Digimon Survive is one of the best visual novels to come out so far this year, with plenty of heart and tension to carry you through to the final act. Fans looking for an engaging story with well-written and presented characters that deal with life-and-death situations will enjoy the ride, while players focused on the combat will probably find that the game comes up short. Despite its sluggish, padded start, Digimon Survive is well worth the long wait.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the strangest thing you'll play from Nintendo, bringing with it laughs and creativity in abundance. But even with improvements over the 3DS game, it follows a familiar structure that isn't always enthralling or hilarious.Tomodachi fans will certainly be living the dream with this new entry, but I'm not desperate to keep coming back to my island. A little more variety would've been welcome, but the customisation, and the thought of my cat being best friends with DMC's Dante, will have me peep in every so often for a little pick-me-up.
Badland is as dark, brooding, and mysterious as the most sullen teenager, but this seemingly simple game is built on a foundation of ingenious design. Its hands-off approach to guiding the player makes for an invigorating challenge where it counts, and plentiful checkpoints help alleviate the frustration that comes from later levels. It teaches you how to interact with the environment before turning it all on its head with a slew of mutations that change your abilities, and that's a little bit brilliant.
You're probably getting a feeling we weren't especially impressed with Baila Latino, and you'd be correct. The horribly thought out UI, hard to follow dance instructions and uninspired gameplay modes unfortunately ruin the cheery atmosphere delivered by the upbeat soundtrack and surprisingly nice graphical presentation. Baila Latino also arrives about six years too late to the party. If you really love Latin music, it's possibly you might learn a few new ways to shake your booty, but for others this isn't really worth the effort. Breaking out the original Just Dance disc for a spot of MC Hammer and Spice Girls reminded us that there's really no need to go Latino. To wrongly quote Mr. Hammer, 'Don't touch this'.
LEGO Jurassic World has been birthed from the same DNA that the LEGO series has been reliant on for quite some time, and it's doubtful that anyone will be truly awestruck by its attractions. But that doesn't necessarily mean the adventure's not worth embarking upon. Reliving the Jurassic Park films in such a playful manner helps to offset the gameplay and technical disappointments, and the trip down memory lane will likely be enough to keep the biggest dinosaur fans entertained from start to finish. The park can be amusing, but it lacks its usual bite.
Funk of Titans wants to draw players in with an outlandish, seemingly arbitrary aesthetic that mixes Greek mythology with funk music. Unfortunately, it fails to go all the way with this theme, and ends up a tedious and surprisingly generic auto-runner.
At the end of the day, there's not much especially wrong with Fullblast. It plays fine, looks quite nice and even with its minor flaws it's a pretty fun little game. If you haven't experienced much of this genre before you'll probably find it quite refreshing and great fun. Veterans may get an all too familiar feeling of déjà vu and it's definitely not up to the standards set by the true classics, however it's a good enough distraction for a few hours. Let's be clear; there aren't enough of these types of game as it is on modern home consoles, so it's a welcome addition to the Wii U library and it's not going to break the wallet either due to the (current) reasonable price point.
The fundamental platforming of Pip and his pixelated prest-o-change-o are where his adventures shine brightest. While nothing else seems to especially stand out or, in some cases, falls somewhat flat (looking at you, secret areas), the overall package is still pleasantly portrayed and is undoubtedly mechanically sound. Certainly worth a look for anyone who likes their pixels with platforming peril.
High Strangeness is a well constructed game which does a lot of things right with regards to its core mechanics and presentation. Unfortunately the implementation of its main hook is somewhat lackluster, and the game is really a bit short given the asking price. However, a great deal of love has gone into crafting this retro homage. Players who love good old fashioned adventure games won't be disappointed if they give High Strangeness a chance.
Gunman Clive 2 successfully avoids the pitfalls that can befall sequels; it offers fresh ideas along with familiar excellence, and provides a notable improvement over its predecessor. Its stylish action platforming - along with dabbles in other approaches - combines with distinguished audio-visual presentation to deliver another gem for the 3DS eShop. We recommend it as a must buy for fans of action platformers, especially those that enjoy retro nods and winks with their modern day experiences - this one's a straight shooter.
