Tag Archives: Nintendo Switch

Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition Review

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It’s time for the next big Xenoblade adventure and I can definitely tell you that this is a real big one. Xenoblade X is a title with an even bigger hub world than Breath of the Wild and you can really feel the scale while you are running through the world. It would take ages and ages to run across the whole place. The story may take a little while to get going next to the other titles but it definitely gets really hype by the end. This is a game that you do not want to miss out on.

The general plot is that Earth was caught in the middle of a civil war between two alien factions which forces us to abandon the planet. After a long journey through space, we found a planet that could support us but the catch is that most people are still stuck in life pods across the world. Over 99% of humanity was wiped out but the survivors will be doing their best to hang in there. Will they be able to do this and find the remaining pods or will they be wiped out by the existing wildlife on the planet?

This new planet is home to many giant monsters. You’ll even see monsters level 80 and beyond right next to home base. So it’s safe to say that this is not the most hospitable place around. There are also other alien races running around. As the game goes on you gradually get some rather major twists. For the most part this tends to be an adventure game first and foremost though. The real plot doesn’t tend to start until the last chapter or two. It’s also why this definitive version comes in clutch because the new 3 part chapter they added has more story than the rest of the game combined.

We’re talking 20+ minute cutscenes over and over. The game reaches a whole cosmic level and we even get a ton of world building and exposition . We finally see how the game ties in with the first two and it’s just really interesting to see. I dare say if the plot was like this from the jump then it might be better able to hang with the first two. For the record this is an elite game either way but I would have to put it under the first two titles for now. Those are just a little too hard to defeat but it doesn’t take anything away from this one.

The graphics are really good here. The game definitely holds up well there, both with the actual action scenes and with the special effects within the gameplay. There are definitely no weaknesses there and of course the soundtrack is also really good. You have a number of lyrical tracks which are also a blast. Each one really makes you feel the gravity of the situation and it is also super rare to be having them play so often. You can expect a lyrical track for basically every boss fight and there is also an emotional one that plays for a whole lot of cutscenes. All in all it is really a great balance.

The gameplay is similar to your classic turn based system but has an active component to it. This will be familiar to Xenoblade fans but also plays like the original .Hack. Basically your character is always attacking with basic attacks but then you can use your energy meter to launch special moves as soon as they are ready. They will keep on replenishing as the battle goes on and of course you also have items and such. It’s a pretty well thought out game and you have the Overdrive mechanic which lets you use a ton of moves in quick succession for as long as it is active. That makes for a pretty good ace up your sleeve.

Near the end of the game you also get your mech suit which you can use to fly around and also fight in. It’s a pretty great change of pace because in this form you are absolutely broken. You can launch attacks that are many times stronger than in your human mode. You can also zoom around the hub world a lot faster. It was a good idea to keep it so late in the game of course because now there is no longer any ordinary exploration. If you want to go anywhere then you’ll just be flying which makes it all really easy.

It really helps you appreciate how grand the world is since you had to first run through all of the areas on foot before getting the mech and flying everywhere. If you had gotten the mech suit too early then it would have really defeated the adventurous spirit of the title. Additionally there are also so many collectibles and side quests to complete across the planet. I knocked out well over a hundred and there were still a ton of them left. The Xenoblade games are never a stranger to having a lot of content and this one was no exception. It really feels like the game does not have an end to it.

By the time you have completed the game there is still so much to do in terms of side quests. The characters all get a lot of personality here and the side missions still have voice acting for the affinity missions. The world gets so much screentime. If you’re ever going to make a lore game, Xenoblade X should definitely be your template. It’s also one of those games that is very intuitive so grinding and completing side missions is just a lot of fun. You are always making some kind of progress in the game so your time never feels wasted. It takes skilled developers to pull something like that off.

Overall, Xenoblade X is definitely a must play game. It’s also a very long one so expect to be spending around 50 hours or more here. You’re getting a whole lot of bang for your buck and there is a ton of replay value. It absolutely gets you hyped to go ahead and play the next games in the series since they’re all so phenomenal. If you don’t own this one yet then you definitely will want to change that as soon as possible.

