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Welcome to your new rhythmically-based nightmare, though in this case that’s generally a good thing.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/44661/thumper-switch-review
If ever there was a game that you could believe simulates a nightmare’s barren hellscape, it would have to be Thumper. It began life as a VR game, and you can quickly appreciate how it would work well that way. Even on your TV or in handheld mode, once you get dialed in and consumed by the game, you’ll still feel like you’ve been sucked into its surreal and strange landscape. For those with the drive and fortitude to stick it out through its 9 increasingly challenging levels, there’s an utterly unique experience to be had there.
While at the beginning it doesn’t quite feel like a rhythm game, once you get past Level 3 you’ll find that being able to feel and remember your beats will become vital to your survival. For mini-bosses and level bosses, in particular, precision is required as each round will essentially reset itself if you miss a beat. Aside from these battles things are generally a little less picky and you’ll be capable of missing some elements thrown at you, though you’ll always need to keep an eye out for big turns and a few other elements that will knock out your single shield and then kill you if you’ve been exposed. While you may start out focused on maximizing your score to get your S ranks on individual stages before long you’ll be glad to accept the C rank in the interests of moving on after scraping by to simply complete some stages alive.
With each new level there’s typically a new obstacle, enemy, or skill to master and for some people the lack of direction in some of these cases may cause some frustration. The game will initially give you direct prompts, telling you to press the button or what direction to push your joystick in (this is the general extent of the controls, though with the pressure on you’ll often find they’re as much or more than you can manage anyway). However, as the game progresses, you’ll often suddenly encounter a new situation and you’ll be expected to either figure it out quickly or continually die trying until you do. To some this may be irritating but on the whole I found new situations to be either self-explanatory or understandable within a few attempts.
Tied to these added challenges as you progress you’ll also find the game throws in more opportunities to drive up your score and will try to tempt your focus away from merely surviving. Even as I would struggle through some stages I would be tempted to fly up and knock out bars that could be skipped. I would temporarily convince myself I’ll only get this one set, then attempt more and quite often pay the price for that line of thought. The damage done when you blow these attempts isn’t just a lost multiplier or score, as things continue to speed up in the levels. Any mistake that throws you off your beat can make it difficult to recover from and that will result in you getting blown to pieces. In addition, as you correctly perform some tasks in sequence, there can be distractions like screen distortions or flashes of light to help you know you’re on the right track. The problem is if these are timed poorly they can also pull your attention away from staying alive, sometimes causing everything to fall apart.
While it is a rhythm game for the most part I will say it is very much unlike any other I’ve played. The theming is a big part of that, with fascinating and beautiful geometric forms undulating and morphing all around you as well as the various bizarre bosses that you’ll have to defeat. However, another element that I really enjoy about the game, and that differentiates it quite a bit from its genre brethren, is its structure. As you make your way through the various stages you’ll hit a checkpoint at the conclusion of each one. This almost makes the game seem like an adventure of sorts, forcing you to brave your way through each level’s challenges to first be faced periodically by mini-bosses and then to finally take on the level boss themselves. The music then acts more as a vehicle for helping me in my quest, but the primary driver is finding, facing, and ultimately defeating the final boss. This may be the thing I like most about the game.
As has been the case with quite a number of games I’ve enjoyed on the Switch to date I would gladly recommend Thumper to anyone, but would throw out two caveats as well. First, while I don’t think being good at rhythm games is necessarily essential to you being successful in the game, there’s no getting around the fact that being able to feel and anticipate the beats will help you immensely. The second is that this game gets to be extremely challenging, playing it has maxed out my personal intensity to the point that my thumb hurts from me mashing down the A button with apparently all of the force my hand can exert. I would expect that it is a game many people who decide to buy it won’t ever finish just because at some point the bar feels just a bit too high. Regardless, if you like its aesthetics, its pounding beats, and a stiff challenge, there’s really nothing holding me back from recommending it whole-heartedly.
From the people who brought you the cheap-but-charming Kamiko comes another budget eShop title, this time in the form of a rhythm game with one heck of a title.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/44658/dark-witch-music-episode-rudymical-review
Based on a mini-game from one of the Dark Witch 3DS eShop series, this rhythm title popped up on the eShop pretty suddenly at the end of last week with minimal fanfare. Brought to you by the same people who recently released the light but fun Kamiko, yet again Flyhigh Works and Circle Entertainment have come to the table with a budget title that is relatively simple but nonetheless delivers some challenging fun.
In the game you’ll choose one of the 3 main characters, though they operate roughly the same way. They have a unique look, different endings to their stories, and their attack visuals vary but they each play pretty well identically. Every stage you choose has an opponent who will attack you with what are called, I kid you not, Boing-Boings that you’ll have to hit in order to keep them from harming you. Each enemy stage has its own style of music that you’ll be battling with and you’ll find yourself sometimes having to connect with the melody, sometimes with the backup accompaniment, and sometimes you’ll have to do a little of switching back and forth.
Early on at Easy difficulty you’ll only have to use your one Attack button that hits the red Boing-Boings, allowing you to primarily focus on your rhythms and getting used to the gameplay. In order to progress you’ll need to score at least a B rating, but if you want to be able to gain access to alternative costumes for each of the characters you’ll need to score at least an A rating to earn a crystal (once you collect enough of these you’ll unlock new costumes in a set order). For completionists there are S ratings and even elusive S+ ratings if you want to challenge yourself, and even at the easier skill levels you’ll need to work pretty hard to get them all quickly. As you progress you’ll begin to unlock additional stages and enemies, eventually unlocking the game’s final boss who you’ll be able to complete the game with even just defeating her on Easy difficulty. The label Easy for the unlocked enemies can be a bit deceiving, though, since even with only one button to press the demanding and up-tempo music they’ll throw at you can get pretty intense.
Once you’re up for a greater challenge you’ll be able to take the stages on in Normal, Hard, and even a Lunatic difficulty level. With each new level comes additional challenges and distractions and the leap in difficulty at each step can be pretty substantial. In Normal mode not only will you need to contend with blue Boing-Boings that require you to press a different button, but you’ll also have to periodically dodge either fireballs or lasers by pressing up. On some stages there will be additional challenges as well, including Boing-Boings that are deceptive and will start out appearing to require you to press a different button or that will move at different rates of speed to arrive for you to hit in a different order than they were fired. This compounds the challenge of being sure to execute the right patterns with visually ensuring that you’re pressing the right button or performing the right action, and it can get pretty crazy at times. Stepping up further to Hard and Lunatic modes the difficulty spikes further by throwing in a third green Boing-Boing type to contend with and switching up the order of attacks even more frequently.
