Review Category: Reviews

ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: NINTENDO / PLATFORM: SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Nintendo’s chilled-out town-builder / social simulation Animal Crossing returns with New Horizons, which sees an unnamed youngster set sail to a deserted island in search of a new start. With the help of friendly raccoon Tom Nook and his boys, Timmy and Tommy, along with a couple of other new arrivals, your island will grow as your economy increases and more amenities become available, attracting more newcomers to the neighbourhood.

Intended to be played for half an hour or so each day over a period of weeks and months, AC:NH makes binge-playing impossible (unless you cheat) by locking many of its upgrades and missions until varying amounts of time have passed in the real world. If a character tells you something will be ready tomorrow, they really do mean tomorrow. It can be a tad frustrating when certain essential facilities suddenly become temporarily unavailable while they’re being renovated, but there are plenty of things to keep you entertained in the meantime.

The bulk of your time will be spent fishing, chopping trees, breaking up rocks, catching bugs and digging for fossils. Anything and everything can be sold for bells (the game’s currency), and many items are necessary for crafting furniture and generally tarting up your island. And, of course, you can donate any specimens you find to Blathers the owl in the local museum, who will put everything on display as a record of your efforts.

It might not sound like much, but there’s always something to do whenever you decide to dip in for a little while. Shop inventories change every day, and there’s a seemingly never-ending list of challenges that reward you with “Nook Miles,” a secondary currency that can be exchanged for some of the game’s more desirable items. The most useful (and expensive) of these is plane tickets which allow you to fly to other islands (including those belonging to other players) where you can find rare plants and critters, bringing them back to your island to sell for megabucks.

It’s rare that a game doesn’t especially give you any objective other than “do what you want,” and AC:NH‘s ability to engage players with just a handful of tools is absolutely to be applauded. We’ve all got plenty of time on our hands at the moment, and this might be just what you’re looking for to while away some of those extra hours.

SHINSEKAI: INTO THE DEPTHS / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: CAPCOM / PLATFORM: APPLE ARCADE, SWITCH (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Originally released exclusively for the Apple Arcade in late 2019, Shinsekai: Into the Depths is a bit of a departure for developers Capcom. Mostly known for AAA epics like Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, and for their outstanding back catalogue of fighting games, Shinsekai is a more modest 2D underwater exploration adventure / survival game – the sort of thing that you might get if you crossed Subnautica with Super Metroid and dropped it somewhere in the early to mid 2000s.

Very little explanation is given at the start of the game regarding what’s going on – a lone deep sea diver is trapped underwater as a layer of ice pushes him further into the depths. It’s your job to explore each part of the subaquatic environment to locate various items and upgrades that will allow you to dive even deeper, while keeping an eye on your oxygen supply which doubles as both your all-important health bar and also the source of additional speed and power boosters for your diving suit.

During your expedition, you’ll come across a variety of long-forgotten sea creatures that you can either fight or flee from, as well as a handful of boss encounters. Upgrading your suit is essential if you’re going to deal with these gargantuan beasts, so you’ll need to seek out the game’s many secrets and hidden areas, as well as keeping an eye out for upgrade materials that need to be dug out of the rocks.

As you descend, you travel through a really quite beautiful range of locations, from harsh unforgiving rocks to lush and fertile areas strewn with greenery. Despite the dangers that lie ahead, it all feels very calm and relaxing – the atmosphere aided by some fantastic sound design that really makes you feel like you’ve been submerged in real life (seriously, wear headphones if you can).

Movement can be a little stiff at times, although that’s presumably by design (we’re underwater, after all) and, even with a few tutorials available, it can still be a bit of a mission to figure out how the upgrade and crafting systems work. Take the time to familiarise yourself with everything though, and you’ll find an enjoyable sci-fi adventure in a setting rarely explored by games of this kind.

