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[I've always wanted to visit Shibuya, but maybe with a better framerate.]

1

TalkBack / Reynatis (Switch) Review

« on: September 20, 2024, 05:00:00 AM »

I've always wanted to visit Shibuya, but maybe with a better framerate.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/68575/reynatis-switch-review

Shibuya buzzes with so much energy and life that it feels almost electric—some might even say magical. Developed by FuRyu and NatsumeAtari, and published by NIS America, brand new action-RPG Reynatis attempts to bring a version of Shibuya to life where magic is real, dangerous, and oppressed through force. This new title will be “liberated” on September 27th for the Nintendo Switch, but should it have been “suppressed” a little longer?

In the world of Reynatis, wizards are people awakened to their magical abilities after a close brush with death. Upon receiving their involuntary gifts, wizards are left with little choice but to conceal their abilities to maintain their previous lives. Brandishing your powers will get you in trouble with the M.E.A. (Magical Enforcement Administration), an organization that serves to protect the general non-magical public—who fear those with magical abilities—while also combating the Rubrum drug epidemic.

Rubrum, a highly addictive drug supplied by The Guild (more on them later), is tearing apart the streets of Shibuya. This drug grants temporary magical abilities to users, and in some cases, it may unlock their potential as future wizards. However, more often than not, it twists users into unrecognizable monsters that wreak havoc on Tokyo.

Reynatis follows the story of two main protagonists: Marin Kirizumi and Sari Nishijima. Marin is a 19-year-old wizard on the fringes of society. He’s been a wizard since he was 14 and yearns to end his oppression by becoming the strongest wizard of them all. Led by his father’s parting words, he comes to Shibuya to pursue his goal. Sari, on the other hand, is a member of the M.E.A., often treated as their poster girl, with her face regularly featured in recruitment ads. Her goal is the eradication of Rubrum. The story alternates between these characters and their allies, offering multiple perspectives and a rich understanding of the world. Written by Kazushige Nojima of Final Fantasy series fame, the story is one of the clear highlights of Reynatis.

Gameplay and story are uniquely interwoven. When wandering the streets of Shibuya or engaging in combat, pressing the L button switches your wizard between “Suppressed” and “Liberated” states. In the Suppressed state, you conceal your magic, allowing you to walk freely and interact with the general public. In the Liberated state, however, you can see hidden items you wouldn’t otherwise be able to but people will cower in fear and post your location on social media. As you trend and eventually reach the number one spot, the M.E.A. descends on you with their top agents, triggering a fight that feels almost unwinnable. This system serves as a prolonged “Game Over,” as it’s impossible to avoid the fight, and escape isn’t an option. To prevent this, you must hide in specific zones marked with an eye. These hiding spots are often in plain sight and always conveniently placed where a fight or quest might end, making the system feel half-baked from a gameplay perspective. While it adds flavor and tension to the setting, it doesn’t offer much else.

Now, onto the main feature: the combat. As mentioned, the Suppressed and Liberated states also apply during battles. In the Liberated state, you’re in your fully magical form, with your clothing transformed and your hair glowing—a sight that would make Dumbledore envious. Y becomes your basic attack, while X and A are your magic spells, all of which drain your mana. Once your mana is depleted, you revert to the Suppressed state and must either wait for it to refill or absorb mana from enemies. To absorb mana, you’ll need to dodge attacks. When an attack is imminent, a circle appears around your character; holding the R button charges this circle. Release it at the right moment to steal mana from your enemy and negate damage. Fully charging your mana triggers an overcharged state, causing an explosion and slowing time, giving you a chance to deal extra damage. You can create a team of three characters, each with their own mana pool, and switch them in using the ZL and ZR buttons. This is useful if your active character is forced into the Suppressed state or if you want to build longer combo chains. Later in the game, you unlock ultimate abilities that use a diamond meter near your mana bar triggered by pressing in the L stick when the meter is full. These abilities are satisfying finishers, and each character has a unique ultimate, which became a key consideration when forming my team.

As you progress, you’ll meet more of the supporting cast, with a total of six playable characters, each with a distinct combat style. My personal favorite is Moa Fukamachi, who wields a giant umbrella hammer and can summon a swarm of smartphone-wielding bunnies during combat. At times, the supporting cast steals the spotlight, especially from Marin, who can be a bit one-dimensional. Nonetheless, watching the cast interact is always a joy.

Character progression is handled through standard level ups by completing combat scenarios and a heavy emphasis on reducing the overall ‘Malice level’ of Shibuya. Wizart is graffiti created by wizards that is imbued with their magic. Gazing upon this graffiti teaches you the hidden techniques left behind by their creator. They can be as mundane as “You receive more money” to brand new abilities you can plug into the Y and A slots of your wizards, making their discovery highly rewarding. The only catch is that to view them you need to reduce the malice meter to a certain threshold by completing side quests and improving the public's view of wizards in Shibuya. The way these systems interact is somewhat strange, but it encourages you to take in your surroundings more carefully when roaming Tokyo.

Marin’s story involves opening fog gates (not quite the Fromsoft kind) that lead to a realm called Another. This dimension is home to the largely unexplored Dominus Forest, which contains large, ominous doors that promise a path to The Dominus, whom Marin believes can grant him power. The Guild also resides in Another, a group that lives outside society’s laws. They govern ‘The Legacies,’ ancient magicians under the command of Soku Makabe, whose goal is to restore human rights to wizards by toppling society and the M.E.A. through force and Rubrum distribution. Consequently, a significant portion of the game takes place outside Shibuya, which is for the best.

Shibuya’s streets are impressively recreated, with recognizable landmarks like the 109 department store and Shibuya Sakura Stage capturing the essence of the area. However, despite this accuracy, the overall geometry detail of the environments and characters is relatively low, making the game's performance issues on the Switch even more puzzling. Frame drops are frequent in Shibuya, with the iconic Shibuya Crossing being the worst offender. While the game’s performance improves in indoor areas and Another, much of the exploration and side quests occur in Shibuya, where loading into new zones often causes noticeable lag. Completing quests can also trigger pauses of several seconds before a cutscene loads. Given the modest level of graphical detail, the game's poor optimization on the Switch feels difficult to justify.

The camera becomes an issue as well, especially during combat. Characters like Sari, with her large, sweeping attacks, can cover great distances—fun in open areas but frustrating in tight spaces. In narrow hallways, I often found myself fighting blind, relying on audio cues to gauge my position. Other gameplay quirks also detract from the experience. Leaving a combat zone can cancel the fight, even with just one enemy remaining, and some abilities grant so much mobility that I accidentally ran away from encounters. Revisiting explored areas in Another doesn’t reveal more of the map, forcing reliance on a small, hard-to-read minimap for navigation, and when quest markers vaguely point towards your goal in these zones, it becomes unnecessarily irksome. I also experienced multiple crashes—once while quickly navigating the pause menu and using photo mode, and more frequently when advancing to the next stage of the story. Fortunately, the autosave system prevented any major loss of progress.

The lack of a fast travel system also adds to the frustration. While wandering the streets of Shibuya is initially enjoyable, the game starts to feel tedious when you have to trek through the same areas repeatedly for side quests.

Reynatis is ultimately a frustrating experience. I adore many of its characters and concepts, and when the combat works, it’s incredibly fun. But when it doesn’t, it’s maddening. The boss battles can be particularly aggravating, with some enemies relying on stun-locking attacks, which wouldn’t be as much of an issue if not for the game’s poor performance. I wish the game had been given another year of development, as it’s releasing with squandered potential. I truly hope future patches address some of these issues, as I’d love to return to the game with renewed enthusiasm, especially with the upcoming DLC collaboration with The World Ends With You. If the game’s core concepts interest you and you can look past the performance issues, it’s worth checking out. Just play it on another console or PC, where these problems will hopefully be less prevalent.

[Welsh here we go again!]

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TalkBack / The Land Beneath Us (Switch) Review

« on: July 15, 2024, 04:45:33 PM »

Welsh here we go again!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/67883/the-land-beneath-us-switch-review

From developer FairPlay Studios, The Land Beneath Us is a Welsh folklore-inspired roguelike that blends dungeon crawling with turn-based grid combat and has you methodically planning your every mythological move.

You awake as the Ultimate Soul Harvester 001, a robot preferably referred to as Sven, and are informed by your very own AI hal pal “Main PC” that the creator and inventor of yourself and “soul tech” (humanity’s cure-all for everything), has been captured by the lords that dwell in the underworld below, dubbed Annwn. You need to brave the deep and fight through four worlds and seven lords of Annwn to learn of “The Creator’s” fate.

Each stage you descend through on your spelunking adventure has 30 floors, broken up by a mini-boss every 10 floors and a stage boss battle on the final floor. Clearing a floor unlocks a reward, either a Relic, Weapon, Gold, or Soul Points. Each floor may have multiple doorways and a corresponding reward symbol so you can plan your route accordingly. Of course, it wouldn’t be a roguelike without an event stage that can provide a chance visit from merchants to buy or upgrade gear or relics.

You will need to be armed to the teeth to face the nightmare ahead, with relics and weapons being your main arsenal. Relics offer stat bonuses to attack or critical hit percentages or more specific use case items such as preventing death one time. These are permanent passive bonuses that, unless otherwise stated, won't be removed unless you replace them or your run ends.

Weapons tie directly to your movement. Each weapon you equip gets mapped to the D-pad, allowing you to make that attack action any time you move in the corresponding direction. Your starting weapon, a fist, can only attack the adjacent tile, but other weapons have different ranges. Guns can shoot up to three spaces ahead; some weapons, like the greatsword, have additional abilities such as knockback which moves you and your opponent one space away, or the Katana which teleports you one square behind your target. Being keenly aware of your attack ranges and what to expect from your weapon movement is crucial to success as the game telegraphs all attacks. Before an enemy takes a swing at you, you will see a glowing yellow striped grid which indicates an enemy's target area. You don’t want to be standing in it when you end your turn, so plan your movement wisely and take your time. Time does not pass until you make a movement, so you can be as patient as if you're still waiting for George R.R. Martin to finish The Winds of Winter.

You can assign multiple of the same weapon to various directional inputs, but assigning a weapon pick up to a slot that matches the same weapon will instead upgrade it. In addition to the enemies, there are hazardous tiles such as lava and spike traps, and other hazards to avoid on any given stage, adding another layer of strategy to your movements.

When a run ends, your gear is lost, but defeat does not come without its perks. Souls gathered in the underworld can be spent on permanent character upgrades that can increase your relic slot count, overall hit points, or the cost of some merchant actions, to name a few.

The gameplay wrinkles don’t stop there. Some of TLBU’s best tricks are revealed once you’ve beaten your first stage: Teleportation and Chips. One of the game's earlier frustrations is that you can end up finding yourself in quite the bind, stuck between enemies requiring multiple attacks to defeat and with no movement options that don’t just leave you wide open–teleportation removes that issue. During a stage, you can queue this ability up and within a limited distance get out of a bind, after which it goes on cooldown.

Next up is Chips. Just as addictive as Mark Messier’s favorite potato-based snack, these are much like call signs from the Helldivers series. You can equip various abilities in the hub area and bring them into the depths. Abilities such as a heal or a fireball that, once you’ve completed the correct directional input, launch that ability in your chosen direction. Truly a game changer, though the mechanic does take some getting used to. Unless you're paying close attention, you can end up triggering these effects accidentally, but that's never much of a burden—more of a happy accident, and for anyone looking over your shoulder while you’re playing, you, of course, meant to do that.

Lastly, when you defeat a stage boss for the first time, you will get an upgrade point to put towards Main PC or Arawn (a second NPC who arrives in your home base). Upgrading between the two can unlock multiple endings, so choose carefully.

The visual style of TLBU is quite attractive; the chunky pixel graphics in a 3D environment accented by popping neons look wonderful on the OLED Switch screen. Sound design is fitting, with looping tracks that neither stand out nor get in the way. Everything works quite nicely as a package. Happily, I didn’t run into any glitches or performance issues during my playtime.

Overall, The Land Beneath Us sports huge replay value and strategic roguelike gameplay that can be challenging but immensely rewarding. I would highly recommend any fans of the turn-based roguelike genre to take a look underfoot at The Lands Beneath Us.

[I tip my bunnit to you.]

3

TalkBack / Tevi (Switch) Review

« on: December 01, 2023, 12:55:00 PM »

I tip my bunnit to you.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65651/tevi-switch-review

If you’ve never heard the name CreSpirit, it might be time to familiarise yourself with their works. They’re the developers behind 2016’s cult hit Rabi-Ribi. At the tail end of 2023, they’re back with its spiritual successor, Tevi, a 2D action-adventure game with fast-paced bullet-hell combat. With elevated expectations, does Tevi find its footing, or should this little rabbit just hop along?

You play as the titular heroine, Tevi, a young engineer on the hunt for astral gears, items containing immense concentrations of mana. However, you are not the only one seeking them, as the world of Az is in recovery from a conflict decades past. Its three factions – humans (able to wield magic), beastkin (bereft of magic), and magitech (biomechanical lifeforms created by humans) – strive to live harmoniously after the war. Yet, power vacuums need filling, and the allure for power corrupts. Quickly joined by two companions, Celine, a magitech from Valhalla focused on amassing astral gears, and Sable, a demon from Tartarus with ambiguous goals even for himself, they form a fun trio by embodying Tevi’s "orbiters," the projectile-firing devices floating behind her wherever she goes.

Similar to most metroidvanias, Tevi’s skillset starts out extremely limited. Her actions are executed by jump (B), melee attacks (Y), and firing your orbiters (X). L and R swap the type of projectile you fire. Initially, Tevi's restricted movement abilities appeared as a flaw, yet it allowed me to familiarize myself with the controls and melee combat, which later became wonderfully absurd. As the game progresses, access to sigils and crafting significantly alters how you approach combat. Sigils, found or purchased, offer various effects, often increasing damage multipliers or defense, and granting access to potent debuffs like ‘vulnerable’ and ‘shred’, the former increasing damage to targets afflicted by this debuff and the latter reducing enemy armor. Crafting, another form of character upgrade, involves consuming gathered materials to enhance weapons or unlock new orbiter charge shots. The extensive customization provides a thrilling experience when discovering new sigils or unlocking crafting recipes, allowing you to perfect your Tevi build.

