RYAN JOHNSON
Severed Review
Severed has been out for about a year, and now it gets it's run on the Switch. Is it worth a pickup for new Switch owners? Is it worth picking up for people who played it on the Vita, iOS devices, 3DS, or Wii U? Ryan Johnson at The Gamer's Lounge gives his review.
Masquerada: Songs and Shadows Review
Masquerada: Stories and Songs is a beautiful title set in a Venice-inspired world, wherein a strong caste system is at war. As Cicero Gavar, you battle to find the truth in a game reminiscent of Diablo and Final Fantasy XII and Tactics. If you can handle learning another language for the proper nouns and battle systems, you will find a thrilling story and addictive gameplay.
Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls Review
Danganronpa tries it's hand at another genre with the third person shooter Ultra Despair Girls. While fun on it's own, the biggest flaw is the solid story. Fans will no doubt have a blast, but if you haven't played previous games in the series you'll set yourself up for some major spoilers researching this title first.
RPG Maker Fes (3DS) Review
Have you ever thought you could craft a wonderful story that would enthrall millions in an RPG? With RPG Maker Fes, you have a chance. Upon release, you'll be able to craft your own world and upload it for others to experience. While you have to work with a limited template, the future of the game promises more genres and ideas. It's not the strongest creator out there, but it's the best one you can get with such an intuitive menu system and with added portability.
God Wars: Future Past Review
God Wars: Future Past will pull you back to the great year of 1998 for tactical RPGs. Whether they tried or not, Kadokawa Games has crafted a game that truly feels like a new Final Fantasy Tactics, and they should be loved all the more for it. A game set in historic Japan with storyline that lets you meet all of the classic myriad gods, you will spend excessive time crafting your perfect army to take their turns dealing out pain and finding a more peaceful way to appease the gods than sacrifice.
Farming Simulator 18 Review
Farming Simulator returns with yet another authentic depiction of life on the farm. In this release, Farming Simulator is on mobile, with phone, 3DS, and Vita entries. This year, improved graphics and more crops and animals flesh out the experience, and taking it on the road allows you to keep an eye on your crops without hogging the living room TV.
Pox Nora Review
Pox Nora is a freemium game that hybridizes RTS, collectible cards, and tactical turn-based gameplay. By giving you a solid base game that's worth spending a little money on, you find yourself either dropping a few bucks and joining the high ranks, or doing a lot of grinding. But the variety of options available to hardcore players of either sort will hook a strategist for a good, long while.
Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! Review
Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! tasks you with helping feudal lords in the Sengoku period of Japan make peace with their life so they can move on. This is done through top-down real-time Zelda style action with extra time challenges and multiplayer levels galore. Within the first hour of gameplay you will know exactly what you are getting, but if you enjoy it you'll find a plethora of fun within.
Demon's Crystals Review
Demon's Crystals is a "Get What You Pay For" kind of game. At $4.99, you find yourself the owner of a fun, quick, twin-stick shooter. That's it. You may find a terribly light story or some strange translation choices, but in the end, Demon's Crystals is a good $5 time waster, and even more fun if you have four local friends and controllers to get into the many multiplayer modes.
Human: Fall Flat Review
Human: Fall Flat drops down into the "intentionally difficult" realm of gaming, where Octodad lives. Underneath a frustrating control scheme is a solid physics puzzler. It's up to your level of masochism whether you'll laugh your way through or break your way through a few controllers. Depending on your taste in games, you'll love or hate it. Click in for a full review.
Seasons After Fall Review
Seasons after Fall utilizes the 2D platformer in a new way, creating a full-on puzzle experience complete with a beautiful presentation of painted artwork and string quartet music. Within, you are tasked to take control of a fox who is visiting the four Guardians of the Seasons to obtain control over the very seasons themselves. The story seems simple in this aspect, but soon unfolds into a much deeper tale.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 Review
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 tries to mix up the military shooter by focusing on long range weaponry and plopping you down in an open-world environment. The story may be by the books, but the gameplay allows you to have more chances at variety as you strive to take down an evil regime and hopefully figure out what happened to your brother in the process.
Birthdays: The Beginning Review
Birthdays: The Beginning is a new game from Yasuhiro Wada that's actually been in his head since he was a child. A "God Game" where you get to help nurture animals from the primordial soup all the way up to dinosaurs and even humans, the cute aesthetic hides some deep, confusing, but rewarding gameplay.
Voodoo Vince Remastered Review
After a major hiatus, being dormant since the original Xbox, platforming mascot Voodoo Vince makes a return in the remastered edition of his original game. While the graphics look up to par with a modern title, the game itself is a carbon copy of the original, complete with all the good and bad aspects of an early 00's platformer.
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds Review
Ryan steps out of his traditional gamer shell to review Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds, an otome game for the PlayStation Vita, wherein you play a young girl taken in by a troupe of samurai. Originally there to find your father, you soon find yourself romancing with your captors as a war rages on for control of the kingdom.
Blackwood Crossing Review
Blackwood Crossing is a beautiful narrative story about two children. It starts out as a simple train ride, but becomes so much more as it weaves a tale of loss and grief in a coming-of-age storyline. Ryan Johnson at The Gamer's Lounge gives you the rundown on this heartfelt tale.
Anoxemia Review
Indie games try to pull on your feelings, quite often of dread and horror. In this game, the biggest horror Ryan Johnson at The Gamer's Lounge faced is the entirety of a game being made into what he sees as an underwater rescue mission resource management simulator. Might hit a good nerve for someone, but not for this particular review.
Danganronpa 1-2 Reload Review
Danganronpa has been around for quite a while, originally landing on Japanese PSP's in 2010. With the third mainline story coming to America in September, Spike Chunsoft releases the original two games on PS4 in America. Ryan Johnson at The Gamer's Lounge was able to go through and tell you whether you should take another trip to Hope's Peak Academy.
Blue Rider (PS4) Review
Blue Rider is a game that harkens back to the classic quarter munching days. Who cares about plotline, you're a blue dude in a ship and there are robots to kill! This bullet-hell shooter has quite a lot going for it if you can get over a few design flaws. Ryan Johnson of The Gamer's Lounge looks into this title for you.
Flywrench Review
Flywrench. If Flappy Bird and Satan had a baby, this would be it. From the makers of Nidhogg, this game is just as subtle and basic, yet once you master the controls, has a nuance that only the truly dedicated will master.