In terms of the music the game sports a pretty wide variety of genres, styles, and tempos from pretty traditional classical arrangements, to more pop-style tunes, to some that are more big band / jazz style. Even while in Easy mode you’ll have to keep pace with the music and will have to switch up from being on the beat to dealing with syncopated rhythms and off-beats to sometimes performing some rapid-fire runs. Especially when you’re trying to mix up which button you’re hitting, having to dodge fireballs and the like will begin to need familiarity with the sequence and even some practice to get it all down. Then the pressure will be on to execute when the time comes.
If you’re not really into rhythm games in general even Easy may come to be a real challenge for you but even people who enjoy them, and who may blow through Easy pretty quickly, will begin to face increasingly steep challenges in Normal and beyond. Your enjoyment of the game, then, will depend greatly on your determination to learn the music and rhythms and get through it all. If your only goal would be to see the three endings offered (one of which is a bit peculiar in an otherwise benign game) you’re not going to get much mileage out of it. If you wanted to get enough crystals to unlock all costumes for the main characters (which only show in the game’s stages and don’t alter anything fundamental about how each one plays) that will be a bit more of a commitment but you’ll likely be doing it more for the challenge, which does extend past the music itself and into a mix of a rhythm and either your reflexes or memory. The game does have its charms, and presents a formidable challenge depending on what you choose to take on. The question will be how many people are seeking out this specific combination of elements, and the game simply isn’t going to be for everyone.
With E3 inching closer by the day the NWR Staff has put together a few of their favorite indie titles they’re hoping will be announced for the Switch
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/44625/indie-games-we-want-on-the-switch
OK, so the pitch sounds absolutely ridiculous to anyone who isn’t familiar with the game. For the uninformed you just need to imagine 3-on-3 soccer played with rocket-powered cars. Completely crazy, yes, but in execution it is a game that is slowly inching towards my all-time most played game second only to the hat simulator also known as Team Fortress 2. Rocket League is a legitimate eSport, it is fast, it is fun, and it is the only “sports” game I’ve ever stuck with for any significant amount of time. Even now, though the game has been out for quite some time, there are still new modes and enhancements being made to the game on a regular basis. Nintendo, please make this happen!
This one just came out and I’ve only just begun to play it but it is a roguelike with style and fun to burn. The only pain is it would be even better in portable form. You’re a bounty hunter using your grappling hook, your gun, and some skilled execution to bring down your targets. A real good time, it is the newest big indie roguelike darling for a reason.
OK, so this one is getting pretty old, and I’m also aware the toolset it was made in isn’t currently supported by the Switch, but when the details on the system were announced this was the first game I really got into wanting to see in a portable form. Another roguelike, the itch for this will be scratched somewhat when Enter the Gungeon hits but I still prefer Nuclear Throne and the characters you get to choose from. Their play styles can be quite radically different and it is a whole lot of aggravating fun!
I slept on the initial release of Super Mega Baseball, but when I eventually picked it up on PlayStation 4, I was blown away by what I quickly discovered was the best baseball game I ever played. Made by the small Canadian developer Metalhead Software, Super Mega Baseball combines a goofy and fun aesthetic with deep and nuanced batting and pitching, alongside a deep season mode. The original release lacks online multiplayer, but in my dozens of hours playing seasons with teams named the Platypi and the Crocodons, I was enthralled. And the times I got a friend to play some local multiplayer were electric. I could see some fine ballfield Switch matches of Super Mega Baseball in my future if it made the jump to Nintendo’s latest. A sequel is due out in 2017, and while it doesn’t look like Metalhead can weather a Switch version right now, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for a future release. Or hell, just do the right thing and let Metalhead make a Mario baseball game. I think that might be my dream game right now.
The developer wants it. I want it. I think a lot of you want it. Nintendo - unleash the Metroid-y beast that is Axiom Verge. I played through this labyrinthine action-adventure when it came out on PlayStation 4 back in 2015. I played it again when it was ported to Wii U in 2016. I would most certainly play it for a third time in 2017 on Switch. Axiom Verge is a fantastic game not just because of its Metroid inspiration. It also carves its own unique path, with shooter-heavy boss battles and crazy awesome power-ups.
I feel like the possibility of this might have sailed as Awesomenauts as a platform and game launched in 2012 and recently transitioned to a free-to-play model. Still, the developer of this excellent 2D MOBA, Ronimo Games, has a history with Nintendo platforms, having made a pair of Swords & Soldiers games for their platforms. Much like how Swords & Soldiers is an RTS in 2D clothing, Awesomenauts is a super novel twist on the MOBA design as a side-scroller. I’ve never gotten into League of Legends or DOTA 2, but man, I’ve spent a lot of time over the years messing around with Awesomenauts.
A game inspired by Nintendo fan favorite JRPG EarthBound, Undertale is a quirky little RPG in which you can choose to kill all the monsters you fight, or go the pacifist route and talk them down. It’s an interesting premise with a heartfelt story that has fostered a huge fan base since its PC release in 2015. Its influences alone would make it tempting for Switch owners, and Undertale deserves to be played on as many systems as possible.
Somewhere on the internet last year I came across a rumor that this would be coming to Switch, and ever since I’ve been keenly watching for an announcement… and deeply crushed every morning I wake up and it’s not there. I LOVED the (admittedly technically-challenged) Tales of Monkey Island WiiWare game series, and years later a friend would visit with his XBox 360 and we’d play through Telltale’s The Walking Dead together for the entire first season. Aside from that I haven’t had much exposure to Telltale’s library… which means my pocket would be ripe for the picking if Telltale were to fully support Nintendo’s portable console. Minecraft: Story Mode just isn’t enough for me.
There’s a lot of games that go for the 8-bit look, but my time with the system lasted less than three years so I’m always on the lookout for games that ape the 16-bit era. Cosmic Star Heroine combines elements of Lunar, Phantasy Star IV and Chrono Trigger into a brisk sci-fi RPG with fun characters that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The developer has mentioned wanting the game on the Switch and it would make a great fit for the platform (being a PS4 / Vita title in addition to PC). It might take a while as the two-man team works through some launch issues and finishes the Vita port, though. Disclaimer: Donald backed this game on Kickstarter initially.
What Neal said.
See, GameFreak makes things that aren’t Pokémon, and in this case, they’ve made a fun platformer that runs in the tradition of the Rambi levels in the Donkey Kong Country series. Except, y’know, with an elephant. As one of the few people who still has fond memories of HarmoKnight, I’d love the opportunity to run over fools with Tembo especially on the go.
Do you sometimes think that many gaming genres have fallen into a rut? Thinking they're generally not as challenging as you'd like? Have you considered roguelikes? If you haven't you're missing out...
