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Messages - Oronalex

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TalkBack / Balatro (Switch) Review
« on: February 19, 2024, 06:00:00 AM »

I Can’t Stop Playing Balatro, Send Help

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/66288/balatro-switch-review

Steam Next Fest happened this February and one particular demo took the world by storm: Balatro, an addicting roguelike poker game by way of developer Local Thunk. While I can describe it in genre, it’s hard to describe the effect this game has had on my brain chemistry. I usually game in small bursts, with longer sessions a thing of my childhood. My first session of Balatro was two hours and my second session was three and a half. This game is a real problem for me, in the best way possible.

   So breaking down Balatro is breaking down the basics of poker. With poker, you are trying to make the best 5-card hand, by taking and discarding cards. The special hands you are trying to make are: pairs, three of a kind, four of a kind, two pair, a straight (5 cards in sequential order), full house (three of a kind and a pair), flush (all the same suit) and a royal flush (Ace to 10 all the same suit.) That’s the basic setup but like any good indie game, it takes a well worn premise and turns it on its head.

   The spin to Balatro lies in its roguelike elements. You are playing poker to score points within 4 hands. You play against the small blind, big blind, and the boss, increasing the score necessary to proceed each time. Once you defeat the boss, you go to the next round, with even higher score goals. Between each game, you get rewarded with cash to spend on upgrades that are specific to only that run. Completing more runs and using more upgrades unlocks more variation on decks to play with, which come with their own bonuses, but it’s the upgrades that are key to a successful run.

   The upgrades come in a couple different flavors. You can purchase and hold up to five different Joker cards that are set perks like straights can have gaps, so you have a bigger chance at getting a straight or multipliers for specific cards, like clubs or even numbers. Then there are celestial cards that come in randomized foil packs; these level up your pairs, straights, flushes and other hands. So having a pair can give you two or even three times more points than before. Hands can be leveled up multiple times as well in any single run.

There are also Tarot cards that can adjust cards' suits or copy other cards, and other upgrades that can add bonus effects to individual cards within your deck like holographic effects which add multipliers, or gold plated cards that boost your monetary payout. Lastly you can outright just buy more cards for your deck, so there are higher chances of getting the cards you want. There also are specialty seals for increased gold, effect triggers, or random creation of other cards; I can go on and on.  The tutorials leave something to be desired so you really have to experiment to get the most out of everything possible, but there’s just so much to dig into and mess with that each run feels entirely different, and that’s where Balatro has gripped me most.

I’ve had sick straight runs where I will have a Joker that will allow gaps in my straights, then a second Joker that will give me bonus points for even numbered cards. With that I had also used celestial cards to level up my straights so that each one would be worth more points. I would play a Straight of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10. All even numbers, qualifying as a straight due to my Joker and with straights at level 3, and boom over a thousand points easily. Then on a separate run, I had pairs up to level 5, as well as Tarot Cards found in Arcana packs to double up on specific cards, and finally had enhanced my pairs to give bigger multipliers. It’s an infinite well of possibilities, and each run can change your strategy entirely.

Outside of the rising point thresholds needed to advance, the boss at the end of a level adds a separate negative modifier wrinkle that you have to push through. These can come off as mean spirited but they are just things to plan around. I had an amazing straight-focused run that was put to a screeching halt when a boss would only play my cards face down, so I had no idea what I was playing. Another boss would only let me play a specific hand once, so I had to vary my style up. Of course, I later found a Joker that I could sell to nullify a boss’ modifier. Sure, that would’ve been great LAST RUN! I was mad for all of 30 seconds before I jumped back in for another one. It’s the perfect “one more run” game. Even now, I had to make a declaration to myself that I couldn’t play any more Balatro until this review was written, but let's be honest, my Switch is right next to me ready to go.

Balatro is flat out a smart game. I don’t even like cards! Yet here I am theorycrafting new ways to play. Should I make a full house deck? That might seem risky, but if I use Tarot cards right… no no. Not now. It’s what I’m thinking about when I’m not playing Balatro. A 20-minute round before bed easily turns into, “holy crap, how is it 3AM?” This is even before finishing the game with different decks and daily challenges are turned on!  In generation remix, hell, in generation make-everything-a-roguelike, this may be the best one of 2024. I’m eagerly awaiting the official release just so I can hear about my friends' epic runs. It’s just that good. Now, please, let me play my Balatro in peace. I got an idea for a sick flush strat that I want to try out. So I'll y'all later.


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TalkBack / Bahnsen Knights (Switch) Review
« on: February 07, 2024, 12:07:59 PM »

Bahnsen Knights lead to Bahnsen Days and on and on

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/66207/bahnsen-knights-switch-review

In a version of a post-apocalypse, the 1986 world of Bahnsen Knights is ravished by mysterious tornados and the world has gone into disarray. Just this premise alone makes for an intriguing world mythos where infinite stories can spawn. LCB Game Studio definitely has a specific vision by having a line of games called Pixel Pulps, as Bahnsen Knights feels ripped directly off the drugstore shelf, which works both in its favor as well as against.

   Pulp Fiction stories started in the 1920s but lost popularity in the ‘90s. They were short stories that ranged from detective thrillers to out of this world sci fi and in this way Bahnsen Knights fits the bill. It is a short visual novel that leans heavily into the bright neon of the ‘80s but with a gritty comic art style. You are playing as undercover FBI agent Boulder who has done horrible things to infiltrate the Bahnsen Knights cult (lead by a former car salesman), and to find his former partner Cupra, who disappeared mysteriously. Most of all, Boulder just wants to get back to his wife and child.

   Like most visual novels, the story funnels Boulder through multiple locations and scenarios as he struggles to keep up his cover amongst the lowlife lieutenants of the cult while investigating their crimes. Choosing to engage with each member builds a trust meter that can later be used to expand dialogue options. There are also specific opportunities to investigate areas or lockpick for more evidence. Any evidence collected can be sent to the FBI via a card system. There are also mini games for driving and lock picking that come into play at limited instances.

   The game’s issues come with the multiple choice nature of the experience. With trust systems, evidence systems, and timing-based mini games, the expectation is that there would be branching paths, but for the most part there really isn’t. None of the systems seem to come with story impact. The story is what it is, and there are just different ways of playing for your own convenience. One example has you gaining the trust of a bartender to find your way into a back room, but there really isn’t a way to get into the backroom without his trust and the game doesn’t allow you to continue unless you go into that backroom. Once inside the backroom, you have to search for evidence but finding the evidence didn’t yield any results once reported so there wasn’t a lot of variation. It felt like a poorly implemented illusion of choice, and that carried through the entirety of the game.

   Once I rolled credits on Bahnsen Knights, I hadn’t felt like I played a game as much as I participated in a very simple visual experience that wanted to be more than what it was. The mechanics here are all ideas that never pan out to anything substantial, which makes me think this actually was more of an experiment–trying out inconsequential mechanics before releasing something more cohesive. That’s the hope at least because as of right now, Bahnsen Knights is a game that speaks at you instead of to you. It’s got interesting ideas but nothing concrete….yet. I’ll be keeping an eye on LCB Game Studios and Chorus Worldwide Games because Pixel Pulps is something I would be interested in, if fleshed out more. This just ain't it.


3
TalkBack / Born of Bread (Switch) Review
« on: January 22, 2024, 09:58:15 AM »

A Game With Tons of Personality But Needed More Time In The Oven

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/66078/born-of-bread-switch-review

It wasn’t until the pandemic that I hooked up my old Nintendo 64 and finally played Paper Mario. I had never understood what made it so special to others. I never got the hype around the engaging combat, the humor, the art and style; it all blew past me. There were other games like it and sequels galore, but nothing could quite explain what made it special until I experienced the delight for myself. Now seeing games like Sea of Stars and Bug Fables, I get the same sense of reverence for that series. Similarly, Born of Bread by WildArts Studios shows a level of love and care that can only come from fans of the Paper Mario series, but they’ve also attempted to add their own unique spin. Does Born of Bread stray too far from the formula, or does it achieve the high bar Nintendo and Intelligent Systems set back in 2000?

   As is the format in many classic RPGs, our hero starts from humble beginnings–the humblest of beginnings, a loaf of bread. Loaf is a flour golem that over the course of a roughly 15-hour adventure, faces off against enemies from another time to save the kingdom. Throughout the journey, you are acquiring a quirky cast of misfits to join your cause, from a lost raccoon, to a child detective; it’s easy to fall in love with each and every one of them. That’s something that Born of Bread has in spades: personality. Every character, from the single line NPCs to major villains, feel like fully fleshed out individual personalities.

   Unfortunately after that, the dough fails to rise anywhere near its lineage. Combat is a classic turn-based RPG style, with action commands to do extra damage, like hitting a button at a specific spot on a gauge, hitting a proper button sequence or holding a crosshair in the middle of a target. All are simple enough, but it's the defensive timing that really has issues. You can hit the A button at point of impact to negate some of the incoming damage from enemies, but it never felt comfortable to find the sweet spot nor did it feel impactful. Even with repeated encounters with the same enemies, I couldn’t quite get the timing right. I even found an equippable boon (perk items) that would display when to hit the button, and this only exemplified to me how unpredictable the timing windows are.

   The combat gets more complex in how new attacks are added to your arsenal. Loaf gets his attacks from using weapons found on your adventures. These weapons are slotted into your backpack in a Tetris or Resident Evil 4-like fashion, and the backpack can be upgraded when you level up. The other members of your team each have their own skill trees that are leveled up by finding hidden collectable lizards. What’s confusing is that there are tiers of abilities, but it’s not explained how to unlock the next tier. You really only learn through trial and error. There’s also multiple elemental types of damages, but I never really used this system too in depth, if at all, and I had zero issues with progressing through battles.

   I think this example of the basic systems of combat is what makes Born of Bread feel overcomplicated. The two separate combat attack mechanics are only the start of what there is to explain. In addition to your standard HP, some attacks take WP, but special attacks take RP, which get boosted a few points per level at your choice. Food items can replenish HP, WP, or RP, but also certain characters have specific tastes, so different types of food may provide them with bonus replenishment? There’s a viewership mechanic, where your fights are live streamed so the crowd may shout commands for you to do, for a WP bonus reward. There are boons to equip that once equipped can give buffs like more WP, or the ability to see each enemy’s health remaining. Some are more helpful than others, but sometimes it feels like some of these things should just be built into the game instead of taking up a boon slot. There are also collectable cards and color palettes that allow you to change character colors or menu icons in combat. As well, each character has special abilities that work in the world to create new pathways so you can swap to different party members for their traversal abilities.

All of the mechanics taken in at once feel overwhelming, and what makes it more damning is the fact that it’s all mostly superfluous. Making combat actions both weapon-based with an inventory system AND skill tree-based on scavenger hunting seems like they had two good ideas and couldn’t pick one, so they chose both. Having a boon perk system for added buffs is fine, but why include basic gameplay functions like displaying enemy type, health, or the timing window behind this feature? (Couldn’t these be options in the pause menu?) Collectable cards and color palettes are completely unnecessary and don’t have their functions explained at all, so I had to find out how to make those changes largely by accident. I love RPG systems but this seems like a lot thrown in just for the sake of having more. None of it felt impactful and I largely ignored these elements unless they became mandatory.

While the character personalities are fantastic, there is a “try hard” level of comedy within the dialogue that doesn’t feel natural. Every conversation comes with at least two puns and a joke; every other character has to break the fourth wall. One example is that the cast of The Office (of Steve Carell fame) appear in the game as characters, spouting classic catch phrases from the show. Some jokes hit, but when a game can’t let the jokes breathe and instead overload the audience, it can come off as desperate. There’s diminishing returns on the humor in this one.

By the end of my time with Born of Bread, I was left largely unimpressed. The overcomplicated systems, poor attempts at comedy, lengthy load times and handful of crashes left a disappointing impression on a largely competent story. I liked the characters and world plenty, but they couldn’t fully carry the weight of the bloat contained in the rest of the game. I enjoyed Born of Bread despite how much its flaws became more glaring the more I played, and I think that’s the most incriminating and interesting thing about it. The story kept me hooked and the charm of the world made me want to see it through to the end even though my issues with it never got any better. There’s something special here, buried amongst a lot of redundancy. Dial back some of the mechanics and forced humor–trim the fat (or crusts)–and this would be a definite recommendation. As it stands now, though, maybe wait for a Thousand-Year Door-inspired sequel.


