February2020
Review Code: Realize Guardian of Rebirth - A Steampunk Visual Novel With A Literary Twist
Steampunk Hunks
Code: Realize Guardian of Rebirth is an Otome visual novel originally released for the PlayStation Vita back in 2015 that sees you assume the role of Cardia, a mysterious young lady with a serious case of amnesia who's been shut off from the world and is living her life in a strange abandoned mansion at the behest of her elusive...
October2019
Review Spirit Hunter: NG - A Spooky And Gripping Visual Novel
Spirited away
The Switch has become home to a vast array of horror titles over its relatively short life, including multiple entries from big-hitters such as Resident Evil to the likes of Layers of Fear and Outlast. It is in this crowded landscape that Aksys Games’ NG has been brought over to the west, under the title
May2019
Review Death Mark - An Excellent Horror-Adventure Fusion
A supernatural spectacular
Death Mark's developer Experience has an odd history of creating games for what could charitably be called the "wrong" formats; putting out great dungeon crawlers (Stranger of Sword City and Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy, for example) for relative underdogs like the Vita and Xbox One. Death Mark is something of a shift...
December2018
Review Stardust Galaxy Warriors: Stellar Climax - Mech A Date With This Likeably Chaotic Shmup
Shoot for the stars
It is the year 2087, and hostile forces are causing chaos all over the galaxy, but that’s where the Galaxy Warriors come in, a mech-piloting team of five with a variety of weapons at their disposal. The plan? “I would suggest flying to the right and blowing up everything” comments one character. Stardust Galaxy Warriors:...
August2018
Review Little Dragons Café (Switch)
Lovable Characters, lengthy Load Times
For some time now, the Nintendo Switch has been sorely lacking in the life simulation game department. Of course, there’s Stardew Valley – easily one of the greatest titles to grace the console – but the obvious absence of instalments in the “relaxation” genre has left many fans feeling disenchanted...
November2016
Review Ninja Usagimaru - The Mysterious Karakuri Castle (3DS eShop)
Mysterious indeed
Any American high school student who's owned a TI series calculator and endured hours of math classes has no doubt discovered Block Dude. The simple puzzle platformer was centered around escaping from rooms by moving around a limited number of blocks, and presented a wonderful escape from the dreariness of algebra. Evidently, the...
October2016
Review Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories (3DS eShop)
A short but solid sleuth ‘em up
Kaisuke Tanasaki is not one of gaming's most well-known directors, but he oversaw some of the DS's most intriguing narrative-led titles in the form of Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Another Code/Trace Memory. After developer Cing's closure in 2010, Tanasaki-san is back with some of the same team under Arc System Works to...
August2016
Review Zero Time Dilemma (3DS)
Closing time
Imagine you're out jogging, near home, on your usual route. You come to a fork in the path where you always turn right, but just before you do you spot a snail making its way across the sidewalk. You swerve left to avoid it, and head down the left route for the first time. What would you find there? What could happen to you? How could...
July2016
Review Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei (3DS)
Languid
With a string of well-loved strategy RPGs spanning the glory days of the Mega Drive, Super Famicom and Sega Saturn, Masaya's Langriser is a storied series. Its unique art style, large-scale battles and Germanic-inspired lore earned it a passionate following; now, nearly two decades after 1998's Langrisser V, Aksys has delivered a new entry...
April2016
Review Chronicles Of Teddy: Harmony Of Exidus (Wii U eShop)
Cuddly but not perfect
Childhood security blankets come in many forms - a favourite stuffed toy, blankets, specific articles of clothing and imaginary friends - to name a few. In Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus, security takes the shape of a possessed teddy bear, a sturdy shield, and a really sharp sword. Chronicles of Teddy sees a young...
Review Moco Moco Friends (3DS)
It's so fluffy!
Whether it's the demonic menagerie of Shin Megami Tensei, the lovable pocketable monsters of Pokémon, or the goofy ghosts of Yo-Kai Watch, creature-collecting games have been a staple of the JRPG genre for years and show no signs of slowing down. One of the latest takes on this trend is Aksys' Moco Moco Friends, a whimsical,...
January2016
Clean cut
Do you consider yourself a samurai among slicers? Do you leave no pizza asymmetrically divided in your wake? Then Slice It! might have a challenge made for you. The goal of Slice It! is straightforward. Each puzzle provides a shape or design that the player must cut into a certain number of separate pieces using full cuts from one side to...