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/44615/why-i-love-roguelikes
I may have been a little late to the roguelike party in the PC gaming space. Once I finally got a taste of it thanks to incredible indie titles like Rogue Legacy, Nuclear Throne, and of course The Binding Of Isaac, I found I couldn't get enough! Perhaps it is the old-school arcade gamer in me but I both thoroughly enjoy and even cherish the "put your quarter in, do your best, lose, and try again" experience. There are certainly modern games in that vein that aren't roguelikes, my favorite probably being Geometry Wars, but where games like that merely replicate the old arcade experience I think that roguelikes pretty well perfect it.
Before we delve into what the essential elements of the spirit of something being a roguelike are, we should clarify something they most definitely aren't. Where people mostly like to think about games in terms of genre, here we're dealing more with a game "type" that could blend with pretty well any genre. Let's call it a catalyst for challenge and fun, transforming what could be somewhat ordinary into something more. Moving past that distinction we'll get to the core of what distinguishes a roguelike from games that are just hard and "make you start over".
First, it is a given that the general layout of your game space will be different in some way every time you play. There can't be a static level design, you can't be allowed to get into comfortable assumed patterns (at least not too much), and where you'll find enemies and/or power-ups is going to be a toss-up. Looking at the 3 on the Switch you have Isaac and Has-Been Heroes with their random map layouts, and TumbleSeed where the way the levels are composed is completely different every time. The emphasis here is on forcing people to be a bit off-balance by things every time, to only have a general idea of what they'll face but not a great one, and to keep them on their toes.
Second, on top of the level designs being varied and unpredictable what you'll be given to work with on any given run will also get changed up. roguelikes have a tendency to sport a wide variety of potential powers and when you go through them you'll be asked to make lemonade out of whatever ingredients you've been given. Sometimes you'll get things that work well together and suit your style, other times you'll simply know that the RNG (Random Number Generator) gods simply hate you and want to you die like the pathetic loser you are. Most of the time you'll thankfully end up somewhere in the middle, but you will have your peaks and valleys. Such is the way of the roguelike and all 3 titles on the platform fill this line item handily.
The third thing that roguelikes employ in some way is a very strong (sometimes more than people can take) sense of trying to balance risk versus reward. You will be tempted and whenever your run ends you will inevitably debate what would or could have happened if you'd only make a different decision when X happened. Should you lose the heart (or 2 or 3) and take the deal with the devil in Isaac? When you get to one of the handful of shrine types in Has-Been Heroes will you get something good or bad? Will you at least get something good enough to offset the bad that will likely come with it or should you just pass? In TumbleSeed, even though you know the Bouncy Friend is an unpredictable ball of pain that will somehow manage to run into you at the worst possible moment almost every single game will you hold out faith that the few enemies it will take out make it worth the trouble? These are decisions you'll make every game and likely many times in every game in roguelikes and that's part of the reason they're often perceived as being "too hard" because making the wrong decisions in these moments can sometimes cripple your entire run. If you enjoy them you've merely accepted that the RNG gods are fickle and move on, weathering the storm and perhaps deciding to then double down with your next decision in the hopes it will turn around. Though often, it only gets worse.
Now that we're through defining what a roguelike is and should always be I suppose all that's left is covering why I find them so appealing, especially on the Switch. A big piece of the puzzle is absolutely that the portable capabilities of the Switch lend themselves very well to the shorter-form play times that roguelikes often have. Even if the run itself could be a bit lengthy they tend to be broken into chunks, typically lasting just a few minutes with an opportunity for a break in between, making for a convenient place to pause and come back to later. This quality also makes them well-suited to people who are pretty distracted and want to play something that isn't taxing them with story or complications. Get in, get a challenge, move on a bit refreshed... it can be satisfying if you don't get hung up on the fact you usually have failed to win in some way.
Another way that roguelikes really appeal to me is that with their difficulty I find their sometimes infrequent rewards to be far more meaningful. If you're able to clear a run and be even somewhat successful, despite all of of the obstacles that have been thrown in your way, it is far more exhilarating to me because I've really had to earn it. That's not to say that games you've invested time in and complete can't be similarly rewarding but I've also completed my fair share of titles where the end was a bit ho-hum because the journey hadn't made me invest much to get there. I can't think of any roguelike I've beaten where I wasn't on pins and needles the whole time. Even among the games I've never finished or rarely finish that tension as you inch closer and closer builds and, for me, even losing there is a thrill I don't often get in other "normal" games.
At the end of the day, I suppose, you're inevitably going to either "get" roguelikes and love them or they'll likely be seen as nothing but horrible aggravation factories put on this planet to punish you. They're a type of game that is, no doubt, a lot more stick than carrot but when you're wired to rise to challenges put in front of you rather than shy away they can be very appealing. That said, as much as I enjoy roguelike not all of them appeal to me. Spelunky, as much as it is revered, for whatever reason didn't click for me, so even if you have tried one or two games in this vein that doesn't mean that none of them will appeal to you. I'm just hoping by putting this together I've helped to inform a few folks and to convince them that perhaps roguelikes are worth giving a try. A little bit (well, or sometimes a hell of a lot) of challenge can do you some good!
Yeah, there’s this crazy little game coming to the Switch where you can survive and create using a lot of blocks? What was it called again?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/44601/minecraft-nintendo-switch-edition-review
Minecraft. Way back when it was first released it is highly unlikely anyone could have expected that its primitive looks, even by the standards at that time, would allow it to become so popular. The fact that it is still highly relevant now for so many people would have been even more improbable. Regardless, here we are nearly 8 years after the initial release, talking about that same core game being released on Nintendo’s latest hardware.
Rather than dive extensively into the details of the game, since it seems hard to believe that at this point people wouldn’t at least have some loose familiarity with it, we’ll summarize it this way: Minecraft is a sandbox-style game that offers survival, creative, and adventure modes that allow people to enter a randomly-seeded world and roughly play the game they want to play. They can choose to do this alone or they can do this paired with friends. It is, no doubt, the open-ended nature of the game experience Minecraft offers that has helped it remain relevant, even as there have been many imitators that have entered the picture over the years.
With the formalities out of the way, we’ll move on to the crux of what it is likely people are most interested in: So what is the experience like on the Switch? Assuming you don’t need to be sold on the core game itself, there are quite a number of positives to be had for this implementation. That isn’t to say everything is perfectly rosey.