4
TalkBack / Skater XL (Switch) Review
« on: December 13, 2023, 10:17:57 AM »

All Skill No Frill

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65768/skater-xl-switch-review

After being announced by Easy Day Studios in 2019, Skater XL, the popular skateboarding sim on PC, PS4 and Xbox, has officially come to Nintendo Switch. Like the Power Wash Simulators and House Flippers of the world, Skater XL translates skateboarding’s technical body mechanics into an intricate physics-based playground. Think Tech Decks, as an example–a miniature version of what we’d always envisioned when playing the Tony Hawk series or watching the X-Games. And just like those, the reality is something different entirely.

First let’s talk about what exactly Skater XL is. I wouldn’t necessarily qualify it as a video game but as more of a hobby grade simulator.  I say “hobby grade” because it’s not something you play for points and there isn’t any kind of story or progression; you are there for pure self satisfaction. A lot like real world skateboarding, Skater XL is difficult to use, it’s clunky to play and more often than not you end up on the ground–at least at first.

It takes practice–and I mean hours of practice–but what exactly are you practicing? The gameplay follows in the footsteps of the Skate series, with the analog sticks used to complete tricks, but in this case each stick represents one of your legs. So to perform an Ollie, you would need to flick the stick representing your back foot, to kick the tail down. To perform a flip trick, you'd have to flick the back foot to pop the tail, then flick the front foot in the direction for whatever trick you wanted, but all against a tight timing window akin to what you would do in real life. You use the ZL and ZR buttons to turn, and R and L buttons to perform grabs.

The grinding system is also relatively intuitive as it comes down to jumping at the proper angle to get on top of it, and moving your feet the way you want to perform a grind. So if you want to say to do a 5-0 (back truck) grind, you would jump and turn your board to get the back trick on the obstacle, then move your sticks back to keep the back weight on your tail. Same with trying to slide on your tail, but you would need to turn your body mid air to get your tail on the obstacle. Manuals and nose manuals (wheelies) are also an interesting mechanic that requires exact balance on your sticks. Moving your back foot stick slightly backwards but not all the way, just in that middle point, will trigger a manual. So the complexity really stacks, as far as doing grinds, flips and manuals, sometimes all in one sequence.

The newly introduced Grab Anywhere feature allows you to grab anywhere on your board, depending on where your weight is shifted and how you are moving the sticks. It’s a fun system to play with and can lead to some hilarious backbreaking grabs that aren’t possible for any human with a spine. There’s also a replay editor where you can create your own custom edits and eventually make your own skate video. The editor could use some more functionality, as other games in the genre offer a more robust experience.

Despite what sounds like simplicity, there’s so much more depth to what makes Skater XL such a fantastic simulator. Turning your body to get into a slide or grind is just fine, but what if you were able to turn just your hips while keeping your shoulders straight? By turning your sticks on opposing sides, you turn your legs without turning your shoulders. This move changes the style of the grind to look almost like something completely different, but it also can be used to wind your shoulders for impressive spins out. It’s an internal system that isn’t overtly explained at all, and actually one of the many systems that aren’t explained in any tutorial. Things like bumping out, shoulder winding, manual shifting, transition skating, foot catches and more are internal systems built in for your exploration if you’re willing to do some research. There are some light challenges included in the game that go over the basics but the creativity and depth are only self created, which is both to the game’s benefit and its detriment.

I think that’s what has kept me playing 600 hours on PC and 20 hours on Switch so far: the endless customization. Despite being able to do a kickflip, how you angle the sticks, how you shift your weight after the flick, how you move your legs and catch the trick are all different. My flips may look completely different from those of another player, so spending time with this game feels personal. There are only eight maps at launch (with more to come with the community mod browser) with some real world locales, but they act as sandboxes for you to play in, so the fun comes from a personal desire, and less of a guided experience.

As far as the Switch version goes, we get the full 60 FPS treatment, making for a smooth experience overall. Graphically, we take a hard hit of 540p handheld, and up to 720p when docked. This leaves some muddy looking textures, and plenty of pop in. Outside of that, playing Skater XL in handheld is a feat of its own, mostly because the sticks on the JoyCons have very small angle windows, leading to a lot of spins being added to your flip tricks accidentally. In this case, a Pro Controller is the best way to play this game. There’s also a finite number of maps at the moment. The community mod browser that is already established on other consoles is coming soon to Switch, but without it the experience is a bit more limited. I mentioned in a previous Skater XL preview that the Switch uses digital triggers, so they do not adjust their function based on the pressure being applied. They are either pressed or not. In this case, I am surprised to report that turning your character still feels good, but in the replay editor, it's impossible to make a sort of slow motion effect because you would need to feather the triggers for that. That doesn’t hinder the gameplay, but it’s worth calling out.

While I’ve evangelized the greatness of Skater XL to me personally, I still have to ask who this game is for, and the answer to that is not many. One of my early career reviews was for Tank Mechanic Simulator, and I found myself asking a similar question, never once thinking I would be the one defending such a niche piece of hobbyist software. As someone who has played anything and everything with “skateboarding” or “skater”  in the title, Skater XL has been my favorite and closest to what feels like real skateboarding. I’ve been skateboarding for roughly 22 years, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found a similar feeling within Skater XL. Envisioning a trick in my mind, and then being able to practice it over and over until it’s absolutely perfect is exactly the experience I want from this. But that’s a personal anecdote, shared by many other skaters with the similar experience of a decade or more of dedication to the hobby. Ultimately, though, that’s not everyone; it’s a very minute subsection of the population.

I said from the beginning that Skater XL is barely a video game. It’s more of a digital representation of what it’s like being a skateboarder. Most of us don’t have an elaborate story other than being a kid with a skateboard and a curb to learn tricks off of. Skater XL provides exactly that, zero frills, no plot, barely a tutorial, and unimpressive graphics. It’s more of a dream machine for those kids in empty parking lots, but it’s not really a video game. Would I recommend Skater XL to most folks? Probably not, just like I wouldn’t recommend my own mother to step on a skateboard. As a sandbox for skaters to hone their skills, however, it’s second to none, with some Switch concessions, of course.


5
TalkBack / Thirsty Suitors (Switch) Review
« on: December 07, 2023, 07:04:06 AM »

All Style and Little Substance Left Me Thirsty For More

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65710/thirsty-suitors-switch-review

There’s something to be said about bombast. Grandiose. Spectacle. And that’s a lot of what OuterLoop Games has brought to the table with their sophomore game, Thirsty Suitors, a hot new indie game that brings together a Sri Lankan version of the Scott Pilgrim story with turn-based RPG combat and Tony Hawk style skateboarding. It’s a crazy combination of genres that fits together a stylish story of returning home to confront your past. Unfortunately, this merger of genres doesn’t add up cohesively.

   In Thirsty Suitors, you play as Jala, a young girl returning home to confront the sins of her past. Of course, since she's been gone, her exes have formed an evil league with the sole purpose of destroying Jala. There’s also her combative family with an overly critical mother and grandmother and an estranged sister on the verge of getting married. There are a lot of challenges for Jala to face, and she’s not necessarily looking forward to them.

   From here we go through a cavalcade of people from Jala’s past, usually in the form of turn-based combat. There are a basic attack, special taunts that open up a weakness in your opponents, and special skills. Your skills have affinities like rage or thirst, so giving someone a Rage Taunt could make them weak to rage abilities. Both taunts and skills cost WP, this game's version of mana, but basic attacks recharge some of that so there’s a push and pull to refill your WP before unleashing an onslaught of abilities.

Each special ability comes with a button press sequence for increased damage, reminiscent of Super Mario RPG. There are also super clever versions of summons, where you call in your mom, aunt, or other family members to come in and perform an all-out attack. When deep into a story-based battle, between rounds there will be conversation choices that can either help or hinder the next round but also affect the story itself. These dialogue options are great for exploring Jala’s effect on the story, but it can be confusing because choosing a dialogue option isn’t a one for one exchange. The dialogue option will say one thing, but Jala will voice something completely different, so it’s hard to feel like you have full agency behind Jala’s words and actions.

   When not fighting exes or suitors, exploring the world consists of Tony Hawk Pro Skater-style skateboarding segments. When you need to move around the map, it's by doing sick grinds and flip tricks on your skateboard. Also like the Tony Hawk games, everything is grindable or meant for doing crazy flips or running along walls. There’s a combo counter and score counter but it doesn’t really impact too much on world exploration. Later on, there are skateboarding challenges given out but outside of those side quests, skateboarding is generally superfluous.

   The third pillar of Thirsty Suitors is quick time event cooking lessons from your mother that act as more of a cultural exchange between generations but also a way for Jala and her mom to match quips with each other. Outside of that, the game acts as a pretty standard visual novel, exploring the city, getting into fights and winding down with touching moments with your father to close out the chapter. Despite the title of Thirsty Suitors, I was surprised at the sheer amount of horniness existing between the characters. There definitely is a lot of unique characterization and giant-sized personalities at play here.

That being said, Thirsty Suitors is a mile wide but an inch deep. While it oozes charisma and charm around every turn, each of its individual parts aren’t crafted particularly well. The combat feels rote. Finding the randomized weakness to taunt so that you can then attack those weaknesses feels slow and plodding. Even when hitting those weaknesses, the damage doesn’t feel significant and fights tend to drag. In a year that gave us similar but snappier combat in Sea of Stars, this felt like a snail's pace comparatively. On the other hand, skateboarding feels super unwieldy. It’s hard to control, and detracts from actual world movement to the point that I would have rather just walked from place to place, and that’s saying a lot coming from someone who loves skateboarding games.

Another major issue I found in Thirsty Suitors is its lack of character development. Jala doesn’t grow throughout the experience and is generally petty throughout. She remains the same and has a deep tendency to blame everyone around her for her issues, and considering dialogue doesn’t match the conversation choices, it feels like you don’t really get a choice in the story. Even the cooking lessons with her mother focus more on the snipes back and forth. I would rather have had a cultural discussion about dating rather than Jala’s journey to blame everyone but herself. Suitor after suitor felt like walking red flags that rarely ever grew past their initial introduction. There are even romance options to get back together with them, but after the amount of basic personality flaws provided at the offset, I never felt inclined to pursue any of them. The game does a clear job of showing you their flaws with few redeeming qualities.

Despite my qualms with the game, there’s no question how much style it exudes. Jala doesn’t walk down stairs; she wall flips down them, and before each battle she summersaults out of her jacket in preparation. These touches add a unique flare to a rather disappointing game. Gameplay mechanics all exist disjointedly as if they were all part of different games–all with a style of their own, but less fun to engage with. I would’ve better enjoyed any one of these systems had they been more fully fleshed out. As well, the game is certainly visually impressive but lacks depth to its mechanics and character growth. I’m incredibly happy to see more cultural representation in games, but I wanted more from the story than what Thirsty Suitors was giving me. It’s an outlandish take on the Scott Pilgrim story but lacks the same kind of fun.


6
TalkBack / Skater XL (Switch) Preview Event
« on: November 29, 2023, 05:48:34 AM »

I watched Skater XL being played on the Switch, and did some frame counting!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/65645/skater-xl-switch-preview-event

I was recently given the opportunity to preview Skater XL running on the Nintendo Switch. Previously released in 2020, this physics-based skateboarding simulator has been updating features and adding new maps and content to keep things fresh. Now with a Nintendo Switch release on the horizon, all that content will be ported over to keep it in lockstep parity with the PC version and that of all other consoles.

   For those new to Skater XL, it’s a skateboarding simulator with each stick on the controller acting as a separate leg or foot of the skater. From here you are given total freedom across 5 dev-created maps and 26 modded maps to skate to your heart's desire. Because using the sticks does not provide canned animations, all flip tricks are unique, and can vary wildly, depending on how you move the sticks. You turn with the triggers of your controller, so that will be a departure from other versions as the Joy-Con are digital single-input triggers and all other controllers use analog, which vary your actions by how far down you press them.

   The visuals take the usual Nintendo Switch hit with 540p up to 720p when docked and 540p when handheld. What really matters, however, is the frame rate. You don’t want to see any kind of hitching or sluggishness when the focus of the game is movement, and that’s where this port absolutely works. We get a full 60 frames per second, gliding across smooth as butter. In this way, there’s nothing stopping you from landing your sick tricks. Of course, you’ll also be able to capture and create fun skate video edits here as well given the replay editor is included in the Switch port.

   There is an immense amount of character customization as well, including the community mod browser, where people can submit their own custom art for people to use in game. That will also be brought over, so there will be an extra boost of content there right out of the gate, with new clothes and accessories added regularly.

