bobbykjack

This is one of the few honest reviews of Animal Crossing New Horizons you'll see. It's not amazing, it's not terrible. It has its moments and is certainly a different type of game than you might be used to. Very little in the way of an objective, very relaxing, very annoying in terms of repeated dialogue and some awkward controls. It's relaxing in a kind of 'do nothing' way and it's all innocent and charming and a nice non-threatening world to dip into now and again. But it's not exactly thrill-filled or the kind of challenge you'll get from a typical game. I couldn't care less about multiple players because I'm the only one who plays on my Switch, but if you share your console, your mileage might vary. Doesn't deserve a 10, certainly doesn't deserve a 0. Solid 7/10 game.

Gato Roboto is a bitesized metroidvania, great for a few hours of gameplay. Its graphical style is charming, quirky, and — especially in terms of the animation — well executed. You'll know as soon as you see a screenshot whether you'll like it or not — go with your instinct. The play is quite linear, although there are lots of diversions to keep you busy. I found the bosses (except for the final two, strangely) by far the hardest part of this game, but I enjoyed the combat and inventive attacks. This is a great game if you like the genre and/or retro-styled gaming, and is well worth the price level.

Despite an aversion for auto-runners, I found Kid Tripp an enjoyable, if short, experience. There are just two main controls: shoot and jump, but jumping can be done to different heights. There's also a 'walk' button which I never used: who walks when you can run?! It's genuinely not easy to know if you should shoot an enemy or jump on its head — either course of action could have different side-effects. For example, you might shoot a snake, only to find out half a second later that you needed to be able to jump on it to clear a gap. So muscle memory and trial-and-error are key components of the gameplay. Another key challenge involves landing (on an enemy, a spring, etc.), then timing another jump just right, so as to jump higher. It's a tricky move to get perfectly right, but you'll need it a lot. There are only 20 levels, divided into 4 worlds, and whilst the first 2 worlds are rather easy, the difficulty ramps up from there, and the later levels are genuinely challenging. Each level is only about 20 seconds long, so you could complete the entire game in about 7 minutes, in theory. In practice, you'll almost certainly be playing several of these levels many tens of times over. Thankfully, you're given 10 lives, restarts are almost instantaneous, and continues are infinite. If you can get over the blocky graphics and the sense that you're playing a mobile game on a 'proper' console, Kid Tripp is an entertaining romp that is well worth the money. It might be an auto-runner, but that doesn't mean platforming skills aren't involved, and Kid Tripp gets platforming down pretty well. On sale, this is money well spent.

Ding Dong XL is a game that is so basic in concept, it’s difficult to get very excited about. It does, however, offer addictive, challenging gameplay for those with a strong competitive streak. These types of one-button game typically require least in manual dexterity, and most in reflexes, reactions, and foresight. Ding Dong XL is exactly this: Pong (if you controlled both bats, and they were ‘sticky’, and you couldn’t move them from the centre) + the traffic from Frogger (with a lot more variation). Plus power-ups. It’s essentially a game of ‘chicken’, a judgement on exactly when you need to fire the ball from one side to the other, in order to avoid colliding with the junk flying across, in either direction — usually both. Each piece of debris does one of a variety of different things, indicated by its colour and shape: some expand and contract, some rotate, etc. A small number of power-ups do things like slow obstacles down, allow you to crash straight through them, or destroy all the bad stuff currently on-screen. The neon graphics, rhythmic soundtrack, and in-your-face animation remind me very much of Lumines; there’s always a lot going on in the background and periphery, as the game constantly tries to put you off, daring you to fail. This is a welcome refinement to the core gameplay, but it can get frustrating at times. What’s here is well done — there just isn’t that much here. The more you play, the more stuff appears to get in your way, but nothing really changes too much. It’s essentially a ‘rinse-repeat’ cycle: start, stay alive as long as you can, set a new high score, try to stay alive longer the next time, etc. It’s a compelling challenge if you like setting personal bests, but it’s certainly the kind of game that some will tire of pretty quickly.