Probably the biggest areas of concern for this port are the version it is running, the performance it is able to sustain and the world size. On all counts, considering the Switch’s specs and portability, this edition delivers the goods pretty well. Consider that the previous best editions of Minecraft you could take on the go were the world-constrained Pocket Edition, which supported worlds at only 255 x 255, and the Vita edition, which is said to have struggled to perform at 800 x 800. By comparison, the Switch being able to maintain what seems to be a solid/consistent 60 FPS at 1080p docked and 720p in handheld mode complete with worlds that are 3072 x 3072 (compared to the Wii U only supporting 864 x 864) and it would seem to be a massive improvement over anything you could have previously taken with you. Granted, nothing is going to touch the PC edition, and the versions on the PS4 and XBOne are still bigger. All things considered, this will likely be the best portable version of the game that will be made.
In the control department, everything works reasonably as you’d expect. As an added benefit while you’re in handheld mode, the touchscreen can be used for general inventory-related functions, which is nice, but I couldn’t find any way to adopt full-touch controls like in the mobile edition. Local split-screen multiplayer for up to 4 people is supported, but aside from how that may not be practical in tabletop mode, keep in mind that you can’t use a single Joy-Con as a controller. You need 2 analog sticks to control your movement and aim independently, but that makes the cost of playing for a whole family prohibitive. As a note for 2-player split-screen, you do have an option to switch between vertical and horizontal modes, and that seemed like a nice and practical touch depending on what kind of play style you’re both looking to adopt.
Online multiplayer is supported for up to 8 players. Matchmaking was hard to test since the game isn’t in full release yet, but I was able to jump in with my 3 local players into another person’s game and it all worked pretty seamlessly. Both the Battle and Tumble mini-games are currently supported, though I was unable to get into any games with other people. The newest Gliding mini-game that looked like a lot of fun isn’t currently available, probably related to the specific version of the console edition they created the game from. Updates are coming to the Switch edition, so I’d imagine additional any elements missing in this launch version will make their way at some point.
Moving into what criticisms I’d have for this edition, the list isn’t very long. On the visual side of things, depending a bit on which texture pack you’re using and depending on how complex the geometry is around you, there can be some issues with draw distance and pop-in. While this is most noticeable when you’re gliding I’ll grant it that most of the time your rate of movement wouldn’t be that high so the issues wouldn’t be so visible.
The only other thing that I personally considered odd or a misstep is the inclusion of locked DLC in the starter edition of the game you get. I’m unsure of the pricing, though I’m sure it is consistent with what would be paid elsewhere, but that kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. If you started out with the packs that are free (there are a few, including the very charming Mario themed one), I’d have thought that was fine and would have gone through the link to the Minecraft store if I had been interested in more. Instead, the inclusion of content that I can see but not entirely use (you can walk through a sample world of the different packs, just not save anything in them) I just found odd since none of it is necessary to my enjoyment of the game, and I would have been fine with what was included in the first place. Not worth going crazy over; it just struck me as an odd choice.
At the end of the day, you're either a fan of Minecraft who was only reading this review as a formality or were just interested in knowing what it is bringing to the table. It’s a hard game to find people on the fence about, especially at this point. That makes the conclusion somewhat foregone, but here it is: For fans of Minecraft, this absolutely seems like the version you’ve been waiting for if you wanted to get as close to a full-fledged experience as you could realistically want on a handheld device. For people who aren’t among the already-converted, it is still the same game it has always been, and it has its merits, but aside from portability there’s nothing more compelling about this version than there has ever been. It’s been well-established there’s a ton of game to be had here if you enjoy it, the Switch is just making it more easily accessible than it has ever been.
Over the years the quality of what you could expect out of independent game studios has evolved greatly and we're in a sort of indie renaissance at the moment. Have you noticed? Here's a list of reasons why they matter
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/44565/support-your-nindies
Writing this is a bit odd since I'm convinced that the vast majority of people who will read it will be the already converted. I'd imagine the next most likely people to read it would be those who are determined to dismiss it immediately, reading primarily for the purpose of scoffing at it to then go back to playing their AAA games. The audience I'm really hoping to reach, and share my thoughts with, are the people without a current dog in this fight who are at least curious about the independent game development community. While obviously, just like anywhere else in the market, there are games ranging from incredible to terrible coming from indie developers, there are a number of things that make them very appealing to support.
First, and possibly most important of all, is that every indie developer I've interacted with or talked to at some point has been extremely passionate about what they're doing. This in no way is meant to besmirch people working for large publishers, I'm sure many of them are passionate as well. What is different with indies, to me, is that with far smaller teams (many in single digits) and budgets the passion these folks have for their games is very present on the screen and in what you play. This isn't focus-group-driven, design-by-committee gaming, what you're playing is a much more raw connection to the content creators and in many cases you can feel that love coming through in the product. Another way this passion often manifests itself is in the open enthusiasm many indie developers have for the work of others in the industry. They love games, including ones from their "competitors", and will not just praise them but will often openly advocate for them or help push other people towards them. That unbridled enthusiasm is terrific to see and shows a sort of heart I can't help but admire.
Second is the fact that independent game studios are absolutely helping, if not transforming, the market. They're making compelling content that is generally focused on new ideas and more daring expressions of creativity... and typically at a much lower price as well. They're not churning out the same product year over year with a few new features for the same well-established premium "going price", they're mixing and matching different genres, sharing new ideas that you've never seen before, and doing it for what is often less than even half the price of the larger companies. The fact is for the price of one AAA game you could likely buy at least 3 or (in some cases many) more indie games. Independently-developed games as a whole represent choice and innovation, and they're beginning to really come into their own with some well-established indies, who already have a strong track record, insisting on staying small to remain true to their spirit.
Third is a more of a thought of mine than something I've confirmed, but I see the independent game community as being full of people who didn't simply bemoan the lack of innovation or creativity in the more traditional games market, they've decided to actually do something about it. As in all business ventures success can be incredibly elusive and many of these people are putting it all on the line in the hopes of making a splash, and sadly the likelihood is that, for any number of factors, many will continue to struggle or fail regardless of the quality of their product. The indie devs are fighting for attention against the likes of Nintendo and other massive publishers who have their legacy, IPs, the ear of the game press, and massive budgets for marketing. Without being able to buy attention, social media has become the point of attack of choice for many, but with so many established channels out there, even this has its challenges in just getting your eyes on their product in the first place, let alone compelling you to buy it. There was a time when development studios you hadn't heard of more rightly demanded a degree of skepticism, but we're right in the middle of an indie renaissance right now, and new names are typically bringing very worthwhile content to the table.
