Puyo Puyo Tetris is a nice crossover of Puyo and Tetris, developed by Sonic Team of all developer teams. This puzzle game hits many different platforms, but today we will be taking a look primarily at the Nintendo Switch version. I mean hey, who doesn’t play Tetris? Or Puyo?
Back in 2011, a game known as Xenoblade Chronicles was confirmed for release in Europe. During that timeframe, there were whispers at the time that there were no plans to bring the game to North America. This in turn angered many of us here in North America, and in response to it, a group known as Operation Rainfall was born. Now Operation Rainfall actually broke the ice with two other games as well, but their primary target was Xenoblade Chronicles and we knew it for a fact.
1001 Spikes is a 2D platforming adventure title in the style of older NES titles such as Mega Man, Super Mario and particularly draws a large influence from Spelunker. The Wii U version of the title features off-screen play and controls very well on the GamePad as well as the Pro Controller. This title is a sidescroller, that while difficult at times, has a very responsive and refreshing control scheme and style. You advance through stages while collecting loot and dodging enemies with a one hit death style. The game limits you to 1001 lives throughout the entire game, which at first seems like a lot but as you advance can dwindle fast if you aren’t careful. The game also features a multiplayer mode that is stylized like Mario Bros where you battle with up to three additional players to survive and defeat foes to collect points. I had a large amount of fun with both modes of the game and despite frustration at points, I did push on and enjoyed each and every bit of the game.
Shovel Knight released today on computer and Nintendo platforms and is easily one of the best platformers I’ve played yet. With a very simple and basic concept at its core, Shovel Knight harkens back to the gameplay mechanic seen in Duck Tales on the Nintendo NES in which players are bouncing off of things with their shovel – similar to a Pogo Stick. The main character’s weapon is a shovel and main action is to dig.
The Denpa Men 3: The Rise of Digitoll is a fairly recent release on Nintendo 3DS eShop from this Spring which is also known as Denpa Ningen no RPG 3 in Japan, and they sure got the “no RPG” part right. This game is great because it provides a role playing game experience for players who might not be good at other hardcore / traditional titles in the genre. This game is also bad because the fighting turns always feel completely automatic and advanced players deserve a better mode to play with for their expert enjoyment. It simply is not very fun for experts of the genre. The graphics are pretty neutral with very basic 3D models used typically and not much texture placed on top of them. This leaves the game feeling like a budget production.
Weapon Shop de Omasse is a very unique game developed by Level-5 incorporated. It incorporates a unique combination of gameplay elements not usually seen in other games. Strange as it is, the game is most defiantly a fun experience for any RPG fan.
Are you ready to travel back in time? Retro City Rampage DX is a hilarious 8 bit parody game that provides hours of shenanigans and non stop brutality.
Sonic Lost World is Sonic Team’s first Wii U exclusive title starring Sega’s blue speedy mascot. It was released in October worldwide. It released for both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, with the 3DS version acting as a companion software for the Wii U version. It follows Sonic and Tails’ rescue of animals captured by Dr Robotnik/Eggman and his new allies (not for long however) the Deadly Six. The Deadly Six push a new story type that no longer relies on Eggman’s character but instead pits Sonic against new foes to match the new game feel. The game supports the Gamepad, WiiMote with Classic Controller Pro or WiiMote with Nunchuck. It offers a pseudo co-op mode similar to Super Mario Galaxy allowing a second player to deploy items and kill enemies as well as off-screen play.
Mirror of Fate HD is the console port of Konami’s Nintendo 3DS title which installed the Lords of Shadow series into the handheld console. Mirror of Fate is not a 3D action adventure title like Lords of Shadow though, and instead harkens back to the good old days when Castlevania was a 2D open world type of game. With a less linear approach to things, Mirror of Fate HD extends the Castlevania: LoS series into the 2D world with 3D character models as well as other assets including backgrounds fleshed out with new age graphical techniques.