   Easy Day Studios has promised that with the Switch’s release, we will be getting all the same content and updates day-and-date with PC and console, which is a nice departure from competitor Session Skateboarding Sim. I’m curious what the cadence of new content will be post Switch launch as this developer has generally not rushed content out the door, but nonetheless it’s an exciting time to be a skateboarding enthusiast.


7
TalkBack / Solar Ash (Switch) Review
« on: October 29, 2023, 06:23:58 PM »

More of a stop gap, rather than a full sequel to Hyper Light Drifter

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65362/solar-ash-switch-review

From Heart Machine, Solar Ash was originally released on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and PC in December of 2022. In keeping with the style and flair of its predecessor, Hyper Light Drifter, it brings in fast space-skating mechanics that give it a unique identity. While not a direct sequel, it does keep some core tenants of design and story but switches up genres entirely. Despite the changes, it’s hard not to compare the two, so we have to ask, is it comparable to the developer’s first indie hit? The answer is somewhere lost in the Ultravoid, so let’s strap on our space skates and dive in!

   Solar Ash opens on our Voidrunner protagonist Rei, who is attempting to save her world from being sucked into the Ultravoid, a massive black hole. Throughout her journey you’ll find out what has happened to all the Voidrunners who failed before her, engrossing you in tales of loss, grief, and moving on. These vignettes make for some touching moments, while also fleshing out more of the world (which exists in the same universe as Hyper Light Drifter,) and boy is the Ultravoid a wild and beautiful world. Graphically, the art is cell shaded, with minimalist detail and lots of neon, which makes for amazing visuals but can definitely lead to the Nintendo Switch chugging when particle effects are introduced.

   The main gameplay loop (and I do mean loop) is to find and destroy anomalies on the map. You get a scanner to find their approximate location, but the real challenge comes in finding the right way to them, and then destroying them in a timed chain sequence. That means, you really have to be able to move. The developers have stated that they based the game specifically around its traversal and it definitely shows. Rollerblading in space has never looked so cool. You can slide, grind rails, grapple hook points, wall ride, and double jump your way across the psychedelic visuals of the void, destroying the Anomalies as you go. Anomalies are destroyed by hitting beacons in a timed sequence. Once every anomaly challenge is completed, a boss is unlocked that you must ride across, essentially knocking out more anomalies on its back to defeat them. Move to a new map, rinse and repeat.

   Despite having a relatively short playtime of roughly 3-5 hours, this ongoing loop felt a little more checklist-y then I would have liked. Sure, the platforming itself was varied, but movement could be unwieldy and inconsistent. Jumps could throw you clear over your target, grind rails could go in incorrect directions, and some sequences were just damn near frustrating. One particular puzzle stumped me so bad that I ended up figuring out a glitch to get it instead of finding the intended path. It’s equal parts fun and frustrating. The most enjoyment comes from just moving around. Its fluid motion makes for engaging movement, even when sometimes the puzzles require more precision than I felt was necessary.

   Another frustrating setback is combat. Throughout your exploration, you will encounter enemies that you need to dispatch. There’s your regular laser sword swing, with a grapple to close the gap, but overall these encounters do more to slow the player down than enhance the experience. Considering the game shines best when in a flow state of movement, there seem to be a lot of different ways to get stopped in your tracks.

   Solar Ash comes in hot with its fantastic art style, free flowing movement, and minimalist synth soundtrack, but it also hits a lot of road blocks along the way. When you’re landing sick grinds, nailing grapple points and taking down massive bosses, it’s top notch. When it works it works well; unfortunately, it doesn’t always succeed and you end up doing so many repeated tasks that it quickly wears out its welcome. The story content is written beautifully, with a lot to say about heartbreak and grief, which makes it unfortunate that Solar Ash can be a drag to play. It seems we may need to wait for Hyper Light Breaker, to see a truly worthy successor but at least Heart Machine’s writing and style chops remain consistent.


8
TalkBack / A Tiny Sticker Tale (Switch) Review
« on: October 11, 2023, 07:05:24 PM »

A Tiny Sticker of Joy

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65173/a-tiny-sticker-tale-switch-review

The new up and coming genre of “cozy games” has been inundating the market as of the last five years. Just this year alone we have Fae Farm, Mineko's Night Market and Garden Buddies, to name a few. It can feel very overwhelming, but I’m here to tell you Tiny Sticker Tale can definitely be the short little break you need between lengthy AAA titles.

   A Tiny Sticker Tale’s world is one filled with friendly anthropomorphic animals. You arrive on an island, sticker book in hand, to search for your father, while also tasked with helping the inhabitants of the island. Of course, there’s mischief and mystery afoot, so you have to be ready to explore the grid-style map–similar to the NES and SNES Legend of Zelda games. Moving from screen to screen to traverse the relatively small world makes for super simple navigation, as it takes roughly a minute or two to travel the entire map.

   The main interaction point for the game is the titular stickers. Most things in the world can be turned into stickers by moving to a sticker menu and picking up an object or person. Once in hand, you can put them in your sticker book to be saved for later. This is how you solve puzzles and assist the lively characters you meet along your journey. Does a character want to play his instrument for a crowd of five? Go find other characters and place them in your sticker book, then bring them back to make the crowd. Can’t get across a river? Simply find a bridge two maps over, take it into your sticker book, then place it over the water to get across. These sticker puzzles lead to some clever a-ha moments that are both adorable in presentation but also simple enough to rarely stump.

It’s not a particularly deep game, but that doesn’t stop it from just feeling like a warm sweater on a chilly day. Also considering its run time is anywhere from 3-5 hours total, it doesn’t need to be particularly complex to be a worthwhile experience. The one major gripe I had is that the ending tries to create a lot of emotional weight that just wasn’t there throughout the rest of the narrative. The plot provides some light followthrough with story, but mostly it’s sparse and to attempt a big sentimental swing felt tacked on at best. That still doesn’t prevent A Tiny Sticker Tale from being nothing short of delightful through and through. A bite-sized portion of happiness that is the definition of cozy games.


9
TalkBack / Cocoon (Switch) Review
« on: October 02, 2023, 10:48:29 AM »

A Geometrically Near Perfect Puzzle Game

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65098/cocoon-switch-review

From the brain of Jeppe Carlsen, lead gameplayer designer of Limbo and Inside, comes a mind bending puzzle adventure. Cocoon is a wild and mysterious world of techno organic bugs and ethereal vistas. Not since Thumper have we seen such a perfect mix of insectoids and technology to create something wholly unique. I originally played a demo of Cocoon at Summer Game Fest and instantly fell into a quiet fascination. With the aesthetic, the design, and pretty much everything about it. Now, getting to fully play it, I can solidly tell you, that fascination did not dissipate.

Cocoon presents as an adventure game, you sprout from your metallic cocoon as a beetle creature, roaming the desert lands to find and explore the world around you. That comes as a lovingly crafted set dressing for what is, at its core, a puzzle game. Sure, adventure games usually have puzzles but Cocoon is more than that. It's full of handcrafted enigma encounters that are smartly tailored to introduce players to new game mechanics while implementing the old. Providing smartly timed audio cues that inform players that they are going into the right direction. There were several instances that I was unsure of what the game wanted from me, but hearing that cue set me straight and gave me the encouragement I needed to continue with my chain of logic.

The puzzles are a strange set that make more sense in practice than say told. As you explore the world, you will encounter colored orbs. While these orbs act as your key puzzle solving McGuffin, they are also entire worlds, filled with their own issues to solve. While moving about your desert world, you’ll find a platform that when activated, throws you out of it into a giant techno dystopia, think the real world vs the Matrix. So each orb has their own world inside, but they also get their own specialty powers. The orange desert planet orb, when carried, can activate laser platforms, while the green swamp planet can raise and lower gas platforms seen in your journey. Each time you enter or exit, it’s this striking visual of being shrunk, getting sucked into this whole other world. Then exiting, as you enlarge outside of it.

The powers are helpful but the design is such to limit you from using them without figuring out how to get your orbs to the right spot TO use them, building gates and other obstacles to work around. Once you’ve officially wrapped your head around all of this, another twist comes with bringing in orbs to other planets. Then even further, finding gates from one planet to another inside a planet. I felt my brain being contorted into all sorts of shapes as I attempted to figure out going into the swamp planet, then walking into the desert planet via a gate, but currently carrying the desert planet on my back. It all builds upon itself into these intense escalations of bewildering brainteasers, but like a book of sudoku, I kept wanting more.

To be frank, I rarely knew what I was doing in this game. When an obstacle was presented would use the tools in front of me. Either a combination of the orbs or going into another orbs world, to see if there was something to solve there. The game is intelligently designed to never let you stray too far from the problem at hand. Creating a solution to one situation, opens a pretty direct path to the next, while closing any alternate routes. This makes the game seem linear in a way but also removes a lot of distractions. In a game filled with complex puzzle mechanics, it does such a great job keeping out any extra noise. There are some extraneous elders to collect but they are few and far between, that never stray you too far from the real tasks at hand. I was always worried about putting the game down, only to return and not know where to go next. Luckily, the environmental barriers kept me on the right path and prevented needless backtracking.

Unlocking each orb's powers comes with a boss fight. These are arguably less interesting, but at the same time, acted as a pleasant reprieve from the linear puzzle solving. Since there really isn’t any combat to speak of, the bosses consisted of pattern recognition, avoiding their attacks and then engaging with whatever mechanic is presented. These encounters range from some basic bug battles to massive light spectacles with laser beams. It’s a pretty interesting change of pace and enhances the already amazing art design.

Speaking of art design, Cocoons’ art design is a mix of H.R. Giger and a Bug's Life. The world is made up of insects and metal. The creature breathes and pulses over its metallic sheen. Doorways are designed to replicate delicate geometric insect wings or fangs that split apart and reform in kaleidoscopic fashion. Cables sweat, and when bugs rub their pincers together, sparks fly. It’s mesmerizing and one of the strongest parts of Cocoon. This is all punctuated with an ambient soundtrack that’s built to inspire but also creep you out. Hypnotic tones and tracks that when added to the previously discussed audio cues flesh out a fantastic experience. Playing on the Switch, I found that it did struggle to handle some of the heavier transitions of going between worlds, with some slow down but that wasn’t common and didn’t hinder my experience.

Cocoon is a master class in game design. It pushes amazing puzzle construction, to guide players without being too heavy handed. Whenever I was stuck, it was barely ever for more than a few minutes that wasn’t solved by some trial and error. The sound design is used to enhance, never overtake. Giving enough to inspire awe, curiosity, tension and encouragement. The environmental details were beautifully hypnotic. Crafting such a fantastically curious world of psychedelic shapes and inorganic life is a feat of its own but with this combination as a full package, I can’t recommend this game to enough people. It’s greater than the sum of its parts and at the end of my time with Cocoon, my journey had felt meaningful.


10
TalkBack / Pepper Grinder Is Another Devolver Classic
« on: September 12, 2023, 06:24:50 PM »

Put A Little Pepper On It

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/64836/pepper-grinder-is-another-devolver-classic

I was able to play the first hour of Pepper Grinder on PC, the newest Devolver Digital game and boy did it leave an impression on me. Devolver has always specialized in the weird and more artistically “out there” games and Pepper Grinder fits the Devolver aesthetic to a T. It’s easy to say that fans of Devolver games will like this one, but that’s selling it short. It’s got a special kind of flow that’s hard to ignore.

   In Pepper Grinder you play as the titular Pepper, who is a pirate who has been shipwrecked on an island and had her treasure stolen. To get her coveted treasure back, she must use her handy hand drill grinder. The game is presented in 2D pixel art that gives the right amount of personality with a mix of the macabre, especially when defeating enemies leads to small explosions of blood splatter and skulls. I can only imagine the number of games Pepper will appear in as a guest character throughout the Devolver-verse moving forward.

   What really stuck out to me with this demo is the flow. Using your hand drill, you drill through dirt and rock with ease. It’s a movement-based game, so you punch through pathways of dirt, making fantastic leaps like a dolphin. Using the momentum of the drill, you pick up speed and fly through platforms and enemies alike, blasting your way through levels in a solid flow state. This game is all about finding that rhythm, and once it gets going, it feels fantastic.