Fourth is that is important for everyone to dip a toe in ponds outside of their comfort zone once in a while; it may help you discover there's an entire world of games out there you've been missing out on. One specific game type I'll touch on here (and will likely write an editorial about later as well) is the "rogue-like". Somewhat oddly I wouldn't describe rogue-likes as a genre, type is probably the best descriptor I have for them. They hinge on some degree of randomness in their DNA, and I've seen 3 incredibly distinct rogue-likes already on the Nintendo Switch, all of which I've enjoyed greatly (for reference, they're The Binding Of Isaac: Afterbirth + [a shooter of sorts with all of its glorious weirdness], Has-Been Heroes [a lane-based strategy game that too many people dismissed because of its challenge; difficulty is the wrong word], and Tumbleseed [I'm not sure there's really a genre for it, it's just unique and awesome... true Indie spirit!]). Up until about 2 years ago, I'd never heard of rogue-likes or at least not really taken them seriously, and then I stumbled onto both Isaac and Rogue Legacy on the PC and was hooked. I know some other people who were also hesitant about trying rogue-likes, and for the most part, the ones who have decided to give them a try are now fans. Obviously there are far more types of games independent developers work in, I just think the diversity and challenge of the rogue-likes, as a specific type of game, probably wouldn't have happened the same way with more traditional publishers.
Fifth, and I've held off on this one since I first wanted to establish the value of unknown developers out there, is that many of these indie studios are either being lead by or empowered by people who were vital to the success of big games you already love. These, again, are generally people who decided that the major studios aren't doing it right, or aren't willing to take the chances they would like to see, or are simply grinding them into the ground so they decided to go to a smaller scale for success. It's no coincidence that there are new retro games popping up that seem to have roots in common with established standbys or even game franchises people had given up on as dead. In many cases people with strong ties to those same games have struck out into the indie space in order to find their new successes. There are certainly more high-profile people who have started their own studious to much fanfare, but you also have designers, programmers, and other specialists who can bring along some of that spirit with them as well.
Sixth, and this is where I finally can't help but get out my Nintendo fanboy hat, I think that the current and future success of the Nintendo Switch can and should be as much driven by the Nindies releasing terrific games week after week as by the major tentpole first-party games Nintendo is deservedly well-known for. To date the Switch has had an absolute embarrassment of great gaming riches, and I have yet to be disappointed by anything I've bought for the system (Super Bomberman R, by price, I'm not thrilled with but will give them credit for patching it to improve). During the slower/darker life of the Wii U, because of the practical limitations of the tablet, I developed my strong love for indie gaming back on my PC. The fact that I now own a platform that enables me to play those games on my TV, at my desk, or on the go is a revelation, and I hope the great strengths of the platform brings success both to Nintendo and the Nindies that release games for it. Due to their scope and style most indie games work wonderfully when I'm on the go, and with the Switch all I can think of or hope when a new title is announced is that it will make its way there so I can enjoy it at any time and in any place I may choose. It is liberating!
As I close this out I'll openly acknowledge that I'm still probably not even covering all of the things that make support for the independent development community important to gaming as a whole. If you'd like to leave comments (whether as a fan or a developer) please feel free to do so and perhaps we'll have a sequel or follow-up of sorts if it is warranted. For myself, in the spirit of people deciding to do something when they don't see enough being done, I not only decided to write this editorial but am also working to become a more direct advocate by starting up @NindieSpotlight on Twitter and YouTube where I'll try to do whatever I can to help advance the Nindie cause specifically. The Switch is off to a tremendous start, and I personally view the Nindies as being a key piece of that success. If people will learn that it is OK to sometimes let go of the need for physical releases and to pop in what is usually the cost of a movie or going out to eat, to take a chance on something new, I see a future where everyone can win and we'll continue to grow a much more diverse and vibrant gaming community.
Is it for the fame? The vast fortunes? The prestige? The accolades from an adoring public? What? We do this for free and generally nobody cares? Well why would we do it then, and what does it take? I'll speak for myself at least...
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/44506/why-do-you-write-reviews
While I took a pretty substantial break in the middle of things, and stopped doing it for over a decade and change, I started writing reviews of various kinds probably almost 25 years ago. Back then I didn’t have enough money to just buy a ton of games so I was really into downloading game demos for my PC. Now, the things to know are that at this time in the world the internet was still in its infancy and that things like cable modems and broadband speeds didn’t yet exist. Since the demos tended to be pretty large, for the speed you could get them at, downloading them could take many, many hours. So I’d generally leave them to download overnight as a result. Even though the demos were free that didn’t mean that it wasn’t aggravating when you’d spend 6 hours downloading something that was an utter waste. It was my irritation with this that prompted me to start my new webpage, Demo Man’s Domain, and a reviewer was born!
Now, the thing about the internet at that time was that search engines and the like really didn’t exist. For the most part what would bring people to you was being listed on other peoples’ own homepages. I doubt my reach was very substantial but the fact that I knew people were not only reading my opinions on things but then thanking me, or getting into discussions with me about what I’d written, and then putting my link on their homepage was a pretty great feeling. It instilled in me a sort of sense of social responsibility, to help people make wise investments in what they got based on information I had that they didn’t. Even though what we were ultimately talking about was free just the time it took people to download a demo, combined with the prospects of them wasting their time playing something that wasn’t very good, compelled me to write reviews for everything I downloaded. I was turning into a sort of reviewer on the cheap!
Since that very early/humble start I’ve written reviews and contributed to (well, or ran) much higher-profile sites, with even an odd freelance opportunity or two in print along the way, but my focus has never changed. My inspiration, as a reviewer, is to try to inform people and to help them make good decisions with their commitments of money and, sometimes more importantly, their time. With that as my goal I don’t take the responsibility lightly, and having interacted with a variety of people from the industry of various kinds I’ll also say that I don’t take my responsibility to them lightly either.
On the one hand you have consumers, many of which I’ll assume don’t have a great deal of disposable income and are looking at their purchase as an investment, not just throwing some money away without there being a consequence in the overall quality. On the other you have developers who have probably made substantial commitments and sacrifices of various kinds to deliver that game experience. Unfortunately for the developers, while I can try to see their point or their vision, I’m not obliged to lie, or at least to diminish what I see as the truth, on their behalf either. It just would also be dishonest to deliberately bring scores down arbitrarily or without sound rationale that could be explained. A reviewer’s responsibility is to balance these things and to at least be fair to all parties.
The next key piece of being a reviewer is you should really love what you’re reviewing as a whole, though you undoubtedly won’t always be rewarded with things that are easy to enjoy. A strange sort of by-product of needing to be particularly thorough: The more you want to heap criticism on a game you may dislike, the more time you’re likely to end up spending playing it. I can’t begin playing a game I’m reviewing, stop, and just proclaim “This sucks! 3/10” I need to back up that claim with evidence (Looking at you 80% or more of app-store-style reviews).