Tevi’s story unfolds in chapters, each presenting a series of quest markers to explore at your convenience. The game is entirely open in this regard, enabling players to tackle objectives and explore as they wish, unless gated by a specific power-up. The world of Tevi is vast, spanning several biomes and towns, even delving into this game’s version of heaven and hell. Discovering numerous secrets by detonating nooks and crannies with Tevi’s bombs and exploring further movement abilities is incredibly enjoyable. Navigation becomes relatively easy as you reveal the map, encounter save stations, and access teleport portals, facilitating quick travel across the game's overworld.

Dungeons are where Tevi truly shines. Arriving at your destination on the overworld often leads to a dungeon housing one of the game's several bosses. While challenging, these moments highlight Tevi's exceptional combat mechanics. The bullet-hell aspect intensifies when facing bosses wielding magic, presenting screen-covering projectiles that demand skillful dodging or blocking. Tevi's small hitbox allows for manoeuvring even through the tightest gaps, though it's no easy feat. Enemies, including bosses, alternate between dominant and submissive states during attacks, offering clear signals for evasion or aggression. This structured feedback system and heavily telegraphed attacks make the chaotic bullet hell surprisingly manageable. Encountering a boss screen represents an amazing experience, and the satisfaction after challenging battles outweighs earlier hardships. To mitigate failure, Tevi can utilize items for healing or buffs, albeit leaving her vulnerable for a moment during their use in battle.

Visually, Tevi is striking on the Switch OLED screen. While the chibi character aesthetics might not suit everyone, the character art during conversations is wonderfully drawn and expressive, often punctuated by fullscreen art in critical moments. The 2D pixel work in characters, enemies, and the environment is stunning, especially in later levels, affirming the game's aesthetic excellence. Tevi also boasts stellar music, ranging from calming melodies in the woods to nearly full-blown electronicore, encapsulating the game's breadth of intensity from visuals to gameplay. Some tunes are definitely worth adding to a Spotify playlist. Not too surprisingly, given its 2D nature, the game flawlessly runs on the Switch.

Though I have minor gripes, mostly concerning the early hours of my experience, such as some environments feeling basic or less enjoyable and the initial slower pace affecting combat, persisting through reveals the absolute gem that is Tevi. I had such a good time that I’m eager for a second playthrough, despite its lengthy runtime, taking dozens of hours to complete. After experiencing a metroidvania like Tevi, I wouldn’t rabbit any other way.

[Yet another action-platformer from Inti Creates.]

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TalkBack / Yohane the Parhelion -BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE- (Switch) Review Mini

« on: November 30, 2023, 01:42:36 PM »

Yet another action-platformer from Inti Creates.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewmini/65647/yohane-the-parhelion-blaze-in-the-deepblue-switch-review-mini

I have about as much experience with Love Live! as I did learning about open heart surgery in Art school. That is to say none. But when Inti Creates comes out with a new 2D platforming title, it doesn’t matter what it’s based on; I am going to be interested regardless. Enter Yohane the Parhelion -BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE-. But don’t worry: its gameplay is far more comprehensible than its title.

Based on the fantasy spinoff of the Love Live! Franchise, Yohane the Parhelion sees you play as the titular heroine Yohane. You and the other members of the idol group “Aqours” have all found themselves placed inside a labyrinth that has arisen from the depths of the ocean. Your task is to find all your friends scattered about and bring them back home. In true metroidvania style, you need to acquire new powers to further your exploration, and amassing Yohane’s friends does just that. Cycling through your acquired friends with L and R and casting them with Y makes up the crux of combat outside a jump, ground slide, and a craftable weapon slot, which you can summon with ZR. Casting your friends' support abilities or crafted weapons consumes a resource called DP. Run out of DP, and HP will be used in its stead.

The crafting system itself is rather straightforward. Smash pots and kill enemies to gather resources. When you have enough to craft something new, you’ll see an exclamation point in the upper middle of the screen. There’s no additional cost other than the indicated resources in order to craft anything in the list, which is available from the start of the game. Save stations act as HP and DP recharge stations and as warp points should you fall in battle and return to the surface and need to make your way back to the depths. When you spawn back in your house outside the labyrinth, you’ll have the option to buy a wide assortment of consumables such as attack boost potions or health potions. This is a double-edged sword as these potions often trivialize most of the already-low challenge the game provides. Not only that, but if you find a music sheet, it will put Yohane into an Idol mode when she dies, giving her full HP and DP and she begins to sing a catchy song.

Yohane herself moves at a slow pace, there’s no dodge mechanic to speak of, and you’re locked into her attack movements when you cast them. Unfortunately, controlling Yohane was my least favorite aspect of the game. It has full Japanese voice acting for its cast and the visuals and performance are top notch. If you’re just in the market for a metroidvania, there’s dozens you could choose from that are a little more worthy of your time than Yohan the Parhelion -BLAZE in the DEEPBLUE-, but it does have that signature Inti Creates style that fans of theirs will dig. The experience isn’t altogether bad, but it does leave something to be desired. The ideas don’t come together in a way that makes this title stand above the property it’s based on.

[The Arena's Battle Angel.]

5

TalkBack / Alina of the Arena (Switch) Review

« on: November 23, 2023, 04:00:00 AM »

The Arena's Battle Angel.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65594/alina-of-the-arena-switch-review

There’s no shortage of deck-building roguelikes available across various platforms today. Just earlier this month, we got the stellar Cobalt Core. Now, make way for another contender in November vying for the roguelike crown—Alina of the Arena, an arena-based roguelike developed by PINIX and published by DANGEN Entertainment. Does Alina come out ahead with a “flawless victory,” or is it another brutal “fatality” in the genre?

In Alina, your adventure begins with a very basic class—no weapons, mediocre health, and a few simple attack and defense cards. You’ll unlock more classes after attempting a certain number of runs, with a total of seven others: Warrior, Mercenary, Bandit, Hunter, Pyromancer, Samurai, and Deprived. Each class has its own signature cards and starting equipment. Your goal is to battle through different scenarios leading to a stage boss, encountering rest stations, chance rooms with random encounters, and stores along the way. Between these, you'll face basic fight encounters and elite encounters—somewhat run-of-the-mill roguelike elements. However, where Alina stands out significantly from the pack is in its combat mechanics.

The team at PIXIS have crafted an absolutely engrossing turn-based combat system. Combat takes place in a grid-based arena where positioning and playing attack and defense cards strategically are crucial for victory. Each round starts you with three mana (which can be increased with the proper gear/cards). Blue and red cards can be either offensive or defensive, but they correlate to the equipped weapon in the blue and red player slots. Damage values for both you and your opponents are clearly displayed, enabling precise calculation of necessary damage mitigation. While attack and defense mechanics feel natural, movement can be tricky. Each turn you will have an initiative card that must be played first if you wish to use it, which grants one tile of movement for one mana. Should you use any card before it, your initiative will vanish. Depending on your class, you might have limited movement options, making early acquisition of movement ability cards advisable.

Battling in an arena involves an audience engaged in the action. Building a decent combo on an enemy prompts the crowd to cheer and shower the battlefield in gold to be used during shopping opportunities. They might even toss weapons or potions onto the field. These items can be swapped with your current equipment or thrown at enemies, with weapons breaking upon use. Consumables are free to cast and wield considerable power, often swaying the tide of battle. Some weapons possess a power move, indicated by a flame atop their strength value. Use these charges wisely by pressing ZL before using the associated attack card, as they are finite and need recharging from a shop since they don’t refresh between battles.

After clearing five combat stages, you face the zone's boss, which involves a gruelling battle, even on the default veteran mode. Calculating damage mitigation becomes a vital task to survive the onslaught of attacks and status effects. Despite occasional frustration, defeating these bosses feels incredibly rewarding due to their unique mechanics. Bosses may freeze sections of the field or play a game of whack-a-mole as they perform “Kage Bunshin,” wooden clones and all. And to briefly mention statuses, they’re often an annoyance more so than anything too detrimental. Fatigue or stun statuses get placed in your hand as cards, they can be managed with abilities that offer discard effects. Otherwise, you need to play them and pay the associated mana cost or they will be shuffled into your deck, slowing down your desired card draw.

Alina does have its shortcomings, though. It often feels incredibly barebones, lacking storytelling and world-building elements. While the gameplay stands strong, the addition of more characters and story beats would enhance the experience. Performance-wise, it's visually simplistic with no crashes—a positive note. Yet, the UI on a controller leaves much to be desired. Streamlining it for the Switch, especially for handheld mode with touchscreen controls, could significantly improve the experience. The audio is serviceable, with the crowd’s cheers adding to the excitement. This may be a game best enjoyed alongside a Spotify playlist or podcast.

Overall, I found Alina of the Arena to possess one of my favorite battle systems in a roguelike since Hades. I can’t understate how fun it can be when you’ve crafted a well functioning deck. It would benefit from improved production values, a story, and many quality-of-life enhancements, particularly to the user interface. If there were more depth and longevity to the core experience–with a complete run taking about an hour–this would be an easy recommendation. As it stands this is a game for fans of the genre who are dying for something new to try. Like making a delicious soup out of the bones of leftover thanksgiving turkey, this is an excellent experience, but it will have you hungry for more; Alina comes up just short in that regard.

[One hell of a game, Dude!]

6

TalkBack / Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless (Switch) Review

« on: November 07, 2023, 09:51:00 PM »

One hell of a game, Dude!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65430/disgaea-7-vows-of-the-virtueless-switch-review

Disgaea has long been a franchise I’ve had the desire to jump into. Not until the Nintendo Switch with Disgaea 5, as an early title to the system, did I have the opportunity to dip my toes into the series. For one reason or another (stares at Breath of the Wild), its deep amount of options and customizability made it a game that I couldn't devote the time to and so it sat in my backlog. Well now I’ve had the pleasure to reacquaint myself thanks to Disgaea 7: Vows of the Virtueless and I’m happy to say it has definitely turned me into a fan.

Brought to us by Nippon Ichi Software and published by NIS America, Disgaea 7 is the latest entry into the long running strategy role playing game and aims to shake things up with a new setting for our underworld dwellers: Hinomoto, based on the Edo period. You begin your journey as Pirilika, an Otaku of Hinomoto and the Ewwdo period as it’s called in game. She longs to experience everything the land has to offer and her naivety and enthusiasm is a great conduit for introducing the fresh world to the player. She quickly meets up with Fuji, a wandering warrior who’s allergic to empathy and they quickly end up wrapped up in a quest to gather the seven founding weapons, those being weapons of immeasurable power typically held by a territory's shogun. If this premise hasn’t highlighted it enough, the story of Disgaea is oftentimes as silly as it comes, and that is a huge plus. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and yet the characters all have enough charm that when the stakes do get high, I found myself undeniably rooting for them. The story is told through visual novel style interludes before and after a stage, and you’ll want to sit through them all. The voice acting from the main cast is absolutely spectacular. From the bubbly (to the point of popping) Pirilika to the party shogun Yeyasu, everyone is entertaining to see evolve through the main campaign.

Gameplay is similar to previous entries in the franchise; you have a warp zone where you bring in your devilish hoard of units one by one, and these can be playable main characters or those that you have created and named yourself, of which in this entry there are 45 unique character classes. They range wildly but a key differentiator is that you’ll have human and monster character types. Certain weapons are only usable by monsters and vice versa, with classes specialising in different weapons between them as well as having unique special abilities. Your goal on any given stage is usually to defeat all enemies or the stage boss alongside a subset of five missions that you can try to accomplish for bonuses. The new gimmick of Disgaea 7 is the Jumbification system. When your rage meter is filled, by either taking damage or eliminating enemies, you’ll have the option to “Jumbify” one of your party members. What this does is make your chosen character tower over the map. You choose one side of the stage to spawn outside of and then you’re on your way to a crushing spree as if you just summoned all the Power Rangers’ Megazords. Your character abilities change in this form, too: you have an attack which will be an AOE strike against the enemies on the battlefield, and a “Gigaster Attack,” which is used if the enemy has Jumbified as this allows you to strike them directly. The chosen Jumbified character will additionally have a new passive ability. While initially it seemed like not much more than a gimmick, Jumbification does keep battles engaging as it can swing the momentum of a battle drastically, in your favour or otherwise.

There is a lot to do in Disgaea 7, with countless hours that you could speed honing your perfect team. Not only do you have the campaign stages, but you also can go into your items in something called the “Item World” and level them up. There’s so much possible with min-maxing every individual aspect of your characters. With that comes a lot of potential grinding; however, now it is generously mitigated through certain kiosks in your netherworld base. For example there’s a vendor that will accumulate additional exp from battles that you can choose to give to any one of your teammates reducing the grind required; in addition, you have the ability to auto-play stages you have previously completed with the help of AI. This is limited, however, with a currency called “Poltergas” that you accumulate from completing stages. Suffice it to say, D7 knows you’re going to want to grind and it has implemented systems to make that easier. Having a good set of AI rules for party members will also serve you well in the online multiplayer. For the first time in the series you can battle other players, but it is solely through AI-controlled characters. Essentially you wind up your favourite toys and let them go at each other. It’s a shame it’s not full blown online battling, but it’s worth giving it a shot for the possible rank rewards.  

Lastly, we turn our attention towards the visuals, audio, and performance. This is the second entry that is moving away from the 2D sprites of the past. And personally the sprite look still resonates with me more, specifically when zoomed out and looking at the battlefield. Up close, these are nicely detailed models and they do get showcased very well with class special attacks. The musical tracks in the game feel “Ewwdo” era appropriate, and while nothing stands out as something to look up on Spotify, the sheer number of times I’ve listened to the music in the netherworld and still find it pleasing is worth noting.  The Switch version has two performance modes–graphics and performance–which can be found in the settings. Docked or handheld with performance mode enabled, the game looks and runs well. I don’t recommend using the graphics mode as some stages have noticeable frame drops for very little visual benefit, but overall it’s extremely solid performance wise.

