DeVuego ES_COR

Kemono Heroes doesn’t innovate, stand out, or provide a memorable experience, but at the same time, it had no single serious flaw I could think of. Its visuals are decent, its soundtrack is great, its controls are very responsive, and I really enjoyed its difficulty curve and progression system. It’s a very safe game that does everything it aimed to do pretty well. When I stop to think about it, I see no reason why I shouldn’t recommend this title to Switch owners. A cute, side-scrolling indie platformer with local co-op is basically what the console was made for.

If you are okay with playing what is essentially a game from the 80’s with a 2021 coat of paint, then you’ll have a great time with Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX. This is a perfect way to introduce a brand new generation of gamers to a criminally underrated franchise that deserves way more respect than what little it got over the years. It’s colorful, adorable, not entirely hard to play, and most importantly, it’s one hell of a nostalgia bomb for those who grew up with it back in the day. I’m beyond delighted that Jankenteam and Merge Games took their time to bring this 80’s hero back to the spotlight and I hope they come with even more Alex Kidd games in the near future.

Essays on Empathy feels like a collection of elevator pitches, of small technical showcases of what Deconstructeam will develop from now on. Some of the games in the collection are too vague and occasionally way too pretentious to be fully enjoyed, but other titles in here, while short, ooze potential. I would love to play a full game based on De Tres Al Cuarto or a full-fledged version of Dear Substance of Kin, for example. All in all, it’s a fun diversion full of unique ideas, even if not all of them pay off in the end.

Despite these gameplay issues, I liked Frogun. Sure, its nostalgic aesthetic was a cheap shot for someone like me, but the game isn’t without its qualities. This is an adorable platformer that set out to look, feel and play like a classic 3D platformer from the Nintendo 64 era, and it succeeded with honors. I hope the game receives a patch or two to fix some of its janky physics and jumping mechanics, but you can still have a great time with it right now. If you, like me, grew up playing titles like Glover, Chameleon Twist and Croc, look no further: Frogun is an adorable nostalgia bomb you’re going to appreciate.

Asphalt 9 is a good racing game without a doubt, but it’s obviously catered towards a mobile market. It might be available on PC, it might accept actual controllers, it does look a lot better than your average Google Play Store asset flip garbage, but this was tailor made for a much more casual audience, people who want to enjoy this game in short bursts and aren’t completely against buying a bit of loot every now and then. This game would have been a perfect fit for the Switch if they ever bother to develop an actually paid version with no microtransactions to the system. We can’t live off Gear.Club Unlimited forever.

Ghosts’n DJs doesn’t feature good controls, and its message against plastic DJs can be infantile at times, but it can be very entertaining in short bursts, especially since it’s nowhere near as broken or infuriating as Ghosts ‘n Goblins, its main source of inspiration. It would have been a perfect fit for the Switch, but it’s still an easy recommendation if you’re into electronic music. And if you haven’t played AVICII Invector yet, of course.

Relicta is a good game with some really clever and thought-provoking puzzles, but it overstays its welcome with its extended length. Not to mention the absence of additions of new features throughout its campaign and an overall uninteresting story filled with uninteresting characters and unskippable cutscenes. There is no shortage of higher quality puzzlers out there, but if you’re a big fan of the genre, maybe give this one a shot. You’ll probably have enough fun with it to warrant a single playthrough, but that’s basically it.

As a cynical adult, I obviously find Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay to be one of the most basic gaming experiences I’ve had in years. But I am not its core audience. When you assess it through the eyes of a toddler, this is actually a pretty decent game. The visuals emulate the show with perfection, the controls are polished, and the music is catchy. It’s very easy, to the point a five year old can probably platinum it, all while feeling accomplished as a result. As far as educational and preschool-oriented games go, Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay is easily one of the best out there.

The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom is flawed beyond belief when it comes to its presentation, but I definitely wasn’t expecting for its gameplay and controls to be so solid. Nor was I expecting for it to feature some engaging bouts of vehicular combat and 4-player local co-op. It follows the same trend as most mid-range licensed titles out there: if you (or your kids) are a fan of the show, go for it. It respects its source material and offers a sizeable amount of bang for your buck. If you have never heard of this show before, you might still get some enjoyment out of it if you’re a fan of Diablo clones.

Scarf is a good game, but not one that left an impression. I played it, enjoyed it while it lasted, but once I was done with it, all I could think about is that I would have enjoyed it a lot more three years ago, back when it was first announced, and back when 3D indie plaftormers were still a niche, a breath of fresh air in the market. This game was released a few years after the hype had died out, sadly enough. It’s still worth picking up if you’re a fan of titles like RiME, Journey, and Super Lucky’s Tale, but don’t expect to be wowed by it. 

After Us is a game of contrasts. A game where the harsh grays and pollution of its desolate landscapes contrast with the gorgeous rays of light and greeneries summoned by its protagonist. Where its unwelcome setting contrasts with its easy-going gameplay loop. It’s also a game where the decent gameplay loop contrasts with its excessively on-the-nose story. I appreciate its well-natured intentions, but it tried way too hard to deliver that same old message that we are destroying the environment, and we are to blame for it all, but mother nature is much more powerful than us, feeble humans. We get it, we suck. Thankfully, there’s a decent platformer behind the preachy premise. One that’s fairly enjoyable if you can put up with some technical issues.

As a project developed by a group of recently graduated game developers, Mail Mole is worthy of praise. It runs well on the Switch, it’s mostly devoid of bugs, and its character design is quite cute. Sadly, it’s a generic platformer with a very simple premise and forgettable level design. It’s fun for a few minutes at a time, but you’ll mostly forget about your experience with it after an hour or two. There is potential in this team, and I’m looking forward to seeing their next projects in the future. As for now, kudos for the effort, but this game is just passable.

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is, sadly, just another bog standard 3D platformer that does very little to stand out from the deluge of platformers available on the Switch. Not featuring the same gameplay loop as its predecessor makes it a hard sell for fans of Summer in Mara, and being so canonically tied to a farming simulator also makes it a hard sell for platformer enthusiasts looking for another hidden gem on the Nintendo Switch. Add in average-at-best visuals, music and level design, and what you get as a result is just a very middle-of-the-road game that fails to appeal to anyone.

Far from an offensively bad title, but also far from a passable game, Super Toy Cars is just a little mediocre title. It’s a game that can be mildly entertaining for a few minutes, but not engaging enough to grab your attention for a long time. It’s pretty hard to recommend Super Toy Cars to Switch owners when Mario Kart is already available for it.

At the end of it, I couldn’t help but just constantly ask myself, “what’s the point of all this?” I will never not appreciate a developer for coming up with a unique premise for a game, but make it fun, or at least moderately coherent for it to justify its existence as a piece of entertainment. Minabo: A Walk Through Life isn’t broken, nor is it poorly made. It’s a well-put game in the technical sense. On the design side of things, this is pointless. I wasn’t having fun with it, I was constantly bored and wondering if could just replay The Sims 2 instead.