What’s missing or lacking? Is it just me or is there something that anyone could agree is a problem? Am I qualified enough to evaluate it against other comparable games in the genre? Where does this fit into the current marketplace as a whole? Truthfully, justifying why a game is bad is far more difficult (and generally painful) than substantiating why a game is great. If nothing else, “doing the research” on a terrific game is at least far more enjoyable.
Another aspect of being a decent reviewer that tends to make it a bit expensive at times, and doesn’t normally lend itself to you lingering for as long as you may like on your favorite titles, is that you need to be well-versed in the medium. That means playing games you may not normally play, and sometimes longer than you’d like, to better understand them (even when you’re not reviewing them). It means reading through the opinions and criticisms of other reviewers to try to get grounding for where other people may land on different games to better inform or broaden your own opinion. I was heartened to see a great concept come up in discussion about a previous editorial, that meaningful and quality reviews can’t and shouldn’t be written in a vacuum. To avoid that, and the disservice to the reader it represents, you don’t just need to look at the game you’re reviewing, you really need to have a grasp of both the current and historic games everywhere that are comparable to it, the more you can consider the more informed your opinion will be.
What I’m getting at, for people who don’t try to do this, is that if you want to be even half-way decent at reviewing games it can be a lot of work. On top of the factors already mentioned consider the fact that you need to build relatively decent writing skills, you need to be willing to read and re-read just about everything you write to be sure it is conveying the right message and that you’ve expressed yourself in a way that can be clear, and you’ve always got to be ready for taking criticism when solicited. That’s before even covering the modern issues that tend to creep in with things like social networking, possibly trying your hand at live-streaming, building some sort of a brand… it can get a little nutty. If you’re thinking you’d want to do it just because you love playing games or that you may get “free stuff” please bear in mind that nothing is free. You’ll need to work to get to the point you could even hope to recoup your investments, and for anything you do receive there’s an expectation of what you’ll then do (often on a pretty tight deadline, which can make enjoyment of a game challenging, even good ones) in return.
So why do I write reviews? Maybe, more crucially, if I’m saying all of this is quite a bit of work... why did I come back to it after so much time? Speaking only for myself it’s because I’ve regained my passion for playing Nintendo games specifically. After 2 generations of being either burned out or “Meh” (life wasn’t helping either, to be honest) the Switch has started that fire up once more. Just as before my being a massive Nintendo advocate doesn’t, however, mean that I hesitate to be critical of them (I won’t mention the game for once, I promise, but you know which one). In the end, for me, doing reviews is an extension of my desire to help people and since I love and play a ton of games I feel like this is an area I have a great deal to contribute in.
From person to person who is out there writing reviews I’d expect the answer from them would be similar for the most part. For a reviewer, no matter how much you love games, you need to be able to step away from the controller and write things on a pretty regular basis. The blank page and a deadline stare at you, waiting for you to put your thoughts together in your own signature style. As with all things sometimes the work comes easily, with all of the elements coming together, and other times it can be a painful and burdensome chore. So why do people write reviews? Because they’re driven, passionate, and are willing to make a variety of personal sacrifices for the benefit of the people who read what they write. The rewards can be nice but they’re almost always secondary, you have to love to do this to keep it up for any period of time. For me, I think it’s all worth it and I care about this industry, and want everything and everyone to be their best.
In a post-mobile and digital market, where "free" games have become a thing, publishers who've become accustomed to traditional pricing methods need to wake up. The review community should continue to force the issue as well.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/editorial/44481/the-emerging-essential-relevance-of-value-in-game-review
Back in the stone age when I was in college, and the internet was in its infancy, writing game reviews was quite a different animal. Aside from the obvious differences in the online review landscape another massive difference was that this was long before smartphones (and concepts like the mobile marketplace or digital downloads) so it was a gaming world dominated by large publishers. Without the big publishers and both their finances and infrastructure the prospects of putting a game on a shelf would be horrible for a small-time developer. With that same model in mind publishers had an expectation of scale for games tied to the effort and cost it took to put that same game on the shelf. This generally meant that there were only "big" games of various levels of quality and that typically would only ever differ, perhaps, by $10 in their price tag. Games for system X simply cost Y and that was what everyone knew and accepted.
With that in mind game reviews usually didn't take the cost of the game into account very much. Games could certainly be considered a "rip-off" but since the concept of a radically different pricing for different games on the same system didn't exist the mentality in discussing it was just different. Reviews would tend to focus only on the somewhat normal, and appropriate, elements like the graphics, sound, controls, and gameplay and then there would be a score that would usually be a sort of rough average or so of those pieces and you'd be done.
With the explosion of availability in smartphones and the rapid growth of a light-weight and all-digital mobile marketplace, complete even with the various ways you could get and play games "for free", everything blew up! What we thought we knew about what constituted a released game, what price should be paid for it, and unfortunately also the level of quality to expect were changed forever. It was mind-blowing that you could get a relatively simple but engrossing game to play on your phone for as little as $.99 or less! Though, granted, most of these games weren't terribly deep, and may have only been great for quick bursts of play, but it was impossible for the impression that made to be ignored. For a little while, in the Zynga/Farmville heyday, there were even some very boisterous and laughably misguided claims that the traditional video game industry was going to be put under by all of this (file this next to the cyclical "the PC gaming scene will die because console X is so powerful" argument). Of course, not long after, Zynga and its friend-annoying 15 minutes in the spotlight faded and the world moved on. That doesn't mean that it didn't do so unchanged, though.
In general, the other piece of this puzzle for discussion is the explosion of the independent game developer space. Between the mobile markets, the traditional consoles, and the vital success of indies on the PC with Steam Greenlight, opportunities were created that simply hadn't existed in the years before. You no longer were obligated to hitch your wagon to a massive publisher that would stomp on your creativity and run your team's life in the name of meeting their deadlines and expectations. While there will always be an element of commitment and risk these indie devs were able to publish themselves, team with other indies for support, or at least work with smaller-scale publishers to get their work out there. All of this, together, created a sort of gaming renaissance where creative ideas and quite a bit of good luck could score small teams some substantial rewards. A crucial piece of this success, though, wasn't just tied to the quality of the games or people supporting the indie spirit. It was that as the games scaled down in scope and the size of the development teams required to create games were reduced, often the prices being asked for these games also dropped as a result.
That brings us to the Switch launch, comprised of top-shelf AAA titles, games published by the traditional "big boys" that may not be as hot, and a smattering of indie games as well. With the days of the fixed price point now far in the distance I think value should rightly become a very powerful gauge in game scoring, though probably only to bring scores down and not up. In case the thought that a game’s value shouldn’t bring a score up seems odd consider a free game for a moment. Does the game costing nothing excuse it being poorly made? If you’re saying “Yes” go sit in the corner, please. Much like other factors in reviews ultimately the measure of a game is roughly equivalent to its weakest element. Phenomenal sound doesn’t trump ho-hum gameplay, face-melting graphics don’t redeem slipshod controls. Value shouldn’t be any less important a factor, and in many regards it hasn’t been forgotten, I just don’t think it has been given the reverence and up-front honesty that it deserves either.
