Solomon_Rambling

I think they look awesome. My brother still loves building Lego and adores Zelda, so I think I’ll buy it as a combined holiday/birthday gift for him.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Hollow Knight is a fantastic game. I didn’t like it.

The developers did a fantastic job with the visuals, soundtrack, lore, atmosphere, progression, etc., etc. I couldn’t get into the combat, and the difficulty was a bit much for me (Ori and the Blind Forest was similarly too tough for my liking). The ending was spectacular, so I’m glad I stuck with Hollow Knight until the end.

I think Hollow Knight is a treasure for those who enjoy metroidvanias and a challenge, but it doesn’t strike me as a game that will convert people to the genre. I may be totally incorrect, but I feel the Metroid games appeal to wider audience and would be my first recommendation for people interested the genre (along with a few other indies like Guacamelee). Similarly, I love the Binding of Isaac, but my first recommendation for those new to roguelikes/lites would be Hades.

I couldn’t get into this one. Normally I enjoy PvE shooters, but I didn’t really enjoy protecting the bases as much as I would have liked just a basic survival mode. Considering I haven’t played it since its launch, maybe I should check it out again.

Bummer! Its art style was what made me wishlist it on the eShop. Looking at some of the other Metacritic reviews and what Gray mentioned, it seems I wouldn’t enjoy it even if the Switch issues were ironed out. Hopefully this game does find some success so that the developers can have another shot.

Having never played a Fire Emblem game (and probably never will), it’s fun to read how the series has morphed. I enjoyed how 13 Sentinels separated its visual novel and combat sections, allowing me to mostly move at my own pace. Player freedom often improves a game, and it sounds like Three Houses has that freedom while maintaining the series’ gameplay.

They’re on six now? There’s been that many? How old am I? That number’s high, too?

Ugh…

@cyrus_zuo

Oh man, I thought no one would remember Driift Mania, so thank you for highlighting this ridiculous game. Meteor and Hot Potato are by far the best modes, and I would love just a straight-up port to the Switch.

That game and MotoHeroz carried me through the final year of the Wii.

Super Monkey Ball Adventure was one of the first games I rented before reading its reviews. The original and its sequel were two of my favorite games on GCN, and Adventure ended up being such a garbage fire (“not considered the crème de la crème” is a delirious understatement to me). When IGN rolled out their 4.8 review, I finally achieved the dopamine burst I so craved from the game, itself.

What a horrid game with horrid box art.

@_Figo_

I can’t believe you 100% completed Adventure, and kudos to you for enduring through it. I’m having a hard time thinking of a GameCube game I revile more, and I’m incredulous any other Monkey Ball game could be worse.

I’m stoked for this one, not for the gameplay as much as for Jim Guthrie’s soundtrack. I recently purchased his entire discography, and he’s a great musician. Sword & Sworcery is a masterpiece.

A fun topic!

I agree that Minit was a great length. Its runtime made playing its other modes more enticing. Boomerang X initially felt short after I finished the first playthrough, but the hard mode made the game feel complete. The Case of the Golden Idol was also a solid length (the DLC, while good, was less well-paced) if you didn’t suffer the save bug on the Switch.

Chicory, conversely, dragged a little too long for me, and I would have preferred a more linear adventure. I loved the House in Fata Morgana, but it definitely could have been tightened by five or ten hours.

@Retrohero

I enjoyed your take! I played Braid a decade ago and remember being intrigued by its story, but I was also a moody college student with a stick up my butt, so perhaps I was the intended audience. I’ve only read of Blow’s notoriety, so I’m looking forward to the commentary to see for myself how he can be!

It took me about 100 hours over the course of eight months to finish the game. Like many others have said, TotK just didn’t resonate with me like BotW. It probably helped that BotW was one of the only games I had for the first few months of the Switch. I don’t regret playing TotK, but it did feel like a marathon.

@SwitchForce

I think the media is more at-fault for exaggerating the link between aggression and video games! Last I read, researchers are still looking into whether video games influence/correlate with aggression. Regardless of the aggression debate, it would probably do the world some good if more parents monitored and moderated what their kids were playing!