December2015
Review Radiohammer (3DS eShop)
Hammer time
Between retail full-lengths like Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call, and Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure, and eShop singles like HarmoKnight and Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe, the 3DS has put on quite a sh
Review Family Fishing (3DS eShop)
Fins with Kin
As the house of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, Arc System Works is perhaps best known for its fighting games, but over the past few years it's also been quietly churning out a series of arcadey eShop sports games starring a multitalented Japanese family. Billy and his hyper-competitive clan have already brought charming, thoroughly decent...
May2015
Review River City Ransom (Wii U eShop / NES)
Holding your funds for ransom
Originally released in Japan for Nintendo Famicom, classic beat 'em up 'Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari' was then heavily localised for its eventual release in the US; background artwork was amended to look more 'western' (for example, rooftop tiling designs and mailboxes were changed) plus all location names were updated...
December2014
Review Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge (Wii U eShop / NES)
Crashing with the boys
After another success at the track-meet Crash and the Boys from Southside High are issued a street challenge by a jealous rival; now they and teams from four other schools compete in a series of no-holds barred sporting events to find who really is the greatest. Crash ‘n the Boys: Street Challenge differs from other sporting...
August2014
Review Double Dragon II: The Revenge (Wii U eShop / NES)
Double draggin'
There was a period from the late-'80s to the early-'90s when side-scrolling beat 'em up games were all the (streets of?) rage – from Double Dragon to Final Fight to Streets of Rage, we just couldn't get enough of punching hooligans in the face down long straight paths. Perhaps the most fun aspect of these titles was the multiplayer...
June2014
Review Super Dodge Ball (3DS eShop / NES)
Super Lag Ball
Many people are familiar with River City Ransom, the cult classic NES game, but what you might not know is that it's actually part of a series with many, many more titles. Of course, that can be hard to figure out when those that were localized all got completely unrelated names. Interestingly, while the series is mostly known in the...
May2014
Review Double Dragon II: The Revenge (3DS eShop / NES)
Now actually living up to its name
As one of the first scrolling beat 'em ups ever made, the original Double Dragon became a smash hit when it was released way back in 1987, and like most arcade games at the time quickly received a port to the NES. A single year later, Double Dragon II was released in arcades and, as was to be expected, it was also...
April2014
Review Super Dodge Ball (Wii U eShop / NES)
Utterly ridiculous and sublime
When firing up an NES game in the modern day, no less a silly spin-off sports title from the era, a certain mindset is required. If you're intolerant of sticky animation, that flickering effect that NES games have when there's too much on screen and wonky frame performance, there are plenty of games that are immediate...
March2014
Review Renegade (Wii U eShop / NES)
GET LOST, PUNK!
What's the expiration date for nostalgia? Is there a certain amount of time that has to pass before we start looking fondly back at the old, often inferior, games of our youth? It's undeniable that some games have aged gracefully and are still just as good today as they were at their initial launch, but that's far from a steadfast...
Review Renegade (3DS eShop / NES)
Crime doesn't pay
The company known as Technos might be best known for creating Double Dragon and River City Ransom, but before coming up with either of its two big hits, it made a number of lesser known titles — of which perhaps Renegade is the most well-known. Renegade is actually the first game in the Kunio-kun series, which River City Ransom...
January2014
Review Double Dragon (3DS eShop / NES)
Dragon us down
From the moment protagonist Billy Lee’s sweetheart is sucker-punched in the opening sequence, Double Dragon establishes itself as an action-packed, thrilling battle through hordes of enemy combatants in an attempt to reclaim the captured damsel. As soon as gameplay begins, however, this façade is quickly stripped away to reveal an...
December2013
Review Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge (3DS eShop / NES)
Challenge accepted
What do you get when you combine the River City Ransom theme with Track and Field-style gameplay? You get Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge. The game takes the street gang theme and creates some fitting Olympic-style events to go along with it. It sounds like a mouth-watering proposition, but sadly while the unique urban...
Review Double Dragon (Wii U eShop / NES)
Solo komodo
Double Dragon is notable for a whole host of reasons, among them that the NES version bears one of history's most misleading game titles by being a solo adventure with nary a dragon in sight. It also opens with an iconic, if anachronistic, bang — or, more specifically, a pow. A gangster brute socks a woman in the gut and carries her...
