#switch
#switch
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Fight’n Rage may have drank in a little too much nostalgia, but its heart is in the right place. It begins with a fake CPS2 boot screen, so from the jump you immediately understand what its aiming for. Fair enough, since Fight’n Rage nails it, replicating the tense, high speed style of action seen in titles like Capcom’s Battle Circuit and Alien vs. Predator.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Pawarumi
Developer: Manufacture43
Publisher: Manufacture43
Switch, PC, Xbox One, PS4
Sporting a multiple weapon system and three color polarity system, Pawarumi might immediately bring to mind Treasure’s shooter diptych of Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga. But while it clearly draws inspiration from the two, Pawarumi is both simpler and more complex. It frequently overwhelms, but is balanced by allowing some messiness. Pawarumi might be balanced around a triangle of weapons, but it’s often a game of dichotomies.
At the heart of Pawarumi is its three color weapon system. Red lasers home in on enemies, the green wave beam hits a wide area directly ahead, and the blue laser inflicts direct, steady damage in a small area. At first, Pawarumi seem follows the usual STG weapon balance, trading off between covering wider angles and doing direct damage. This is unfortunately undercut by two factors.
by Amr(@siegarettes)
Rolling Gunner feels like it stepped out of a time machine. Starting it up, there was something about the interface that immediately made me feel as if I were playing a doujin shooter from ten years ago. The interface, the very specific pixelated edges its pre-rendered sprites, down to the story sequences and between level transitions–all it felt right at home with my expectations of old doujin works. It was almost surprising to be playing it on the Switch, and in widescreen–if it wasn’t for the sheer density of projectiles this could easily pass for something you’d find on a 4:3 CRT monitor in some corner of a fan event.
That’s not to say Rolling Gunner feels, outdated. Rather it combines the sensibilities of latter year shooters with their modern design, and feels aware of the way people engage with the genre today.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Muse Dash
Developer: PeroPero Games
Publisher: XD Network
PC, Switch, Android
Note: This review is based on code for the base PC game, which does not contain the entire song library.
Muse Dash begins with a message declaring that it wants to be a rhythm game for everyone, even those who don’t feel they have a good sense of rhythm. And on that front it largely succeeds.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Nobody I know plays tennis, but everyone has played videogame tennis. Alongside golf, tennis is one of the most ubiquitous sports in games. The mechanics have been iterated on and refined so many times over that everyone’s got their own expectations of what a tennis game should do. Super Tennis Blast mostly lives up to those expectations, even if it’s presented in a no-frills package.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Rayark has made a name for themselves in the rhythm game space. They’ve carved their space with games like VOEZ and Deemo on mobile and Vita, eventually bringing both to the Switch in updated, comprehensive packages that were even updated to add button support to interfaces intended for touchscreens. Cytus Alpha is the latest in this series, bringing Cytus’ complete tracklist and story into one game, alongside some guest tracks from the DJ Max series.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Venture Kid is a Mega Man inspired platformer. Retro style action games aren’t exactly the rarity they used to be, and you’ve absolutely played a game in this style already. Thankfully, Venture Kid at least nails the core action, with responsive controls that provide the kind of strong feedback that other retro games lack, which counterbalances its more strict damage requirements. Unfortunately, Venture Kid also chops of the framework of the series it takes inspiration from, and puts the pieces back together in a form that doesn’t make sense.
by Amr (@siegarettes)
Stripped down to its movement and topography, Feather aims to bring joy through flight and freeform exploration. No objectives or progression, only the island and your wings.
It works–mostly. Movement gives off a sense of lightness, with climbing and diving between altitudes coming easily, and directional reversals at a button’s touch. Whether skimming the surface of the ocean or the clouds Feather makes the breeze at your wings a tangible presence. And while movement in itself is one of the easy joys of games, without context it’s difficult to keep it compelling for long.
