The Two Point series has a lot to answer for. Yes, SEGA’s brand of casual business simulations is silly and charming, and it’s fun to see what whacky schools, hospitals and museums you can cobble together. But in their desperate effort to be feel-good fun times, the Two Point series…
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I went into Tomodachi Life: Living The Dream, having not played the original, and not really followed it. That is to say, I went in entirely unprepared for the utterly surreal experience that awaited me. I started by making myself, as is fairly standard for “life sim” games like these.…
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There was a time when Capcom was the most experimental game publisher, by a long way. Those of us who had PS2s and GameCubes at the time will remember that alongside the likes of Resident Evil 4, Capcom developed highly experimental stuff like P.N.03 and published Killer7, which was the…
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This is the first time I have played Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and I feel fortunate for that, as this has been an unmitigated delight to experience for the first time, especially now that it has the multiplayer stuff added into it. The result is a big package of Nintendo…
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Satire is a difficult challenge for a game developer. On the one hand, the satire needs to criticise the subject. On the other hand, if the game feels too good to play, it is very easy to feel like a celebration of the subject instead. If you were to undermine…
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Nintendo’s timing with its no-pressure comfort food games has been fortuitous. Animal Crossing landed at almost the exact moment that people around the world were desperate for some no-stress escapism from COVID-19. Now, Pokémon Pokopia launches right at the time that America massively escalates global tensions by committing war crimes…
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For people who enjoyed the vibes of Monster Hunter, but found the challenging, highly technical action combat to be overwhelming, Capcom came up with the Monster Hunter Stories series. The first two were enjoyable, but with Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, Capcom has landed on something really special indeed.…
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Before I fully launch into my review of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake, a remake of my favourite horror game ever, bar none and by a considerable margin, I do have to register annoyance about something. Koei Tecmo: It’s only “Fatal Frame” in America, and that’s a far sillier…
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The Nintendo Switch doesn’t excel at car racing, though it’s not necessarily the fault of the developers. The lack of analogue triggers means that you can’t quite replicate the feeling of pressing the foot down on a pedal, and the relatively modest hardware prevents the graphics team from truly embracing…
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Mario Tennis Fever is one of Nintendo’s weakest titles in years, and certainly its weakest tennis title. This is tragic because I loved Mario Tennis back on the N64, Game Boy, and Game Cube. Let’s start with the story mode. On the one hand, I do congratulate the developers for…
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