We’ll start on the easy and positive side of things for the Switch. Even if you may not think it is one of the best games of all time I think anyone at all would be hard-pressed to argue that somehow $60 seems like too high a price for what Breath of the Wild brings to the table. If there was a way for a game to be up-scored on value it would be a poster child for where that’s appropriate. Another pretty strong example, in part by virtue of its $20 price tag (which I’d argue is roughly at the high end of the sweet spot for an “impulse buy” for most people), is Fast RMX. It has a pretty substantial number of tracks, plays very well, and while it may not be perfect I wouldn’t see where in scoring the game value should play a role.
Now, to make people more uncomfortable, we should have an honest talk about the other end of the spectrum. We’ll start with a game I bought for a series I like, Super Bomberman R. Without thoroughly getting to its faults with the control being a janky at launch, problems with the online mode, decent but not amazing single-player mode, and the annoying unlock system that then doesn’t award coins for local multi-player (the reason they know most people are buying the game in the first place!) I’d probably say the game should have ended up around a 7 or even 7.5. But then we get to value and that’s where, for this title, it gets ugly. Even considering the 7 or so I’d rate the game at $50 as still simply way too much to ask by at least $20, if not more. It’s because of that factor that I’d bring the game down to between a 5.5 and a 6, depending on how far off I’d consider the price to be at that moment. The game rightly got some low-ish scores, and there were often generalized notes about how $50 seemed like a lot or made it hard to recommend, but I didn’t always see a very clear line stating the value problem, discussing how far off the price seems to be, and how that issue then specifically affected the final score.
Moving on to one of the games I’ve had a serious axe to grind with since the start we then move on to 1-2-Switch. Whatever you may think of the game, and I’m being very clear I’m not a fan on several levels, at the end of the day what galls me about the game most is that price tag. I’d probably consider it to be a worse offender than even Bomberman in this specific area. I can look past a game for not appealing to me, different strokes for different folks and all, but when there are so few games on the shelf, it is a Nintendo-made title, and it is obviously there to be picked up by families looking for something for everyone I can’t and won’t shut up about 1-2-Switch’s price being outright wrong. It is that high mostly because of the vacuum and because they can, not because it is worth that price. As a $20 game I don’t have any issue at all with it, I can appreciate it being there to demonstrate the capabilities of the system and something that probably has a bit or piece in it for everyone. As a $50 game it’s embarrassing though, and I worry about the people who could buy that as their ONLY game on the Switch and am wondering what that’s telling them about the system as a whole. Disheartening.
While it isn’t as bad as an example, and it didn’t stop me from buying it, I think that even The Binding of Isaac skated hard on the edge of being scored down on this one for value, and its type of gameplay greatly complicates how you’d choose to score it. Rogue-likes, with their more old-school arcade “put your quarter in and play until you die, then start over again” mentality, have enormous replay value for people who enjoy them (very much me) but they’re not for everyone either. In this specific case I guess the process would start with determining the score for the game in general and then figuring out how the pricing could potentially further bring the game down. I’d say Value would specifically be among the factors that would prevent Isaac from being capable of getting a 10 (I’m planning another editorial on what a perfect score needs to mean), or maybe even a 9, but beyond that space you could use discretion to factor it in less harshly.
My goal in writing this was just to note the issue and to try to reach out to the review community to go beyond traditional gauges like whether you would recommend the game or not, treating the value proposition as a matter more of taste. While that can play into things we need to be willing to clearly acknowledge that there are examples to be had in this new pricing world where the price of the game is clearly too high and to then outright call people out on it. Just as you’d say the graphics or control brought an otherwise good game down don’t let a lowered score that factored in price get the message lost in the shuffle. No, it wasn’t the sound, or the control, or the graphics (even though those things may have also had issues), the biggest problem was that you sold it for more than it is worth, and there’s an entire marketplace out there full of great games for all prices to help establish that fact. To that end this is also a message for developers/publishers, to stop trying to use the old mentality where we just pay some set price. You should look at each game individually and then sell it for what it is truly worth!
An action game where you’re basically Nightcrawler from the X-Men.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/44438/mr-shifty-switch-review
The elevator pitch for Mr. Shifty, a new Switch eShop game from tinyBuild, sums up the game succinctly: it’s like Hotline Miami if you played as the X-Men’s Nightcrawler. To elaborate, Mr. Shifty is a top-down brawler where you play as a teleporting thief who bamfs all over the place, dodging gunfire and obstacles in the hopes of landing enough punches and damage on the hordes of goons to survive. Fast-paced and set to a bumping soundtrack, it’s an engaging romp when the action stays hot.
It is set in, according to the lore, the most secure building in the world. Your task as the heroic teleporter is to break into the veritable fortress and steal some Mega Plutonium. As is wont to happen during fictional heists, things go sideways and what started as a simple snatch-and-grab becomes an expansive war against the villainous Chairman Stone. The war never leaves the confines of the monolithic building, and each of the stages takes place on a floor inside. The stages are made up of a variety of winding rooms that task you with killing all of the enemies or solving a puzzle.
As a single hit brings you down and you are one man against many, combat is reliant on smart planning and quick thinking. Punching is done with the press of a button, with most baddies requiring two or three punches to take down. Items are also strewn about the environment, and those can give you greater stopping power as you throw a vase, frisbee a shield, or swing a mop. The main hook of Mr. Shifty is the teleportation, though. You can use it to avoid fire, jump through walls, and confuse your enemies. Spamming teleport isn’t an option as you only have five teleports, though they regenerate quickly. That helps balance the overpowered nature of the mechanic and forces you to be smarter with your deployment.
The endearing novelty of teleportation helps mask some of the deficiencies of combat. With the exception of a few stand-out items, namely the projectile trident and the aforementioned shield, the others don’t add too much fun to the fight outside of more power. Items function more as a means to an end then any sort of triumph. Still, that trident is awesome. I threw it at three guys and impaled them on a wall. I just wish the other items touched that brilliance. The sheer joy of teleporting is highlighted strongly during the portions when you are barred from doing so. The game slows down when you have to punch through a wall or slowly walk around when you’re powerless. Thankfully, those are only short stretches. Even with the minor quibbles, teleporting combines with the combat to make for a creative fervor as you try to beam all around the map to wreak havoc. Unfortunately as mayhem ensues, the game hiccups and the framerate drops. It only was problematic a few times, but I was killed a few times because of the slowdown.
