[REVIEW] Hyper Light Drifter (PS4)

Hyper Light Drifter
Played on: PS4
Genre: Top-down Action-adventure
Developer / Publisher: Heart Machine

Helping fund a game through Kickstarter is often a dangerous proposition. Some end up not getting made at all, while others go through changes in scope or release plans. Hyper Light Drifter is an example of the latter; I was really looking forward to play the now-cancelled Wii U version, especially because of a the map possibilities of the gamepad. Thankfully, it did get released on PS4, and it very much lives up to the hype.

[REVIEW] Bravely Second: End Layer (3DS)

Bravely Second: End Layer
Played on: 3DS
Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer: Intelligent Systems / Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

A few years ago, Square Enix released Bravely Default, a little masterpiece of an RPG that got sadly dragged down towards the end by an insane amount of grinding and repetition. For the sequel, I was hoping they'd avoid this sort of thing. Instead, we get what amounts to a few dozen extra hours of, well, repetition.

[REVIEW] Mighty No. 9 (Wii U)

Mighty No. 9
Played on: Wii U
Genre: Action platformer
By: Comcept / Inti Creates / Deep Silver

After a protracted development period that saw many early supporters turn to non-believers, Keiji Inafune's spiritual successor to Mega Man proves it wasn't really worth the wait after all.

[REVIEW] Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus (Wii U)

Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus
Played on: Wii U
Genre: 2D adventure-platformer
Developer: Look at my Game / Storybird
Publisher: Aksys Games

The indie game scene has become pretty much the only place to get your fix of 2D metroidvanias, with quite a few excellent titles in the genre released over the past few years. Chronicles of Teddy, the latest of them to reach Wii U, is an interesting game to review, as its absolute excellence in adventure design is almost matched in intensity by the numerous development problems that used to plague the game upon release.

[REVIEW] Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest (3DS)

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
Played on: 3DS
Genre: Strategy RPG
Developer: Intelligent Systems / Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo

Following the success of Fire Emblem: Awakening in finally making Nintendo's storied strategy series popular in a large scale, it was inevitable that we'd get more Fire Emblem action on 3DS. This came true in the form of Fire Emblem Fates, an exciting follow-up that keeps a lot of what made Awakening great and brings its own new ideas to the fold.