Disgaea 7 has been a fantastic ride. It’s a meaty game to say the least and should you wish to pour hundreds of hours into this game, you easily could. I for one am excited to see what I’ve missed from previous entries and will be there day one for the hopeful Disgaea 8.

[Out of the frying pan, into the dungeon.]

7

TalkBack / Silent Hope (Switch) Review

« on: September 27, 2023, 07:00:00 AM »

Out of the frying pan, into the dungeon.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/65041/silent-hope-switch-review

From Marvellous and XSeed Games, Silent Hope is a dungeon-crawling Action-RPG set in the world of Rune Factory and Story of Seasons. With the cozy groves of Mineral Town behind me, I excitedly trade my pitchfork for… another pitchfork?

In a land robbed of its voice, you play as one of seven silent heroes, guided by a Princess encased in a crystalline tear. Your goal is to venture into an ever-changing Abyss of monsters and darkness, find the King who dwells within, and free the realm from its curse of silence. To do this, you’ll need the help of your brothers and sisters in arms, as well as enough food to fill a banquet hall and recipes to fill an encyclopaedia.

From the outset, you have a variety of classes to choose from: Wanderer, Archer, Warrior, Caster, Rogue, Farmer, and Fighter. Each has a basic attack with the A button, a dash-type movement ability mapped to the R button, two healing potions mapped to L (which are refilled with each new run of a dungeon), and three abilities that can be mapped to B, Y, and X. There’s no need to feel stuck with your initial choice, as you can switch freely between classes to find what’s right for you. I myself started with the Farmer, armed with a pitchfork and poisonous butterflies, to experience what that playstyle was like, before switching between Warrior, Fighter and Rogue for something a little more familiar.  

Dungeons play out from an isometric view, with their layout newly generated each time you enter. Some floors have barriers that require clearing before proceeding to the next level below; others feature a small enclosed arena with waves of foes needing to be dispatched (a Monster Rush). A number on the bottom right denotes what floor you’re on and how many there are in total for that segment of the Abyss. You’ll also notice a few icons appearing on certain floors; these indicate types of monster encounters or where you’ll find a crystal to return to camp or switch your character. But the most important of all is the icon that looks like a campfire. Campfires represent checkpoints that allow you to start deeper in the dungeon should you want to return to camp or fall at the hand of a ravenous sheep or a sonic boom-slinging ninja weasel.

If you do perish in battle, you’ll drop some of the loot you collected and be ejected from the dungeon, returning to camp. Here is where you can improve your gear, have materials prepared, and cook food. Loot drops for weapons and accessories work much like recipes. You still need to gather the required ingredients to craft the drops you find. For that, you have the atelier to produce materials, the workshop to treat wood, and the blacksmith to forge the equipment when all the materials are gathered. In addition to improving your gear over time, you’ll also need to create meals to provide temporary bonuses that can make a huge difference in your playstyle. Cooking certain dishes will give you increased health, defence, strength, or critical chance, to name a few, alongside status and elemental resistances that become more useful as you plunge deeper into the Abyss and difficulty increases. To prepare these dishes, you have a small farm to harvest products from your cows and chickens, and a field to plant wheat and other fruits and vegetables. These all get brought to the kitchen, and much like the blacksmith, if a recipe is fulfilled, you can craft as much of a food product as your inventory allows.

The crafting side of Silent Hope has some interesting concepts but is also fairly basic. On the positive side, although it’s not explicit exactly how, production time for materials is tied to time spent in dungeons through both slaying monsters or harvesting seeds from plants in the deep. What it means is that crafting material production takes a backseat to the action combat and is far more passive than one might expect. The downside is that those familiar with the series’ ties may be disappointed with the crafting systems being offered as there’s essentially no gameplay involved, and all crafting is reduced to a few menus.

Thankfully, the ever-addictive loop of finding better and better equipment is just as enticing here. For starters, you can find special mementos (gear recipes) that need appraising from the Princess. Gear ranges from class-specific weapons to earrings and necklaces, as well as Runestones. Runestones work much like gems in Diablo, where they can be placed into weapons and accessories with the requisite empty slot to socket them into. Every piece of gear has a rarity from common and rare to super rare and legendary, as well as an associated rank. Early items will be rank 1 and are quickly eclipsed in power by items that are rank 2, regardless of their rarity. No matter what class you play as, you’ll find recipes for weapons from any other class, so you might pick up a superlative bow while playing as Caster and choose to switch over to Archer to take advantage of your new toy.

Specific character progression outside of gear is through standard level ups. With every level you have a green gem to spend on powering abilities up to a maximum level of 5 each. When your class reaches level 15 you’ll unlock an advanced class for your character, these give access to an entirely new set of abilities and you have the option to mix and match with the previous classes skills for a large amount of customizability. And don’t worry about committing heavily as you have the option to re-spec your skills any time at base camp for a small cost of runes (the game's currency). My most levelled character being the Ranger, the advanced class of the Farmer, they became something of a caster/melee hybrid. I was able to summon birds who followed me like feathered magic missiles. Lots of fun and has me curious as to other advanced classes I didn’t get to experience.

Silent Hope does a good job at striking a balance in its difficulty, and a lot of it is based on the player. Sticking with one class will mean you have fewer levelled characters to swap to as you go deeper into dungeons, necessitating a return to camp when your hero is low on health. You can find corrupted Princess statues on almost every floor, and these will give you a specific trial such as “Kill 5 elite monsters before moving to the next stage” or “Clear the Monster Rush in under 60 seconds,” to name a few. You will also find special doorways that lead to zones teeming with elite monsters and the promise of loot behind them. These are entirely optional but do a great job at dangling the allure of more power should you have the skill to complete them. Speaking of challenges, Silent Hope has a built-in achievement/mission system that is constantly watching your progress: hit certain milestones and you’ll unlock a small reward. Something to note is that through these passively earned rewards, you’ll unlock a rank 2 legendary weapon for most classes allowing you to experiment with other characters even if you don’t get the required loot drop.

As you progress deeper into the Abyss, you’ll find glowing circles of light on the ground. The Princess is reminded of events as you discover familiar locations to her, and standing in these circles will have her continue the tale of how the kingdom fell. Clearing a stage will reveal a stone tablet that has the written insights of the King as everything around him plunged into chaos. It’s not a terribly complex story but having both perspectives running concurrently was an entertaining, if light, storytelling experience.

It’s worth commending how well Silent Hope runs on the Switch. It is buttery smooth docked and in Handheld Mode. The Chibi aesthetic clearly lends itself well to solid performance, but there can be moments with dozens of enemies on screen, and yet the game maintains a steady framerate. On the audio side, while there’s no background music that really stands out, the soundtrack fits the theme and was enjoyable to listen to. Something slightly more grating was the frequency of the Princess’s audio lines at base camp. They’re cute and do offer some interesting world and character building but there’s not enough unique lines of dialogue to match the frequency with which they’re played, so you may be tempted to reduce the voice audio in settings early in your playthrough.

Silent Hope offers a wonderful if somewhat rudimentary ARPG experience, but there's plenty of room to improve if it ever gets a sequel. Tilesets, though random, begin looking very familiar after you've been through a few dozen floors, and the stages have different themes but play almost the exact same. While stage hazards attempt to mix up the gameplay, they just don't do enough to add the variety I had hoped for; the same can be said of enemies, many of whom are basically palette swaps. Bosses are the highlight, both cinematically and from a combat perspective; I just wish there were more of them. With hours of additional content post-credits thanks to an unlockable hard mode, much like its farming-focused cousins, Silent Hope finds its place in being video gaming comfort food that you can easily dive into at any time, and I am definitely going back for seconds.

[A One-Sided Relationship.]

8

TalkBack / Maquette (Switch) Review

« on: September 06, 2023, 03:30:15 PM »

A One-Sided Relationship.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/64759/maquette-switch-review

Maquette, developed by Graceful Decay as their debut title and published by Annapurna Interactive, originally came out back in March of 2021 for PlayStation and PC. Maquette's theoretical Tinder bio would indicate that it's a geometry-based 3D puzzle adventure game – not a personal red flag for me as I swipe right and delve deeper into the experience. Maquette and the Switch: does this pairing transport me to a honeymoon state, or is it time for me to explore other games?

Few things leave me with a glowing first impression and immerse me in the ambiance of an adventure more than a seamlessly integrated tutorial. When I started Maquette for the first time, my expectations began to skyrocket. A beautiful tune called "Rocketship" by Benoit Cavara accompanies you as you navigate through painterly interpretations of the streets of San Francisco. During the leisurely stroll, you're introduced to the control scheme. Your character can jump with the B button, interact with objects by pressing Y, and pick up objects using A. When you pick up an object, you'll notice that you can easily manipulate its position in 3D space using rotational controls with L/R and push and pull it in relation to your camera with ZL/ZR.

As I spend more time with Maquette and progress through its stages, I begin to unravel the narrative thread, discovering a story of young, budding love. It's sweet, innocent, and quite beautiful, much like the environments you find yourself in. They represent real or metaphorical memories/places our lead character Michael has experienced, and the art style shines brightly. Upon encountering what you could call his mind palace, you'll see a rotunda recognizable from the game's eShop thumbnail. In its center, you'll see the surrounded areas repeated as a miniaturized version. You’ll quickly discover that interacting with the objects you place and move within the diorama has a significant effect on your surroundings. A small key that you nonchalantly tossed into the tiny courtyard suddenly becomes as large as a bus. It can be exhilarating having influence over the scale of the object and world around you, and the early stages leave a wonderful impression. The overall gameplay loop of Maquette follows a trajectory like this: Find an object, explore how it can interact with your surroundings, unlock a new zone or "memory," and learn more about the two lovers. More variations of this mechanic are woven into gameplay as you progress, offering a whole new perspective on your surroundings.

Unfortunately, the early stages of Maquette represent its best self; the more we got to know one another, the more the issues began to show. While some of the visuals can be spectacular, Maquette is more often than not hindered by poor performance during puzzle-solving. In several instances, video game jank basically takes over as you attempt to manipulate objects in 3D space. You'll find yourself struggling with the controls, trying to free objects stuck in the environment, with noticeable frame drops during the process. I even experienced a moment where I unintentionally skipped an entire section of the game. I remember obtaining a golden ticket but not knowing where to use it. I sized it up appropriately to cross over a gated wall, and thankfully, the game acknowledged my progress and allowed me to proceed, but I must have missed a few lines of the story due to my unconventional problem-solving methods.

Moreover, I encountered a game-breaking moment in later stages. A button that was supposed to open a door on a countdown timer didn’t work; the button clicked and did nothing. I assumed it must have unlocked something, and so I explored the environment for nearly 40 minutes searching for what I was missing. Frustrated, I turned to a walkthrough and learned that the initial button press was supposed to initiate the aforementioned timed door segment but simply never did. Thankfully a reboot and restarting from my previous checkpoint addressed the issue, and I was able to proceed, but not until a fair amount of time had been wasted.

Maquette can be a beautiful and enjoyable experience until you grapple with poor 3D puzzles and a slew of glitches. The heart of its story is moving; the game can even be cathartic when everything aligns seamlessly. However, this story ends up being undercut by uneven gameplay, glitches, and subpar performance. If you can approach it with patience, you might appreciate the mesmerizing set pieces and a story that will surely tug at your heartstrings. But after my experience with Maquette, and encountering one too many shoddy 3D puzzles, I'm inclined to just swipe left.

[A link to the later alligator.]

9

TalkBack / Lil Gator Game (Switch) Review

« on: July 09, 2023, 10:28:50 AM »

A link to the later alligator.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/64249/lil-gator-game-switch-review

You should consider a copy of Lil Gator Game developed by MegaWobble to be an invitation–an invitation to cast away your everyday life and remember a time when you would relish the warm summer evenings you could spend outside until the sun came down. This 3D adventure game allows you to relive those carefree days while acknowledging that they can’t always be forever, and that’s ok.

You grew up playing imaginary games with your sister who could cook up tales of grandeur for the two of you to make believe, playing games of legendary heroes clad in green. Thankfully, you play as a crocodile, so you have that covered. Can you guess where she pulled inspiration for their playtime? Well, one day she had to go to college and ever since hasn’t had the time to play like the pair used to. Now, she's back in town and you have a mission to get your sister away from her laptop and back into the usual fun and games! To do this, you'll need the help of your friends and an amazing amount of paper and plywood to build the most amazing playtime session she’s ever seen.

The general gameplay of Lil Gator Game is that of an open-world adventure. You roam freely and can climb anything so long as you can reach the top with your stamina meter. You’ll eventually unlock a glider and can even shield surf! This kind of freedom in gameplay is a real “breath of the fresh wild,” if you catch my drift. As you explore the collection of small islands and playgrounds, you'll find characters that are a part of your game and have a quest for you, or ones that you haven’t brought into the fold of your adventure that you can convince to join after lending them a hand. Eventually, you’ll have gathered a large amount of support to construct bigger and more elaborate set pieces for your playtime–like a saloon or cathedral–to further impress your sister and hopefully get her to power down and play some games.

These tasks can range from collecting items, smashing cardboard monsters or even finding water supply pipes to turn on the water park. While the tasks themselves are relatively simple, they are all very well written. Each character feels honest and encapsulates the playground mindset of our childhood. That mindset is rooted at the core of Lil Gator Game and permeates into the playground-like gameplay itself; while the tasks are simple, exploring the park is really where the fun lies. All ropes become springy tight ropes, you can interact with rides, climb monkey bars, your shield slide can skim across water, and gliding and jumping never grow tired.

As far as character progression, outside of unlocking a larger zone to explore, there are also quest rewards that will grant you new hats, swords, shields and rocks that break the mould of expectation. Some even add abilities such as ragdoll physics to your character. While not all unlockables come with abilities, they do allow for extra flavour and personalization. More often than not, you pay for these new items with scraps of paper, the in-game currency that you amass by smashing the aforementioned cardboard monsters strewn about the island.

