Tag: Nintendo Switch

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order

Post author By Tydus
Post date August 8, 2019

It’s 2019, and there’s no doubt that Marvel Studios rule the screen when it comes to bringing superheroes to life. With a shared universe spanning multiple characters, time periods and galaxies, each new Marvel release almost always manages to pull in familiar faces or themes from the its enormous catalogue. Yet despite how common it’s become to see these stories and teamups in recent years, it’s easy to forget that some of the biggest Marvel gatherings have been floating around for years. Around a decade ago, the first two entries in the Ultimate Alliance series were released on consoles – bringing with them some of the most unique and diverse character combinations that we’d ever seen. Finding moderate success with fans of the comics, the series allowed players to create and play out their own superhero dream teams across its first two entries before going into hiding in late 2009. Fast-forward through ten years of skyrocketing superhero success to now, and we’ve just been handed the latest build-your-own Avengers experience in Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. An absolute success in capitalising on the MCU’s current position, the game is very much a celebration of Marvel history and its characters – an experience unapologetically aimed toward its biggest fans.

Once again, our heroes are hot on the heels of recurring troublemaker Thanos in yet another hunt for the 6 all-powerful Infinity Stones. It’s a setup that is all too familiar to anyone keeping up with the recent Marvel films, however it’s got an entirely new spin here. Ultimate Alliance 3 sits outside the current plotlines and settings of the movies and comics, meaning that it has free reign when it comes to telling its story. It’s also given a far lighter tone, creating an experience where it seems totally plausible for Venom, Gamora, Wolverine and Doctor Strange to be fighting off ninjas on New York’s moonlit rooftops. Your hunt for the stones will take your chosen team through a number of chapters, each based around areas or time periods that are instantly recognisable to those familiar with Marvel’s work. The story itself isn’t entirely memorable, however it serves as a loose thread to tie all the madness together as much as possible – with many of the cutscenes playing out as great action pieces that could have been torn straight from the big screen. Every major scene and exchange plays out the same regardless of your character choice, so your dream team won’t cost you any of the action once things heat up – and believe us, you’ll have a dream team.

This feature in particular is great, as the roster of playable heroes here is outrageous. All the big names are there, from the core Avengers and X-Men right through to other favourites like Daredevil and Loki. A slew of recently announced DLC is also set to bring headlining characters from Blade, The Punisher and the Fantastic Four to the lineup soon, meaning that even those with only a passing interest in Marvel will likely find a favourite here. Each character has a unique set of moves and strengths based on their powers or combat style – Hulk is going to soak up more of a beating than Hawkeye, who himself is best played as a ranged fighter. You’ll also receive team bonuses and perks based on your squad of four, such as boosts gained by pulling the Spider-Man multiverse together or assembling the original Avengers. With all this being said, you can just choose whatever rag-tag group you like and you’ll still manage fine – so if you’re just looking to run the wisecracking pair of Rocket and Deadpool, go right ahead.

Regardless of your chosen squad, Ultimate Alliance 3 is first and foremost an old-fashioned, top-down beat-em-up. You’ll generally be coming up against waves of small enemies time and again, with each going down with not much more than a bit of button-mashing. Each of the characters have a few special moves available to create some breathing room as well, but these encounters are really just filler between the game’s several boss fights. A bunch of names from Marvel’s catalogue of villains are on hand to knock you and your team about, and they break up the otherwise repetitive fights with lesser-known, small-fry villains along the way. Some of these bigger fights can be a decent challenge, requiring some well-timed blocks, strategy or attempts to exploit specific weaknesses. However quite a few will go down as long as you keep up the pressure, and some can feel long or tedious just for the sake of stretching things out. All in all, the combat and fights certainly aren’t deep by any standards. Yet this approach creates a hugely accessible brawler, which is a credit to a game enjoyed most when played with others.

Ultimate Alliance‘s third entry allows you to play it entirely with up to three other people either in the same room or online. If you’re able to grab a few friends who are also Marvel fans, this is definitely the best way to play. You’ll find that, while the fights and mechanics tend to wear on after a while, switching between your favourite heroes and keeping up with the exciting cutscenes work well to keep things fresh. If you’re still looking for more after the story’s end, there are a number of optional challenges available and a whole lot of grinding potential. These challenges come with some restrictions and time limits, while offering rare items and some (admittedly average) alternate outfits. The game’s portability as a Nintendo Switch exclusive really helps here too, as these shorter missions are great for quick bursts when you’re on the go. How much longevity you’ll get from these extras depends entirely on how much of the same combat you’re willing to grind through, but it should be enough to please die-hard fans looking to get every last drop of what’s on offer.