Overall 9/10

Metroid Dread Review

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It’s time to finally check out Metroid Dread. That game was definitely out for quite a while and got good reviews so I knew it was about time that I took the plunge. I can tell you this, the game definitely lives up to the hype. In fact I would say it is the best Metroid game in the franchise. The climax is super cinematic and the combat is also a lot of fun. You really get to use a larger variety of abilities than in other Metroid titles and it doesn’t hold back on graphics or soundtrack. Prepare yourself for a difficult but very satisfying game.

The game starts with a brief recap to Metroid Fusion and then Samus has to head to a planet that is having some trouble. Unfortunately this was a trap. She is quickly defeated by a powerful being known as Raven Beak and she wakes up at the bottom of the planet with most of her abilities being sealed away. She is suffering from something called physical amnesia. She needs to find a way off the planet and then blow it up because if Raven Claw and his X viruses get off the planet then the whole universe will be in trouble. Will she be able to escape?

Right away the game lives up to its title as the main theme is really dark and foreboding. I’ve been listening to it a lot on Youtube after completing the game and it really holds up. It’s a super memorable track and it’s going to be hard for any Samus theme to beat this one. The various boss/level themes are also really solid so I was quite impressed with the soundtrack. Then we have the graphics which are looking real sharp as well. The colors are on point and the cinematics keep up the good work. There are no weak points in the visuals.

The game’s length is a bit on the short side as I beat it in under 7 hours but there are definitely more areas to explore through. All though not as much as in other games as most of the maps quickly get locked as you proceed through the game. So for the most part you can’t do any backtracking until you’re really near the end of the game. It’s hard to time this as well because then you quickly enter the land of no return for the climax so you could very well find yourself at a point where you don’t get to explore much at all.

The game is designed in a way where you can certainly still win even without all the extra energy tanks, it’ll just be more difficult. You have less room for error here so you better work on memorizing the enemy attack patterns. It took me some time for a few of the bosses but just keep going at it and you’ll be okay. This is a very appropriate measure of difficulty where nobody can accuse the game of being too easy but at the same time it’s not insanely difficult. You have the tools at your disposal to win the matches when it counts.

The key gameplay mechanic here is the parry system. You have to use that in order to block the stronger moves that the enemies use and then counter with some free shots from your end. If you nail every counter then you will definitely win but the window of time can be short so it does come down to your overall reaction times. There are also unblockable attacks so you have to be able to quickly notice when they’re coming and dodge instead. If you are too slow then you will be in trouble.

A lot of the boss battles are in fairly open environments which is fun because your movement is not limited. It also means that when you lose, you know that you could have done something different. There are 7 hunters after you as well so you have to constantly be running around them and evading until you get your super laser to finish them off. These chases are really intense and some of the best parts of the title. Probably the best aside from the final boss himself.

Raven Claw will also go down as one of the all time greatest Metroid villains. That guy was really solid. As always Samus is a great heroine as well. Someone who can make snap decisions without hesitating like when she blasts one of the villains near the end. She never gives up. As a whole the gameplay is definitely a lot of fun and in terms of gameplay design, the Metroidvania aspects weren’t bad.

The map could have been better though. It’s a little too cluttered and you can’t really filter it. For example I think you should not see collectibles that you’ve already obtained on the map. It just takes up space and looks misleading. At least make it a different color right? If the map were easier to read then that would make things easier instead of having to check it over and over again. It could be a lot worse though as the game at least usually makes it pretty clear where you should be going. So I give it a lot of props there.

Aside from trying to beat the game even quicker to get special endings, there is also a hard mode and a boss rush mode that you unlock. I’m sure those are fun modes to check out and hopefully you would get some kind of a special reward for completing them. Hard mode must be absolutely unforgiving too so I wonder how the bosses would go there. Maybe the reaction times for the parry are even more narrow which would really put you in a tough spot. As it is I could only parry the hunters once in a while because they are so unpredictable. Having reaction times that good is definitely a rarity.