PANZER DRAGOON: REMAKE / DEVELOPER: MEGAPIXEL STUDIO / PUBLISHER: FOREVER ENTERTAINMENT / PLATFORM: SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Originally released almost 25 years ago on Sega Saturn, Panzer Dragoon was an innovative on-rails 3D shooter which was seen as both Sega’s answer to and a natural progression to Nintendo’s Star Fox series. Showing off some of the most impressive polygon-based graphics seen at the time and the ability to turn a full 360 degrees, Panzer Dragoon was a beacon of hope for disenfranchised Saturn fans, full of buyer’s remorse for refusing to wait for Sony’s far more successful PlayStation console. As both a launch title and the best-reviewed game on the system, PD was absolutely vital in Sega’s bid to remain even remotely competitive with Sony’s 32-bit juggernaut. The success of the game facilitated two sequels, a couple of spinoffs and a huge cult legacy with gamers the world over.

Handled by Megapixel Studios, Panzer Dragoon: Remake is an authentic level by level recreation of the original game in high definition with souped up graphics, but can it capture the imagination in the same way the original did? Well, yes and no. There’s absolutely no denying that as a gameplay experience, Panzer Dragoon both knocks it out of the park and stands the test of time. As far as on-rails arcade-style shooters go, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better one, but a lot of the original’s magic has been somewhat lost in translation. Although the game plays absolutely fine (basically exactly the same as the Saturn version) and is nice and smooth, the stylistic elements and general vibe seem at odds with the ambience of the original. Graphics are colourful and vibrant with busy backgrounds, but also appear stagnant and slightly lifeless. As pretty as the environments are, they don’t feel alive in the same way they did in the original. Visuals also have a slightly budget feel to them, with the graphics looking a little like what one would expect to see in an Xbox 360 era XBL game.

Overall we would highly recommend PD:R to anyone who hasn’t experienced the original or is hankering after some on-rails shooting action, but we’d be hard pressed to recommend it to big fans of the series. Although the visuals aren’t quite what we might have hoped for, Megapixel Studios have done an admirable job with the remake and we look forward to seeing how the sequels turn out.

PERSONA 5 ROYAL / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: ATLUS / PLATFORM: PLAYSTATION 4 / RELEASE DATE: 31ST MARCH

The most recent entry to the Persona series, Persona 5 was immediately labelled as one of the greatest role-playing games of all time when it was first released in 2016. Seeking to improve on an already impeccable title, developers Atlus have refined some of the game’s mechanics, revised the dialogue and almost doubled the length of the game by adding a ton of new content.

The opening hours of P5R pose way more questions than answers. Who’s this masked man and why is he in a casino filled with monsters? Why are massive traffic accidents happening all over Tokyo, injuring dozens of people at a time? What’s this weird app that keeps appearing on your phone? Why are you suddenly held captive in an otherworldly dungeon, trying to escape with help from a talking cat? And why does that man wearing a crown and robe (and nothing else but a pair of tight bright pink briefs) bear a striking resemblance to your pervy PE teacher?

The pieces eventually start to fit together, but things continue to get even crazier over the course of the game’s 100 or so hours. By day, you’re a regular teenager, going to school, doing chores and building relationships, but when night falls, you’ll be invading the psyche of wrongdoers, stealing treasure, fighting monsters using all kinds of crazy weapons and magic, and restoring balance to an unjust world.

P5R‘s turn-based combat allows players to perform melee attacks, special “Persona” moves, and shoot a limited amount of bullets. Extra mechanics like knockdowns and hold-ups add scope for more tactical manoeuvres, like questioning nearly-defeated foes to gain extra rewards and new attacks. New skills are earned as you go along, through winning battles and by improving relationships with other characters, ensuring a constant stream of increasingly flashy attacks throughout the game.

The production values are, put simply, some of the highest we’ve ever seen. Everything looks bright and crisp, with tons of memorable locations and characters, and the animated cutscenes are particularly outstanding. The audio is similarly excellent, with an incredible Japanese-tinged pop/rock soundtrack and top-notch voice acting. Everything looks and sounds perfectly designed, from the enemies and environments all the way down to the text boxes!

Speaking of text, there’s an awful lot of dialogue to get through, to the point where you occasionally feel like you’ve been playing for a couple of hours and still haven’t had a fight yet. Thankfully, the story is so well-written that it keeps pushing you on to see what happens next, and there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments to keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s a crazy tale for sure, but it’s easy enough to get into and will quite possibly make you want to track down some of the previous Persona games to see what’s happened in the past (although it’s not necessary to have played any of them to enjoy P5R).