At the end of the day, these superfans are really the target audience for Ultimate Alliance 3. Enjoyable as an accessible button-masher with a few friends, the real majority of its appeal comes from its epic cutscenes and dream character combos. These factors carry the game through some of its slower and more repetitive moments, so you’d best consider how deep your love of all things Marvel runs before stepping into the fray. Yet if Marvel and its heroes are your thing, you’ll find a surprising and exciting adventure here as you watch the Avengers assemble entirely within the palm of your hands.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order – Available now on Nintendo Switch.

Tags Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, Ninja Theory, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, The Black Order

Game Reviews

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled

Post author By Tydus
Post date June 27, 2019

The 90’s nostalgia run we’ve been living in for the past couple of years continues this week, with the release of Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled. A ground-up remake of the 1999 PSOne original, Nitro-Fueled has given the source material a fresh coat of paint, some new characters, more tracks and a bunch of modern features. Yet just below the surface lies the same frantic, tight and addictive kart racer that most of us remember playing on our old TVs two decades ago. Crash Bandicoot is back in a big way, and he’s running laps around the competition.

The original Crash Team Racing was an interesting idea at launch all those years ago. Following the genre-defining original Crash Bandicoot trilogy, fans were a bit hesitant when series creators Naughty Dog announced that their 4th (and ultimately final) Crash adventure would be a kart racer. CTR proved to be an absolute hit however, becoming a big fan-favourite that had us all wondering why it hadn’t been done sooner. The colourful racer had it all: a full adventure mode, couch multiplayer, a bunch of well designed tracks and some of the best racing mechanics seen at the time. The instantly recognisable characters and the fact that Sony’s console had little in the way of similar racers also didn’t hurt CTR‘s rise to glory. Fast forward 20 years, and there’s no question that Nitro-Fueled is absolutely brimming with nostalgia. There’s been so much attention to detail throughout – from the remastered soundtrack through to the perfectly recreated racetracks – and it’s hard to imagine any fan of the series arguing that the remake hasn’t been tuned to perfection.

Aiming to be more than just another faithful nostalgia trip, CTR‘s character roster and track list have both been greatly expanded, thanks in part to some additions from 2003’s Crash Nitro Kart. These extras are a nice little bonus and bring some variety to what we’d otherwise expect from a remake. You’re also able to customise the look of any driver or vehicle, with hundreds of options to unlock using coins earned through racing through any of the game’s several modes. Characters and karts aren’t the only things that look a bit different however, as you’ll notice that the biggest change is in just how fantastic everything looks this time around. All of the tracks and locations glow with colour and detail, each with the exact same design as the original but now so much nicer on the eyes. Some cool new ideas have been put into the remake’s tracks as well, such as hidden extras and recognisable details in the background for keen-eyed fans of the series. The care and detail that has gone into every course is fantastic, but it’s important to note that the general mechanics and layouts of each track are unchanged. Each race is still won or lost based on your ability to nail every corner, track down the best shortcuts and turbo boost your way to the front.

Mastering these elements is more important in CTR than it is in many other casual kart racers, as big power-ups and weapons are far less likely to score you an easy win. That being said, there are a number of items that can be used to keep you in the race, such as homing missiles, explosive crates and invincibility masks. These can be effective when used well, however their impact is generally pretty minimal. Even when hit by an explosive or hazard, racers generally maintain their momentum and roll out of damage very quickly. This means there’s less reliance on random pickups and more on building your skills with each character and track – plus it helps to keep each race flowing with a decent pace when you’re not constantly stopping and starting. On top of this, it won’t take long for you to learn that the real key to victory in CTR is through its speed boost system – something that you’ll want to get your head around as soon as possible. With an easy to use, difficult to master powersliding mechanic, you’re able to trigger a shot of speed at just about any point on a course. Getting the most out of each turn takes some practice and timing, but it becomes second nature quickly and is an absolute must when racing online or within the later sections of CTR‘s quality adventure mode.

While admittedly being a cool and fun concept in a racing game, the plot of this single-player adventure offering is fairly barebones. It plays out with hothead alien Nitrous Oxide arriving on Earth looking for some worthy competition, quickly threatening to obliterate the planet if Crash and the team are unable to beat him. It’s up to you to race across every track in a number of different zones – ultimately proving that you’re the competition worthy of taking Oxide down. While the plot remains unchanged from the 1999 original, Nitro-Fueled allows you to switch your character at any time throughout the adventure – a big plus as most drivers will have their own strengths and weaknesses on each track. You can also try your hand at a few additional challenges for each course, such as collecting hidden items or beating the clock with some insane lap times. Once you’ve knocked out every race in an area, you’ll have won your chance to take on one of the game’s multiple bosses. These returning enemies from the first few Crash games are pretty brutal, challenging you to a one-on-one race where they have limitless weapons and ridiculous speed. The idea is to knock the boss down in order to overtake them, then hold them back with items long enough to cross the finish line – a task that’s generally easier said than done. The whole process repeats a few times on the way to the story’s end, with the adventure ultimately being a short but cool feature not generally seen in other games in the genre.