Lil Gator Game executes so well on what it sets out to do, even though the ambition lies more in a touching narrative about understanding the shifting priorities in our lives, than about the gameplay itself. It plays well and looks wonderful, though it does lean more on an artstyle than anything that would be considered graphically demanding. It runs flawlessly without any crashes or noticeable frame drops, and the sound design is calming with soft winds rustling through trees and acoustic instruments eliciting that warm summer feeling perfectly. The only fault may be that the gameplay is lacking in variety and somewhat simple. As well, its main story is on the shorter side.

This game is primarily geared to a younger audience, but even still if this type of relaxed experience suits you, I hope you accept the invitation to relive your childhood. And to parents introducing their kids to The Legend of Zelda, putting Lil Gator Game on ahead of Breath of the Wild might be a magical thing to see.

["It's much easier to be given a place to belong than to make one for yourself." - Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)]

10

TalkBack / Chained Echoes (Switch) Review

« on: March 31, 2023, 08:12:31 PM »

"It's much easier to be given a place to belong than to make one for yourself." - Citan Uzuki (Xenogears)

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/63269/chained-echoes-switch-review

As if falling off of an airship or summoned with meteor Materia, RPG fans were jubilated when Chain Echoes dropped onto the Switch last December. The retro-inspired RPG comes from the mind of solo developer Matthias Linda. Is drawing from a golden age of role playing games enough for Chained Echoes to stand up to today's more modern standards, or is it best played with rose-tinted glasses equipped?

More often than not, an RPG is only as good as the tale it weaves, and I am happy to report that the story of Chained Echoes is one you’re going to want to bear witness to. Off the jump you’re laced into the boots of the main protagonist Glenn, an ace Sky Armor pilot and a key member of the Band of the Iron Bull. Your troop of mercenaries have been hired to help liberate the recently overtaken kingdom of Wyrnshire on the continent of Valandis. The events that transpire on this battlefield reverberate through the political intrigue-filled narrative of warring nations and our heroes being caught amongst the chaos. While the story is wonderfully told, the reason it ultimately succeeds is because of the memorable cast of characters–standout being Victor, a travelling bard you meet early in the story who is famed across Valandis and whose life experience is an invaluable tool to the party. Each teammate has their own motivations, faults, and reason for being a part of the team that is further explored the deeper the story goes. It's a fantastical story that is grounded by its participants and the rich world that is Valandis.

Modern turn-based RPGs have a lot to live up to. Improving on the established gameplay of the classics that still hold up relatively well is no easy task. Can they evolve on the formula when such heavy-hitting franchises such as Final Fantasy have mostly abandoned the gameplay that launched their popularity? I am happy to say that Chained Echoes is the one of the most modern iterations of the traditional turn-based combat I have experienced. It takes into account massive quality of life improvements while driving the gameplay forward.

To break things down, enemies appear in the overworld, so there’s no random battles here. When you start an encounter, things should look somewhat familiar if you're a fan of the genre. Turn order is attributed to agility much like in Final Fantasy X. You have your attack, defense, item, and skill commands. One major difference is that to the left of the screen you’ll see the “overdrive meter.” It has three colored sections: orange, green, and red. You start off at the far left of the meter in the orange zone. Each attack or skill-based action will move the meter forward. The goal being to reach and stay in the green overdrive zone. Within this zone you take less damage, deal more, and save on TP (think of this as mana). But be careful; every action the enemy takes moves the meter further to the right as well, pushing you closer and closer to the red zone, which when achieved puts you in the “overheat” state, wherein you deal less damage, take more punishment, and expend more TP. These two states can be the difference between surviving a global attack and a complete team wipe. So how is this mitigated? When you reach the green overdrive zone, a randomized symbol will appear to the left of the meter representing one of the different skill types at your disposal. Using one of the represented skills will lower your position on the meter slightly. That alongside using defend or specific overdrive items will also push the meter back. It creates a really fun risk-reward system and ensures you always feel like an active participant in the flow of battle.

Leaving a battle, you may notice something: you didn’t gain any experience. You’ll only reap a small amount of SP (Skill Points) to level your skills, but these are accumulated so slowly they don’t count for much when it comes to character progression. Character progression is more focused around Grimoire Shards. These items can only be acquired by defeating a boss. One Grimoire Shard grants 1 point to spend (per party member) on unlocking skills, either active talents, passive skills, or permanent stat increases. What this system allows is the complete removal of any necessary grinding which has bogged down so many other fantastic games in the genre. I think the importance of that fact can’t be understated.

That might make you question the game's difficulty, but fear not: some enemies can be downright nasty if you're not careful. Escaping from combat is guaranteed outside of story battles. But if you find yourself continuously wiping against a boss, take a look at your equipped skills, focus your character build, and delve into the equipment upgrade system. You have the ability to increase your damage and gem slot count in your weapons and armor, and gems can carry stat bonuses or even useful things like granting a particular elemental attribute to your attacks.

As you progress, you’ll want to go off the beaten path as much as possible. There is so much hidden throughout the world and it’s a joy to explore. Interactable doors are marked with a green arrow on the ground. No more bashing your face on every door in town to check if you can go inside. Hidden item pickups are also indicated by gleaming lights. But if you feel as though you’ve checked an area thoroughly, don't hesitate to return later in game, things change and new paths may be revealed. You could find class emblems which act as drastic stat manipulators; for example, a warrior emblem will shoot up your attack and health as well as grant you some physical attack skills. There are 12 of them in total to find and they are well hidden. Each has an associated battle to prove your worthiness before acquiring them; these can be a massive challenge but some of the most unique battles in the game. Chained Echoes also has a bevy of side quests to experience. And though they aren’t mandatory, you should still make them a priority in your playthrough. You get further insight into a few characters and have the opportunity to unlock up to four additional playable characters.

The character of the continent of Valandis itself is shaped by its people but also by composer Eddie Marianukroh. They have done a remarkable job with the soundtrack that not only fits the tone of Chained Echoes, but helps lift it closer to RPG greatness. It somehow stokes nostalgic flames as you listen; I caught myself remembering past games such as Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy 9 simply through the score. Suffice it to say, the game has astounding music that adds wonderfully to the experience.

Overall, Chained Echoes was an absolute joy to experience, though it wasn’t without a few faults. I had a repeated UI bug occur on a couple occasions where the turn order character icons would simply disappear. A reboot fixed the issue, so it wasn’t overly problematic, but worth noting as it was frustrating when I found it the first time during a boss fight. One sidequest in particular sat with me as incomplete. It was a very engrossing storyline tied to an optional character, but as I reached what would be the climax of the questline it ended abruptly with a text blurb and all was well. If this was unfinished cut content, I do hope to see it added in a future update. I would also have loved to see more emoting in the character portraits when they speak. I feel as though the story would be that much more impactful with a little more characterization in the portraits but perhaps that was a stylistic choice to reflect its influences. Lastly, the early-middle of the game has a bit of a pacing issue; once you clear some of the open areas between hours three and seven, things pick up noticeably. These are very nitpicking negatives to an overall incredible package, and considering the length of the title, these being my biggest gripes is incredible.

I ended my playthrough of Chained Echoes at roughly 65 hours. On the Switch OLED this game is beautiful, the vibrant pixel art aesthetic shines on screen, and its performance other than the aforementioned UI bug is flawless. Gameplay is also buttery smooth and appears to be running at a high frame rate. I enjoyed my time in Valandis so much that I experienced as much of the side content as I could.  This full length RPG stands as a love letter to the games I grew up with. The inspirations are clear, and yet this is a wholly unique RPG experience that anyone who has an affinity for the style–and 90s’ RPGs in particular–owes it to themselves to enjoy.

[I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took several arrows to the knee.]

11

TalkBack / No Place For Bravery (Switch) Review

« on: October 06, 2022, 09:54:04 AM »

I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took several arrows to the knee.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/61762/no-place-for-bravery-switch-review

It's been years since the coining of the “soulsborne” genre took place, and yet the influence it's had over the gaming landscape has been immense. It’s been interesting to see how this style has reverberated throughout triple-A and indie titles alike. The latest contender in the growing genre is No Place for Bravery, developed by Glitch Factory and published by Ysbryd Games, which borrows from titles such as Sekiro and gives it a fresh new perspective. 2D or not to be, for this side-scrolling adventure, that is the question.

You play as Thorn, one of the Guardians, a member of a dying (or more-or-less dead) order tasked with protecting the world from colossus-like creatures that still roam the land. With the order disbanded and the threat not immediately looming, he turns inward toward building a family. That is, until one day, grief stricken and duty bound, Thorn sets off again. His child perched on his shoulders like Kratos with future lower back issues, does he seek redemption or is it revenge?

The story is one of the strongest aspects of No Place for Bravery, hence the somewhat vague description. Should you pick this game up for story alone, you won't be disappointed. It is a well written tale with memorable characters that come to life within the pixel-art aesthetic, and it’s ripe with character choices that carry some surprising consequences. I must say for the story alone I was hooked. Now if only the quality of the story was echoed in the gameplay.

Similar to the aforementioned Sekiro, the premise here is guard (or stamina) management. Perfectly parrying an attack will see the enemy’s guard meter drop drastically. Parry a few times and they stagger, leaving them open for your barrage of attacks that deal much more damage. When it works, it feels good, if not a little limited by Thorn’s moveset. You have a few unlockable weapons such as a hammer and crossbow to round out your kit a wee bit. Lastly, you have consumable equipment such as throwing knives and traps. That said, I seldom drew these items as they always seemed unnecessary when facing down gatling-gun like bowmen that forced me to be guarding at all times.

Like other soulslikes, your progress is checkpointed by bonfires that will respawn enemies and replenish health potions, as well as offer the opportunity to purchase new skill upgrades. These upgrades require specific materials that are marked on your map as enticing side quests, but unfortunately for me the combat was so frustrating that I did everything I could do to avoid it and stay focused on the main quest.

The most glaring issue I faced is that the lock on system is barely functional. Your lock-on capabilities are governed by the direction Thorn is facing and are mapped to clicking in either the left or right thumbstick. There’s no available button remapping as of writing. Suffice it to say, the controls are unintuitive, and it seems the developers knew that as there are in-game options to make some adjustments. Examples include the option to lock on to the next character after killing your current target and the option to cycle through enemies as opposed to disengaging. For myself, this second option would have been a saving grace but it never seemed to function; it simply did not work whether toggled on or off in the menu. Because of this flimsy system, I would often find myself locked onto enemies off-screen. If Thorn was not facing directly at my focused target, I would be starting a pen-pal arrangement with the archer in the corner I didn’t know existed.

Had that been my only frustration with my experience, I would have still walked away from No Place for Bravery relatively content, but I had an absolute bevy of technical issues. During my playthrough, I experienced arrows passing through walls, puzzles not triggering, loss of controls after a cutscene, and being glitched through a boss barrier (which required me to close and reopen the game). When the challenge of the game is only exacerbated by technical issues, it marrs the entire experience. I’ve also had bosses get stuck on walls and become a cakewalk, removing the challenge from those encounters and rendering them unsatisfying as well.

It's a shame that No Place for Bravery crumbles under the weight of its ambition. Should the performance and technical issues be fixed, it would become something I could easily recommend. The music, story, and visuals are all wonderfully crafted, and it would be unfortunate if this version ended the final product. Fortunately, it does seem like patches are in the works, but it remains to be seen how much of the above issues are fixed by them. Ultimately, No Place for Bravery is a promising title that may be able to live up to its aspirations with a little more work under the hood.

[The witch is back for a second encore.]

12

TalkBack / Bayonetta 3 (Switch) Hands-on Preview

« on: September 14, 2022, 05:00:00 AM »

The witch is back for a second encore.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/preview/61553/bayonetta-3-switch-hands-on-preview

My first year attending PAX West as a member of the media brought with it some amazing opportunities. Chief among them was the chance to play a brief demo of Bayonetta 3, a title that has been hotly anticipated since its announcement, and one with pent up demand after waiting so long for an update. With that said, it was a privilege to check out how our favourite Umbral Witch is fairing these days.

For the uninitiated, Bayonetta 3 is the third entry in a long-running 3D action game series that debuted in 2009. It has gameplay similar to that of the Devil May Cry series, with all the over-the-top flair that only Platinum Games can bring. It's sequel, once a Wii U exclusive, released in 2014. So it's been a while since we've been able to strap on some gun-heels and don some magical hair clothing. Naturally, I started my play session by re-familiarizing myself with the game's control scheme.

Thankfully, controlling Bayonetta feels as good as it ever has. Light and heavy attacks help compliment your dash and dodge mechanics, with Witch Time (i.e. bullet time) making a return as well. In the demo, I had the options of wielding Scarborough Fair (Bayo's pistols) and what appeared to be a new weapon, a type of hammer that doubled as a cannon. Admittedly the slower movement of the latter had me questioning how long I would last in the demo, and so I generally stuck with the familiar pistols.

The demo kicked off in high octane fashion. Joining a handful of homunculi, who seem to have walked off the set of your favourite Super Sentai series, Bayonetta boards the metro and the fighting begins. Immediately, the combat feels snappy and performance seems rock solid as hoped. After the initial fight, I found myself flying through the sky from atop the train. Bayonetta summons Gomorrah (one of her larger than life demons) as it straps four boats to its feet like jet skies going through a city canal avoiding enemy fire like an extreme Wave Race 64. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Buildings crash and cascade like a skyline-warping ocean wave as you barrel through the city. All the while, you can see Bayonetta dancing atop Gomorrah's head, which was an impressive touch.

Next up was some larger scale fighting. Kaiju-type enemies as seen in previous Bayonetta 3 trailers emerged after a brief cinematic. This is where a new gameplay wrinkle comes into focus: summoning your demons for giant monster battles. It's handled by holding down the ZL button, and in this state you control the desired monster, with Bayonetta more or less becoming a stationary target. Should Bayonetta herself get hit, your demon will be dispelled. Their attacks are slow, so taking out the small fries first is a good idea. I had the option to use Gomorrah as well as Madama Styx. Gomorrah had huge lumbering but powerful attacks and Madama Styx had a charm ability to stun targets, which is definitely handy if you can pull off the long wind up. It’s also worth noting that your demons can die, at least temporarily. But don't use this ability without care, or Bayonetta may end up on the underside of a Kaiju's massive foot. I should mention that climax finishers were also present in the demo for smaller enemy types.