Overall, Metroid Dread is definitely a great game. One of those titles that reminds you Nintendo can still churn out an intense title when they feel like it. It may be a little more rare than you would like but that’s just how it goes sometimes. I eagerly look forward to seeing if Prime 4 will be able to maintain this intensity. I still have yet to play Prime 2 and Prime 3 so you can bet that I will work on correcting that sooner than later. In the meantime, this is a good title to tide you over.

Overall 8/10

Densetsu no Stafy Review

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Stafy is one of those classic platformers and now thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online I’ve gotten to play it on the big screen! Unfortunately they didn’t translate the game and I think this does hurt the title quite a bit because otherwise there is a whole lot of plot going on. There is a ton of cutscenes throughout the movie with text and animations running around. I would be really curious to know exactly what is going on here but I suppose in the end that’s not something I would really be able to figure out. I mean in broad strokes you get it but the details are what counts. Additionally this even has a gameplay factor to it.

See, Stafy’s not the most linear platformer out there. It’s got a lot of puzzle elements within it. Each world is made up of one massive stage that connects to various doors around the maze. When you go through a door, you will often be stopped by a character who is asking you for something but of course you don’t know what that is. So I had to brute force it by going to each door, eventually finding something that looked interactable, picking that up and trying each door until I gave it to the right person.

In that way, I would eventually get everyone everything they needed. Then I could proceed to the boss room and take him down. Doing this for each of the worlds aside from the 7th which is just a boss rush could be rather tough. With the translations it would have been real easy though. I’m not a big fan of mixing in puzzles and backtracking in my platformers either way though. Generally speaking I think the best thing to do is make things straight forward with optional collectibles for people who want them. I’d even recommend locking some secret ending and maybe even a bonus level or two behind that. It makes the serious players have to work for it while everyone else just dashes through. I think that’s a pretty reasonable way to go about things.

It might be a stretch to call this a full on collectathon of course but you definitely do have to back track a whole lot which is unfortunate. Again, it may not have been a big deal if I knew exactly what I was looking for though. The graphics are really good though, the game definitely stands out and the character models are all really good. The soundtrack is also solid enough, perhaps not a total masterpiece but it gets the job done. So on a technical level I don’t have any issues here. Mix that in with the game’s solid length and you’ve really got yourself a title here. I may not have been a big fan but I would still call it a good game.

If I was in the game stores back in the day and the game was licensed, I’d check it out. I still think the DS Stafy game I played was the best in the series and it’s going to be hard to beat that but of course I still have to get through the second and third games so it’ll be a minute before I’m done with the whole series. We’ll see how the next bosses go, this one had a lot of creative ones. They all would tend to be on the easier side but I liked that none of them were clones. They all had unique gimmicks and abilities and you had to find out how to hurt them. Once you figured that out then you were set.

There were also various minigames in the worlds. They were fun enough but didn’t help you progress in the level so I quickly stopped using them entirely. No point after a while right? If there is a minigame mode though, then that’s a pretty nice addition. the minigames were handled well and shakes up the normal gameplay so I definitely give that a thumbs up all the way around.

Overall, Stafy is a pretty classic title. It may not be on the same level as your average platformer where you get to race to the goal but it is a game where a lot of effort was put into it. The game’s length is also pretty solid for its time. You’re not going to just breeze through all of the levels in an instant or anything like that after all. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check this one. Do your best to just roll with the story and of course they also have the next two Stafy games on the system so you can bet that they will be having their time in the sun soon.

Overall 6/10

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Review

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As soon as they announced this game I knew it was going to be hype. It’s about time that Zelda got to carry her own adventure as well. Link had his fun but even Peach has already gotten 2 games to herself. This time Zelda got her first big budget title and it’s a whole lot of fun. I would even say it’s more well polished than any of the other overhead LoZ titles. It also has one of the best portrayals of Link to date which was pretty cool. He doesn’t get shortchanged just because it’s not his game this time.

