VGChartz's Reviews
The team's reputation in visual design and soundtrack are supplemented by a tautened horror thriller that's oftentimes engaging to watch; however, it's degraded by shallow mechanics that are typically unrewarding to play. Like oil and water, there's an incongruous mixture of creativity within its setting (both spoken and unspoken) and utter predictability within its foundation. Genre fans can treat it like oil spill remediation, mentally separating the two enough to at least appreciate its better qualities.
Parasol Stars is a hidden gem in both the Bubble Bobble franchise and the PC Engine library. It boasts lovely graphics, high replay value, and a surprisingly deep scoring system. Its only drawbacks: a short running time, two-player multiplayer that can feel clumsy at times, and a nasty bug unique to this modern port. Once the patch is live, definitely consider picking this one up.
The good news: Ingame Studios is giving out Cagnali's Order for free (for a limited time). The bad news: neither this expansion nor the main game are worth your time.
If willing to accept this expansion's tradeoff of creativity over longevity then pay the toll and cross into... Night Springs.
Despite a handful of unsightly assets, an underwhelming story, and a few difficulty spikes, the remaster of Monster Hunter Stories makes for an easy recommendation, for Monster Hunter fans or simply for anyone interested in approachable turn-based role-playing games who missed the original on 3DS.
Hypercharge's fun conceit and impressive suite of content earns appreciation given Digital Cybercherries' modest means, but its mediocre mechanics make other toys more tempting to play.
Despite the lack of 2010's Rocket Knight, the Re-Sparked collection is a video game anthology worthy of the hero Sparkster. It pulls together three noteworthy fourth-gen action-platformers — one of them, Rocket Knight Adventures, among the best of its kind — makes them more accessible than ever before thanks to save states and rewind, and surrounds them with bonus features.
There's a lot to love here, and if you're a fan of strategy titles, roguelite elements, or ideally both, you'd really be doing yourself a disservice by not trying it.
Its Campaign Mode is a letdown, and the lack of online multiplayer hurts its longevity, but NeoSprint is an overall okay arcade racer suitable for both solo play and game night with friends.
Although Cosmonaut Studios' temporal narrative adventure doesn't capture the true gameplay potential of its trippy concept, the storytelling still makes it worth your time.
Wuthering Waves is a fairly good alternative to Genshin Impact, but gameplay improvements are needed.
Banana Rumble doesn't unseat the original Super Monkey Ball or its sequel, but it gets closer than you'd think.
Leave it to Ubisoft to craft a hero shooter in as boring a fashion as its weaker open worlds.
There were several different ways Midboss could've approached this sequel, likely all of which would've been better than Read Only Memories: NEURODIVER.
Between atmosphere, mechanics, and storytelling, Crow Country gets caw-fully close to bonafide classic status in the survival-horror pantheon.
The driving is snappy and satisfying, the light simulation elements add a touch of strategy, and the Mode 7 experience goes a long way. A lack of backdrop variety is a bummer, as is the screen-hogging rear-view mirror, but the pros outnumber the cons in this spirited racing game.
The idea of an under-equipped cat roaming the underworld in search for her owner is a great one, but it never makes the transition from page to screen. Because everything is designed around the abilities of a simple house cat, stage designs are far too simple and boss battles are disappointingly monotonous.
MultiVersus is by no means irredeemable; there’s potential here for a competent Smash-like fighter and real effort to be found in elements like the characters and stages, but this is its second shot at living up to that potential and it seems to have actually taken more steps backward than forward.
It retains the spirit of the groundbreaking 1981 Apple II game and makes it more approachable, less exhausting, and far more glamorous than ever before. Sometimes it hews too closely to the original, resulting in tedious, taxing gameplay, but in general it delivers a dungeon-crawler worthy of the Wizardry name.
Surgent Studios' debut title is a tale of two extremes: enthusiasm for this heartfelt story about grief and apathy for the Metroidvania around it.