A final skirmish with more of the smaller homunculi finished the roughly 25-minute demo, and it only has me eager for more. Whether you're a fan of the series or a newcomer looking to scratch an action game itch, it seems as though Bayonetta 3 is set to deliver the same hair-raising, cranked-to-eleven action that it's done in the past, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the story plays out in this next entry. Bayonetta 3 launches on Nintendo Switch on October 28, and you can be sure we’ll have a full review around release.

[Just five more minutes!]

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TalkBack / Citizen Sleeper (Switch) Review

« on: May 25, 2022, 03:07:30 PM »

Just five more minutes!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60533/citizen-sleeper-switch-review

I lay motionless, staring into a black abyss. Waves of pure light attempt to break through shuttering folds and lensed focals. Messages begin outputting to resume operational functions. I wake up and play more Citizen Sleeper.

From developer Jump Over the Age and publisher Fellow Traveller, Citizen Sleeper is a game that invades your thoughts and transports you into its cyberpunk capitalist dystopia: the world of The Eye, a country-sized space station of outer space misfits, refugees, criminals and corporations. It's a beautiful and haunting setting that begs to be explored.

As a Sleeper, you have cast your body aside to assume a new life and career based on your mechanical enhancements. Your mind is transported into an artificial body while the one you left behind is being kept on ice by the corpos who provided you with your metal mental prison. As a now runaway from your overlords it’s up to you to find a way to first survive and possibly thrive in this new world you find yourself in.

This is where your journey starts in this new tabletop roleplaying game for the switch. You have a choice of three Sleeper classes each with their own interesting starting perks. Extractor specialises in survivability and endurance tasks. Machinist is the engineering class. And the Operator is adept at hacking the many interfaces along the Eye.

While each class seems quite unique on the surface, don't dwell too much on your choice as after some time and upgrades, most character classes will play the same. Though one could argue that could be considered a negative, the starting hours of the game are the most tense as you struggle to survive with each passing cycle and your class will heavily dictate how you approach the early challenges. And survival is the name of the game. As a runaway Sleeper, you no longer have access to the medicine needed to keep your artificial body alive. With each passing cycle you come closer and closer to being just another pile of scrap on The Eye. To stave off the cybernetic grim reaper, you have a couple meters to maintain in order to keep yourself operational.

The Condition meter dictates your overall health, with more health equating to more dice rolls per cycle. Energy is restored through consumption of foods and needs to be maintained or else your Condition will drop swiftly at the end of each cycle. Keeping both meters as full as possible means you’ll have more dice to roll.

Each cycle you will have to decide how to use your rolled die wisely. Choosing actions that compliment your class, such as working the scrap yard or helping a friend build a brewery, will be easier than others due to +1 or -1 modifiers on your chosen class’ traits. Selecting one of your rolled dice and consuming them to carry out the action. Completing an action successfully is not always guaranteed. Your submitted die value will dictate the likelihood of success and all actions carry a danger level associated with them. Shown as; Safe, Risky or Danger beside the selectable task. Failure can result in direct afflictions to your Sleeper such as losing condition points, credits, and more. Once you’ve expelled your dice rolls, you will need to return to your home to end the cycle.

There’s actions that can only be taken once and are occasionally time sensitive, like a story action, others that are repeatable, such as working as a delivery boy to earn some credits. Some actions also contain a progression system. Repeat an action enough times and a circular meter will fill. These can result in events such as meeting new characters, revealing points of interest, or completing a quest line which can net you Drive points. Drive points are used to upgrade your character. You’ll also come across actions that require patience and cycles to pass before you can interact with them. They could be positive, like a freighter coming in with new scraps for you to purchase, or possibly something more sinister on the horizon begging for your intervention. These timed events pulling your focus from progressing other actions make the world of Citizen Sleeper feel alive as if something is always lurking beneath the surface. Emphasising your struggle to survive with each passing cycle.

What keeps that sense of immersion ever present is the games’ artistic direction, which is tent-poled by the fantastic character art of Guillaume Singelin. Every character you see tells a story of their past at a glance. Some individuals are portrayed with deteriorating tech and modifications while others gleam with cutting edge machinery and fashion. Supported by a sleek interface and musical score to send you into orbit, Citizen Sleeper becomes something stunning to behold.

However, not everything gleams with Citizen Sleeper as the Switch seems to mirror some of the patchwork machines present on The Eye when running the game. Moving throughout its world will result in frame drops, and I had one instance where the HUD had glitched and disappeared, resulting in the game being unplayable. Thankfully the autosave system caught my exact progress and a simple reboot solved the issue. As well, initial load times are bafflingly long for a game so straightforward with its board-game style gameplay. Other frustrations come from the controls as a gamepad is simply not suited for how Citizen Sleeper operates. You’ll be fumbling to place your cursor on the correct interactable node far more often than you’d like.

While the gameplay is immensely enjoyable, it still does feel as though there's plenty of room to grow in a sequel. I would love for more variable outcomes within dialogue choices and text-based combat based on character skills would have been especially welcome. An increased difficulty in a new game+ mode is something I was hoping to see, too, but didn’t. While that may seem like nitpicking, I truly feel like Jump Over the Age is on the threshold of something special with Citizen Sleeper, and if we ever get a sequel it will be at the top of my most anticipated games.

Citizen Sleeper allows for multiple playthroughs, and even when looking through screenshots during my review there are characters and locations I never once encountered within my first playthrough. Because of the heavy story-driven nature of Citizen Sleeper, your enjoyment will be contingent on your appreciation of the sci-fi genre as well as how much brain space is occupied by thoughts of Turing Tests. While that itself will denote that Citizen Sleeper isn’t for everyone, for those that have even a slight interest in the genre, you don’t want to sleep on this one.

[Platform by numbers.]

14

TalkBack / Super Mega Zero (Switch) Review

« on: May 09, 2022, 09:50:45 AM »

Platform by numbers.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60392/super-mega-zero-switch-review

With precision platformers, there’s no room for error. It’s a binary state whether you make or fail a jump, win or lose a level. With the genre itself being unforgiving by nature, does Rogue Games, Inc. and Silkworm add up to create a great game? The premise of Super Mega Zero is a simple one. You are the number 0 trying to find your partner who is constantly captured by a rushing cluster of digital mess that steals them away from world to world. The nod to “You’re princess is in another castle” is a welcome one that poked that mushy nostalgia mass in my brain and had me hooked during the early gameplay.

And by early gameplay, I do mean just that as this game takes many different approaches to its platforming by mixing the formula as you progress. The introductory stages start out with your character having very limited movement. Left and right on the analog stick and d-pad is all you start with, alongside the ability to blow yourself up for a stage reset with the X button. You also find numbered pick-ups along the stages that signify jump charges with the B button, with the goal being to traverse the obstacles in the stage and reach the flag. You have an optional goal of collecting a golden pie coin for bonus points, for those who feel the completionist itch. But what starts out straightforward quickly gets so many different overlapping wrinkles.

Further pick-ups are introduced later on that allow for much more complex stages. The most game changing being a green zero with legs which absolutely must be called the… Super Mega Zero pick-up. This amazing item gives our valueless hero little legs that allow for jumping, wall-jumping, and a dash charge for mid-air precision movement. Furthermore you can run into polarizing ‘+’ or ‘-’ objects that flip your gravitational pull and even a ‘sin’ pick up that makes you float up and down as if you were just graphed onto your Texas Instruments calculator. All these elements combine to make some truly diabolical stages that can push your skills to their limits.

Thankfully Super Mega Zero does an amazing job at giving you options to break up any frustrations you may run into if a stage is too challenging. Within each world, which consists of 20 stages, you’re given five free skips. That coupled with the “assistant mode” feature that allows for infinite jumps and god mode removes any progress frustration.

What doesn’t work as well is the secondary mode that the game interlaces between the mid and end points of the worlds: a side-scrolling shoot-’em-up. While I enjoy this style of gameplay and it does help break things up, it’s not without its share of issues. Powerups that change your firing trajectory are sometimes essential to pick up early in the stage but are dropped randomly. You die in two hits and some stages had me regularly restarting just because things ramped up too quickly before I picked up an upgrade. And when things do in fact get frantic it is far too easy to lose track of your character. I still enjoy their inclusion, but the ‘shump stages are easily the least thought out aspect of the otherwise very stellar package that is Super Mega Zero.

All in all, there are very few negatives to mention in terms of the core gameplay. The controls and movement feel perfect. Stage progression is fair and fun, and the visuals are vibrant. Performance docked and handheld never skipped a beat. Super Mega Zero really is a package that continues to impress the further you dig into it. If you’re looking for something challenging and bite sized, this is a super fit on the Switch.

[Drawing crimson from a stone.]

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TalkBack / Flynn: Son of Crimson (Switch) Review

« on: May 07, 2022, 06:25:39 PM »

Drawing crimson from a stone.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/60363/flynn-son-of-crimson-switch-review

Dusting off the ol’ backlog can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to games you wanted to tackle long ago. It can be like a scourge in the back of your mind that has the chance of taking over everything. Fortunately, I’m finally getting to a review I’ve had on my plate for some time! Speaking of, Flynn Son of Crimson, a 2D action platformer from Studio Thunderhorse, jumped onto the eShop through a successful kickstarter campaign. It earned $63,218 of the requested $40,000 thanks to nearly 2,500 backers. With their financial requirements, all that was left was the followthrough. Did the invested blood, sweat, and tears father a new indie darling?

The story begins with the crimson-haired crusader in deep slumber awoken by whispered warnings: “...Please Flynn… Rosantica needs you… Wake up…” You rise up next to your majestic dog and Island Guardian, Dex, and your first task is to grab a sword and… walk your dog! Even majestic guardians need their morning walkies, so you venture out into the world.

What stands out instantly in Flynn Son of Crimson is the gorgeous pixel art. Towns are vibrant and characters are extremely expressive; your good boy Dex is a pleasure to watch run across the screen as he tails Flynn. This world has been crafted with a lot of love and is extremely well realized.

In this world, you make your way from stage to stage, through a variety of levels in attempts to reinvigorate your poor canine companion who had their power stripped away by a mysterious assailant. In their failure to claim a hidden power, the power of the Crimson Sword is bestowed upon Flynn. In retaliation, Dex’s abilities and essence are ripped from him. You set out on your journey like a red-haired John Wicke with similar, albeit less murderous, determination. This game is rated E for everyone, after all.  

Combat is a brand of hack and slash. You have an incredibly useful dodgeroll to complement your sword swings and, later on in the game, magic. Enemies have both a red health bar as well as a yellow stagger bar that builds up with each hit. Once staggered, opponents are vulnerable for a few seconds. A gripe that surfaced early on is that enemies can feel like they have far too much health. Especially on hard mode, dodging the same cave troll back and forth before you hit them 10 times to stagger or finish them off can be monotonous, especially when that is but one troll out of 40 enemies for the stage. Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I dropped from hard to normal, and then easy to quicken the game’s pace.

Each level contains a few hidden paths to find a collectable item for completionists, but otherwise it’s a very straightforward affair. Your task is to reach a Goddess statue at the end of the stage, jumping, fighting and unlocking doors in between.  Within each stage you can collect crimson gems that function as the game's currency and are used to upgrade your abilities and unlock new weapon combos. The other collectable being green gemstones, and these allow you to press the X button to replenish your life orbs, which was a welcome mechanic in place of standard health pickups and allowed for more timely use.  While magic can be upgraded as well, it never felt ultimately useful. It takes far too long to charge an attack and its damage or practicality never matched my expectation given how heavily I invested into it at the outset. What it boiled down to is that the combat mechanics often felt too slow. Without going into spoilers, I can say that the combat does eventually pick up. Flynn gains abilities to take out the mobs of enemies with relative ease. But by the time my Flynn was upgraded and his repertoire felt appropriate, the game was over. One of the biggest initial allures of the title is playing alongside Dex, and it’s a shame to say that his inclusion in the game is minimal and does not live up to the obvious potential.

Some stages do try to offer variety by containing alternate paths to end the stage leading to new paths on the worldmap. At times “The Scourge” surfaces, a malevolent force to counter your crimson abilities that ne'er-do -wells are using to corrupt the world. During these moments, you are forced to backtrack to a previously visited stage and smash a scourge gem which is emanating in the area. These stages are mandatory roadblocks that come out of nowhere, don’t offer much difference in gameplay, and really disrupt the flow of the game. Bosses are not wholly original either; it’s a case of watching the patterns and attacking when possible. Their inclusion is thankfully minimal with the final boss being, at the very least, a visual spectacle.

While I can say that the pacing and gameplay never fully clicked with me, it might for others. There’s quality in the world of Rosantica and things to appreciate about its story, art, and characters. That being said, this game has potential hidden under some lackluster stages and unbalanced combat. I would love to see another story told in this world with some further polish on the gameplay if Studio Thunderhorse was ever to make a second showing. Should the slower pace not be a bother to you, there’s a lot that Flynn Son of Crimson has to offer. But amongst a sea of similar genre entries on Switch, I’d be hard pressed to recommend this one.

[Red origin.]

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TalkBack / Golf Club Wasteland (Switch) Review

« on: September 12, 2021, 09:12:16 PM »

Red origin.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/58342/golf-club-wasteland-switch-review

Demagog Studio invites you to take a look into the not too far-fetched future in Golf Club Wasteland. The ultra-rich have left earth and its inhabitants for dead after "the ecological catastrophe" and are now living in Tesla City on Mars. Earth—now a corroding heap of factories, yachts, toxic waste, and skyscrapers—is the perfect spot for the ultra-rich to enjoy a trip back home and hit a few birdies.

You play as a nameless bald man—who bears no likeness to anyone in particular— progressing through Golf Club Wasteland's (GCW) 35 stages of 2D golf/puzzle style gameplay. The controls are incredibly simple: aim with the left stick, tilt the stick more or less for shot-strength, and then swing with the A button. That's it. You move automatically with the personal jetpack attached to your hazmat suit, following the golf ball after every stroke.

