I've only experienced while playing fighting games or Kaizo Mario. The combat is pure dopamine. Also has to be some of FromSoft's best music to date, Elden Ring included.
Ambitious sci-fi storytelling meets the best implementation of the active time battle system to date. If you are at all interested in this game, try to go in knowing as little as possible.
This game is essentially one part visual novel and one part real(ish) time strategy smashed together. The gameplay hook of having 13 characters really works since each story has a different focus. Some are more personal whereas others play directly into the central plot from go, allowing you to jump around as you see fit. The story hits on just about every sci-fi trope, but in a very self-referential way that is equal parts hilarious and compelling. Because of the amount of twists and the ways in which you can dictate which parts of the story you experience, you will eventually look like the Charlie conspiracy wall meme.
The second part of this game plays out as an RTS/tower defense battle. I mention above that its more of a "real(ish) time strategy" game because the battles pause when actions are being chosen, allowing you to strategize around the current situation. Although the rather abstract visuals are a little disappointing at first (compared to the beautiful visuals of the other half of the game) they really capture the sense of spectacle of a battle between giant opposing forces. This is especially the case later in the game when the enemy forces grow in size and sheer number. Aside from the primal exciment you get from blowing up kaiju, I was really impressed by the ways in which the battles play into the story, both through dialogue before and after fights and even in the mechanics of the battling itself. Since the visual novel half rewards you with this game's version of EXP, there is a really nice synergy between these two game modes that keeps you bouncing back and forth.
My only major gripe with this game is the way in which many of the women and LGBT characters were handled. I understand that this game is toned down compared to their last, but some of the depictions of women in this game (notably, Ms. Morimura) are extremely male gazey and the way that most of the men in the game talk to them is, at times, just gross. Couple this with the fact that most of the major characters are high schoolers (a fact which I try to just block out of my mind) and it feels even more inexcusable. Tsukasa Okina is a character I have a lot of thoughts about, but this review is already too long as it is. All I'll say is that it's ... almost ... good queer representation, which is a step in the right direction for Atlus, but they're still not quite there.
Overall, this game is a triumph for the visual novel genre and, as I mentioned in the opening, potentially the best implementation of the ATB system. If it weren't for some poor representation this would be a near perfect experience from start to finish.
This game is essentially one part visual novel and one part real(ish) time strategy smashed together. The gameplay hook of having 13 characters really works since each story has a different focus. Some are more personal whereas others play directly into the central plot from go, allowing you to jump around as you see fit. The story hits on just about every sci-fi trope, but in a very self-referential way that is equal parts hilarious and compelling. Because of the amount of twists and the ways in which you can dictate which parts of the story you experience, you will eventually look like the Charlie conspiracy wall meme.
The second part of this game plays out as an RTS/tower defense battle. I mention above that its more of a "real(ish) time strategy" game because the battles pause when actions are being chosen, allowing you to strategize around the current situation. Although the rather abstract visuals are a little disappointing at first (compared to the beautiful visuals of the other half of the game) they really capture the sense of spectacle of a battle between giant opposing forces. This is especially the case later in the game when the enemy forces grow in size and sheer number. Aside from the primal exciment you get from blowing up kaiju, I was really impressed by the ways in which the battles play into the story, both through dialogue before and after fights and even in the mechanics of the battling itself. Since the visual novel half rewards you with this game's version of EXP, there is a really nice synergy between these two game modes that keeps you bouncing back and forth.
My only major gripe with this game is the way in which many of the women and LGBT characters were handled. I understand that this game is toned down compared to their last, but some of the depictions of women in this game (notably, Ms. Morimura) are extremely male gazey and the way that most of the men in the game talk to them is, at times, just gross. Couple this with the fact that most of the major characters are high schoolers (a fact which I try to just block out of my mind) and it feels even more inexcusable. Tsukasa Okina is a character I have a lot of thoughts about, but this review is already too long as it is. All I'll say is that it's ... almost ... good queer representation, which is a step in the right direction for Atlus, but they're still not quite there.
Overall, this game is a triumph for the visual novel genre and, as I mentioned in the opening, potentially the best implementation of the ATB system. If it weren't for some poor representation this would be a near perfect experience from start to finish.
2013
A fun distraction with a combo that works much better than you would expect. My only complaint is that the tutorial either spent too much or too little time introducing certain mechanics, resulting in some truly confusing losses in the first few hours.
