Anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows that I’m pretty fierce in my anti-capitalist stance on the world. A view like this, however, is often not reflected in video games with the medium rarely even loosely mentioning the topic for fear of upsetting “The Gamers” with their politics. So when I head about an anti-capitalist rogue lite from Laura Kate Dale and Conrad Zimmerman, I absolutely had to give it a try.
Do you remember the scene from the opening of The Incredibles where Mr. Incredible says that he feels like the maid and just wants the world to stay saved for a little while? That’s how I feel about the Crystals in the world of the Bravely franchise, and Bravely Default II doesn’t buck the trend. Beginning with throwing together your rag tag band of misfits, led by Seth, you venture into the world to save the Crystals.
Just over a decade ago, we were blessed with a movie based on the excellent graphic novel series, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. This was followed by an equally great (if not greater) video game. Then, due to licensing issues the game disappeared from all storefronts… until now. That’s right folks, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is back on consoles and PC!
The game follows the titular character and terrible person Scott Pilgrim and/or some of his friends as they fight their way through Ramona’s Seven Evil Exes so that Scott can continue dating her. Whether or not Scott actually deserves Ramona (because she is too cool for him anyway and he’s as much of a manipulative abuser as an ousted Ubisoft executive) is up to you.
This review was originally posted on Rice Digital on June 4th, 2018.
I will happily admit that I’m not massively familiar with the otome genre of games, although now that I’ve discovered them, I have absolutely no idea why I haven’t jumped on this before. 7’scarlet is a visual novel otome game from Idea Factory, originally released in Japan in 2016 for Playstation Vita. Now, the wonderful folks over at Aksys have brought the game to the EU, but how is 7’scarlet to play?
This review was originally posted on Nintendo Scene on 22nd April 2018.
The Pokémon series is undeniably a worldwide smash hit by this point with millions of units shifted across the various generations of mainline titles, and that’s not even including the various spin-offs and the avalanche of merchandise for the series. One such spin-off is this little curio here, Detective Pikachu. Beginning development in 2013 and being released only in Japan as Great Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Duo in 2016. This initial version was removed in January this year to be replaced by the release of this, the expanded version containing three times the amount of cases. This all being said, how is Detective Pikachu?
This article was originally posted on Nintendo Scene on 10th April 2018.
As I’ve reported previously, the wonderful guys at PQube are publishing the upcoming anime fighting crossover game, BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle in Europe. In case it hasn’t come across before now, my excitement about this project has only escalated since the announcement of it last year, and I had the huge privilege of playing it at Sakura Fight Festa last weekend. Before I talk about it, it should be stressed that this was the Playstation 4 English language build that’s recently surfaced so not all of what I’m about to say might translate into the final version of the game, or what changes will be applied to the Switch version. This being said, and although I only played a few games, I’ve got a decent idea of how the game works and plays, so how is it?
This review was originally posted on Nintendo Scene on 5th April 2018.
Occasionally, the Switch has seen some odd releases, either of unusual indies emerging out of an increasingly experimental indie scene or of ports of the more strange games from other platforms. Speaking of which, Eat Beat: Dead Spike-san is a rhythm action game based on the BlazBlue franchise of anime fighting games. Released originally in 2015 for iOS and Android devices by Arc System Works, this absurd spin-off of an already arguably absurd franchise has now come to Nintendo Switch eShop. But how is it?
This review was originally posted on Nintendo Scene on 21st March 2018.
Now we’re past the first year of the Switch being among us, did you think that Nintendo were going to slow down? Well, if you were banking on that, I have some bad news for you. The announcements keep on coming, and the support for Nintendo’s new wonder child keeps on coming. One such game that has come to the console recently is Clockstone and Headup Games’ collaborative successor to Bridge Constructor, this time partnering with Valve to acquire assets and lore from the Portal series. The end result is Bridge Constructor Portal, but how is it?
This review was originally posted on Nintendo Scene on Thursday 15th February.
After the arguable sleeper success of the first Bayonetta game, especially from a large group of players, it all seemed like a sequel was inevitably on the cards. However, we wouldn’t see our favourite Umbra Witch for a few years afterwards and the means of her return would surprise all of us. After striking a deal with Nintendo to essentially bring the project out of initial concept stages, Platinum Games brought Bayonetta 2 exclusively to the Wii U in 2014. Now, we all know the fate of the Wii U, so a lot of people were pleased to hear that both games were being brought to Switch to give them another chance. You’ve seen my thoughts on the first game, but how is the sequel and how does it run on Switch?
This review was originally posted on Nintendo Scene on 14th February.
The Switch has become somewhat of a goldmine for ports since its launch, and with good reason. The portability of the console has allowed for several games for be given the fresh lease on life they deserve. This includes several unexpected surprises, one of which is Bayonetta. Originally released in the UK in 2010 on the X-Box 360 and Playstation 3, and made by some pretty recognisable names (Hideki Kamiya for one), the adventures of Bayonetta were quietly popular and were later brought to the Wii U in its most definitive outing. That being said, how is the Switch port of Bayonetta?
Reu The Gamer 