A fun and interesting read! I can definitely see the benefits of using video games for skill-building and developing rapport, but I’m not sold on its widespread use in individual therapy. As @PaperMurio mentioned, video games could be wonderful for group interventions, and I’d argue intentional play sessions between kids/parents or partners would be great exercises as “homework” outside of therapy. I’d love to see some high-quality games made specifically for therapy, and I’d want to see studies!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s article: “Zelda Movie Director Continues to Give Noncommittal Answers to Just About Every Question.”

Huh. I’m interested in what led to this decision because it looks like Facebook is next. It doesn’t sound like Nintendo is taking down its Twitter accounts, so I wonder what their stance is on the platform.

Just what I needed in my life: Soul-Crushing Work/Life Simulator. Now I can always stew in a state of anhedonic malaise.

I’m intrigued, although I’ll need to read a few more reviews before I’m convinced to grab this. Papers, Please was masterful in how it made a monotonous job into a tense and thrilling affair. Actual tedium is a bit of a turn-off, even if the point of the tedium is to show the task is tedious.

I heard Metroid Prime 4 will be the main launch title for the Switch 2. In honor of the game and how Samus loses all of her power-ups at the start of a game, Nintendo plans to strip all of the improvements they introduced with the original Switch (folders, the games added with NSO, the stability updates, etc.) and gradually add them back over the course of seven years.

I would love for videos or trailers to be embedded in Nintendo Life reviews. Sometimes the pictures don’t quite capture what to expect from the gameplay.

I’m intrigued not only because I haven’t played a mech fighter in a while but because I would enjoy a relatively easy game with a consistent gameplay loop. If I can convince my partner to try it, I’ll look forward to the co-op.

I swear I have stared wistfully into the middle distance only a few times when recalling the golden age.

I just bought Toree 3D last night, and I wasn’t quite impressed with it during my first play-through. That said, I love the flow I can ease into with games like it and Lunistice. I plan to keep chugging through the retro 3D platformers, and I’ll choose between Cavern of Dreams, Corn Kidz 64, and Mail Mole.

Thanks for the review, and I’ll still hope for a user-ranked list of these types of games in the future!

Man, I was hoping for an unambitious movie made by unconfident people where all the money is spent off-screen. Is that so much to ask?

This was a wonderful read. Thank you for writing this feature!

@razza1987

Thanks for the info! And O’Reilly commented elsewhere that he preferred the second one. Looks like I’ll have to dig through several reviews before I snag this one.

Normally a 5/10 would throw me off of a game, but the review makes it sound like Luminous is very much like the first Endless Ocean, for better or worse. I liked that game and its sequel even if both could be boring.

@PJOReilly, I know you touched on it a bit in your review, but is Luminous worse than the prior entries or more of the same?

Edit: Just saw that the game is procedurally-generated. That may kill it for me.

I think the ship has already sailed for me and Jackbox games. I probably would’ve loved this seven years ago when I bought 1 and 3, but it’s been ages since I had a large party of friends/family together for this type of game. Now that I’m an old fogey, I have to settle for board games, talking about old times, and Russian roulette.

Soon we’ll get a Wade Whipple spin-off, followed by a spin-off of a character totally unassociated with a Sonic character, ultimately leading to the Home Improvement reboot we wanted all this time.

@SwitchVogel

I remember an article for that game way back when! Thank you for the recommendation; I’ll try it out!

How dare the Japanese box put gray on its cover for a YELLOW game.

I could probably live with the camera issues, but the lag concerns me. I’ve been spoiled by solid platformers over the last several console generations, so I expect a lot from the controls.

I recently played Lunistice and really enjoyed it. I’d love to see a ranked list of retro 3D platformers on Switch to figure out which one to try next. I intend to grab the first Toree, and for the time being, I’ll keep Corn Kidz on my wishlist.

@Vyacheslav333 @sfb

Thank you both for your perspectives. From what I’ve seen, it reminds me of Katana Zero, and if they are sort of similar in gameplay, I should have fun with Deadbolt. Although I’m less interested in tough games these days, I wouldn’t mind trying this one out. Back on my wishlist it goes! Thank you again!

