#review
#review
by Amr (@siegarettes)
No longer tied to the esoteric design sense of the original arcade game, Bubble Bobble 4 Friends takes the mechanics of the original and builds towards making them more transparent to new players. Bubble Bobble’s simple premise of trapping and popping enemies in bubbles is immediately clear, but the small subtleties around air flow, chaining bubble pops and using them as platforms were almost secretive thanks in the original game. Bubble Bobble 4 gives focus to these mechanics, making them more accessible and using them to build its cooperative systems.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
I have a high tolerance for mediocre games. For longtime readers of clickbliss, that is pretty evident. But from time to time there are some games that I don’t even have words for. Games that even I can’t find anything to enjoy - even through an ironic point of view.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
It is always wonderful to see a rhythm game dive into music genres that aren’t well represented. They are quite rare, but they are out there. A recent example would be Pianista: The Legendary Virtuoso where it represents classical music in a sea populated by the likes of vocaloid, J-POP, touhou remixes and eurobeat. Then there is MUSYNX. While it does fall into some of the aforementioned genres such as vocaloid, it heavily features Chinese - Mandarin vocals that aren’t traditionally featured in rhythm games.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
With forgettable stock fantasy enemy designs and featureless level design, you’d be forgiven for writing off 3000th Duel off first impressions. It plays with several popular tropes of modern game design, with a non-linear map structure, and a combat loop that borrows the RPG systems and corpse run format from Souls games. A Souls-like Metroidvania if you must. Despite that it doesn’t capture any of what makes those games beloved, and they even feel at odds with anything interesting about the game. 3000th Duel barely has an identity to itself.
By: RJ (@rga_02)
If you are tired of playing the 7th iteration of U.S.A by DA PUMP and feel like you should be a bit more “cultured,” or “enlightened,” well there is a game for you. Superb’s Pianista: The Legendary Virtuoso will get you on track into classical enlightenment via your Nintendo Switch.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
With the newfound popularity of the Yakuza saga and the next gen remakes of the early games, it’s a great time to get into the series. And with the release of the Yakuza Remastered Collection the previously PS3 only games–Yakuza 3, 4 and 5–have made it onto modern platforms, making it easy to play the whole series on a single console.
For those used to the slick presentation of the recent entries this might be a jarring contrast. Yakuza 0 and Kiwami, while being simultaneously released on the PS3 and PS4 came out well after some of the entries in this collection, and boast much slicker interfaces and quality of life changes. Alongside the harsher edges brought on by the high resolution treatment, it makes these earlier games look quaint by comparison.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
In the modern games-as-service ecosystem UNICLR is an anomaly. While its contemporaries have all moved to a constantly updating seasonal format, Under Night has instead followed the traditional format of putting out a new retail product, with the compromise of having the balance changes rolled into the previous version. In that context, UNICLR is underwhelming.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Get to the top! It’s a simple conceit, and Super Hiking League turns it into a competitive scramble that tests your precision and nerves. You can jump, attack and use your grappling hook to ascend to the top of various mountains, trying to beat your opponent there. And with such straightforward mechanics, Super Hiking League relies on everything surrounding them to build its complexity.
The complications come with each stage, which weave symmetrical and asymmetrical layouts together, allowing you chances to interfere with your opponent’s progress. I found the ones that favor asymmetrical layouts to be far more engaging, since they gave you more chances to interfere with the other player and make it feel like you’re competing in the same space.