Occasionally, the combat sequences are joined by environmental obstacles, adding in a bit of a puzzle element to the experience. For example, an adversary could fire a heat-seeking rocket that you then have to lead into blowing up a wall so you get to the next area. These fusions of combat and puzzles lead to some rewarding moments, especially when you figure out a crazy way to blow up a room full of foes. Remove the combat from these situations, however, and the experience dips considerably. One-hit deaths when you’re in frantic, inventive combat is fine. Even upon repeated replay, you can usually approach it differently to keep the experience fresh. One-hit deaths in combat-free laser grid hell is a dull, repetitive grind. Combat is, fortunately, a grander focus, especially as you get near the manic last few levels.
Mr. Shifty is a straightforward, focused caper with little fluff that will last you a few hours as you climb through 18 stages. What it lacks in length its makes up for with a dynamite gameplay hook. Teleporting is incredibly neat and opens up a lot of daring and rewarding circumstances where you can mow down foes. As long as you can overlook the handful of moments where the combat isn’t the focus, Mr. Shifty is a great addition to the young Switch eShop.
Second Opinion by Justin Nation: I’m inclined to pretty well fully agree with Neal on pretty well every count, but wanted to add some issues and disappointments with a game that I really did enjoy but just had higher hopes for.
First, if you watch the video I captured the stutter isn’t that infrequent and it can both be odd and annoying. At first I thought it was a deliberate delay when you knocked people out to slow down the action, and sometimes I think it is on purpose for that reason. When it happened when there was no action at first I thought perhaps it was because someone was dying out of my immediate view since that does happen for a variety of reasons. Then I began noticing it for random and seemingly unexplainable reasons just when moving around or doing something. My hope is that this is a known issue and can at least get a patch to reduce it. (Note: The devs are aware of this issue and are saying that it will be patched at a future date)
Second, for a game that I’d held out hope for some strong replay value with, arcade brawler-style, it really doesn’t deliver that at all. Once you complete the 18 levels your only extended play option is to revisit the levels in full, trying to improve your time and lower your death count. As Neal noted, the connective tissue between the very engaging and entertaining fights is a bit hit or miss and especially if my goal were to complete the level with 0 deaths that could be a tall order probably somewhat out of my control aside from pure grinding through it over and over. Since there’s no support for leaderboards or anything else I can see even this would seem to be without much of a point. With this really solid fight engine I’m sad to see there isn’t some sort of endurance mode that could have used a pretty stock arena set-up, pushing me to survive wave after wave of enemies for time and score. Throw a few scenarios like this and a leaderboard at me and I’d have gladly spent quite a few more hours taking in more of what is actually a pretty great fighting engine overall.
Third, there are absolutely a few spots in the game where I simply had no idea what to do and it was frustrating for seemingly no good reason. When you get to the point in the game you’ll likely know it, just know that when all else fails you just keep punching like the wall has the face of Crash Bandi-Poochy on it. You punch because it feels right, and eventually you should be OK. Puzzles are good, sequences where you can’t reasonably assume what you should do aren’t always so good.
Lastly, I won’t fully detail the sequence of events but I will say that after SO much build-up and challenge to get to the very end of the game the final fight wasn’t even remotely fair or interesting. While it would seemingly be invigorating to completely own the final boss I must say that as the credits rolled all I could think was “WTF just happened!” Just ending it all on a sad note knocked me down from the thrills that had gotten me there.
For what it sets out to be, and the price point, if you’re looking for an engaging brawler that will test both your reflexes and your wits Mr. Shifty delivers some pretty solid goods. While it has issues that keep it from being easy to recommend to anybody if the game looks like it has elements that appeal to you it should reasonably deliver the what you’re looking for, even if it feels like it doesn’t quite live up to its potential.
On Thursday this top-down teleportation brawler / action title hits the eShop. How does it play a few hours in?
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/hands-on-preview/44436/impressions-mr-shifty
If you've seen the videos and screenshots of Mr. Shifty to this point you probably have a reasonably good idea of what to expect, and that's both a good and a bad thing. It is, for the most part, a top-down one-shot-kill brawler with you controlling the title character, Mr. Shifty. He is a man of few words but also intense fighting skills mixed with a handy teleportation ability.
It is the action-packed brawling sequences where Mr. Shifty can flex these powers of rapid engagement that can be both aggravating and exciting, having to plot out a rough plan to then execute to get yourself out of whatever jam you're in. As the game goes on you'll need to show even better tactics, often able to do far less work if you're making proper use of weapons, for example.
To slow and calm down the action elements of the game there are a variety of puzzles you'll need to solve as well, often involving the manipulation of certain elements in the environment around you. While many of the puzzles have straightforward solutions it is here where you learn the eclectic set of tactics and properties of things that you may get the opportunity to abuse later when you're in a tough fight.
It is at the point that the puzzle properties of the game mix with the brawling where Mr. Shifty's mechanics really come alive. I've had a few situations of "Hrrm... I wonder what would happen if..." and in general the fact that I've been rewarded when trying something out is quite satisfying. I look forward to the game continuing this pattern, asking me to exhibit even more creativity in seeing the potentials in the grand plan.
As I continue deeper into the building I find myself wondering what the extended game plan is for the title. Does it have long-term plans or is continuous revisiting of previous levels going to be the only method available, with people just trying to reduce both their number of deaths and their overall clear times? I think this is one of the major questions that will drive home either the value of the purchase or one of its greatest weaknesses. I'll let you know once I find out which it is.
Review scores should never be used by publishers as a guide to pay/bonuses, etc. But since that brand of stupidity seems to be rampant and an accepted part of the industry, especially by American publishers, I think throwing out some percentage of the high/low scores would be the easiest way to handle the problem that wouldn't just introduce a new set of problems itself.
I've never understood why more review sites don't use the letter grade system instead of the number system. Everyone knows a C is average and a B is above average. None of this 7 is average stuff that doesn't make sense.
And the Youtubers that will say anything to get more views, don't even get me started. What's really scary is all the 10-14 year olds that follow them religiously.
In all honesty, I don't go to Metacritic, nor do I consider a number of legitimate review sites for largely the same reasons- scores are skewed, and I think people value their experience with a game more than the technical and artistic aspects of a game. I have never had a particularly great experience with a Platinum Games title, but I would never discount the amount of technical polish and the quality of aesthetic they possess, and I don't necessarily think I'm qualified to review a Platinum title because I don't like action games. I mostly enjoy reviewing RPGs because that's my personal niche, though I love other types of games. I think the sensationalist and consumerist nature of the video game industry and the media surrounding it holds the medium back from receiving legitimate critique, and even being considered a legitimate form of art, in general.