The story starts with Link breaking into the villain base and taking names. This is Link from the end of the game so he has all of his weapons and abilities and man is it a blast. He just mows everybody down like it’s none of his business. We get a terrific opening boss and then something massive happens and we switch over to Zelda. It’s now her turn to save the world from the dangerous rifts that are befalling the land. She will have to use a legendary scepter that lets her create echos of any object or minion that she defeats with it. Will these abilities be enough to stop the legions of villains that are after her? Only time will tell.

Right away you could tell that there was a whole lot of passion and heart into this project. The levels look absolutely great with a lot of solid details the whole time. The colors are vibrant and everything’s really nice. The art style works really well and it’s also very expressive for both the heroes and the villains. The soundtrack is a little limited but fortunately I really enjoyed the tunes so I didn’t really care too much. When you give me a solid tune, I don’t really worry about the rest. I just know that now I have a very solid background bgm at the ready.

The gameplay is your classic Legend of Zelda overhead style but with one big twist. Instead of always having the sword, you have the scepter and you use that to summon objects and enemies in order to get through puzzles. It reminded me a lot of Scribblenauts where you have countless ways to get past each obstacle. It all comes down to how creative you are about the whole thing. I can tell you I made sure to really be as creative as possible in most areas to get the maximum amount of fun. My go to object was definitely the bed.

You can stack it up in a lot of different ways and jump over large gaps. You can also use it to balance other items or buy yourself a few seconds when you’re trying to get objects to land at the same time. You can also use spiders to soar up to a high level, etc. I’m pretty positive that there were several areas where I cleared the obstacles in a way other than how the devs really intended but the results are really what matter right? So long as you get to the end, that’s what counts.

On the whole I would say the game is fairly easy but this does make you have to use your head a little. I really appreciated the game having a good map the whole time and always telling you where to go though. If you die, the respawn point is always super close and so you have a lot of quality of life details here. Additionally, you can sleep in the beds to gain hearts at any point. You even get the super bed later on. It is possible to miss these things though so I highly recommend scanning every object you come across. There is literally no downside to doing so after all and you’re only hurting yourself if you skip an important one.

Likewise you want to beat every enemy type at least once so that you can summon him. I got a super powerful level 3 sword fighter armored type villain early on and he was perfect for every boss fight. He has a super powerful lunge attack when you first summon him and so the trick is to summon him, let him attack, then summon him again. It results in a nonstop barrage of powerful hits that can down just about any opponent in an instant. Yeah that was really good stuff. Surprisingly the big array of summons is the only part of the game that didn’t feel fully optimized.

Scrolling through all of your echos by the end of the game gets rough because there are so many. It almost makes you want to keep using the same ones so you don’t have to go too far back. I still had fun switching them around though and admittedly this is a fairly small issue to even think about. It just takes more time than you would expect. Now while I would say this is easily one of the least difficult Zelda titles, you can always get overconfident and still die once or twice if you aren’t careful. The enemies deal a whole lot of damage in an instant so you want to watch out for that.

Also, the puzzles get easier the more side quests you complete which is a pretty cool mechanic. For example, when you complete puzzles in the rifts then you get more energy which allows you to summon more things at once. Let me tell you, it’s way easier to make it past a series of gaps when you can summon 8 beds vs 4. So I encourage you to knock out all of the rifts and side quests on the way. Most of them just take under a minute anyway for civilian missions and maybe 2 minutes for rifts. In exchange you will have more hearts and power.

As a final note, this is also one of Link’s best portrayals and I have to give the game major props for keeping his reputation strong as the hero. He’s not suddenly powerless without his equipment or anything like that. He helps out a great deal and show really solid reaction times all the way. He’s an absolute game changer and definitely a fighter you are not likely to forget. The climax of the game is also an absolute blast and I’d like to see more of this in the future. Echoes of Wisdom had a ton of fantastic ideas here and it also had more of a story than I’m used to for the overhead games. In short, there is absolutely a ton to enjoy here!