The Way Remastered is full of nostalgia, from the pixelated landscape, to the LucasArts-esque typography, and the 2.5d perspective. It faithfully recreates the look and feel of the 16-bit, Amiga platform so perfectly, that old-school fans such as myself can’t help but be delighted right from the off. The graphics have clearly been lovingly created, and the backdrops of these alien worlds are ‘painted’ gorgeously, but some of the character artwork and animation (of the ‘assistant’ character, in particular) could have been more polished. I loved the way text labels faded into view as I got closer to the relevant object, and the viewport scrolled to reveal doors opened by switches that were far, far away — these little touches go a long way. I’d say at least 75% of the puzzles were engaging, and a good level of difficulty; some, unfortunately, were a let-down. At worst, the real challenge was understanding how the puzzle worked, rather than solving it. On one or two occasions, I gave up and ‘brute forced’ them by trial-and-error, which isn't too much fun, nor is it the sign of a well-designed puzzle. But the puzzles that work, especially the highly inventive tasks based around skills that you gain, are good fun if you like a bit of cognitive exercise. Some of the platforming takes frustration to a new level. I’m not sure how intentional that is, but it borders, at times, on masochistic. If you fall from about three times your own height, you die; call me wild and reckless, but I don’t think that would quite be the case irl. Some of the gaps that require you to jump only a little bit but not quite the-smallest-you-can are incredibly fiddly. And I don’t think I’ve ever played a game in which descending a ladder is so awkward. The enemies you’ll come across are varied and challenging but fair — the game is generous enough to leave them dead after one kill, most of the time. In fact, the game is also generous in restart points — which you’ll find are used a lot since the platforming and combat are so tough. Even though its short, The Way Remastered has a good, balanced difficulty level, and tests the player in a variety of ways. As someone who never played Another World or Flashback, it’s possibly a surprise I feel so nostalgic for this game. But it manages to get enough of the detail right, not only to recreate a memorable piece of the past, but also to add a suitable amount of flourish in the process. If a few more of the bigger downsides — length, fiddliness, some obscure puzzles — could be ironed out, The Way Remastered could be more than deserving of its full retail price. As it is, the frequent discount it sells at makes it an utter bargain.

As an RPG, there are tones of Link to the Past — and countless other top-down, 2d adventure games — in style. It’s another pixely homage to the 16-bit era, which is very well suited to both golf and RPG, in my book; give me a sports game that looks like Sensible Soccer or an RPG imitating LttP, and you’re halfway to a sale already. The characters are well animated, and combined with the humorous dialogue, do a great job of adding personality to the game. On occasion, though, I found the typical side-quests lacking. Golf Story finds a way to shoehorn a great number of diversions into the main golfing theme — digging up treasure with your golf club, for example — but when these are repeated several times, they can verge on feeling like a bit of a chore. Admittedly, I did go out of my way to finish many of these optional tasks, so I clearly didn’t find them too much of a drag. The golf game works in a classic ‘arcade’-style: easy controls which adopt the almost universal ‘power and accuracy’ bar which starts on your first press, gets more powerful the longer you wait for the second press, then gives you a small duration in which to press one final time, to set accuracy. It’s an interface that works absolutely as expected, and can be understood pretty much straight away. The golf playing was fun but I liked it most when playing for longer sessions. Anything under an hour, and I felt I was just relearning some of the techniques I’d learnt previously, only to then stop. Longer sessions enabled me to hone those skills and actually improve. And I wish there was a way to cancel a shot — every now and then, I’d accidentally start my swing when setting it up, and have no option but to play out a terrible shot. But Golf Story is, at its heart, a silly, challenging, novel experience, one which I would highly recommend to any Switch owner, especially those with an affinity for retro gaming. At its price-point, it represents excellent value for money.

