Bubble Bobble is one of the greatest games ever made, and it’s also my go-to game when I’ve been asked about my favourite game of all time. Taito’s certainly done some interesting things with the Bubble Bobble IP over the years, and while a lot of the spinoff games have been excellent – I’m thinking titles like Rainbow Islands, Parasol…
Iwakura Aria caught my attention for several reasons: It’s a MAGES visual novel, and as a big-time fan of Steins;Gate and the rest of that series, I’ll play anything MAGES attaches its name to. Secondly, the project was being compared to The House in Fata Morgana, Raging Loop and Umineko,…
Read MoreMado Monogatari is the JPRG property that gave the world the Puyos – the cute little blobs that form the basis of the Puyo Puyo series. We don’t get many of the Mado Monogatari titles out west, though (as far as I know the only one is actually Sorcery Saga…
Read MoreOne of the things about J. R. R. Tolkien’s vision of Middle-Earth that people often overlook is that he was seeking to create an entire history, right down to forgotten lore and evolving cultures, languages, storytelling traditions, and legends. We often forget that to instead fixate on the fantasy adventure…
Read MoreIt’s intimidating to think how much work went into UFO 50. Most “collection” games are one of two things: A retro compilation, or a selection of minigames that are typically over in a few minutes. UFO 50 is different. It’s a collection of 50 genuinely new games, from just about…
Read MoreThere are two versions of Rugby: Rugby Union, and Rugby League. Rugby Union has grown to become a truly world sport, with a World Cup that is drawing growing interest for how competitive it is – including by nations outside the top couple of traditional “Rugby nations”. Rugby League, meanwhile,…
Read More“If a little is good, more must be better.” That’s how the saying goes, right? That certainly seems to be the approach that the developers have taken with Hatsune Miku Logic Paint S+, in that they’ve taken the previous quality take on the Picross formula (itself an already big game),…
Read MoreGolden Tee Arcade Classics is a fascinating package. As far as I can tell, it is the first time that Golden Tee has been released on console. I’m sure someone’s going to correct me on that, but I’m a fair golf fan, extending right back to the Microsoft Windows Golf…
Read MoreSuper Mario Party Jamboree was an impressive return to form for the Nintendo digital board game/minigame multiplayer mania series. After years of pointless experiments and some uninspired maps and minigame collections, the creative energy that went into Jamboree, combined with some fun side-distractions, help get it back to the top…
Read MoreIn The Wandering Village, you build a small community for survivors of an apocalypse to live on. The world has been ravaged and left effectively uninhabitable, but there is a giant dinosaur-like beast that has enough room and resources on its back to sustain some people. Your goal is to…
Read MoreThe third in the now-trilogy that started with AI: The Somnium Files is the first that Kotaro Uchikoshi took a back seat to. He still had a supervisory role, but it’s one of Uchikoshi’s mentees, Kazuya Yamada, who gets the creative credit for this one. The good news is that…
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