Overall, Echoes of Wisdom is definitely a great game. It’s the kind of title that you never really forget about and it will go down as one of the best Zelda titles. I do wish it had more of a post came though. Not that I’d have the time to play it right now but it does feel like there’s not a ton of bonus content. I beat most of the side missions and got most of the stamps on the way to beating the game. It definitely added some solid hours into the game but even with 100% I wouldn’t say this is a super long title. It’s long enough though and at the end of the day if you’re high quality enough, then that can make up for sheet length. You really don’t want to miss this one.

Overall 8/10

Megaton Musashi W: Wired Review

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It’s time to look at Megaton, a game that was on a pretty good sale for the Switch. That was when I knew it was time to pick this one up and they did a superb job with it. It may be Level 5’s best game yet. There are an incredible amount of fully animated scenes here and the story is intense. Mix that up with excellent gameplay and you really have a super well balanced title.

The story starts out by explaining that aliens wiped out 99.9% of the human population. Humanity now only exists in a small town where they brainwash their own citizens into now knowing what is going on so that there is no panic. Select people ae chosen to be “Pilots” who use their giant mechs to take down the alien invaders. The thing is, we are heavily outgunned and outnumbered. Survival appears to be impossible but Yamato is ready to try his best. He won’t stop until he has murdered every alien. That was the plan at least but then he falls in love with an alien girl named Arsham. Is it possible that there are good people on both sides?

The story is over 20 hours long so you can imagine that there are a ton of twists and turns scattered throughout the game. We get multiple time skips and you play as many different characters. This version of the game is also the complete experience so it merges both versions of the original game as well as adds on a 2 chapter epilogue. So the point here is you are absolutely getting the max amount of bang for your buck. The game does not hold back on any area either.

We get to tackle a lot of themes like war and the ever lasting cycle of violence. The aliens have very solid reasons for attacking Earth and likewise the humans have good reasons for fighting back…like wanting to be alive. There are over 30 named characters running around and they each get pretty complete plot lines. They even throw in Adam and Eve near the end to mess with everyone. I don’t generally go into the story much for game reviews so you can look to the anime review more on that (With season 2’s review coming eventually) but yeah there is definitely a whole lot going on here.

The soundtrack is really solid with a ton of great themes. My favorite theme is definitely Yamato’s KENKA Rock song which shows up a few times in part 1. Sadly as the tone gets more serious and dramatic, the song vanishes completely. Still, there are a ton of big opera themes and other serious battle themes that show up to help counter this. The final boss themes are excellent, the danger theme is really solid, etc. There are no shortage of great themes to be found in this adventure.

Then we also have the graphics which are really solid. Like I mentioned, there are a ton of fully animated scenes that really go hard. There are no more once we finish where the show went up to, but before that you can expect a good amount of them in addition to the standard cutscenes. The battles have a lot of great special effects and really pop out at you for the added effect. So that makes for a really good balance.

As for the gameplay, it’s a 3D robotic shooter so you can’t really go wrong with that right? It gets a bit detailed as well with every attack and part having a type, so then you have to factor in which type is good against another and all that. To be honest, you could probably remove the whole type effectiveness chart and I’d be cool with it. Still, it’s interesting and I made sure to focus on only using the attacks that were useful for each fight. You always have a bladed weapon, blaster weapon, and 4 special attacks. How many arrows were next to each one will determine how good the attacks are.

You also have super attacks that show up occasionally, but usually they only appear for battles where you are supposed to use one. So you will get the notification and then you’re ready to use it. You can also use your boosters to zoom around the arena and even start to fly near the end. The controls for flying can be a little tricky but for the most part you can button mash and you will be okay. In general I wouldn’t say that the game is very hard. In each battle you are given 6 lives and by logging in for a few days you get 10 continues which turns into 60 lives. So it’s unlikely that you will be losing here but if you don’t keep up with the customizations it is possible. Worst case, you’re so weak that you barely deal any damage, then the battles will last a while.