The simplistic scheme allows for the game's startling ambience to set in. As you boot up the game you'll notice the "headphones recommended" message at the bottom of your screen. That's because, for the most part, GCW's story is told passively through an in-game radio station dubbed “Radio Nostalgia From Mars.” It alternates between playing interviews from survivors of the catastrophe, Mars-related PSAs, or even music of the era and of days past. It offers an incredible yet melancholic backdrop to the simplistic gameplay on hand and lets your mind wander while you contemplate your next shot. It becomes a relaxing if sombre experience when play is in your favor, much like a round of eighteen on the bones of civilization must feel.

The 2D art style serves as the highpoint after the music and sound. The graphics on display bring to life the bleak future of this post-apocalyptic earth. Hazy blues are cut by bright neon pinks, often highlighting the brand names of some of the last companies to grace the surface of the Earth. Layering and depth are seldomly used, but when they are, they’re done cleverly with wildlife filling the foreground of your screen, acting as your adoring crowds wondering what in the world you might be doing.

With so much going for GCW, it’s unfortunate to say that the gameplay does not hold up compared to the audio and visuals. Although performance is steady as a rock (especially noteworthy for a multiplatform release), the level design never feels as creative as it could be. You’re often tasked with having to shoot your way up frustrating skyscraper staircases that demand high precision play, unless you’re playing on the game's “story mode” which removes the stroke limits in each stage. Otherwise, GCW’s puzzles are more like obstacles and some things as simple as hitting a switch on the wall become annoyances, as it can be the case that missing your first attempt on the switch is enough to warrant restarting the stage. While there is still charm to be found with hidden shortcuts and comical ball transportation, the gameplay isn’t fun enough to make par. More elaborate stage design and better control over your ball trajectory would be welcome additions here.

Golf Club Wasteland is a thought-provoking piece. Its story, not only told through radio but also your golfer's diary, is expanded on further after you beat the game, making it a worthwhile experience overall. It’s worth noting that the audio is on a loop and you will eventually run out of new content from the radio station, but it’s an incredibly effective oral storytelling mechanic. Seeing as this is Demagog Studio’s first outing, I am very keen to see how they grow as a developer. There is some amazing talent and creativity on display, and should all the pieces fall into place, barring ecological catastrophe, their next title would be one to watch out “fore.”

[Diminished cap.]

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TalkBack / Hoa (Switch) Review

« on: August 23, 2021, 05:00:00 AM »

Diminished cap.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/58171/hoa-switch-review

Hoa developed by Skrollcat studio (in partnership with Kyx studio) and published by PM Studios was originally unveiled May of 2020 during the Wholesome Direct - Indie Game Showcase. And what a perfect announcement that was. Showing off its gorgeous hand drawn art style, the game instantly garnered much deserved anticipation as it stood out as one of the presentation’s highlights. A year and a half later and we now have Hoa in our hands. Has our little forest dwelling platformer blossomed into a must-play indie title on the Switch, or has it withered and died in the summer heat?

Your journey in Hoa begins without the usual fanfare of similar titles in the genre. You, a small forest faerie, arrive on land from across the water. You calmly walk up from shore into the forest where you’re quickly met by a rhinoceros beetle. His words are few but impactful “Oh my god! Look who is here. Welcome back”. Discovering the reason you left is the driving question pushing you forward through the game’s story. Saying anymore would be doing a disservice.

Getting the obvious out of the way, Hoa is a stunning example of art style over polygon count. With heavy inspiration from Ghibli movies, seeing a still image of this game, it's hard to make an argument as to what could be improved. Backdrops and interactable platforms are integrated seamlessly, and there's never any confusion as to where you can and can't go. Not only does this game impress visually, it is matched by an absolute perfect score. The orchestrated soundtrack is a wonderful blend of tragedy and hopefulness, and it helps elevate the entire package, adding emotional attachment to a very dialogue-light experience.

On that note, the dialogue isn't the only element that has taken a more simplistic approach in Hoa; in fact, its entire gameplay experience has been simplified to an alienating degree. As you make your way through the  two or three-hour story, you'll notice that there's no health bar, no fall damage, no fail circumstances, and only one enemy type (a small springed automaton); even then, they can only push you away and otherwise cause no harm. The main gameplay loop has your fairie moving from one showpiece environment to the next, being gated each time by a sleeping guardian. You wander these areas looking for markings (usually three), which you activate automatically when in close proximity. Once you find them all, you'll awaken the dormant creature and learn a small number of additional story details. You'll then be tasked with collecting butterflies clearly marked on your map (usually five), and when you do you'll be given a new ability and use it to traverse to the next zone. That’s basically it. All new abilities earned are to serve traversal and exploration, which is the crux of the experience. Because of this, it became clear Hoa wasn't developed for a typical platformer enthusiast's discerning tastes. Instead, it’s something that anyone young or old could experience with no trouble. Hoa might serve as a wonderful precursor to a 2D Mario title for anyone familiarising themselves with video gaming as a whole.

Without spoiling anything of the story, Hoa has a clear message of appreciating and loving nature. And although that story has been told several times, it's not often presented in such a visually and aurally engaging package that can appeal to such a wide demographic. For that I recognize and appreciate Hoa, but as a game it ultimately falls short and is difficult to recommend to anyone looking to find that new platformer to sink their teeth into. I was particularly disappointed when during the game's climactic moment, my controls were removed from me as I watched the character experience the final challenge on their own as they moved on rails.

Additionally, there were times the game felt as though it was barely able to hold it together on the Switch hardware. Though nothing impacted gameplay (likely because there isn’t much to speak of), there were several instances of stutter that really marred the beautiful presentation on display. I understand that there is certainly an audience for the type of light gameplay experience that Hoa provides, and so long as you understand that going in you will at the very least be in for a treat with its visual and auditory splendor. And should you have someone who would benefit from how easy it is to play, Hoa could be the perfect fit, not to mention an excellent way of building admiration for the dying world around us.

[Where we're going, we don't need roads.]

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TalkBack / Blaster Master Zero 3 (Switch) Review

« on: August 09, 2021, 07:51:24 AM »

Where we're going, we don't need roads.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/58029/blaster-master-zero-3-switch-review

Blaster Master Zero 3 by Inti Creates is the third entry in the revitalized Blaster Master series. With that in mind, if you're a fan of the past two titles, there's no need to convince you further. Go ahead and experience the conclusion of the story between Eve and Jason; you won’t be disappointed. For myself and possibly many others, this is my entry point into the series that started back in 1988 and was reborn in 2017.

For the uninitiated, Blaster Master Zero revolves around two types of gameplay. The first involves piloting your futuristic hover tank G-Sophia, traversing 2D platforming segments. The second takes the form of top-down action where you control tank pilot Jason directly.

While in control of the G-Sophia, you’ll need to manage your main weapon and secondary weapon meters. Both traversal and combat require you to pay attention to them due to the fact that if either drains, the associated weapons and abilities will become unavailable, requiring time to recharge. In addition, your booster and secondary weapons are governed by the same meter. Sometimes holding a boost too long or spamming your attacks may leave you in an unfavorable situation. Thankfully, not all is outside of your control as the tank carries an interesting mechanic: should you drop down from a high elevation and come crashing down, you will regain a small amount of the secondary weapon energy, and G-Sophia never takes fall damage. Jason, on the other hand, does. You have the ability to eject Jason from G-Sophia at any time with the 'x' button in order to climb ladders or hit switches, allowing you to reach areas otherwise inaccessible to G-Sophia. Be careful when you do, however, as long (or even frustratingly small) falls may end your hero's journey on the spot. Be sure to use your personal jetpack (a new addition to the series) by pressing B after jumping to ease your landing.

While on foot as Jason, you'll eventually come across doorways only he can enter and crossing through them kicks off the second style of gameplay with top-down dungeon crawling combat. Here, you have access to Jason's full range of abilities, which includes five blaster weapon types (each with an associated color for puzzle-solving), a secondary fire (requiring ammunition, such as the grenade you start with), as well as a counter ability and a dash. It's somewhat daunting how robust your arsenal is at the beginning of the game, and Blaster Master Zero 3 provides very little hand holding or explanation on how to use them. However it was a refreshing experience and allowed me to have a couple rewarding "Aha" moments, especially when it came to the counter mechanics. Emerging from these zones, you’ll appear to be tankless. Don’t panic! Finding the next save point will allow you to teleport a fresh G-Sophia right to you.

Stage progression varies: early levels feel incredibly linear but quickly turn into large sprawling stages as you collect new abilities and backtrack to use them and make further progress. Fortunately, the backtracking never feels monotonous as what appears to be a new feature to the series, warping between specific checkpoints, speeds up the proceedings. It allows traveling to any point of the stage, making backtracking an enticing experience. There's a myriad of boss battles throughout the story that encompasses both tank and on foot combat so be prepared for and comfortable with each.

As the third entry and conclusion to a series-long story, the narrative may not have felt as impactful to me as it may others; however, there's a colorful cast of characters to meet, all written well enough if not a little tropey. Ultimately, the story told through cutscenes and in game dialogue is enjoyable and includes call backs to earlier entries in the series.

The new gameplay wrinkle the narrative provides is the dimensional rifts that you traverse in order to access alternate realities of the world. They’re novel and don't amount to much more than a new doorway, but the visual detail is welcome and makes the stakes feel that much higher for our heroes. There are a handful of issues that do throw a wrench into things, though. For instance, there are certain areas where should you leave your tank behind and travel as Jason, you may end up in a situation you can't escape. You'll just be stuck. And if you don't have the means to self-destruct, you'll need to reset the game. This seems like a rather large design oversight, but it is avoidable. This was most problematic in a stage where the power goes out continuously and you can't see the platforms. Additionally, though rare, there were a few instances of slow down, which was disappointing to see in a title that’s not graphically demanding.

If you're a fan of the classic Blaster Master games but hate the hair pulling difficulty, this modern take will still offer an enjoyable challenge and is easy to recommend. Should you be a returning fan, don’t wait to take one last ride into the Sunsoft sunset, or maybe I should call it the sunset Sunsoft?

[Helter-Smelter]

19

TalkBack / Smelter (Switch) Review

« on: July 20, 2021, 10:16:49 AM »

Helter-Smelter

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/57861/smelter-switch-review

Smelter, developed by X Plus, is a 2D platformer/top-down shooter that aims to fuse genres and showcase the genesis of a possible new hit indie franchise. It starts with a twofold bang: The intro cutscene with an amazing tone and score and the visual flair of an early ‘90s cartoon set expectations high from the start. We're then introduced to our protagonist of biblical origins: Eve. One day the forbidden fruit falls from its branch and Adam succumbs to the temptation. An explosion goes off in the distance and Eve is cast from the heavens with Adam nowhere in sight.

After landing, you find yourself in the pits of a strange new world and are introduced to the basic platforming movement: only a jump and punch, to start. Right around the corner in this tutorial stage you’ll be introduced to Smelter, a magical suit of armor and ex-ruler of the “Rumbly Lands.” After your chance meeting, you quickly strike a deal: in return for restoring Smelter's rule over the lands and regaining his power, he will aid you in your pursuit of Adam. It's a unique premise, to say the least.

Upon exiting the first stage, you begin the tutorial for your army expansion, in what initially appears to be a real-time strategy/twin-stick shooter hybrid. In practice, it’s a much simpler affair. You have a few resources to manage: your “Zirms” who are the foot soldiers that occupy constructs such as barracks or archery towers, as well as apples, which provide a food source for your armies. Should you run out of apples, the Zirm houses (which produce Zirms) halt production. You take control of Smelter directly in these segments, leaving Eve to rest her feet in a nearby pond. Smelter is a much simpler character without his human counterpart. Your basic controls are pointing the right joystick to shoot and pressing 'A' to expand your territory and place new constructs. Later on, you unlock additional shots, but they do nothing to alter the gameplay other than destroying specially-marked obstacles.

Playing through these segments will open the next platforming level as well as develop much of the game’s world-building; however, the inclusion of this top-down sim element more often than not detracts from the overall package. The objectives are often very mundane, primarily being destroy or defend X. As alluded to with his simplicity, controlling Smelter is a dry affair during combat and you mainly end up serving as a fixed point of additional firepower or darting about casting repair on your structures with the R button. As well, there's often a lack of visual feedback that can lead to unclear mission objectives. As an example, I remember failing a section over and over because a specific unclear drop should have been picked up and delivered to a key location. Not only that, but if you're being attacked you will get a message warning "You are being attacked!" but the issue is your controlled territory is eventually expansive and without a simple direction pointing towards the enemy hostility. Ultimately, combat in this mode is nothing more than an annoyance.

When you do finally get to your next stage, things start to get back on course. The union of Eve and Smelter is a fun one and does offer some enjoyable 2D platforming reminiscent of games in the Megaman X series. Pressing the L button will launch a green hand along with your directional input that can be used to interact with specific areas of the stage to propel yourself forward (much like a gamified version of the sticky hand toy) as well as destroy downed enemies for a small health increase. Smelter also adds some basic movement abilities to Eve’s kit, such as a dash and wall jump with further abilities and suit types unlocked by accessing "forges" in the different lands. These differing suits' abilities range from rock-based gauntlets to an electric whip and a blaster that tickled my Megaman X nostalgia yet again. Each suit has its own associated skill tree as well.

Smelter sports a number of boss encounters, hidden stages, and bonus pick-ups for the completionist. However, I would be hard-pressed to return to any of the stages once cleared, for the reasons below. Eventually, you’ll be met with a steep difficulty curve and you may think that you simply need to play the stage better. This might be true; even without the spike in difficulty, the platforming sections are no slouch. But what could be happening is that you’re missing a key upgrade from the aforementioned skill trees. Unlocking these upgrades is an ordeal in itself. Suit upgrades require a specific pick up which can only be collected from hidden stages found tucked away in each level. These hidden stages often implement strict rulesets and instant-fail conditions such as a time limit, a no-damage requirement, or having to remain undetected by an enemy. I think I lost a few too many strands of hair trying to push through those stages. Once you have one of your upgrade points, you must find a specific shrine in the overworld in order to unlock the upgrade. The feeling I had after successfully unlocking any of these upgrades was that they should have been rolled into the standard gameplay and not tucked away in a seemingly optional objective. Some of these upgrades are integral to the experience and lumping them in with the overworld content comes off as a means of giving importance to an otherwise lacklustre segment.