The levels are built in a way where paths of dirt are set in platforms, coupled with puzzle switches to trip, lava to avoid, and even explosives to set off. Drilling through while jumping from platform to platform and working through obstacles just feels right. There are also hidden coin collectables for those willing to explore. Pepper Grinder has a pretty good ease of use, and once you get going, the levels fly by. I was disappointed once I hit the end of the demo, only to hit the restart to run through them a second time. It had me hooked.

Now, I only got a chance to play roughly 3-4 levels, but each felt unique with varying mechanics and biomes. The real question is if the full game can maintain that momentum. A game like this, with such a specific mechanic, will live and die based on how well the levels can keep it interesting. I’m also told that power ups can be purchased with the treasure you collect, so that will definitely provide some variation.  From the released trailer footage, it also seems like we’ll get mechs and cannons to work with the grinder arm. Nonetheless, as of this demo I’m incredibly interested in what Pepper Grinder can do with what already feels like a well developed movement set, and I’m eager to see more ahead of its 2024 release window


11
TalkBack / Blasphemous 2 (Switch) Review
« on: August 17, 2023, 04:00:00 AM »

Thank the miracle for this Blasphemous collectathon.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/64584/blasphemous-2-switch-review

Blasphemous 2 is a Metroidvania follow up to 2019's ghoulish stand out hit by developers, The Game Kitchen. In it you are once again the Penitent One working to uncover the nature of this so-called miracle and the world that worships it. The macabre art style returns, as do the Dark Souls inspired mechanics, but with the sequel they’ve made significant advancements to movement and combat, though sometimes these updates act as an overcorrection.

The Penitent One returns, silent as ever, to fight against the reawakening of The Miracle, and the birth of a second miracle child. This event is ominously depicted as a giant realistic heart floating above a holy city. For those lore junkies, this is a direct follow up to the Blasphemous 1 Eventide DLC that gave the game its true ending.  Based once again on the gothic Roman Catholic iconography, this follow up firmly establishes the Blasphemous identity with a deeper richer world.

Blasphemous 2 is based in an entirely new world of Cvstodia with a sprawling map and new biomes to explore. It seems like The Game Kitchen has upped the sheer number of environments while also increasing the endorphin-inducing discoverability throughout. Despite some poor signposting, traversing the space almost never feels stale and I rarely felt stuck. One dead end merely meant that I should check one of the many other paths available to me. To help with the expedition are the new weapon features that are present at the start.

Starting out, you are given the choice of the three new weapons: A heavy hitting mace, a slashing boardsword, and a quick hitting rapier/dagger combo. Choosing one doesn’t necessarily lock you out of the others for too long,because the others are scattered throughout the map for you to find. While they have their own combat mechanics, they also aid in the metroidvania aspect. The mace can be used to hit bells causing vibration that creates platforms, the sword can downward slam through wood barriers and the rapier can cut through chains that block platforms and teleport in mirrors. So whatever weapon you choose, that’s going to lead to a different starting path available to you, with the eventual unlocking of the rest.

Similarly, each weapon varies the combat to fit different playstyles. The mace hits slow and hard but can also be lit on fire for increased damage at the cost of mana, but it cannot parry. The sword can parry and also has an increased damage mechanic, but based on a separate meter that fills on dealing damage. The rapier dagger can also parry but its main focus is on dash attacks and movement. Once you have all three, you can swap on the fly for combat but also in platforming puzzles. Swapping, while fluid in combos, it’s a little confusing mechanically as you do have multiple meters and gauges to monitor in order to maximize your damage. This resulted in me rarely using the abilities outside some key moments or picking a favorite weapon and sticking to it.

The customization has really been improved as well with dozens of new aspects to combat. The weapons have their own individual skill trees with new abilities, rosary beads provide minor buffs, and a new altar of favors. This is a set of wooden statues you can equip to your altar that provide buffs to damage and defense, but when used in combination can unlock even bigger bonuses. There are also spells that can be unlocked that cost mana to use, but can be clutch at long ranges. The Penitent One has also received an upgrade because he isn’t the lumbering brute he once was. Now movement is fast and fluid but comes at the cost of his slide dodge. You are way more nimble, but his slide dodge has lost some of the invincibility frames it once had. You can still slide but it’s not a guarantee you’ll make it out unscathed. While I found the agility a bigger improvement over the missing usefulness of the dodge, I still mourn that Souls-like perfect dodge.

What kept the map so enticing was a constant state of discoverability. There is an incredible amount of collectibles and quest items that at times felt daunting. Fervent Kisses, Silent Sisters, Vigils of Deathbed Daughters, Carver Tools, Rosary Knots are only a few of the many many quest items and upgradables found throughout the map. Once collected and presented to the proper NPC, these would reward more powerful flasks, rosary beads and or altar pieces. The hard part was finding what item went to which NPC, and at later stages, you have roughly 15 NPCs in different spots on the map to cycle through. I ended up waiting until I had a bunch of new items before making a trek around the area to all the NPCs and see what bounties I could get. I loved finding new and hidden areas and was always rewarded but in the end, dreaded the trek back to collect my hard earned loot.

Another big change to Blasphemous 2 was the difficulty. What was originally difficult in its extremely brutal combat and platforming challenges, has been changed out for a more forgiving environment and bosses with much smaller health pools. I remember bashing my head against some extremely tough bosses in the first game, while now I was knocking out bosses after 2 or 3 tries. The real challenge comes in the form of occasional repeated enemy arenas where they will lock the doors of a room, and then fill it with enemy waves before you can proceed. The enemy sequences mixed with the claustrophobic nature of the room made for some unfair stun locking and infuriating scenarios. I personally had to take a break, as I felt my rage levels capping out with a few of them. These caused more deaths in total than the bosses ever did, and that felt strange. These combat arenas also emphasized the smaller enemy variation than the previous game, opting for mere palette swaps instead of wholly new enemies. The boss battles remain the stand out as far as design. Each one is a beautifully gory pixel art spectacle in their own right.

Despite the numerous additions and subtractions, I found myself addicted to Blasphemous 2. I was constantly scouring the map for new paths or hidden items and enjoying the smooth new movement. The gripes don’t take away from what a vast improvement Blasphemous 2 is from its predecessor. It’s slightly less punishing while polishing up a lot of the rough edges. Right when I started to feel the fatigue is when the game ended. The customization is substantial and the story brings even more rich lore to this world. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Cvstodia and plan on going back to 100% it, after I’ve had a bit of a break. Thank the miracle, this game rules.


12
TalkBack / Tiny Thor (Switch) Review
« on: August 04, 2023, 08:12:53 AM »

Tiny Thor Needs to Hammer Out Some Details

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/64443/tiny-thor-switch-review

Tiny Thor is the latest in retro nostalgia games that looks like it came directly from the Sega Genesis. Playing as the titular kid Thor with his mighty ricocheting Mjolnir is a refreshingly new take on the character. While it boasts some beautifully crisp pixel art with a catchy chiptune soundtrack, be warned  it also brings a high level of difficulty, in the vein of a Celeste. In some cases to its detriment.

The game begins with our hero, Tiny Thor, crashing to Earth while riding the rainbow bridge to his birthday party. From here he’s tricked by an unassuming Loki into starting the end of the world Ragnarok event, unless he can find the magical items that would deter this catastrophe. The world is built similarly to a Mario World for the SNES. A mostly linear path, with levels of varying biomes, and bonus challenge levels to be unlocked. Progressing through the story unlocks new movement abilities like a double jump, dash and ground pound. All the classic platformer tropes are here.

Traversing the levels, Thor comes equipped with his mighty Mjolnir hammer, which can be angled to bounce off of surfaces. When charging the hammer, an angle line is presented so you can adjust the trajectory for multiple hits or to activate hard to reach switches but can be recalled at a moments notice. This is used to great effect, as these kinds of puzzles create that perfect feeling of achievement. Unfortunately, when used on enemies, the hammer feels powerless, especially against moving enemies. In later levels, enemies take multiple hits, so you end up simply avoiding them.

You would avoid enemies because Thor, whilst still a child, is very fragile as far as taking hits. You have a heart system that equates to only a secondary hit. You can get hit once, then a heart flies out of you, but can be caught again if gathered up quick enough. Otherwise, you’re at a single hit kill. This is mostly for enemies as environmental dangers, such as water, are insta-kills. The sheer amount of instant deaths is frustrating to say the least, with some of the deaths I experienced, feeling particularly unfair.

The extra challenge to the game comes in the form of three rubies strewn about in each level. These act as bonus collectables that can be spent to unlock extra challenge levels. The challenge levels are built around a specific mechanic like the dash or double jump but are more for those completionists out there who want that 100% run. Outside of that ,there is no in game reward for completing these and left me little motivation on finishing them all.

Tiny Thors’ level design is a complex array of multiple pathways and jumping challenges which is well done. The different locales all feel different enough while still engaging that 16 bit era. The puzzles are some of the best parts of the game, but in the latter half, you are expected to finish said puzzles with added difficulties like being chased. Unfortunately, these puzzles don’t work as well with movement and mechanics that aren’t built for precision. Add into this far apart checkpoints, and you’re stuck redoing long stretches of pin point accuracy jumps while firing your hammer at difficult angles. It’s a rough proposition that forced me to step away from the Switch quite a few times out of frustration.

All of that being said, Tiny Thor still manages to charm and bring new mechanics to an old school genre of game. The boss battles are clever fights that are feasible with practice. The music and art style is top notch, and the main mechanic of angling your shots works really well. It's when the game ups the challenge to a point that the movement and abilities aren’t necessarily equipped for. Instigating a fast paced timer based wall jump challenge, when the wall jump itself has a 1-2 second delay on it, is one specific example. These kinds of instances do more to point out the games’ limitations instead of highlight them. Still, those fiending for a new throwback challenge have got your work cut out for you. I really enjoyed my time with the 30 some odd levels of Tiny Thor, but more so in spite of itself than because of it.


13
TalkBack / Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 (Switch) Review
« on: July 12, 2023, 04:12:08 PM »

Furry Fury Part Deux

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/64257/fuga-melodies-of-steel-2-switch-review

Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 is a direct follow up to CyberConnect2’s gripping war drama set in a world run by anthropomorphic dogs and cats. Being a full sequel, it brings a lot of what worked in the original but adds a few additional features to up the ante on an already successful strategy RPG. The new additions work to ease the difficulty spikes that were felt in the original while also adding new flavor and mechanics to your adventure.

   Our game begins where the first left off, one year after the defeat of the giant destructive tank Tarascus by our heroes, a ragtag group of young children in the tank Taranis. They are called back by the local government to assist in figuring out the inner workings of the Taranis, but while investigating, half the group are trapped inside as it starts a path of destruction across the countryside piloted by a mysterious figure. The remaining kids have no choice but to hop into the villainous Tarascus and give chase to save their friends. The game really jumpstarts you into the story quickly, but luckily there is a full recap of the first game built in for those needing a refresher.

   At its core, Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 is a tactical RPG. There are a lot of pieces surrounding it but the base of it is the combat. There are three main stations in the Tarascus tank. Each of these stations can be filled by two of the children in the group. This works for synergistic purposes but more on that later. There are also three types of color-coded weaponry: cannons (red), machine guns (blue), and grenade launchers (yellow). The color coding helps to differentiate when an enemy has a weakness to a specific weapon. Enemy weakness is important for damage, but also for timeline purposes. During combat, a turn-order timeline is presented at the top of the screen. By hitting an enemy weakness, you push them back further in the timeline, creating opportunities to attack first and more often. Special attacks have varying properties to remove armor enemies may have, or to slow down their turn order on the timeline. Since enemies vary in their weaknesses and sometimes come in multiple waves, you have the capability to swap in character positions on the fly.

Combat is initiated in a pathing battlefield system. You will have a highway with designated events like combat encounters, health refills or intermissions. This will be mostly linear with occasional branching paths for increased loot at the cost of harder combat encounters. Some new features are the capability of airlifts to bring you back to specific points on the path or take an alternate route for increased loot or story, and air strikes to do damage to combat encounters before you enter them. Another pivotal part of combat is the soul canon. This is a one-shot kill for any enemy group or boss encounter, but using it sacrifices one of the children in the tank at random, consuming their soul as ammunition. This can be detrimental to the story, as it will remove that part of the team permanently and leave the rest of the group reeling from the weight of that decision. It’s a fascinating mechanic with such powerful implications. I felt like it could’ve been more impactful had I been forced to use it, but it does come into play in the story proper. To offset this weighty move is a new feature called the Managarm, a similar one-time use move that only knocks one of your members unconscious instead of outright killing them. This feels like a welcome alternative but, even then I still felt uncomfortable using either ability and harming my team in that way.