The game has some marathon battles which also show up and those tend to take a very long time. You have to win numerous battles in a row so be prepared for that. It only shows up 3 times in the game though so it’s pretty rare. In addition to the main story that is 20+ hours long, there is a decent amount of replay value if you want to try getting every part and beating every side mission. Perhaps not an incredible amount of replay value but probably enough to boost this up to around 30 hours or so.

The game’s not super expensive or anything though so either way it’s a great game. Additionally, you are playing at least in part for the story which is really high tier. It’s a full RPG level story which is not something you are expecting to see in a robotic game. Low blow? Eh maybe but it’s definitely rare for the genre. It’s a shame we’re not getting more Megaton games, the story definitely ends with a lot of things you can still do in the future. That said, it’s a satisfying ending that even has a romance I can get behind. Not all of them really land if we’re being honest here but the main one does which is the important thing. They get so many montages and insert songs that the game just really nailed the dynamic. This feels like a true AAA title in a lot of ways and higher budget than I would have expected. It can hold its own with just about any RPG out there and it’s why I can recommend this game even if you aren’t a big fan of mecha titles. There’s just a lot more depth to this than just that genre.

Overall, Megaton is definitely a really intense game. You won’t want to miss out on this one and should get it as soon as possible. You can also have fun with the customizations which is something that I didn’t really dive into all that much. The A.I. sets you up well enough so either way you can beat all of the story missions but if you go in depth with it then you can get significantly stronger. It’s all about how you allocate the resources after all but if you do it right then you’re set. It sets the bar really high for mecha games.

Overall 9/10

Super Mario Party Review

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Mario Party is one of those really long running series that just keeps on going and it’s always impressive. It did hit a bit of a slump for a while there starting with Mario Party 8 but this one is getting on the right track. My main problem with it is just that the control scheme isn’t great. The fact that you can only use the single Joy Con and can’t use any of the actual controllers is rather puzzling to say the least. Why would you even do that? The only explanation I could think of it that maybe it would be slightly easier for 4 people to be in the same room playing buttttt I’m not sold on this because in theory if you had more standard controllers you could use the 2 Joy Cons and two wireless for an instant 4 player session. So yeah that was a little too bad.

When you boot up the game, you get the brief intro cutscene which is pretty much a remake of the first Mario Party at least in terms of the concept. Everyone is fighting to be recognized as the greatest superstar on the planet. To prove this, they will all compete in a bunch of minigames and so that sets the stage for all of the modes. There are a decently large amount of options to be had here outside of the normal party mode and it’s all connected within the hub world. You can quick travel to any area once you have unlocked it as well.

Interestingly the intro movie plays every time you boot up the game but you can skip it so that’s not a big deal. I suppose the first place you will likely go to is Party Mode which is always a safe bet. You are able to set each stage to 10 turns which is nice. That may sound like a given but believe it or not this isn’t the case. After playing through the original Mario Party titles I was reminded that you used to have to choose 15 turns. 10 turns is fairly long anyway so don’t worry about that. There are a ton of unskippable cutscenes on every turn and of course you can’t skip the CPU’s turns so that’s a lot of waiting time anyway. It’s why this is a game that is really meant to be played with friends.

There are 3 main maps and then a 4th one that you unlock by playing the first 3. A key thing to note is that you don’t have to beat these levels, just playing them is enough to unlock everything. By playing the 4th level you unlock a jewel. Gather all of the jewels to unlock the true ending. You do this by completing each mode. So aside from the party mode you also have co-op party mode. I’m not exactly sure what that entails but maybe if it’s a 2 v 2 the whole time, any stars and coins you obtain are merged? That means you need to hope you have a good teammate.