With its eye-catching pixel art style and strong visual and tonal identity, Smelter really could have been the complete package. Unfortunately, uneven gameplay, a strange choice in upgrade paths and difficulty spikes that only led to frustration as opposed to the joy of a challenge left a sour taste in my mouth. Fans of the genre should still find a lot to love in this title, so long as it’s approached with a heavy dose of patience.

[Little Town of Horrors]

20

TalkBack / Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville (Switch) Review

« on: April 26, 2021, 09:33:08 AM »

Little Town of Horrors

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/57010/plants-vs-zombies-battle-for-neighborville-switch-review

Plants versus Zombies, at one point, was an icon of the mobile gaming genre. With charm, humor and a dash of strategy, Crazy Dave worked his way into many of our hearts and devices. Years later, it’s reimagined itself away from the wave-based tower defense gameplay that made the series a household name. The third-person shooter gameplay that started with Garden Warfare has evolved into the latest entry in the series: Battle for Neighborville. Has the series grown in a direction that it can continue to plant its roots, or is it now a rotten corpse of what it once was? And how do these ported terracotta pots and tombstones stack up on the Nintendo Switch?

Plants vs. Zombies - Battle for Neighborville is split up into two main components: single-player and multiplayer. Within the single-player you'll spend your time exploring a number of vibrant locales, completing specific quests or bounties with secrets, hidden quests, and chests peppered throughout. It's an enjoyable time with a few decent boss battles, though it feels like a missed opportunity for lacking a more overarching story. There’s a lot of promise in the character designs and personalities that a fully fleshed-out story mode would make for a really fun romp, with all the potential of PG Conker's Bad Fur Day meets Splatoon. Sigh, one can dream. A real bonus to the game's single-player mode is that you can play it in a team of four for some laid-back wandering and blasting. The result is a fun diversion from the traditional multiplayer that wears thin over time and offers another means of finding a few unlockables and in-game currency.

Where you’ll spend the majority of your time, however, is in the dedicated multiplayer matches. Choosing between either Plants or Zombies offers a bevy of different characters all with their own strengths and weaknesses to compliment your teammates' deficiencies. All these characters are incredibly unique, with added complexity as you level them up and unlock upgrade perks. These can range from shorter cooldown on health regen to more unique upgrades such as Kernel Corn's Shotgun Guard that completely changes his playstyle.  Game modes include Turf War, which is the standard fare: defend/push the payload to the opposing team's base. And Team Vanquish, which is simply team deathmatch. There are roughly six unique maps per game mode as well. Finally, there’s Graveyard and Garden Ops which are more of a horde mode with turrets to aid you, the closest thing resembling the original game’s premise.

This being the complete version of the game, it’s compiled all the additional content added to the game since its original release on other consoles, and best of all does away with all microtransactions. All unlockables can be earned in-game. This includes entirely new playable characters as well as cosmetics such as hats, gloves, boots, and even full skins. And obtaining one of the many legendary skins is made reasonable from the inclusion of progression charts. What these allow you to do is choose a specific legendary skin and should you fill out all the nodes on the chart (done by using “gems'' which you earn via in-game achievements) you’ll eventually unlock your targeted skin. It’s a grind to fill out one chart so unlocking them all will take time, but when the game itself feels appropriately low stakes, it’s nice to always have something to work towards and be rewarded with, guilt-free. Being able to unlock this wealth of content gives a worthwhile reason to come back and test out new characters, too, of which there are 23 in total.

The transition to the Switch hasn’t been a seamless one, though. Heavy compromises have been made, and strangely this is one of those games that I feel performs better handheld than docked. Frame rate keeps up most of the time to the game's pace. Thankfully, it’s more often that you see dips due to the sheer numbers in the single-player mobs; multiplayer is for the most part stable. However, the majority of in-game cutscenes are ugly, with heavy texture and effect pop-in, alongside massive frame drops.

All in all Plants vs. Zombies - Battle for Neighborville is a worthy timesink if you’re looking for a fun, lighthearted multiplayer shooter. It has its issues running on the Switch but there’s nothing game-breaking. Though its single-player offerings may quickly wilt, you’re still likely to find yourself digging this one up time and time again.

[With a skip and a hop, she's one cool Kaze!]

21

TalkBack / Kaze and the Wild Masks (Switch) Review

« on: March 26, 2021, 06:00:00 AM »

With a skip and a hop, she's one cool Kaze!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/56673/kaze-and-the-wild-masks-switch-review

It's not often that a new game can teleport you back to your childhood, when waking up early on a Saturday was the highlight of your week because it meant a few extra hours with your favorite game or TV show. I booted up Kaze and the Wild Masks after recently moving to a new apartment. Things were admittedly still somewhat chaotic in my life; living in and out of boxes had me dealing with unneeded stress and the walls surrounding me weren't feeling like home. Starting the first level gave me a sense of comfort and familiarity I hadn't experienced from a video game in a long time and immediately grounded me in warm nostalgia.

Platformers that make the jump to 3D while keeping the gameplay of their 2D entry before it often don't have the same tactile feeling as their predecessors. Similar to New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical freeze felt this way to me and I could never fully get into it. Kaze and the Wild Masks developed by PixelHive and published by Soedesco apes (pun intended) much of what the 2D Donkey Kong Country games had done in the past and I'm entirely thankful for it.

Kaze and the Wild Masks is structured much like these ‘90s platforming classics. There are a total of four worlds that have six to nine levels in each. Within them, you'll be collecting a series of items: red gems, green gems, as well as letters. You might have guessed it but you'll be picking up the letters K-A-Z-E much like the K-O-N-G letters from the DKC games. You collect green gems by finding secret levels twice per stage, some of which are very well hidden.  Collecting 100 red gems in any stage gives you a completion gem for your efforts.

More often than not in collection-heavy games, the reward is in the completionist mentality. That never sits well in my opinion, and thankfully PixelHive has cleverly tied unlockables to each of the different gem types. The Yellow gem (which you receive after collecting K-A-Z-E) unlocks a different piece of art that details the origin of the masks as well as the game's main antagonist. Green gems unlock a (painfully difficult) bonus stage in each world. And the Red supposedly unlocks more content beyond the last boss should you collect every red gem in the game. To put that into perspective, I finished the game with only 7/31 red gems. No easy feat.

As mentioned, if you've played any game in the Donkey Kong Country series, you'll immediately recognize the control scheme. Kaze herself controls very similarly to Dixie Kong. She has a spin attack move that can be done on the ground, a ground pound from mid-air, a jump, a and glide where Kaze spins her bunny ears to extend the distance of the jump with additional flight control. She can even grab pots similarly to the Kong kin and throw them at enemies to break them. Don't let familiar controls lull you into a false sense of security during the opening levels as it did me, though. Warner Brothers, if you're ever looking for additional reference material for a strong anthropomorphic rabbit, here it is: Kaze and the Wild Masks is no pushover. You have a two-hit maximum, checkpoints are spread within each level, but often far apart. Thankfully death doesn't carry much weight other than that of your own failure as you get teleported back to your previous checkpoint. Additionally, should you take a hit there are heart pickups to refill that extra hit buffer scattered throughout the stage.

As you attempt to survive the onslaught of evil, transformed vegetables that make up your primary opposition, you'll eventually come across one of the title's aforementioned masks. Mimicking the feeling of finding animal buddies in the Donkey Kong titles, these consist of Eagle, Shark, Reptile, and Tiger, each of them bestowing additional animalistic powers to Kaze. Most function as you would assume. The Eagle Mask gives you the ability to fly through the air by flapping your wings with the jump button as well as arming you with an arcing projectile. The Shark mask gives you additional abilities in the game's water sections, allowing you to torpedo yourself through the water as well as giving you the ability to swim. The more unique masks are the Tiger and Reptile; The Tiger mask gives you a dash attack and the ability to climb walls. The Reptile mask is bestowed for on rails portions of the game.  Similar to the mine cart levels of DKC, you continuously move forward but gain the ability to perform a double jump as well as a dive technique. These four masks do a great job to provide means of level traversal that instantly feels familiar and offers a nice mix up to the level pacing, with the Tiger mask being my personal favorite thanks to the additional platforming challenge it gave to many levels. I do wish that Kaze and the Wild Masks went the extra mile to differentiate itself in its level design, however. Each stage often acts as a wonderful clone to past games, but it does suffer from playing too close to those inspirations. At times it felt lacking in too many unique ideas of its own.

At the end of each world, you'll be presented with some very traditional and fun challenges to be found with the game's boss battles. All are three-hits-to-kill affairs, but here is when the game's movement (and sometimes mask) mechanics shine. Dodging sometimes close to bullet-hell levels of screen clutter is just one obstacle. It's a shame that there are only four boss battles in the main game as taking one down is an incredibly rewarding experience.

Presentation is a strong suit for Kaze and the Wild Masks, a veritable cornucopia for the eyes and ears. The animated intro sets the stage well when a friend sacrifices themself to save Kaze and small animatics bookend each world. Stage environments are varied if not a little cliche, ranging from your jungle, ice, poison, and lava aesthetics, but the enemy designs are hilarious. Evil vegetables are after you and their designs are some of the most fun I've seen. I found myself delighted to jump on the head of the vacant looking eggplant or projectile corn and hearing the death cries of my fallen foe. There were a few instances where some of the game's art direction, specifically in its lighting made for some frustration, where the glow of toxins or lava would muddle what sections of the stage I could interact with. While this did cause a few headaches, thankfully it was a rare occurrence. Overall it's a strong package visually, and the only knock against it is that there are sections of the game with very noticeable slow-down. Particularly in the underwater sections and most obviously in the game's final battle. Fortunately, it was noticeable but not game-breaking. The game's music also does a fantastic job of evoking the era and fits with the game's overall aesthetic perfectly.

When all is said and done and you've cleared the main story, which altogether should take you 8-10 hours depending on your skill level, online time trial leaderboards present another way to tackle each stage. With that and unearthing the game's secret levels, there's a lot of content to be found in Kaze and the Wild Masks. It’s a wonderful homage to games I loved in the past and came at a perfect time in my life, helping me get used to my new surroundings. I won't soon be forgetting my time spent with Kaze. If you're in the market for a new 2D platformer, you can't go wrong with harvesting the fruits of PixelHive and Soedesco’s labor, but maybe avoid the sinister-looking carrots.

[It ain't much but it's honest work.]

22

TalkBack / Littlewood (Switch) Review

« on: March 13, 2021, 07:32:57 PM »

It ain't much but it's honest work.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/56565/littlewood-switch-review

In the genre of “city builder” or, to a more micro degree, “town builder,” it's hard for a new IP to get noticed with such heavy hitters already dominating the space. Many would consider Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley to be kings of their respective hills and tough to dethrone. Enter Littlewood: a town builder with a whimsical coat of paint and simplistic design that marries elements from both games. Can it stand shoulder to shoulder with the greats?

The first thing you'll notice when you boot up Littlewood is its visuals. Sporting an 8-bit style pixel art, it immediately feels nostalgic. Adding onto the nostalgia is the almost storybook JRPG setup that occurs when you start the game. You, the Hero of Solemn, recently vanquished the Dark Wizard but are suffering from a form of amnesia. You have no recollection of the journey or the friends you made along the way. It really makes you feel as though you're playing the new game + to an old Nintendo RPG classic.

After the brief set-up from old adventuring buddies Willow and Dalton, you'd be right to feel impressed by the amount of customization you have at your disposal right from the get-go. Your town starts with your house, Willow's house, a lumber mill, and a forge to refine harvested materials. Anything can be moved in town at any time. Pressing the B button brings up your build menu, which gives you the ability to raise/move, lower/destroy as well as options to build/place plants, buildings, and flooring, should you have the item or the recipe with the associated materials in your inventory. Initially, the most notable selections are raise/lower. This is essentially my personal favorite mechanic from Animal Crossing New Horizons: the terraforming. You can construct platforms up to two levels and turn the lowest level into ponds right from the beginning of the game. It's quite a freeing experience initially.

The start of the game is straightforward enough. Meet a villager; build their house; receive a new blueprint a period of time after they've moved in. These blueprints range from the town square, market, and museum, among others. Eventually, you'll be presented with the hot air balloon platform blueprint and this is where the game begins to stretch its legs and give you additional locales to explore and resources to acquire that aren't available in your town. These locations consist of the Endless Forests where you can find exotic lumber and the Dust Caverns where you can mine rare ores. Upgrading the air balloon unlocks additional areas. Of course, most structures can be upgraded to allow for more inventory or crafting bonuses, for example. Unfortunately, these upgrades don't change anything visually and I found no means of upgrading my personal home.

Every action outside of speaking with townsfolk or anything done within the build menu costs stamina and in return grants experience for the specific skill. Those being woodcutting, mining, gathering, bug catching, fishing, farming, crafting, and lastly Tarott Monster (a fun deck-building minigame you eventually unlock). Improving these skills as well as upgrading buildings with harvested materials and continuously speaking with townsfolk is the means of progression and unlocking new content.

Littlewood has a bevy of customization options, from your town layout and decor to even the interior furnishing of your home as well as those of your townsfolk, who seem a bit inept at taking care of themselves. Your favorite new villager Bubsy is going to be camping out on the floor of his new home until you build him a bed, so don't neglect him! You can even build a desk that has unique furnishing requests for each villager in their home in order to align their decor with their personal taste. After interacting with some villagers you may even decide one is to your liking. Littlewood gives you the option to romance and eventually marry any villager that moves to your town. Some are quite eager and flirtatious, which created an odd juxtaposition between the gameplay and its art style.