   One key point during the highway of combat is intermissions. These are basic social and maintenance periods on the tank. You are given a certain number of action points, and are able to control any one of the 12 children on the tank. From here you can cook meals for buffs, upgrade parts of the tank, fish for loot, explore a side-scrolling mini dungeon crawler or interact with other children. Talking to your fellow tank mates will create social bonding affinities that, over time, will produce a cute visual novel style cut scene, and perks that fit between those two characters. This is the synergy aspect of assigning two members of your group together in tank positions. It’s not about what kind of weapon they have, but how strong their bonds are, which equates to hero abilities or damage increases. The relationships of the characters are integral to how you engage with the game’s combat mechanics. The issue is that with a cast of 12 teammates–plus side characters–I often found myself losing track of everyone and never getting a good sense of their personalities. This may be a fault for not getting too deep into the first game to fall in love with the kids, but newcomers may have similar issues connecting as I did.

   The story itself is a really hard look at war and the effects it can have on its participants, in this case children. Each encounter leads to trauma and a loss of innocence, despite its cartoonish art style. The game presents a real contradictory tone with dog and cat children creating bonds of friendship while facing the brutality of war. Despite its whiplash tone discrepancy, Melodies of Steel 2 largely works as a whole. Character relationships work in harmony with the combat. Your success is based on how your team works together. Character interactions from the first game are brought over in such a way that it can hinder the experience overall. This is compounded by the fact that there are so many systems in play outside of the ones described that simply feel tacked on. There’s a 2D side scrolling dungeon crawler side activity that feels weirdly out of place, as well as a morality system based on binary “good” or “bad” choices during conversations. These decisions never resulted in much change to the story, so their inclusion was questionable.

Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 is a really solid strategy RPG. It uses complex systems of character interactions that feel absolutely meaningful to story and combat progression. What keeps it out of the upper tier of similar games is its reliance on having played the first game, a large cast of characters that tend to blend together, and some extra mechanics that mostly feel out of place. Fuga is trying to do a lot, when really it just needs to focus on what works. Despite its bloat, the game boasts a short 20 or so hours to complete and in a world of 100-hour games, and there’s something to be said about a short but sweet experience. When the game is going, it feels great to play and has a compelling story, if not overwhelming to get started.  Regardless of its dark and gritty war torn world, Fuga Melodies of Steel 2 provides a little bit of hope in the tactical RPG space.


14
TalkBack / Blanc (Switch) Review
« on: March 26, 2023, 08:23:40 PM »

A Co-op adventure that is as shallow as it is beautiful.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/63257/blanc-switch-review

Blanc is a new indie co-op game from the French developers at Casus Ludi. In it, you play as a wolf cub and fawn, two unlikely friends, on a search for their families in the middle of a snowstorm. To find your families, you must work together to travel the lands, solve puzzles and follow the trail.

   Right off the bat, the story calls to mind a massive Disney-style cuteness factor. The animation adds to that, with the fawn and cub drawn straight out of a cartoon with giant caricature eyes. They also speak in overly cute squeaks and barks to capitalize on the adorable nature of this story. The visuals are really striking as everything is a contrast of varying shades of black or white. All of this works well within the backdrop of a snowstorm.

   The gameplay is co-op, and each character is controlled separately. The controls are simple: you have a call-communication button, a dash, a jump, and an action button that works contextually to push/pull or assist the other player in accessing new areas. You use these abilities to solve movement or platforming puzzles like having the deer be a platform for the dog or blacking the window in sequence to help a series of ducks. The puzzles can be as simple or as complex as the game allows. I say it this way because throughout the journey, you will find that the game itself fights you in a number of problematic ways.

   Blanc’s camera follows your characters, but for some puzzles it moves to a fixed position. This camera angle works well for framing the puzzle but is a hindrance for depth of field. It’s near impossible to tell details of objects in the background or even where your character is located, especially in some of the late game puzzles. Also, since this is a co-op game, it’s possible for one player to go completely off screen and get lost outside of the fixed perspective puzzle, making such obstacles almost insurmountable.

   More problems arise in that when the camera switches from a fixed position back to a following one, it snaps in an almost jarring way, making for some uncomfortable adjustments. I’ve seen quite a few of these snapback camera issues that force up close views on character models that are best seen from a distance. Blanc, generally, isn’t a difficult game. I just found that fighting the camera was its own puzzle, and that’s not a good thing.

   The musical score of Blanc is beautifully orchestrated by Louis Godart. The strings and keys that punctuate every event are a definite stand out. There’s even an ode to the 2020 indie hit Untitled Goose Game that really brought me back. Godart is able to inspire wonder, uncertainty, and hope within every single note. This is definitely a soundtrack worth picking up.

   Blanc, on the whole, is a fun, short experience that barely makes it out without overstaying its welcome. By the end, I was ready to call this journey a successful, but sometimes frustrating one. It’s great for a date night, but any longer would be too much. Its story is simple and inconsequential. Blanc also has a single player option, but it’s absolutely miserable. Controlling one character per Joy-Con is an annoying experience I wouldn’t suggest. The real stand out here is the soundtrack. I would put this soundtrack in the same tier as games like Hollow Knight and Ori and the Blind Forest. My biggest takeaway is that the Blanc soundtrack should be on everyone’s playlists, even if the game itself shouldn’t.


15
TalkBack / RE:CALL (Switch) Review
« on: February 14, 2023, 07:01:37 AM »

RE:CALL is a great puzzle conceit wrapped in childhood trauma

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/62898/recall-switch-review

RE:CALL is an interesting pixel art puzzler from Argentinian single dev Maitan_69 and publisher Whitethorn Games. In this world, every person is a stylish badass with attitude, and the narrative is a complex one with lots of twists and betrayals that come with any good noir story. Combine all that with a clever puzzle mechanic and we have the makings of an indie darling, but it’s when the game attempts nuanced emotions that it loses the plot entirely.

   In RE:CALL, you play as Bruno Gallahger: a twenty-something slacker for whom trouble seems to follow wherever he goes. It isn’t until he is invited to a party with some cool kids that he finds himself in the middle of an assassination plot that goes deeper than he could ever imagine. It’s obvious that Maitan_69 wears his inspirations on his sleeve as this is a classic detective film trope, but it works in ways that make the game as campy as it is enticing.    

The game's story is separated by chapters, with each providing a singular environment to explore and figure out. Every level provides a new mystery for our hero to solve. You do so in a top-down pixel art presentation, moving not unlike an old school SNES game. You talk to NPCs and interact with items in the environment until you reach an event that causes the story to move forward. Once the event plays out, such as a murder or a crime, afterwards you are sent back in time to the start of the map with all your information and items intact. This is delightfully reflected in the environment changing as you rewrite history with your newfound knowledge. Changing who you interact with can alter paintings and moving items around can change how characters interact with the world. It’s got a real Back To The Future vibe.

   The main crux of the game is that by using information gained, performing different actions, or choosing different paths, you can eventually figure out how to solve the event and continue the story. The events act as complex puzzle boxes for you to work through step by step. Sometimes, you’ll figure out the solution to the crime, only to find that the crime had a second phase, adding new wrinkles to the environment or adding new clues to solve. Breaking the story into chapters makes for perfect single-serving riddles. The game is a perfect pick up and play pixel art sudoku.  

   The cliches run rampant through the game's relatively short run time, with character names like: Chester Make Believe, Police Chief De La Soul and Magnus Delorean. I found it charming at first, but I definitely rolled my eyes more than a few times as the story proceeded. Along with that, the character dialogue similarly bounces between thematic and engrossing to cringey at a breakneck pace. It’s a tough balancing act to maintain, and RE:CALL seems to fumble it from time to time.

   Another stumbling block for RE:CALL is the story’s emotional stakes. The questions surrounding the mysterious Dominik New Order are front and center but there’s a secondary theme of repressed childhood trauma that’s handled with the subtlety of a ball-peen hammer. The game spends a lot of extra effort bullying our main character for what feels like absolutely no reason, to then bring it all to a haphazard emotional resolution seemingly out of nowhere. I can see a place for this kind of story, but within the context of RE:CALL it comes off as a needless, last-minute addition for credibility's sake. It’s as if RE:CALL wouldn’t be an indie game without a deeper, tear-jerking emotional discovery, and in this case it feels worse for the inclusion.

   At the end of the day, RE:CALL is a sleek solo-dev indie title that provides a new history-rewriting game mechanic. Each puzzle acts as its own bite-sized puzzle box for you to analyze and explore while the story provides a lot of fascinating noir-themed goodness. It does swing and miss at a sentimental secondary story, but that doesn’t prevent this game from being a refreshing new indie I’d recommend anyone to try.


16
TalkBack / Alan Wake Remastered (Switch) Review
« on: November 30, 2022, 05:40:56 AM »

More port than remaster

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/62276/alan-wake-remastered-switch-review

Alan Wake was originally released in 2010 on the Xbox 360. It has since been ported around, given side stories and even shared an interconnected universe but never a sequel.  Finally in 2021 at the Game Awards, Alan Wake II was announced. While it’s still a ways away, a remaster of the original Alan Wake was made to appease the fans but also to update character models and environments to utilize the power of today’s modern consoles. It’s an especially exciting time for Nintendo fans, as Alan Wake has previously never been on a Nintendo console before until now. So how does it fare as a remastered classic on the Switch hardware? The answer is that it’s absolutely capable but unfortunately loses a lot of what makes the game a remaster in the first place.

   Alan Wake begins with the titular protagonist and famed author venturing to the sleepy town of Bright Falls with his wife, to overcome a two year writer's block. It’s here that Wake experiences odd townsfolk, and living nightmares of faceless demon people in a fight of light vs dark that come directly from his own writing. Equipped with guns and a flashlight, Wake intends to finish the story he doesn’t even remember starting. It’s a compelling plot that pushes the narrative along at a pretty brisk pace. Each chapter of the game moves organically to the next, giving a genuine desire to find out what happens next.

   What was great back in 2010 is just as good now. Very little has changed as far as the narrative, except with some updated graphics and character models. The face models were updated to more closely reflect those of the voice actors themselves. If you had never played the original, you’d never have known, so this update is definitely for the hardcore fans and historians. Otherwise, the voice acting and models look tantamount to the original as well as this remaster on other platforms. Wake narrates the ongoing events with crisp audio, and animations flow well as you explore.

   Where this remaster falters is in the details. When comparing the PC/console versions of the original and remaster, there are detailed improvements from updated textures to small but impressive features such as trees swaying in the breeze and other environmental movement. In the Switch version, those details are almost entirely lost. Textures look fine but generally appear more on par with the 2010 version than the remaster on other platforms. Trees are generally stagnant, as well as a majority of the environment (outside of interactables). Given the fact that the remaster really only brings FPS changes, redone cutscenes, visual effects, new lighting, and environmental detail, it does feel like the Switch model is missing a lot of what made the remaster different. While we get the updated models and cutscenes, the rest is left on the cutting room floor. Switch owners get a lot of the blurry, muddy visuals of the 2010 original but now with updated facial models.

   So as an almost direct port of Alan Wake, I am happy to say that the game itself runs great. Controls were easy to manage and performance remained steady. Using a flashlight to stun demonic shadow enemies in combination with your guns to finish them off feels smooth. Especially in the chaotic moments, the action sequences present a tense, frantic atmosphere, while the mystery surrounding Bright Falls is genuinely intriguing. This is a psychological thriller that feels just as good now as it did back then.

   When compared to the other, more powerful consoles, the Switch version of Alan Wake Remastered feels like a step down visually: in terms of muddy graphics and visual detail. The Nintendo Switch doesn’t struggle against it, but concessions had to be made. Fortunately, there’s an added director’s commentary to soothe that blow. When compared to the original Alan Wake, though, the Switch port is absolutely comparable. There’s similar gameplay and visual treatment that we’d seen back in 2010, which isn’t a bad thing, though you may not want to revisit it too often. Porting an Xbox 360 game to the Nintendo Switch isn’t necessarily a big feat, but at the end of the day, at least we now have another fine way to play this fantastic game.


17
TalkBack / Midnight Fight Express (Switch) Review
« on: October 31, 2022, 11:54:35 AM »

Choo Choo All Aboard the Punch Train!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/62007/midnight-fight-express-switch-review

Midnight Fight Express is the newest game by Humble Games, the game studio built from Humble Bundle. It’s a quick moving brawler that feels like one long non-stop action sequence. You move from area to area, brawling dozens of enemies in an impressive style that is reminiscent of John Wick. While it may invoke a lot of action films, it finds its biggest influences in such series like the Batman Arkham series and Hotline Miami. It’s a thrillride that will get the blood pumping as hard as the bass on the soundtrack.

