Short Game Reviews: May 2022

Lego Star Wars the Force Awakens:

Prefer this over the Complete Saga, this game adapts it's source material a lot better than the former and has better level design and gameplay despite being based on a mediocre movie.

OlliOlli World:

This game can be frustrating yet is also very fun, it's trial and error gameplay done right. I don't really care for getting high scores since the game was already really challenging. A must play if you are a 2D platformer fan or just any platformer heavily based around timing.

Team Sonic Racing:

Its pretty fun but I feel like it could be a chapter shorter then again this could be me playing so much of the game's story mode at once.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Hinokami Chronicles: 

I am not very familar with Demon Slayer's manga or anime and I checked this game out because I think CyberConnect2 anime game adaptations tend to be some of the more interesting anime licensed game fare. I think Naruto Storm 2-4 for the most part, is a better way to experience post timeskip Naruto than the anime and I will eventually play Dragon Ball Kakarot.

From what I can gather from the story of this game is that it's decent, but it's not enough to make run out and start watching the anime. It seems to be a weird cross between Bleach and Berserk with a lot of the typical demon related shennanigans that a lot of these kind of anime tend to have.

The game overall is pretty decent typical anime arena fighter gameplay and especially similar to the Naruto Storm games all though I think the fighting here is a bit more refined since you have an actual dodge command rather than relying on dodging as a cooldown. It has the same structure as other games from the devs, and I do like the adventuring aspect to break up the pace of fights all though there was way too much downtime after you beat one of the 12 Kizuki in the forest, and there was some strange difficulty spikes towards the Mugen Train boss all the way to the final boss, but the game lets you respawn from where you last died but you lose points reminding me a bit of Wonderful 101. It has heavy amounts of cutscenes at times but I am used to it at this point.

It has those crazy over the top boss fights with the crazy QTEs that CC2 games are known for and they are as over the top as they always are but there seems to be fewer than usual.

Overall, I was expecting a CC2 anime licensed game and that's what I got, the game didn't light my world on fire but I was never really expecting it to.

Nex Machina:

No one really makes Twin Stick Shooters like HouseMarque does. The game feels amazing to play the moment you boot it up and it's a game that does so much in just so little. If you love short games and short action games at that, this game is a must play.