Another mode is music based. All of the minigames that you play in this one are build around timing and rhythm. So feel the beat as best you can and then you will be fine. This mode is the quickest by far and only has 3 levels to play through in order to unlock the gem. This time I think you do have to win but the games are fairly easy so you shouldn’t have a problem. Then there is the water-raft mode. This one feels the most pointless to me so far. Basically everyone is stuck on a boat as you try to maneuver your way to the end. Completing minigames adds more seconds to your timer so just keep on playing and you’ll make it to the end. I think part of what holds this one back is everyone is stuck together anyway so there’s no real competitive aspect to the game. It also feels really hard to lose. There’s just not much to it.

Outside of that you have the classic minigame modes, mini, minigames in Toad World, and you can check out the shop to buy advice. There’s a fairly large variety of content to be found within the game so I give the title a lot of respect there. There were still a lot of question marks within the game by the time I finished it. In terms of minigames, I unlocked nearly all of them, there are just 2 left. A great quality of life update is that the game prioritizes minigames that you haven’t unlocked yet when playing. The curser will intentionally stop on the question marked ones for any area where I was missing a game.

I can’t stress enough what a big deal that is. It saves an incredible amount of time and makes unlocking the games no chore at all. It could be rough in older games if the RNG wasn’t just right. There are also unlockable characters here which feels nostalgic since you don’t get to go through that process nearly as much anymore. Each character has different unlock criteria so I recommend looking that up online. Once you fulfill the criteria, just run around the hub world until you find that character. I ended up unlocking Dry Bones so I have 3 characters left to go through.

In terms of graphics, the game definitely looks nice and modern. I definitely have no issues there, no corners were cut here. Of course without much of a story it’s not like there is much to really test the game with either. For the soundtrack, it’s a bit more forgettable. I can’t say that any of the stage tunes really stood out to me. Fortunately this game really just needs fun minigames in order to succeed and those were good. I may not have been all that thrilled with the Wii tier motion controls running around but the traditional games were fun. There’s a really good soccer game and a lot of fun platforming ones. Running through a maze filled with bananas for example made for a very memorable stage. I certainly won’t forget it any time soon.

Overall, There are enough minigames here to keep you busy. So mix that in with the general replay value and you have a lot of bang for your buck. The fact that the game has a lot of unlockable content here is a pretty good trick to keep you interested for a long while. None of the unlockables are particularly grueling in terms of time to unlock either. So since you’ll be having a good time, it will fly by as you play through the next levels. Throw in the online modes and that’s pretty nice since it’s still a fairly new concept to be able to challenge people online. I’m not sure if it’s quite $60 good, but if you can get a bit of a deal on this game then I definitely recommend buying it.

Overall 7/10

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review

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I remember being unbelievably hyped for this game when it was first announced. Yeah, I know Peach already got a video game a long while ago but this time she was getting the home console experience. So that was a lot of fun to see. Ultimately I do think they could have gone in a more interesting direction with her but at the end of the day this game is still fun. It is a little on the short side and there isn’t a ton of replay value but you will have fun here.

The game starts off with Peach heading to the theater but the place is taken over by Grape. She’s one of the most powerful villains in creation and uses her reality warping abilities to cause a bunch of chaos. Peach must now jump into various shows and take over as the main character to get things back on track. She uses her various abilities to turn the staff back into their true forms and along the way she will also work to also put down Grape’s gang of villains. Does she have what it takes to do this without Mario around though?

I do think it is an absolutely massive missed opportunity to not have Mario and Luigi in here though. They should have shown up even briefly to get rolled by the villains and show just how high the stakes are. By not having them here, there are no real stakes. If Peach were to lose then she would just be kidnapped as she usually is and the game would turn into a classic Mario title. Now that could have been an amazing way to end the game. Like she beats Grape but then gets kidnapped by Bowser with a “To Be Continued” ending. It would have been a little rough for Peach fans to be sure but at the same time you can’t deny the potential there.

Ah well, story is not really why you are playing this game anyway. You are here for the gameplay and that part is mainly fun. It’s sort of like an anthology where each form has different gameplay. Peach has 10 different costumes here that all have fairly simple, but different styles. Because of that the game does feel almost like a minigame compilation at times though. Each costume gets 3 levels to it and they’re all rather quick so you’ll be blasting through them in no time flat.