In Midnight Fight Express (MFH) you are Babyface, a thug for hire who has lost his memory, (a very familiar trope) and is brought back into the fold by a mysterious drone giving him instructions. On this specific night, the city has erupted into chaos as a criminal organization has let loose its goons onto the city to do as much destruction as possible. From here it’s up to Babyface and his drone friend to stop the criminal overlords and put a stop to the chaos.

This all makes for some exciting action sequences but does very little to actually reel me in. In fact, there are lengthy bouts of exposition via this companion drone that stops all adrenaline fueled action in its tracks. It’s never mid fight but it definitely pumps the brakes when I just want to keep moving. The game itself encourages constant movement and action so to slam on the brakes feels counterintuitive. That along with such an antiquated plot device such as amnesiac badass mercenary with a Manchurian Candidate complex. Feels a little too familiar to what we’ve seen in the past.

Outside of that, the gameplay view is a top down tilt shift perspective and characters are distinct but lack a lot of detail. That’s all okay because the real standouts are the gameplay and soundtrack. The combat is single button punches but with blocks, parries and counterattacks on separate buttons. Punches feel magnetic and flow from enemy to enemy seamlessly, but you aren't only beholden to your fists, oh no. There are guns, tasers, and all sorts of weapons at your disposal to find amid the level or from enemies themselves. There are also larger items that can be thrown like chairs and boxes. Additionally there’s a magnum that can have specialty bullets, so there’s a lot of room for variability.

The impressive part is how well everything combines together. Moving from a punch to a counterattack to throwing a knife to hitting someone with a chair ebbs and flows as easy as a stream of consciousness. Within a few missions, you’ll find a satisfying groove that just clicks. Between missions there are skill trees that add further mechanics and adjustments to your moves that are welcome bonuses to a fantastic combat system.

The action is punctuated by a rock solid dance electro soundtrack by Noisescream that bumps heavy on the bass. Not since Hotline Miami have I ever downloaded a soundtrack and this is one I plan on picking up very soon. It pumps you up and gets you so ready to kick some serious butt while also accentuating everything going on, on screen. A good soundtrack should always be an addition and never detract from the proceedings and this is nothing short of perfect for the mechanics.

The missions are generally short bursts which is perfect for the Nintendo Switch’s pick up and play form factor. While combat is a main focus, the game does well to vary up the missions with chase scenes, vehicle combat, interesting boss battles and even some unique fight encounters that make for truly memorable moments. I won’t spoil these but there’s a lot of comedy and dynamic fights that play two sides against each other. As a bonus, once you complete a mission, new challenges are unlocked to up your overall score of the level so there’s a lot of room for replayability. There’s plenty of character customization as well, to make your own personal fighter.

Midnight Fight Express is a very elegant package that is as simple or as deep as you want. For those wanting a simple brawler, the combo mechanics with weapons and environments are so satisfying. For those that want depth and technique, there’s the grading system with bonus challenges to perfect your runs. The soundtrack blasts your ears with grimy hype up beats that rocks the combat even more than it does on its own. There’s a very obvious issue with a bland story that puts a halt to the game but there’s a lot to enjoy here. Midnight Fight Express is a fantastic game that plays great, sounds fantastic, if only it would get out of its own way with the story.


18
TalkBack / Temtem (Switch) Review
« on: October 10, 2022, 07:18:07 AM »

Two Tems for the Price of One

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/61813/temtem-switch-review

In January 2020, Temtem was released to the world on PC via Steam Early Access. It was an obvious competitor or an homage (depending on whom you’re asking) to the monster collecting games of the past, but now online with crossplay and cross progression. This means you can truly bring your pocket monsters (or Temtems) anywhere you go, but how does it stand up to the rich history of digital mons that have come before? Simply put, Temtem is enjoyable but somewhat misunderstands what makes those games special even while also pushing the limits of what was previously possible.

            Temtem at its core is an MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game.) It’s an online monster catching game that tells a very familiar story of a child receiving an interactive index of monsters, a starter monster, and items that help them capture new creatures in the wild. You have your classic rival to fight throughout your journey, dojos to complete, and villains in Clan Belsoto to thwart along the way. It’s all very cookie cutter in a way that can feel soulless and generic. It’s a copy and paste job that does the bare minimum to differentiate itself as far as the story is concerned. What does work to Temtem’s benefit is that it really rushes you through that introduction to get to the core gameplay. From the start of the game to the first battles takes only a matter of minutes, which is refreshing in a time of long-winded RPGs. The capturing system is similar to other games. Finding monsters in the wild via random encounters, then attacking them until they are low on health so you can follow up by throwing a capturing card at them.

   The 164 Temtems are mostly unique while still feeling at home in the world of digital monsters. The designs start out basic but really begin to stand out the further you go into the game. As your creatures evolve, so does their design and that was something I was initially hesitant on but in the end walked away impressed. The same goes for the islands of the Airborne Archipelago. Our journey starts at the beachside property of Zadar but eventually escalates to lava-spewing volcanoes, mines, mountain tops, and shrines. The locales are varied and relatively complex, but they quickly get old as quests will have you revisiting these locations often without a means of fast travel.

   While a lot of these presentational issues may come off as egregious, there are some big differentiators to Temtem. The number one difference is the battle system. Temtems battles play out in 2v2 matches. Having two Tem teams opens up a whole other level of strategy with their abilities and elemental type. Pairing the right Tems together will lead to boosts in stats and attacks. Abilities like Chain Lightning can even hit multiple targets. There’s also an added wrinkle of a stamina system in place of MP. Used stamina fully regenerates at the start of every fight, but if you are low on stamina mid fight, abilities can still be used at the cost of health. Otherwise, you can have your Temtems rest a turn to regenerate some stamina. There’s a real risk-reward system in play that always made me agonize over rolling the dice for that final killer blow and hurting myself or playing conservatively. You can also equip items to your creatures for passive boosts and additional strategy.

   The structure of the base game is set in the classic style of roaming the lands of the Airborne Archipelago, completing quests, capturing new monsters, and fighting in Dojos to prove yourself the top Temtem tamer. It’s a tried and true template that rarely differentiates from the classics. While it wears its influences on its sleeve, the online nature of the world makes it feel bustling. There are dozens of other Tem trainers roaming the lands for friendly battles, team ups, trades, or even just a chat. There are general and trade chats for those looking for tips or a conversation and even an auction house for rare Temtems, though it can be tricky to access.

   The real appeal for Temtem doesn’t necessarily come from the main 60-hour story. The engaging part lies in the endgame content. Repeating Dojo battles comes with increased difficulty for rare items, a deep competitive online scene (remember, cross platform), breeding Temtems, and even a rogue-like tower that rewards extra loot to build out your own personal home space. There’s also a battle pass (naturally), though completing it is a bit of a heavy grind at launch. For the longest time, Pokemon fans have pleaded upon deaf ears for updates, a supported competitive scene, and rich endgame content. Now there are options for those clamoring for more, in a cross-platform cross-progression format.

   Temtem proves that there is still room for competition in the monster catching and battling space. There’s also proof here that games like Digimon or Pokemon, while doing a lot well, leave a lot of things on the table and that’s where Temtem shines. It’s easy to write it off as a copy-pasted clone, but the additional features of co-op battles, deep synergy combat mechanics, and rich endgame content culminate in a real diamond in the rough for those finding the competitors lacking. The main story content can be rote but for those hardcore fans wanting something deeper, Temtem may be what you’re looking for. Temtem is both better and worse than the opposition, and I think that’s okay.


19
TalkBack / Lost In Play (Switch) Review
« on: September 07, 2022, 10:39:17 AM »

Lost in a damn good time

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/61435/lost-in-play-switch-review

There’s a wonderful world inside the imaginations of children. Any inanimate object or event can be constructed into a fantastical journey. Therein lies the premise of Lost in Play, a magical point and click adventure following a sibling duo on an odyssey across deserts, forest, and any other crazy locales they can dream up. There are puzzles and mini games galore, plus an art style that fits the theme significantly. It’s a near perfect package that has a few missteps regarding its overall experience.

   At its core, Lost In Play is a point and click adventure. The general tropes of finding items and combining them with the environment or solving obtuse puzzles with mini games apply here. The puzzles themselves are rarely difficult. The items found in the environment mostly stand out and since the maps remain small, it never takes long to suss out a solution. Despite it being easy to navigate, there are still some solutions that remain too obtuse or lack a direct logic. In an early puzzle, it requires you to move frog statues up and down but it can take a frustratingly long time to figure out the specific order, when the answer is not directly in the foreground. I never got stuck for too long but when a solution is hindering your progress it can feel like a lifetime.

   Similarly, the same goes for some of the mini games. There are numerous clever minigames throughout the story that are inventive new ideas such as a 1v 4 checkers game against a goblin in a tree or a fun scene re-ordering game where you have to organize a timeline of events for a woman feeding ducks. These lead to some critical thinking and strategy that break up the puzzles and storytelling with an extra dose of charm. Unfortunately these hit the same pitfall as the main puzzles with some feeling more like hitting your head against a wall than clever strategy. There’s one event that has you moving along a board to escape a yeti and it plays like the Hitman Go/Lara Croft Go games but I found it frustrating overall. When those circumstances arose, I ended up accidentally finding the solution making them more of a chore than an event. These instances were the exceptions, not the rule, but it still ended up being a sore point for me.

   The story of the brother and sister duo Toto and Gal is one of whimsy. A tale of reverie as their imaginations take the siblings to Mad Max style deserts, fantasy castle dungeons, floating islands and even in an underwater submarine. Combine these areas with a crazy cast of characters like frog kings, gambling goblins and tea parties with gnomes. The throughline is established that the children need to make it back home by nightfall or else be stuck in their dream world forever. It’s a cute vehicle for moving the plot forward filled with a fake language similar to simlish and tons of charm to spare.

The locations are always unexpected and unique which is such a blessing emphasized by the beautiful art style. Seeing this game in action really shows its fluid animation. If someone were playing this and you did not see a controller in their hand, you would think this was some new quirky cartoon movie. If this were a new animated series on a streaming service I’d be fully on board to watch, that’s how great it looks. The visuals are coupled with a great sense of humor that plays to both children and adult sensibilities. There’s a level of polish present that really stands out amongst other indie offerings.

While there were issues with puzzle design and difficulty, they were short lived as the game moves at a rather breezy pace, totalling around 5 hours, separated with each map taking roughly 30 minutes. The game would play well with all ages (though having a parent around would be most helpful for those trickier puzzles) but its presentation is what will keep families playing. It grabs and keeps your attention the entire time, making this game a joy to finish. It may lack a depth in its mechanics but makes up for its seamless animation and catchy musical score. It’s a fantastic freshman offering from indie dev Happy Juice Games and promises a bright future of things to come.


20
TalkBack / Capcom Fighting Collection (Switch) Review
« on: August 05, 2022, 09:08:48 AM »

So many Darkstalkers, so little time

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/61136/capcom-fighting-collection-switch-review

Decades have passed since Capcom were the kings of the fighting game genre but since the disappointing release of Street Fighter V they have severely fallen behind. Alas there is a saving grace in the Capcom Fighting Collection. A compilation of some of Capcom’s weirder classic fighting games that will bring the arcade and Playstation 1 memories flooding back.

   This collection comes with Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, Super Gem Fighters MiniMix, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, the previously unreleased Red Earth, Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness, Darkstalkers:Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge, Vampire Savior: The Lord Vampire plus it’s two variations: Vampire Hunter 2 and Vampire Savior 2. This is an impressive list that’s packed with unreleased content, version variations, and otherwise hidden gems within the Capcom catalog. Let’s go through the list shall we?

   Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition is the classic linchpin of any Capcom collection. The prized fighter is back, complete with its full roster and adjustable speed options. The impressive part is that this in of itself lets you play the different versions of classic rosters from the original Street Fighter II all the way to Turbo. This premise is all the more fascinating when compared to taking it to online matches where you could end up fighting varying versions of characters from different editions. It’s a neat wrinkle to the online multiplayer but Street Fighter II in all its forms has been released elsewhere already (specifically in its own collection) so it’s a game we’re all too familiar with.

   Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo remains an underrated, underdog, competitive puzzle game that is as much Street Fighter as it is Tetris. You have gems that are dropped from above and your job is to move them into position to create bigger gems and shapes. Eventually you will get a colored orb that will destroy all like colors when placed next to those colors. This means that grouping like colors and organizing your board is key. SInce this is a competitive game, when you destroy gems on your board, they will be dropped into the competitors board but with timers that make it so they cannot be destroyed until the timer runs out. This can block players from completing bigger chains or disrupt the organization of their board. You lose when your board is filled with gems. What makes this so charming is that in the middle of the screen are chibi (big head cutesy anime) versions of your chosen Capcom fighter that will perform moves as you destroy gems to attack one another. It’s a neat presentation that is so satisfying when a player loses and you see Ryu perform a super move to defeat your rival.

   Gem Fighters is a rarity here as it has not seen a re-release since Playstation 2 in a Street Fighter Alpha Anthology. This takes the exact chibi roster from Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and puts them into a full fledged fighting game (it’s a real snake eating its own tail scenario.) Here you perform moves via combination presses and d-pad rotations like a normal fighting game but the abilities performed are done so in a cute and slapstick fashion. Characters will switch in and out of silly costumes and perform incredibly ridiculous activities that bring the laughs. Akuma will don a Speedo and perform a high dive as a super, or Chun-Li can become a crossing guard and hit the opposing player with an entire race of bikers. It’s absurd in the best ways. Super abilities are performed by charging up your player meter with gems you find throughout the battle plane but otherwise it’s a pretty standard 2D fighter though it’s charm does a lot to carry this title to be something special.

   Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness is a 3 button fighter with 2 attacks and a projectile. There’s also a dash for mobility. Each character and mech has their own style and flavor that works well in the 2D combat-sphere plus an added wrinkle of knocking off pieces of armor makes for engaging gameplay. Though, it does get a little tricky trying to gauge each character's hit box due to size and art design of the characters but wasn’t too much of an issue overall. Otherwise this is another worthy addition to the collection.

   Red Earth is an arcade fighter not seen in the states before. While it may look like a Street Fighter III clone at face value (it uses the same engine) it’s actually doing something wholly unique. Red Earth only has four playable characters with two modes: Quest mode and Versus Mode. Quest mode takes the character through up to 8 boss battles for experience to level up. During the boss battles, chests will appear giving the player health, experience or orbs to perform super moves. Between boss battles, you can level up your character's stats and unlock new moves. Another stand out of Red Earth is that it has fatalities as well, which play into the game’s many endings. Also playing into that is how many continues you used, and story choices. In Versus mode, you still only get the four players but still this was something really unique outside of what Capcom was doing at the time.

   Last of the pack here are the entirety of the Darkstalkers series including Vampire Savior (the third in the series) which has two follow ups Vampire Savior 2 (a roster update to Vampire Savior) and Vampire Hunter 2 (also a japanese roster update.) Darkstalkers has always been a slower, more calculated fighter that leans heavier on technical defensive play. The characters are all based on fantastical monsters that are beautifully designed to give that classic Capcom flair. Everything from guitar playing british zombies, badass uzi toting red riding hood, and even pharaoh mummies. That’s generally the strong appeal of the Darkstalkers series as well as Capcom’s games overall. The beauty of every detail of their design has always been a highlight.

   While the complete Darkstalkers series is an interesting inclusion, having two roster updates to Darkstalkers Revenge: Vampire Savior feels like extra padding that could have easily been filled by other exemplar titles in their catalogs such as Street Fighter III, Final Fight, or Mega Man: The Power Battle. It just feels like the two Darkstalkers variations don’t necessarily bring enough new to the table to warrant entries over others. That being said, every game in this collection runs smoothly and plays exactly how you remember it. This is the best way to play these games.

   The Capcom Fighting Collection also comes with artwork, unfinished sketches, the full collection of music plus bonus remixes, and art for the Switch is also available. There’s a training mode for each game as well, to really hone your skills. It’s robust enough to have you set up CPU actions and give you scenarios to practice in. Another welcome addition is the ability to start up each game from the collection menu instead of starting up the game, waiting for it to load and picking a mode within the original game. This allows for quick transition from game to game and mode to mode. Going from Darkstalkers 2 story mode to a Street Fighter 2 versus match within seconds feels seamless. You can also create save states at any time and load back in, even within matches. This feels a bit like cheating but can definitely help on some of those tougher boss encounters.

   The big key new feature in the Capcom Fighting Collection is the online modes. Now you can create online lobbies with friends, or friend opponents in both casual and ranked modes. Sadly, by having so many games in a single collection, it splits the online scene making it difficult to find a match for a specific game. You can select multiple games to play online against others but if you select only a single game, it’s going to make for some really long queue times. I waited roughly 40 minutes for a puzzle fighter match and even then, it was a lag filled mess. It's very unfortunate for long time fans who’ve been dying to take their skills in these classics to competitive circuits but it’s sadly what we have today. I would advise to keep this local or at the very least, set up a lobby with friends and hope the net code remains stable.

   The Capcom Fighting Collection brings out some of the best and brightest from 90’s Capcom hay day. Back when they were the kings of the arcades, taking quarter after quarter from the youth. It’s a happier time best memorialized through a lot of the games in this collection. The sprite work and sound design is still as on point as we always remembered. Outside of waxing nostalgic, we also get a previously unreleased in America entry with Red Earth, plus a rarer find in Gem Fighter for those wanting to dig deeper into the Capcom catalog.The sheer amount of Darkstalkers does bloat the collection to a degree and the poor online puts a damper but otherwise it’s a good amount of games that show why Capcom were kings in the first place and hope they can return to the throne again one day.


21
TalkBack / OlliOlli World VOID Riders DLC (Switch) Review
« on: July 11, 2022, 04:58:21 PM »

VOID Riders is just more OlliOlli to love

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60947/olliolli-world-void-riders-dlc-switch-review

OlliOlli World was a great game in its own right (some might say a 9.5) but now with the new VOID Riders DLC, what was deemed best in the series is now even better! The DLC adds in new mechanics, levels, story, and events that mix up the flow of the original jam packed base game. This ice cream sundae of a videogame just got a cherry on top.

VOID Riders introduces aliens to Radlandia, who have come to observe the amazing skate culture. The best and most talented skaters will get brought to their leader Nebulord. To prove your sick skills, you will have to skate 15 new story levels that are strewn throughout the 5 districts of Radlandia. These levels up the difficulty over what you’ve already seen in the base game by switching up the level design and adding new skills.

We now have a new level skill called the Grabby beam. There will be UFO’s shooting their Grabby beam throughout the levels, you can use this to perform a grab and the tractor beam will elevate you to the next section of the level. This mixed in with grinds, manuals, wall rides, and dozens of other tricks make for a complex cocktail of things to remember. Another wrinkle to the new levels is that they will be partially hidden until lifted/abducted by the aliens in their UFO’s. So you better be fast with those reflexes and watch for what’s ahead. It can be a tad frustrating when parts of the level aren’t fully visible leaving you to guess. With a little practice, landing a clean run, even when partially blind, feels impressive.

   There are also new zone bosses that are special levels where it’s less about beating a high score and more about racing against alien creatures. It’s an interesting twist on the formula that forces you to think more about routes and less about tricks. It wouldn’t be OlliOlli World without tons of new cosmetics and characters to select from including 42 new heroes to choose from. This adds even more to an already robust amount of customization.

   The story brings a familiar brand of comedy to the dialogue of the alien visitors. There are 3 head aliens that have replaced your friends in the pre-level cutscenes. They provide witty banter with your character, inquiring about the world at large. It’s as quirky as previous dialogue and is inoffensive enough that it’s easily skippable if not your cup of tea. Still, the characters are written well enough to induce a chuckle and provide some context to the craziness unfolding in the levels.

   The OlliOlli World VOID Riders DLC is a welcome addition to a fantastic game. If you have already exhausted OlliOlli World, this will give you more reason to return for new score challenges, cosmetics and mechanics. The music adds new catchy lo-fi beats and the writing remains wholesome throughout. One of the most positive things to be said about VOID Riders is that it reminds you of how great OlliOlli World is and continues to be.


22
TalkBack / Card Shark (Switch) Review
« on: June 01, 2022, 05:08:01 PM »

Card Shark is an ace in the Devolver Digital card deck

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60584/card-shark-switch-review

The beautiful, vivacious France of the 1700’s was full of adventure and danger. Louis the XV ruled over the debutantes and lords of the country, living that high society. It is here that we experience the journey that is Card Shark from Nerial Limited and Devolver Digital. You play as a mute character born without a tongue adopted into a family of card grifting gypsies when his guardian is killed in a freak accident over a game of cards.

   From here, the great Comte de Saint-Germain takes you under his wing, teaching you the skills necessary to fleece, cheat and deceive the aristocracy of Europe. You do so by learning all sorts of different techniques from card bending to bottom deck dealing. It’s such a fascinating look into card tricks that teaches you the real world mechanics of how these skills work, but also plays it out with the game inputs. As I played, I felt a little devious, like I could actually use these tactics in real world scenarios with some practice. Back at your main camp, you donate money in competition with Comte in efforts to return money to the people, but also can take money away in case you run dry.  

   The card tricks are played out in 28 different techniques that require specific motions of your thumbsticks, memorization, timing and execution. One example is to deal only face cards to your partner, you’d have to find the face cards by thumbing through them with the left stick, then cut the deck with B, then finally mark the cards by flicking up on the thumbstick. After that process, you’d have to deal the deck and watch your face cards show up in your partner's hand, but to do that process isn’t displayed (unless you have hints turned on.) You are expected to remember the steps required per card game which isn’t entirely terrible as there is a quick refresher before each game as a reminder, but in the moment of tension it can be stressful.

   Also ratcheting up the tension is the suspicion meter that exists in every game. The more tricks you mess up or the longer you take to perform the tasks will increase the meter until the players will call you out on your scam. This is a super fun mechanic because there are only three rounds of cards for each story game, so you can gauge your suspicion and leave the game before the final round if you don’t feel confident you’ll pull off that final grift. Unfortunately if you don’t complete all three rounds, you don’t progress the story in that beat so you’ll have to return and do it all over again, but hopefully with practice it’ll get easier.

   The backdrop and motivation for said card games is a story regarding a secret heir to Louis the XV and the mystery revolving the politics of the aristocracy. It provides enough of a set dressing to push you towards new and interesting characters while providing stakes to the card games outside of the base suspicion meter. Despite needing to go three rounds to get the required story details, they generally feel satisfying enough to propel you to the next card game and newest con. This is also punctuated with a story book art style that displays a gypsy sense of whimsy. Unfortunately this design is specific to the story events while the world map lacks any kind of real detail. It’s a petty qualm but feels off to an otherwise polished deliberate look.

   Card Shark stands out for its unique gameplay mechanics that are generally as enticing as they are stressful. The unique story progression makes for high stakes, but around the outside there are some slight rough edges with a rare but occasional game crash or bug in the animation mechanics. These bundled in with a few obtuse death mechanics make for a slight derailing to an otherwise fantastically fresh presentation.

   Devolver has another winner on their hands with Card Shark. Using memorization gameplay to perform real world card tricks is a unique spin to the indie genre. The characters are fun and inviting with just a hint of devilish mischief up their sleeves, including the speechless protagonist. There’s a richness to the storytelling in both form and execution and that’s definitely a highlight in a more uncommon narrative mechanic. Cards on the table: This game is great.


23
TalkBack / Nobody Saves the World (Switch) Review
« on: April 14, 2022, 05:31:00 AM »

This Nobody is a Somebody to me

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60172/nobody-saves-the-world-switch-review

Drinkbox Studios has a pedigree in crafting zany, stylistic metroidvanias ever since their initial release of Guacamelee back in 2013. Since then, they have continued to hone their craft, creating new worlds and goofy but lovable characters to populate them. In their latest entry, Nobody Saves the World, they have done exactly that, bringing together a cartoonish Ren and Stimpy approach to their already well developed design prestige. Following the metroidvania formula but in a top down dungeon crawler experience.

   In Nobody Saves the World, you are a mysterious “Nobody.” A blank page so to speak, with a completely white featureless character, complete with holes in his head instead of actual eyes. It’s kind of off putting to look at, honestly, but quickly you are given a wand that allows Nobody to transform into various forms and classes. These classes are what the game is centered around, and they’re both hilarious and inventive, each with its own set of special active/passive abilities plus status ailments for varying styles of play.

