DeVuego

Blades of Fire is a very good game, blending tough action RPG combat with a fun and unique weapon forging. The story is a little by the numbers and exploration does have a lot of back and forth, but the different regions and enemies look great and the narrative is elevated by Aran and Adso's relationship.

Blues & Bullets has a lot of potential and The End Of Peace is a glimpse of that. There is a foundation for a very good mystery thriller, as well as a basis for well thought out characters. The first episode comes across as being too eager to show you everything all at once, instead of taking things slower and allowing you to absorb what just happened. The script is good but has moments that don’t seem that logical, but in spite of this The End Of Peace is a decent start to the series.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today is a game that is quite hard to judge. On the one hand the art style, atmosphere, and interesting story premise are things that are worth experiencing. However the pacing of the puzzles can be frustrating, especially when what would appear to be the obvious solutions don’t work in a world where regular logic usually applies. It is a very well crafted title and the effort of the team can be seen. At the same time the puzzles are as infuriating as the atmosphere is brilliant.

Koral is a good little puzzler though many will find it very easy to get through. As an educational tool Koral definitely has value to raise awareness of climate change and the impact of pollution on our oceans. As a game it Koral is a simple affair that plays well. It may lack much challenge for puzzle fans, but this is an engaging and thought provoking experience.

Phineas and Ferb: Day Of Doofenshmirtz is a fun action-platformer for the Vita that never feels stale. Each mission has a unique moment to it, so you’re never quite sure what to expect next. It looks good and colourful and the writing of the story matches the tone of the cartoon. However the lack of voice acting and Doofenshmirtz, despite being billed as a central part, does take away somewhat from the experience, since the humour would be better with vocal delivery. If you are looking for a good game for the Vita though, that doesn’t take too long to complete, then Day Of Doofenshmirtz could be worth your time.

A good platformer puts together well constructed levels and a decent challenge, while a great platformer has levels that encourage you to take risks and move through as fast as possible while offering fun challenges to tackle. Sadly Red Goddess doesn’t offer any of these. Instead it feels like you are fighting the game every step of the way, and this is frustrating because of how much promise there is underneath all the problems. Given more time I’m sure Yanim Studio could have nailed this on the first attempt, but instead Red Goddess: Inner World’s bugs dominate against the gameplay.

Rumbral feels like it is just getting going when you hit the credits. There is a sufficiently good atmosphere and decent designs, but the lack of an engaging story to draw you in and some sluggish gameplay elements does let the overall experience down.