The simplicity of some of Littlewood's mechanics seems to be to its detriment as the presented gameplay loop can become a little dry; progressing to the next day often lacks the excitement you'd get from similar titles. Gathering items isn't nuanced or rewarding. Seasonal changes don't seem to affect much gameplay-related other than new calendar events—which are often lackluster and usually just a unique vendor—as well as new fish and bug spawns. Personally what the game boiled down to for me was an enjoyable enough toybox to customize that was gated by talent levels that felt unnecessary and progress that was never all that exciting.

Decent writing and a good art style keep this game above mediocrity and toying with the town building mechanics is enjoyable. But unless you're specifically looking for another entry in the town sim genre, it's hard to recommend this above other options already available on Switch. Then again, if the more simplistic approach is what you're looking for and the ability to change your town layout on a whim sounds appealing, there are things to enjoy in this quaint Littlewood.

[Energized super ball is now in your hands!]

23

TalkBack / Glyph (Switch) Review

« on: February 13, 2021, 12:43:34 PM »

Energized super ball is now in your hands!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/56244/glyph-switch-review

Glyph is a 3d platformer by Bolverk Games, a small Danish startup studio who claim to gear their games towards mechanics that are easy to learn and hard to master. Does this skill-focused platformer unearth a hidden gem from the Switch's library or should it fade in the sands of time?

You start your journey being resurrected by the last remaining member of your civilization (Anobi) who urges you (Glyph), a small robotic beetle, to restore the ruins and end the corruption that has befallen the Heart of Creation, the source of energy for your people. Immediately you're dropped into a brief tutorial where Anobi teaches you movement abilities. In Glyph's basic state, it is nothing more than a ball that can roll around, but by the end of the tutorial you're given your remaining skills to open things up. Those consist of a jump, dive (this ability propels you straight down to the ground) and a glide in which you expand your wings and hover for a period in your beetle form.  You need to use these abilities in harmony in order to traverse the deadly sands by which the ruins have been engulfed.

And traverse them you must because it appears that Glyph is deathly allergic to sand, causing it to explode on impact. It's a bit of a "floor is lava" situation, and the key to your success is using your abilities properly to carry momentum and get good ricochets off interactable objects in order to reach each level's exit. There's a number of collectables you'll be picking up along your way: Coins, Gems, Keys, and Golden Scarabs. You’ll be using each of these in the hub world where you unlock sections of the ruins that house additional levels, until the grandeur of your civilization is fully restored. Coins unlock new levels; Gems unlock new sections of the ruins, making additional levels accessible. Keys, on the other hand, must all be collected in any given stage to open a portal to the exit. Scarabs are a unique currency that similarly unlock specific stages; however, the trick to the scarabs is that you need to collect every single coin in a stage before you can pick them up. It sounds like a lot to collect and doing so without dying would be grueling to say the least. Thankfully your collection of gems and coins persists between deaths so long as you complete the stage and don't just quit out to the hub world.

There are over 80 levels ranging from a Skull difficulty rating of 1 to 5 for you to bound your way through, consisting of two game types: exploration and time trial. In exploration, you collect the above mentioned trinkets at your own pace and solve the puzzle of the level. Time trial is a race against the clock. You still need to collect keys in this game mode to exit the stage, and doing so quickly will net you a bronze to gold ranking and 1, 2, or 3 gems as a result.

The geometric playgrounds each stage provides are enjoyable and offer some variety.  Some are imaginative with skyscrapers and sentry robots, whereas some are downright brutal. A particular time trial stage comes to mind with sparse pots as your only solid footing and the first introduction of hidden spears that emerge from the sand. I’m definitely not a fan. Unfortunately, a number of the more uninspired stages can feel more menial than anything, but those are infrequent enough that it doesn't detract too much from the overall package.

Something I found as a really nice inclusion that made every stage more intriguing is the fact that Glyph is one of the few games in recent memory that has a huge number of unlockable cosmetics that aren't restricted by any paywall. Every stage has either a full character skin or a trail (think exhaust streak) that comes off Glyph. Unlocking them is one of the best aspects of the game. In every stage, you'll find Anobi tucked away somewhere (usually in a relatively obvious spot) who will give you a hint to the location of a secret in the stage. These always manifest themselves as a giant yellow switch that when struck will unlock a new section of platforming elements to the stage that bring you to a cosmetic collectible you then need to take to the exit with you to unlock.

Graphically, Glyph isn’t always a looker. Simplistic geometry and shading are more functional over aesthetic, but that's not to say Glyph doesn't carry a style of its own. Some of the later stages are quite striking with unique lighting, monolithic structures, or creatures that offer some nice visual splendor, but they are definitely not commonplace. On the technical side, my time with the Glyph was overall very positive with only an odd frame drop in very rare situations, nothing gameplay impacting. And I'm happy to say that good performance carries over into handheld mode, which this game feels great in. Lastly, while there isn't a tune I could hum off the top of my head after my 15 hours with the game, the audio does kick in when you gather a new collectable and adds to the excitement of progression through each stage.

Glyph is perfect for a 15-minute pick up and play session or something you can struggle with for an hour.  It's a rewarding experience when you have mastered its controls. Soaring through the sky to the exit like a golf ball in flight is a satisfying feeling. Its difficulty spikes can be dramatic, but if you're up for the challenge and craving some 3d platforming this one is worth a look.

[Look into your hard drive and open your mercy file!]

24

TalkBack / SYNTHETIK: Ultimate (Switch) Review

« on: January 15, 2021, 06:54:07 PM »

Look into your hard drive and open your mercy file!

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/55974/synthetik-ultimate-switch-review

Developed by Flow Fire Games, SYNTHETIK: Ultimate transports you into a brutal alternate reality 1985 dystopia. In this top-down, twin-stick roguelike, humanity has its back against the wall against the unceasing onslaught of self-learning machines. That's right, it's a typical Skynet situation, and it's going to take the strength of what I can only assume are legions of Alex Murphy's long lost cousins to save the day. You have the option to choose from eight playable classes, ranging from the tankier Riot Guard, sneaky cloaked Assassin and even a turret deploying Engineer. Your prime directive is to prevent Armageddon. How? Climb the tower, find the "Heart of Armageddon," and destroy it.

Just like in most roguelikes, a number of elements are procedurally generated. Levels, weapons/upgrades and shops are all randomized with enemies spread out anew with every run. I've not played too many entries into the genre, but I found myself enthralled with this gameplay loop. The temptation of "just one more run" was all too real, and I was excited to see what else I would find in my next attempt.

However, I am quite familiar with twin-stick shooters, and even still this game can be brutal. Controls are a challenge to get used to. Each weapon has a unique active reload you will be learning on the fly alongside potentially different ammo types to cycle through that have varying effectiveness. In addition each class starts with at least one dash and usable item. As you collect more items the number of face buttons begin to dwindle and you’ll be pressing combinations of ZL+B, A, Y, and X. It's a little messy but it works. Be prepared for a learning curve and to struggle with the clunky UI and controls. Here’s a tip: upgrade outside of combat.SYNTHETIK: Ultimate has a variety of mechanics that help add a bit of additional strategy to the standard run and gun affair, one of which is threat level manipulation. You have the option to raise and lower the threat of your next stage to curtail your difficulty and rewards. In addition to threat level manipulation, there are also items and weapons that demand a sacrifice. Selecting these ominous red chests will often bring down your health within an inch of death. Take these powerful upgrades at your own peril. When you die, your XP is totalled and you unlock further passive abilities to discover for your specific class on your next run, which makes sticking to a class feel rewarding.

I'm a bit saddened to say that the game has a hidden boss, one that no amazing drops or perfect runs can defeat: technical issues. The Switch version is currently plagued with some that range from minor annoyance to utterly game breaking. Slowdown is common and can happen when battle gets a little too hectic, which is never fun. But what actually ruins the game and leaves me unable to recommend it until the problem is fixed is its severe crashing issue. This happens at the worst possible time, too: right when you get to the teleporter to take you to the next stage. Now this does not occur 100% of the time but the majority of my attempts ended in the game crashing and not me getting killed. There's nothing more deflating than clearing a tough stage, getting lucky drops and nice upgrades, only to have your game crash. If the game's official subreddit is to be believed, it does seem like the developers are actively trying to get a patch that addresses this specific issue through certification. So hopefully it's not too long of a wait for it to be fixed.

There are two other listed game types in SYNTHETIK: Ultimate, oddly with the same description of "Compete in trials of Zir, beat all the challenges," but as they stand, these are wholly dismissable. One labeled Arena appears to be a demo of an intended game type where you receive powerful upgrades at a more frequent pace. But it's only a single stage as of this review. The other is called Firing Range. Here you only get two weapons to practice with. If there was an option to choose any of the available weapons to test run, I could see the value of this mode. As is, it only served to get you used to the controls, which you might as well do in the main game mode. Another head scratcher, some item drops contain descriptions geared towards multiplayer. An example of this would be an item called: Lifeblood. Its description reads “Hitting enemies and all fired bullets grants lifeblood charges which can be consumed to heal all team members.” The issue is that the Switch version of this game is single player only, unlike its PC counterpart. It would have been nice for these drops to be modified to reflect the single-player focused Switch version.

I do hope to return to SYNTHETIK: Ultimate one day when these issues are addressed and additional content added. The game is packed with options and at its core is a very fun experience marred by a lack of polish and technical issues. I still found myself rooting for this game when I would find hidden record players that would kick on fantastic techno beats to galvanize my robot scrapping pursuits. All the guns feel and sound unique, and it's a real joy to find a rare drop, upgrade your character, and unlock new passives for your class. Hopefully in a few months’ time, this game will be an easy recommendation for fans of the genre as it has the makings of a hidden gem in the Switch’s library.

[This time it ain't just about being fast.]

25

TalkBack / Inertial Drift (Switch) Review

« on: October 08, 2020, 11:14:00 AM »

This time it ain't just about being fast.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/55163/inertial-drift-switch-review

Editor's Note: Tire audio can actually be adjusted in game via a slider.

If you've ever dreamed of whipping burning rubber down switchback roads in your Toyota AE86, Inertial Drift by Level 91 Entertainment might just be the game you've been waiting for. While licensed cars are nowhere to be found, it's obvious the developer doesn’t shy away from their inspiration. Inertial Drift knows exactly what kind of game it wants to be, and it delivers on that vision. This high octane, high skill-cap arcade racing game focuses its efforts around the often implemented but rarely emphasized mechanic of drifting.

From it’s tracks to car designs, the art direction is seeped in a vibrant Outrun styling mixed with some seemingly familiar references to fans of the sport and its media. A bright neon pallet paints the screen, whether you're skidding through a metropolis, a sandy coastline, the rolling peaks of a snow-covered mountain or even the in-game menus. There's never a shortage of visual style in Inertial Drift. That's why it is somewhat unfortunate that the Switch itself isn't up to the task of showing all the game has to offer. Sacrifices were clearly made to get this running on Nintendo’s hardware. Docked resolution in particular seems to take a hit, and the result is a lack of visual clarity. While this might not sound like a particularly noteworthy gripe, it does have a direct impact on gameplay. More on that in a moment.

Inertial Drift takes a unique approach to its driving mechanics. During your time drifting through the technicolor landscapes on your way to the Summer Grand Prix, you'll be using an interesting control scheme. Inertial Drift lives up to its name by having a joystick entirely dedicated to drift controls. The left joystick for steering and the right for drifting gives this game a one-of-a-kind, twin-stick racer feel—at least the first I've had the chance to play. There’s a learning curve to be sure, and a tutorial is available, but it's not as robust as it could be. Therefore, as ironic as it sounds, you might want to take it slow to start. I would advise beginning with one of the lower difficulty cars. That said, once you get a grip on one of the 16 total cars available in the game, it is oh-so-satisfying.

There’s a refreshingly wide array of game modes for this budget title. A series of single player options are available, like a story mode, told through visual-novel type character interactions between races with four available characters to choose from (one of which is locked until you've completed your first playthrough). Each character has their own short stories, motivations, and difficulty level, though course progression remains similar between all four. A Challenge mode sees you take on trials for individual vehicles. Finally, an Arcade mode grants free reign of the tracks to participate in practice, time trial, and race modes. Making use of that practice mode and learning these tracks as though they were your childhood backroads is something you'll want to do.

You see, within every mode of Inertial Drift you will notice one glaring omission: a minimap. The other half of the game’s challenge, after grasping the controls, is knowing each course. Without the track map,the player becomes forced to look for indicators on the road ahead,or else just memorize each upcoming turn. This is where the aforementioned resolution becomes a problem. There's sometimes a shortage of visual information to properly judge your next move. Of course, this is remedied with repetition, but it means you're unlikely to have a clean or even moderately successful run on a course's first attempt. Progression through the campaign at times becomes more tedious than fun, and I found myself dropping the difficulty, being forced to restart the story with a different vehicle, in doing so.

As far as the audio is concerned only the truest of gear heads will find any enjoyment here. There are some catchy tunes offering synth beats to the game's menus and tracks, but the audio otherwise feels like an afterthought. That may be in part to the fact that you’ll hardly ever hear any of the game's background music. Get used to the sound of squealing tires and burning rubber. The drifting audio overpowers everything else in the game and may as well be the only audio included due to its frequency.

Audio, visual and even learning curve frustrations aside, where Inertial Drift really gains traction is in its online and local multiplayer. The former unfortunately seems to suffer from low player count and long matchmaking times, but thankfully when I eventually found an opponent my experience was smooth and issue-free. While online matches are tense and enjoyable, nothing beats the at-home experience of challenging a willing friend or soon-to-be racing rival with local split screen. This was easily the best time I had with Inertial Drift and the game gained a few unexpected new fans in the process.

Despite some concessions being made to the Switch version of Inertial Drift, there were few performance issues beyond the resolution. Slight frame drops at the start of every race are a curiosity that disappears quickly, but I did have one complete crash. Overall, the gripes with Inertial Drift that I had hold it back from realizing its full potential. Nonetheless, most issues can be overlooked when the sheer enjoyment you'll feel hitting the perfect drift line is undeniable. With a robust amount of content and a rarefied local multiplayer, this is an easy recommendation for fans of the genre.