Two years ago, I wrote an article on my relationship with Mario Kart and how Mario Kart 8 revitalized the series. In making that game, Nintendo reignited the magic I used to feel towards the franchise during the N64 and GameCube days. Mario Kart 8 shed a whole new light on kart racers and the potential they had at a time where most felt stale or rehashed, with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed being the new “king” of that genre before Mario Kart 8 returned to reclaim. Now in 2017, we’re back with the definitive version of one of Wii U’s best titles on its successor, the Nintendo Switch, with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It’s as extravagant and beautiful as it was on Wii U, but this time with a revamped battle mode, all DLC included, a few new features, and plenty to love all over again.

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[Review] Snake Pass

Posted on 7 years ago by Jakob Vujovic(@jakovujo) in Reviews, Switch eShop | 15 Comments

System: Switch (eShop)
Release date: March 28, 2017
Developer: Sumo Digital
Publisher Sumo Digital

There are a lot of short tips that cycle through the brief loading screens of Snake Pass. The most helpful was perhaps the most obvious: “Remember, think like a snake.” I wouldn’t be entirely satisfied categorizing this as a physics-based puzzle game. Calling it a platformer is closer, but you can’t jump. Stick this game into any established category and you’ll find that its slithery nature slips right back out. Snake Pass is, mechanically speaking, a sort of deconstruction of the 3D platformer. It’s not quite like anything I’ve ever played.

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[Review] I Am Setsuna

Posted on 7 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in Reviews, Switch | 46 Comments

System: Switch (eShop)
Release date: March 3, 2017
Developer: Tokyo RPG Factory
Publisher Square Enix

Sometimes nostalgia gets the best of us. We look back on the vast history of video games and how far we’ve come, what’s changed and what hasn’t, for better or for worse. There are certain mechanics that evolve so much over time throughout all genres that we tend to forget how things once were when they became innovative for their time. The RPG genre has come a long way, stepping away from the linearity and turn-based tradition and heading more towards an open-world and free-form combat in a flashy hack-n-slash fashion. Sometimes, however, you want to go back to basics and back to a time that makes you fall in love with the genre all over again and elicits strong feelings of nostalgia and purity that may have faded over time as we’ve grown. I Am Setsuna brings us back to the 90’s at a time when Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Parasite Eve, and a slew of other Square titles were pushing a new wave of gameplay with their Active Time Battle systems – ATB for short – where you could attack at any given point once a meter was filled rather than wait your turn in a chess-like fashion like traditional RPGs. I Am Setsuna not only brings us back to a time where RPGs were at their best thanks to their deep worlds, battle systems, and innocent art styles, but brings with it a reimagining to a forgotten style of gameplay that feels fantastic to have back in a modern take.

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[Review] Super Bomberman R

Posted on 7 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in Reviews, Switch | 10 Comments

System: Switch
Release date: March 3, 2017
Developer: Konami / Hexadrive
Publisher Konami

Super Bomberman R sees the return of a series that’s been dormant for nearly a decade, this time returning exclusively on Switch. Bomberman has a long and illustrious history thanks to its simple gameplay and arcade-like presentation that makes it easy for anyone to jump in at any time and have fun, regardless of skill level or familiarity with the series or the medium in general. Super Bomberman R, however, for all its worth lacks quite a bit for its price of entry, and while the fun and arcade feeling is still there, don’t expect to feel fulfilled by the end of it all – especially if you’re playing solo.

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[Review] Snipperclips – Cut it out, together!

Posted on 7 years ago by Jakob Vujovic(@jakovujo) in Reviews, Switch eShop | 24 Comments

System: Switch (eShop)
Release date: March 3, 2017
Developer: SFB Games
Publisher Nintendo

In most cases I find it exhausting when reviews for launch games go on and on about the new piece of hardware it’s on. With that said, it’s unavoidable to mention how well suited Snipperclips is to the modularity and modes of the Switch and its Joy-Con. On top of being an excellent puzzle game on its own, Snipperclips is the Switch’s premier local multiplayer showcase.