New players have got an absolute treat in store with this one, and there’s plenty for returning players to get their teeth into, including a brand new character, an extended story mode, a new location and a wealth of new items, weapons and abilities. As a re-release P5R does everything right, serving as an outstanding introduction to the world for newcomers and a fantastic reason to revisit if you’ve been here before. Things do take a fairly long time to get going, so more impatient players might want to consider their options, but it’s a journey well worth taking. Honestly, it’s impossible to find any faults with P5R at all. A*, double distinction, full marks!

GOOD JOB! / DEVELOPER: PALADIN STUDIOS / PUBLISHER: NINTENDO / PLATFORM: SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Like Snipperclips and Stretchers before it, Good Job! is another indie puzzler published by Nintendo… but how good of a job have they done this time?

The game is a physics-based puzzler in which the owner of a company employs his clumsy child to work for him. The company is based in a single tower, and you literally start from the bottom and work your way to the top, starting off in the finance department on floor 1, aiming for the penthouse on floor 9.

Each floor is a different department, usually containing three levels that can be done in any order to unlock a fourth level that leads to promotion to the next floor. Each level consists of a task, such as moving boxes onto a crate or gathering toys from a swimming pool. Sometimes you’ll use doors, but other times it’s fine to make your own by launching a table through a window. When we find out where this business is, we’ll be handing in our CV for sure! The aim of the game is to complete the task at hand as quickly as possible, causing as little damage as you can. Unfortunately, the company leaves lots of expensive breakable things lying around and has poor health and safety regulations, so disaster is always around the corner…

The gameplay is sometimes challenging, often puzzling and always hilarious. The different physics mechanics brought in by each floor keeps things fresh, and the levels have collectable hats and uniforms hidden throughout. Add that to the challenge of beating your speed and lowering your damage costs, and there’s plenty of incentive to replay levels. Drop in / drop out local co-op makes things even more amusing and, unlike something like Overcooked, it shouldn’t end your friendship – other than your own pride, there’s no rush to finish levels. We did experience a few frame rate issues with the split screen, however.

Good Job! is a charming funny puzzle game that feels right at home on the Switch and will make you want to bring your work home (if you haven’t had to do that already).

STAR WARS JEDI KNIGHT: JEDI ACADEMY / DEVELOPER & PUBLISHER: ASPYR / PLATFORM: SWITCH / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Initially released in 2003 on PC and the original chunky Xbox, this is the third game in the Jedi Knight series, or fourth in the Dark Forces series (luckily, the makers didn’t add that to the mouthful of a title too). It’s ported over to the Switch by Aspyr, the team that also brought across the previous game in the series as well the excellent achievement of getting Civilization VI running on handhelds.

Like what came before, Jedi Aceademy is a third-person action game / first-person shooter. Unlike the previous game, Jedi Outcast, this one leans more into the third person side, starting you off with a light sabre rather than a blaster.

The story tells the final chapter of Jaden Korr, a former Imperial soldier who’s now on the side of the Alliance and has joined Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Academy. The academy setting acts as a tutorial, teaching you how to use your force powers which initially consist of “Detect” which can show hidden objects, “Push and Pull,” and “Speed.” As you progress, you can choose to unlock new powers or increase the rank of the ones you already have.

The gameplay holds up well for a seventeen year old game – movement is a little clunky but there’s no camera control issues like you’d see in a lot of third person games from that era. Doing somersaults and using force powers is fun, as is cutting down enemies with your light sabre. The gun play, on the other hand, isn’t so good, and the level design is repetitive, made all the more confusing with lack of map. Finding a multiplayer game takes a while, and loading causes occasional issues with the sound and when you die it takes far too long to revive. Once you’re in, however, the gameplay is as good as it’s always been and has a much higher skill level than the single player.

Jedi Academy still stands out as one of the better Star Wars games, and this is a decent port. If you want to play it online then get it while the player base is hot!