The best costume is absolutely Mighty Peach. In this form she is able to throw meteors and land solid punches on all of her enemies. It’s a lot of fun and plays like a 2D beat em up. It’s definitely a true highlight. Another costume I liked a lot was Ninja Peach. In this mode you have to avoid enemy detection and then launch lethal counter hits. Really good stuff but you can tell that the game’s balance was not 100% because you could usually just run up and hit someone. It’s a one hit KO so they often don’t have time to sound the alarm. In a way that’s part of why it’s so good though because it ends up being very fast paced.

Then for a weaker one, we had Mermaid Peach. In this form you have to use singing to keep the fish at bay and you sort of attack with this but not really. Ultimately there just isn’t a whole lot to this one. It certainly didn’t keep me all that interested but then again I’m not a big underwater fan as it is. There is also baking Peach. It’s weak relative to the other costumes but still not bad I’d say. This is sort of how I would picture Cooking Mama to be in a lot of ways. The game is very lenient on your cake design skills so don’t worry about it being 1 to 1.

Then you have Detective Peach. This one’s also on the weaker side because it just feels a lot more slow paced. The mysteries are also really easy so while you are solving the case you are just waiting for the cutscenes to end so you can get to the end. It’s why you always want to be moving at a fast pace whenever possible. Figure Skater Peach is in a similar position. You aren’t able to speed up these levels and they aren’t the toughest ones out there so you are really just ready to move on.

A really good one was Kung Fu Peach though. The hand to hand attacks were great and reminded you of just what kind of game this could have been with this form as the mainstay. They did a great job with the combat and there are even quick time events here. There’s also Swordfighter Peach which is another really fun costume. Make sure you don’t miss the controls for this one because the parrying actually tripped me up for a little bit there. I got the controls backwards which was tricky. I really liked the speed effects used for this form.

Next up is Cowgirl Peach. This form’s fun, I’d put it around the middle. Mainly the issue with this one is that it is by far one of the easiest modes. So I do like the gameplay here but you can really beat the levels in your sleep. Then we have the toughest one which is Thief Peach. IN this form I actually had my one and only loss in the game. Some of the jumps in the last level actually take a whole lot of timing and get rather tricky. It made me really enjoy this form quite a bit.

Each costume has a boss battle as its third level and there are a bunch of bosses scattered in the normal levels but those tend to be mini bosses. I think the main problem the game had is that it spread itself a little too thin. It was trying to do too many things all at once and as a result there wasn’t a lot of time for any individual costume. Cut the amount in half so all of them have double the levels and then you’ve got yourself something. Additionally, with less development time for all the different styles, maybe you could actually quadruple the levels. Considering how small they are, there definitely should have been way more levels if you think about it.

In terms of graphics, the game definitely looks really solid. It’s definitely a AAA Nintendo game all the way. The soundtrack is more on the limited side but I did like a few of the tunes. You’re just going to hear them a lot since each costume effectively just has one theme. So if you don’t like any of the tunes then that will definitely hurt. Now there is replay value here even if there isn’t a ton of it. For example, you can work on getting all the collectibles and acing each level. It seems like that will unlock something but it’s hard to say what that is. So that’s still something to think about right? Hopefully with the Switch 2 Nintendo eventually adds trophies since that would be an automatic win right out of the gate for replay value.

Overall, Princess Peach makes for a decent main character in a pretty fun game. You’re just left feeling like this is really just a minigame showcase rather than a full game. It’s simply too short and while the simple nature of each costume makes this an easy game to pick up and play, there’s not a lot of depth to it. I will say that the game goes all out with the climax though. It really gets cosmic like in the Kirby games which was awesome. Definitely the strongest that Peach has ever looked. I do guarantee that you will have a lot of fun with the game though. It’s part of why we are all sad about the game being so short because it was a lot of fun to play through the whole time.

Overall 7/10