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[Review] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Posted on 7 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in Reviews, Switch, Wii U | 11 Comments

System: Switch (reviewed) / Wii U
Release date: March 3, 2017
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher Nintendo

The Legend of Zelda’s prolific, seminal history has been striking the hearts of players across the globe for three decades. Attachment fans have with the series has withstood the test of time thanks to its immense and vibrant world of Hyrule, memorable characters, iconic set pieces, composition, and more. Now the newest Zelda game is finally here and puts players back in Hyrule where they must protect the kingdom from the ferocious evil that is Calamity Ganon after being asleep for 100 years. Breath of the Wild breaks out of a lot of classic Zelda traits, while instilling new ones and simultaneously making the world and game familiar for veterans, as well as accessible and eye-opening to new players alike. Breath of the Wild is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, not just for Zelda standards, but for gaming as a whole.

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[Review] Tank Troopers

Posted on 7 years ago by Jakob Vujovic(@jakovujo) in 3DS eShop, Reviews | 15 Comments

System: 3DS (eShop)
Release date: February 16, 2017
Developer: Vitei / Nintendo
Publisher Nintendo

Tank Troopers is strong in many of the same ways Steel Diver was good, so it wasn’t surprising to see that Vitei (the developer that assisted development on that title) made this. Comparing a game’s strengths to the infamously barebones 3DS launch title isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement, and for as many strengths it shares, those weaknesses are also present – even if to a lesser extent. There’s just not a lot of stuff to do, even if it does have some of the dichotomy of cutesy war charm of the World War I dogfighting game Snoopy Flying Ace.

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[Review] Plantera

Posted on 7 years ago by Jakob Vujovic(@jakovujo) in 3DS eShop, Reviews, Wii U eShop | 0 comments

System: Wii U (reviewed) / 3DS eShops
Release date: February 9, 2017
Developer: Ratalaika Games / VaragtP
Publisher Ratalaika Games

Have you ever played Cookie Clicker or one of its hundreds of clones? Planetra is one of those idle games, now on your Wii U and 3DS. You harvest fruit, berries, eggs, manure – the whole gambit of things that come out of a farm, for gold. More gold means investing more resources into the farm. More resources yields larger quantities of produce to sell for yet more gold. Watching numbers tick up at a growing pace then releases dopamine in your brain.

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[Review] Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World

Posted on 7 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in 3DS, Reviews | 6 Comments

System: 3DS
Release date: February 3, 2017
Developer: Good-Feel
Publisher Nintendo

Yoshi and his Woolly World are back to entertain you again, but this time on the 3DS – and with a friend. Yoshi has seen a long and healthy run in the handheld space with Yoshi Island remakes, spinoffs, and sequels, before going back to the console space. Now he returns home in Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World on 3DS. After Super Mario Maker, this is the newest 3DS port of a Wii U title from its library, but what’s the difference, if any, between its console counterpart?

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[Review] Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Posted on 8 years ago by Philip(@P_Trah) in 3DS, Reviews | 7 Comments

System: 3DS
Release date: January 20, 2017
Developer: Square Enix / Level-5
Publisher Nintendo

For a long time, it seemed like the Dragon Quest series was fairly underappreciated in the West. Not necessarily by its publisher Square Enix, but by the fans of its own genre. The series has usually garnered a cult following of sorts overseas all the while enjoying heavy praise in Japan. Yet to my pleasure, I’ve begun to see a somewhat recent change in that viewpoint. With the highly anticipated Dragon Quest XI on the Nintendo Switch’s horizon and the remakes of Dragon Quest VII and now Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for the Nintendo 3DS, there couldn’t be a better time to get familiar with the Dragon Quest series. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King is an adventure that those who are new to the series or those who are well acquainted with it won’t want to miss out on.

Reviews

[Review] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Posted on 7 years ago by Dennis Gagliardotto(@LyonHart_) in Reviews, Switch | 30 Comments