Absolutely loathed Shadows Over Loathing, especially compared to its predecessor. The sequel felt clunkier with funky puzzles, tiresome humor, and a dependency on stat manipulation to progress through the game.

I did enjoy Tents and Trees. Not quite better than Picross but a great addition to the genre.

I’d love to hear more opinions about Deadbolt. I’ve had my eye on the game but have taken it on and off my wishlist based on the reviews I’ve found.

I, for one, hope they alternate taking out and putting back in the posters with each consecutive update.

I heard the factories that are making the Switch 2 run entirely on clean energy produced by rumor articles about the Switch 2.

Holy geez, there are some vicious commenters here. @chas_mke, it seems you managed to upset an entire fandom. The good news is somebody obviously shared your review, and now Nintendo Life has five new users.

Edit: Make that six.
Edit 2: Ten now. Maybe the screenshots are from the first five hours to avoid spoilers? The mystery continues…
Edit 3: A veritable mob now. What started off as passingly interesting is now disheartening.

This is one of the first reviews I’ve read that acknowledges the reviewer didn’t finish the game. I can’t imagine a reviewer putting over a hundred hours into the game, but I do wonder what’s a good stopping point. Thirty hours? Fifty hours?

Reviewing games is a tough job, one I usually envy but not in this case.

Just randomly looked at the N64 app and saw Iggy’s Reckin Balls. I’m ecstatic right now.

If I still played Fortnite, I’d select an option to turn off all emotes. I enjoy playing online for the challenge but loathe it for the human interaction. Let me pretend I’m playing by myself with the most advanced bots ever created.

I hate skipping content, so I’ll plod through a narrative even if it annoys me. Bish Bash Bots and Ruiner are two recent games I’ve played that seemed to shoehorn a narrative simply to pad out the experience. As such, I think Lunar Lander Beyond would drive me a bit nuts.

@MsJubilee

You’re possibly right! I imagine Aspyr had some internal/external motivator to take out the posters. Otherwise, I doubt they would’ve removed them.

My day is ruined, possibly my entire weekend. I don’t know how long I’ll mourn the loss of these posters of historical and artistic significance. Possibly until Tuesday.

I’m with @Yosher on this one. No matter how minor the change, Aspyr couldn’t win this one no matter their choice.

I would be over the moon if Slay the Princess was announced. The developers are still hard at work promoting the PC release, so the chances are low, but I can hope!

That’s pretty stellar. I remember reading on IGN back in the day that you could unlock an entire new cup if you beat every staff ghost in the Time Trials for Mario Kart DS. Of course, the user-submitted “secret” was fake and later taken down, but I didn’t know that until I spent what was probably tens of hours beating every ghost. I was bummed when I didn’t unlock anything, but to this day, Mario Kart DS is still my favorite entry and represents when I was at my best in the series.

Aww…there goes my hope of him playing Big the Cat…

@nhSnork

Nice! Thank you for the recommendation!

@Diogmites

Ha! You got me! I’m always fascinated by what makes people consume certain media. Thank you for reading my work!

I’ve had a ton of fun with this game, so I’ll be picking up the DLC. It’s not quite as meditative as Vampire Survivors because you don’t get nearly as overpowered in Brotato, but it’s fun to min-max with all of the upgrades you can buy. I would recommend it to others!

The only other “Survivors-like” game I’ve bought is 20 Minutes Till Dawn, and that one is nowhere near as good as Brotato and Vampire Survivors.

@Daggot

Thank you for your detailed response as well! I personally haven’t tried reading as “casual enjoyment,” nor have I really appreciated the art direction of a book. Perhaps I need to invest in a coffee table book…

@Diogmites

And I greatly appreciate your thorough reply! If you do end up getting this book, I hope you have a blast reading it!

This genre of literature has always seemed peculiar to me because I don't know what readers hope to get from it (@Diogmites, perhaps you could tell me more about why such books appeal to you!). I get a book allows the writer to discuss games in more detail than what a Top 10 internet article would allow, and perhaps that's the point of guide books like this one? I guess I'm interested in some larger critique on video games as a source of relaxation, kind of like what Reynolds was looking for in an outro.