2022
A really cool game that I respected more than enjoyed for most of my playthrough. Tunic is a meditation on the classic Zelda formula and a reflection on the days in which the instruction manual was necessary to understand the game. Takes inspiration from the Souls series, but I think this aspect is perhaps the weakest part of the game. The combat was fun, but never felt deep enough to justify the emphasis it recieved in the game.
2021
Great on mobile, but runs began to drag and become pretty samey after 5 or so hours.
2014
It's a Yoshi game so you're getting a baseline of quality in the experience. However, the soundtrack really is as bad as everyone says, there are very few innovations since the first game, and the graphics at times come off looking somewhat cheap. Playing the game mostly made me just want to play the original.
A charming oddball (or "odd-katamari) experience that will leave you with a smile every time you play. This game is full of heart but light on content so I would recommend picking it up on sale if possible.
Also, fuck the bear and cow levels!
Also, fuck the bear and cow levels!
2021
The gameplay is still SMT at its core which is enjoyable, but the setting is such a drag and so meh. I was excited for the jump to 3d battles but it seemed to slow down play considerably.
Vallkyria Chronicles 4 is a mostly enjoyable experience for returning fans of the VC series.
In terms of gamplay, the mechanics are just as satisfying as in VC1 and the new additions (sometimes) add a nice new layer of strategy to the mix. However, it remains very easy to cheese these mechanics and avoid most of the challenges the levels put forth through the use of orders (which remain broken) and the APC. If the scoring system was different, this would be no problem since you would be punished for using such a strategy. Unfortunately, the game actively rewards these strategies by basing the ranking on turns to completion alone. In addition, some mid-battle objective changes or enemy appearances can make planning for a battle feel like a waste of time.
When it comes to story, there is also not much here that is very engaging. It is a very run of the mill plot that acts to ferry the player from battle to battle which, in principle, is fine for this type of game. The main problem is that the characters here are generally very flat or, in the case of Raz, incredibly misogynistic. Despite this, the game doesn't really address these flaws and somtimes seems to actively encourage them which can make for an uncomfortable play experience.
In spite of of these flaws, the core mechanics of VC4 (when you ignore the scoring system) are still quite fun to engage with. I just wished the game wasn't trying to discourage me from doing so for the majority of my playthrough.
In terms of gamplay, the mechanics are just as satisfying as in VC1 and the new additions (sometimes) add a nice new layer of strategy to the mix. However, it remains very easy to cheese these mechanics and avoid most of the challenges the levels put forth through the use of orders (which remain broken) and the APC. If the scoring system was different, this would be no problem since you would be punished for using such a strategy. Unfortunately, the game actively rewards these strategies by basing the ranking on turns to completion alone. In addition, some mid-battle objective changes or enemy appearances can make planning for a battle feel like a waste of time.
When it comes to story, there is also not much here that is very engaging. It is a very run of the mill plot that acts to ferry the player from battle to battle which, in principle, is fine for this type of game. The main problem is that the characters here are generally very flat or, in the case of Raz, incredibly misogynistic. Despite this, the game doesn't really address these flaws and somtimes seems to actively encourage them which can make for an uncomfortable play experience.
In spite of of these flaws, the core mechanics of VC4 (when you ignore the scoring system) are still quite fun to engage with. I just wished the game wasn't trying to discourage me from doing so for the majority of my playthrough.
2014
This game is kind of like if Kirby mixed with Oscar the grouch. There isn't anything revolutionary in the gameplay, but the visuals are super polished, Leo has great voice acting, and the controls are simple enough to feel comfortable on a touch screen.
2012
A simple yet fun distraction. This would make for an addictive mobile game.
2015
This game surprised me in a good way. In fact I almost dropped it in the first hour or two before becoming quite addicted to the fast pace of levels and ricochet-style combat at play. I'm still not really a fan of the dialogue which in some places has aged somewhat poorly (e.g., collecting "swag" throughout the level), but the main beats of the story actually had me excited to move through the current area and on to the next one. As mentioned in other reviews here, the swapping of enemies (both asthetically and mechanically) between areas really helped to keep the gamplay fresh throughout this 10-20 hour experience.
A fairly standard RPG with a really addictive battle system and pretty high quality music and voice acting. Some of the time travel mechanics felt a bit clunky and enemies are palette swapped a touch too frequently, but most of the time these issues didn't get in the way of the experience.