Dig Dog is a fast-paced, perfectly-pitched rogue-lite, offering an addictive slice of nostalgia The main gameplay here is straightforward enough to explain quickly. Each level is maybe one-and-a-half screens wide, and three or four screens tall. You (as the titular Dog) start at the top, and have to make your way to the single bone contained underground, somewhere near the bottom. Dig towards it, in various directions; avoid the enemies and static hazards; touch the bone, and progress to the next level. Time and time again, I find myself facing some kind of ‘mini-puzzle’, a certain arrangement of enemies, fixed hazards, and terrain that actually has to be solved, rather than merely traversed. That these arise from procedural generation is a testament to the level of detail that must have gone into planning whatever rules determine the layout. I think, above all, it’s the enemy detail that makes this game so challenging. In the same way that Pac-Man’s ghosts were both simple in their rules, but apparently complex in their resulting behaviour, Dig Dog’s enemies serve their purpose very well. There’s enough variation and unpredictability here to ensure a certain level of skill is absolutely necessary. You can’t just blaze through these levels, however much it seems like you should be able to. And the varying enemy behaviour means there are no easy options: there doesn’t appear to be any kind of reliable pattern that you can dig in to guarantee safety. Ultimately, Dig Dog depends upon the appeal of honing tactics, improving reactions, and determination to tackle the same kind of challenge again and again. Difficulty level is, therefore, key, and prospective buyers should beware that there is a chance they’ll either complete the key challenge quickly, or become frustrated at the face of a difficulty cliffside.

A joy to play and a perfect introduction to the metroidvania genre The main digging mechanic is a fairly unique diversion, but it doesn’t offer quite enough, for me, to really be that interesting or entertaining. That said, the character handles responsively, and the friendly mapping and transport system both help to keep the momentum going. And SteamWorld Dig 2 does a few key things very well indeed. First, it does a brilliant job of guiding the player; you shouldn’t ever really struggle working out what needs to be done next. Second, the ‘mini-puzzles’ scattered around the main area, and the sub-areas are frequently very well planned and rewarding. And, third, the upgrade system, and extra movements that can be gained are both generous, making for a satisfying learning curve. Graphically, the game is bright, welcoming, and — fully in keeping with the overall aesthetic — entirely accessible, clearly highlighting objects, enemies, and hinting at secret areas. I guess you’d call it a ‘cartoon’ style, and it’s very attractive, particularly in handheld mode. Is it all just too easy? I guess so, a little, but in being so, it offers such an enjoyable experience, a really accessible counterpart to some of the more challenging titles in this genre, that the difficulty and length can be forgiven. This is a game you’re meant to stroll through, stopping occasionally to think a bit, enjoying the journey.

An absorbing game which represents value for money, marred by bugs and flawed mechanics At its heart lies a very well-balanced game. I really like playing this game. I like that sleep is required, that fires offer several different benefits, that rain is present and annoying, but shelter is readily available. It feels realistic. And, yet, balance can only achieve so much. In the long-run, TFITF suffers from another problem often faced by survival games: how to maintain the challenge. Survival games are, at their heart, all about coping with various threats, and learning how to prepare for them. Once the player gets reasonably experienced, threats are all but eliminated. The Flame in the Flood still has several standout aspects, most of all the stunning soundtrack which really helps to evoke the solitary, tragic world the player is thrust into. The resource gathering and crafting is enjoyable, and the sense of place is greatly enhanced by unusually detailed references to nature: parasites, ants, aloe, dandelions … seriously, this must be the only game in existence that features sumac, a plant I’d previously never even heard of! Ultimately, my biggest issue with TFITF is its ending. I’ve certainly got value for money out of the game, but I feel I was ‘lucky’ not to crack the formula earlier. Actually, the very fact that I perceive a ‘formula’ and I now feel like I could easily beat the game every time is a problem in itself. I want to keep playing the game, because its core gameplay is actually so enjoyable, but now I’ve peeked behind the curtain, I can’t quite get enthused enough to do so.