Nobody Saves the World starts with only two classes but after some time, it promptly opens up to many other options through quests that are presented during your world exploration. Each class starts with two quests and with completion you get experience to level up and automatically get more quests. The quests are simple and boil down to “kill blank number of enemies with this class ability,” which you will do naturally while exploring the world and its dungeons.  

   The classic knight class is what you’d expect, with a damage-inflicting sword and a passive ability to do more damage when at low health. Now contrast this with the Slug class, which leaves a trail of slime that slows enemies and the ability to shoot slime shots that strike critically against status affected enemies. There’s complexity to each class, and within a few hours you get the option to mix and match some of these traits with other classes to find your perfect combo.

With some trial and error, I had a ghost that passively inflicted fear AND poison in an area-of-effect range that also healed both my health and mana without having to attack. The combat in the early hours can be rote and repetitive, but it felt amazing to find a depth and complexity in my own customizations. Additionally, each of these options can be improved with easily obtained upgrade points to minimize mana cost and boost effectiveness. You can also swap classes on the fly with a radial menu allowing for swift adjustments. Soon you’ll find yourself making your own Horse class that poisons and slows enemies within its slime trail gallop. It gets real silly real quick.

Speaking of silly, the story rarely takes itself seriously. With a calamity looming, you are tasked with finding the wizard Nostramagus so he can stop the threat. While doing so, you run into a cavalcade of comedic characters that all present with new story beats or quests, including guilds recruiting you and charging you insane fees or aliens looking to fix their flying saucer. It provides quick hits of comedy while instilling more motivation as to why you’re mowing down countless hordes of enemies and exploring dungeons.

Nobody Saves the World has a decent number of dungeons that are randomly generated with multiple floors and usually a boss at the end. They do feel samey, with lots of repeated enemy types, but they try to vary it up with enemies only taking damage from specific types of attacks, dungeon modifiers, or bonus quests. The saving grace to the repetitive nature is that they each take roughly ten minutes, so it provides a quick distraction from the story and then you move on. It does feel good to destroy wave after wave of enemies in a spectacular Diablo-like fashion, but after unlocking all the classes with more story to go, the game slips back into a more monotonous feel. The modifiers also help add variety, with some giving status ailments or providing damage boosts to both enemies and players alike.

When presented with the opportunity to play some co-op, Nobody Saves the World runs really well as far as latency; unfortunately, its downfall is in the fact that the second player is just a copy of the first. So you do not bring in progress or level progression from your own personal game, just what the host has, and you’re expected to customize it yourself. What’s a shame is that to customize you need to go into the menu system and that pauses the game for both players. This slows down the entire process, meaning it can take a bit before you really get into the gameplay. Otherwise, it works well to combine multiple classes and abilities for even more crazy customizations that are just a blast. Just be prepared to spend some time setting it all up.

Being an avid fan of Drinkbox Studios previous games, I can gladly say Nobody Saves the World is another successful addition to their catalog. It brings creative class-based gameplay with a hauntingly fun animated art style that runs like a dream on the Nintendo Switch. Despite the repetitive nature of Nobody Saves the World, the lows never outweigh the highs of completing quests, upgrading abilities, and mixing and matching new class combinations. The map size and story length aren’t overly large, so even if it wears out its welcome a bit, it isn’t as egregious as it could have been. Leveling up and crushing waves of enemies never stopped feeling good, even after this Nobody had rolled credits.


24

The Warm Soup Belly of JRPG’s

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/59769/atelier-sophie-2-the-alchemist-of-the-mysterious-dream-switch-review

A lot of JRPGs are generally known as daunting games with impenetrable systems, padded-out length, and harsh difficulties. One outlier from those tropes has always been the Atelier series. They generally stick with similar systems and stories delivered at a more relaxed pace. This often means less tension overall, with more focus on crafting and gathering that pumps the endorphin hits to ultimately lull you into a coma.

   The newest addition to the series, Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemists of the Mysterious Dream, proves no different than its predecessors. You play as Sophie, a budding alchemist who is able to craft practically anything under the sun in her Atelier (a magic cauldron). It’s an anime style game so the art is beautiful, if a little fan service-y, and the world is colorful and filled with wonderfully voice-acted characters.

   The gameplay loop is best compared to a warm blanket on a chilly day. You are given reasons to explore medium-sized maps and collect all the resources that can fit into your basket. Rocks? Sure! Flowers? Definitely! If it’s not tied down, you need to grab it because it will surely come in handy later for crafting in the Atelier. The inventory is finite but not annoyingly so, and the fast travel system is implemented from the start, so heading back to unload is a breeze.

   You also gather resources from defeating monsters in turn-based combat. One of the key new features is how seamless the battles are. You initiate them by running into a monster or attacking it with your weapon, then with a quick camera adjustment you enter combat. It’s very fluid and a welcome addition I’d love to see in more JRPGs. During the battles, you have attacks, special abilities, items, and combination team up moves, which are flashy double attacks from two team members with minimal mana cost that unlock throughout the story. Another carry over from previous games in the series is the ability for a team member to step in to defend when someone is getting attacked. It uses up that team members turn but lowers the damage taken which can be a savior in some of the harder fights.

   Despite the presence of these battles, they aren’t random and are commonly avoidable, which is a nice change of pace because when you do fight monsters it’s generally for a purpose, like gathering a specific resource or finishing a quest. Speaking of the quest system, there is a job hub where you can grab up to 10 quests at a time to knock out at your leisure. I really do mean at your leisure because pretty quickly the game kind of opens up. The quests usually involve either collecting a resource, crafting an item, or fighting a few monsters. Take what you want and just enjoy whatever you want. That’s what makes Atelier Sophie 2 a nice, easy experience.

   Even as far as the story, the intro takes about an hour to get through, but once you start it's all aboard the mellow train. The story progresses via quests but are treated with the urgency of any other job. Do them however you want: progress the story or just relax and gather materials out in the world. Hell, half the story beats are just going to a point and having a pleasant conversation. These parts are used as character building with relationship meters that fill for extra story or even bonus combo moves in battle. The point is, the game doesn’t push you through anything. Nothing feels imperative, but within this atmosphere it’s absolutely welcoming.

   Once you have the right resources, alchemy is the next step in the process of the Atelier games. In this newest episode of the Sophie story, alchemy is performed via a grid board. Each item has a recipe with required resources. The resources vary in quality and have pseudo puzzle pieces that can be flipped to fit into the board. Once you have the resources, you can slot them onto the board in the best fit to create your item. There’s a lot to consider when it comes to slotting in the items. Items have an affinity that can be boosted by the resource puzzle pieces. For instance, a new pair of boots could be boosted with some electric puzzle pieces; luckily the grass resources I selected have two electric puzzle pieces. The goal isn’t to fill the board (though doing so will increase the quality of the item) but to slot everything in. There are elemental tiles on the board as well that can boost the puzzle pieces as well as connector pieces that enhance related elements, in addition to even more features. Once your resources are slotted in, the numbers tally and you have your item. You could focus as hard as you want on it or just shove the pieces in and get what you need.

   The story itself is the one possible hang up about Atelier Sophie 2. Picking up directly after the first game, Sophie is transported to a dream dimension where she experiences characters from the previous game but out of time. So the ensemble cast includes her partner Plachta and her grandmother Ramizel, but both are now from the past and similar in age to Sophie. Within this dream world, Sophie is tasked with finding her friend Plachta (at the proper age) and exploring the dream world of Erde Wiege to find out what brought her and Plachta there. It’s a good concept but feels like a side story that doesn’t do much to push the overall narrative of Sophie forward.

The tricky part about this story is the necessity of knowing and having an attachment to those characters from the previous game. There’s a handy recap video that explains the previous game but it still left me feeling detached and less interested in their relationships when I wasn’t there to experience them initially. This is a fine onboarding for new players as far as gameplay is concerned, but moments didn’t hit as hard for me as it would fans of the series. Still, I found the idea of coming to the story whenever I was ready a nice reprieve. When story beats were experienced they still also felt like a more relaxed experience with less emphasis on the drama. I don’t think every JRPG needs to end with you killing a god and neither does an Atelier game.

The Atelier series has been ongoing since the PlayStation 1 days, with different protagonists and ongoing story arcs. I am happy to report that Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemists of the Mysterious Dream, proves that there’s still life in these games. The quality is there within the art, animations, and a lovingly charming soundtrack. Top to bottom this is a game worth checking out. The main issues come with it insisting on prior knowledge that can hamstring some of the emotional nuance. However if you’re coming for the comfy cozy gameplay? You’re in the right spot. Atelier Sophie 2 does not reinvent the wheel nor blow me away as far as RPGs go, but it did lull me into a peaceful, coma-like state of gratification. This game severely lacks intensity or high stakes and I think that’s kind of the point. It’s a warm bowl of soup when the weather outside is frightful.


25
TalkBack / OlliOlli World (Switch) Review
« on: February 03, 2022, 05:01:42 AM »

OlliOlli World makes a great series even better

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/59543/olliolli-world-switch-review

There’s a definite progression to Roll7’s OlliOlli series. Evolving from it’s heavily pixelated origins to what we see in OlliOlli World: A fresh brightly colored animation feast to the senses. Its predecessor promises a sheer improvement to the original formula in almost every way.

Much of the gameplay sticks close to what we’ve seen in previous OlliOlli games. The left stick is for flip-tricks and grinds, while the right stick is for grabs. There’s also rotational controls for spins on the triggers. After that it’s up to you, the player, to figure out how to tie it all together to create sick combos for high scores. Here’s where you’ll experience the first improvement to the recipe.

In previous games, you would have to hit the A button on landing or experience your character being disoriented from an improper landing. Not anymore. That landing system still exists, but only acts as a bonus point; not an essential part of your moves and that is a breath of fresh air. It removes the initial difficulty barrier with extra button timing, and feels like a more welcoming game overall. Stair and Wall rides are a new addition that enhance the flow and add another move in your repertoire. There’s also multiplayer options for asynchronous competitive multiplayer and online rankings for those who want to see how their scores compare to the community.

Sure, changing the landing mechanic simplifies the gameplay, but the real complexity exists in the new track switching system. Now throughout each level, there are branching paths in the back or foreground that can be explored with a simple press of the X button at junctions. So not only are there varying paths within a single track, there’s whole new sections of the level to explore that can ramp up the difficulty and give new environmental features or even side quests. Yes, now we have side quests.

Side Quests are unlocked via story progression or with non player characters hidden within branching paths of a level. These tend to be a bonus level with new goals or high score challenges, generally rewarding new gear or styles for your character. The map is a set of 5 environments with 15-20 levels within each. Adding in multiple goals per level, side quests and even unlockable secondary routes later in the story makes a lot of content to explore and even more reasons to replay a level. Plus loot rewards to increase the massive amounts of ways to customize your character make the variety impressive.

The most noticeable upgrade in OlliOlli World is the animation style. The gameplay has expanded into a full 2.5D world fully animated into a “Saturday Morning Cartoon” aesthetic that is bursting at the seams with character. Skating is smoothly rendered with immense detail and the 2D to slight 3D transition is a nice surprise. These occur usually mid level, where your character will go around a turn or into a second route. It’s a slight camera shift that adds a new flavor to what used to be very barebones.

The story welcomes a new skater to the land of Radlandia, a skate-topia ruled by 5 skate gods. With your gang of friends, you travel to each section of the island meeting the deities on your way to “Gnarvana.” It’s a solid excuse to shred each level and push your limits across deserts, deep forests, oil covered cities and ice cream covered beachside properties. The only real knock against the game itself is that there is a conversation amongst your friends (Chiffon, Suze, Dad and Gnarly Mike) before and after each level with their animations stuttering as they talk. So while there’s an overabundant amount of skippable dialogue, the stuttering in the animations feels like a weird choice. The skating is so silky smooth that seeing your friends stutter like bad animatronics plays as poor optimization. It’s only a slight gripe overall.

As a veteran player of these games and real life skateboarder it’s easy to appreciate what these games do. While they seem like simplified Tony Hawk games, there’s a lot more depth in the grinds and flips with a surprising amount of accuracy. That being said, OlliOlli World improves on the blueprint laid out in previous entries in almost every way. The animation is impressively overhauled, the level design is intricate while evolving, and the gameplay is as smooth as butter with even more ways to flow. There’s something to be said about iterative evolution but this is on another level of progression that makes the older games harder to go back to. Trust me, I tried and it was a grind.


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