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BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle
When I think of fighting games, I think of semi-complex motions, perfect timing, and a strong focus on competition. It’s you vs me in a battle to the death…or knock out. It’s a battle of wits and skill. In many fighting games, a good deal of skill is dedicated to being able to perform the previously mentioned semi-complex motions with perfect timing. In BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (BBCTB), things are slightly different. Fighting games have always struggled to hit the mainstream market in a meaningful way. Sure, most casual gamers know who Chun-Li, Kazuya, and Scorpion are, but most of you don’t really identify with Cerebella, Iori, or Sol Badguy.…
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Punch Club
perhaps a more accurate title would be, “Get Punched Club.” Sometimes it’s even just “Get Clubbed.” However you want to call it, one thing is for sure…You will take far more punishment playing this game than you will deal out. This game is just brutal, that’s all there is to it. So what exactly is Punch Club? Well, essentially it is a time/resource management game where you navigate a wannabe MMA fighter through his day to day dealings in the hopes you gain fortune and glory. What’s that now? You were expecting a game named Punch Club, featuring an aspiring MMA fighter to be an action game? Well, you’re sorely…
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Clustertruck
Clustertruck…Oh where to begin. I guess the name is a pretty accurate representation of what you’re going to get in this package. Using any sort of permutation of “cluster fuck” as your game title should be a red flag at this point. The joke has worn FAR too thin, but in this case, you actually are getting a cluster of trucks. So it works, and i’ll let it slide. Well, when I say works, I mean it works about as well as a concept like this realistically could work. The whole game takes place atop of a cluster…of semi trucks. Frantic semi-trucks with panicking spider monkeys driving them (Not really,…
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The Longest 5 Minutes
The Longest 5 Minutes should have just been a visual novel, full stop. I guess I can expand on that thought. Let me start by what I feel the game sets out to do and build from there. The Longest 5 Minutes is a traditional JRPG told in such a way that you, the player, are experiencing memories of the main character who has lost his memory during the final fight with the game’s final boss, the Demon King. These memories take the form of micro dungeons and specific encounters. In each of these, the characters have a set starting level, gear, and money. Each of these memories have anywhere…
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Rive: Ultimate Edition
If I were to judge this game based on its logo and screen shots, I would probably pass it by. That’s exactly what I did. It may be what you did, too. Well, I picked it up to see what it’s about and I was pleasantly surprised. First off, I’ve heard people call it a metroidvania-like game. It’s not; not really. While you will likely revisit areas, it’s from a central hub area. The story mode has the player going through levels, sometimes repeating areas with a different path. It’s definitely not an open world game like those classics, but that doesn’t mean its not good. In fact, I found…
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Brawlout
Here you are, dying to hear that Nintendo is porting the last Smash Bros. game to the Switch, but they’re leaving you in the cold, waiting. Then along comes Brawlout, and you’re chomping at the bit to try it out, right? Unfortunately, there’s no demo available to take it for a spin. That’s where I can help. After reaching out to Angry Mob Games with no response, I decided to pick it up myself so I could have a first-hand experience to share with my readers. Brawlout, while fun, is pretty lackluster. Not because it’s a Smash Bros. clone or because it has no-name or “generic” characters. The character designs…
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Slain! Back From Hell
Slain! was originally released on Steam to a disappointed audience. After numerous delays, developer Wolf Brew Games decided to launch the game in a semi-unfinished state. It was kind of a mess. The game was filled with cheap deaths and framerate hiccups. After a few months, and numerous fixes, they decided to re-release the game as Slain: Back From Hell. This is the version that we have on the Nintendo Switch. Despite having the better version of this game, it still has some issues. “Cheap” deaths are still a thing, but it seems to be by design. I vowed that I wouldn’t write this review until I managed to beat…
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Superbeat: XONiC
I played this game back on the Vita, and I found it amazingly easy to pick up and play a song or three. The fact that there’s no story mode or campaign mode means that you play much like you would play DDR or PUI in that you select a mode, pick a song, and have at it. If you fail, game over. If you succeed, you move on to the next song. After 3 songs, you get graded on performance overall and rack in your experience and hopefully unlock some more songs, modes, DJ icons, and other things. As such, the game might seem incredibly short or shallow, but…
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Chess Ultra
Chess Ultra sets out to deliver a solid way to play chess as well as teach players the fundamentals of the legendary game. I am a Chess newbie, and I learned a lot through the tutorials presented within. I wish there were more to that end as I found it highly entertaining and interesting. I’ve always wanted to learn the game, but I’ve never had a tutor. I mean, I learned how each piece moves, and never forgot that. It’s the deeper things and setups that I’ve always had difficulty with. Chess Ultra helps with that, but it only goes so far. It looks like there will be DLC in…
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Earth Atlantis
Earth Atlantis is a visual delight when you first see it, but everything that I loved about it, eventually became its downfall. The visual style is one not unlike my own school doodles of monsters and space ships, and other things. Naturally, my classroom doodles were far less refined or focused. Earth Atlantis, on the other hand, has a very focused style; everything is some kind of sea creature look alike robot. In Earth Atlantis, the world is submerged in water. The Statue of Liberty prominently stands in the background of the first area, albeit mostly submerged in water along with whatever buildings weren’t destroyed in the apocalypse that ravaged this world. Other…
Handheld Gaming Reviews