Once you’re done with the single-player mode, Nitro-Fueled becomes all about the local and online multiplayer side of things. Online races are available right out of the box, but be warned that there’s some tough competition out there. Fans of the original have been clamouring for a chance to race those around the world for years now, so it’s worth really nailing the tracks and mechanics first if you’re looking to take out the top spot. This mode really is where CTR will shine after release, so it helps that Activision have announced an ongoing schedule of free extra content – with the game set to receive a number of new tracks, racers and customisation items over the next few months. They even have Spyro the Dragon joining the roster in September, just in case this game hadn’t already won over every 90’s kid.

Catering to both the long time fans and an entirely new generation of players, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled proves that Crash can really do no wrong now that he’s back on the scene. With the perfect combo of nostalgic charm and rock-solid racing design, the game is great for a casual house party or a super competitive match between top players (and everything in between). The game marks CTR‘s triumphant return after a 20 year absence, and with very little decent competition to match it, it’s shot straight to first place.

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is available now on PS4, XBOne & Nintendo Switch.

Tags Activision, Beenox, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Team Racing, Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox

Game Reviews

Team Sonic Racing

Post author By Mark
Post date June 5, 2019

Sonic has had his ups and downs for a while now. Once one of gaming’s greatest icons, the blue hedgehog has appeared in numerous releases over the years with some very mixed results. Some entries take Sonic back to his glory days, capturing the speed and style of his earliest and most successful games so many years ago. Others aren’t nearly as successful; a mish-mash of ideas and concepts that are never as good as those offered by the competition. Unfortunately, Team Sonic Racing drifts into the growing backlog of mediocre Sonic games – an average racer that fails to build any real momentum under the weight of its design and mechanics.

This is a game that, at least on paper, should be a great time. The Sonic series has always been about speed, beating the clock and fighting everything that comes between you and the goal. Sega is also no stranger to this genre, with many racing titles (both with and without Sonic) under its belt. All the pieces were in place to create another solid arcade racer with some of gaming’s most recognisable characters – but despite this, Team Sonic Racing just doesn’t quite reach the mark. In what is likely the most divisive change to the racing formula here, Sumo Digital amd Sega have gone hard on the ‘team’ aspect. General races are run with 12 characters that are split into 4 teams. Default teams are designed to have one ‘speed’ driver, one ‘technical’ driver and another for ‘power’. This isn’t very different to many of Sonic’s previous successful outings, such as 2003’s Sonic Heroes or 2001’s Sonic Adventure 2. These games were really able to shine with characters in different roles, allowing for some nice variation in level design and gameplay. We’re told that the split of characters into different types here is for a similar reason; the technical drivers are used for precision driving and offroad, while power characters can clear obstacles and suffer slightly less damage than the other racers. But at the end of the day, this is a game about crossing a finish line as fast as possible – so what real incentive is there to pick characters outside the speed type?

Even outside of the allocated role system, the 3-person team design also creates a few other unnecessary problems. The game’s base race style is a ‘team race’, whereby the trio crowned as champions at the end will be the three characters with the highest group placing. This means that even if you place first, having your teammates place well behind the pack could cost you the win once all is said and done. It’s an interesting mechanic, and it’s the game’s way of making sure you’re playing with the team spirit it’s designed for. In order to make sure your team as a whole does well, you’ll need to exchange items with one another during the race, ride each other’s tracks for some boosts and coordinate ‘ultimate’ moves as a group as you go. Helping out the team results in more ultimate boosts during a race, and this is the key to victory in just about every level. It all plays out just as chaotically as it sounds, with each team aiming to build their boost as quickly as possible so they can cut a burning path through the competition. In what appears to be a mechanic designed to give everyone a fair shot at winning, having half the competition light up as invincible golden rockets every lap of a race just ends up feeling cheap. Even when playing against racers in the single-player mode, there’s no real reason to nail those drifts or thoroughly learn a track when the outcome essentially rests on the press of a button.

To that end, many items that you pick up during a race simply become a way to build your ultimate move by passing them around the team. This isn’t a huge loss, as the weapons and pick-ups on each track aren’t fantastic. The items (‘Wisps’) in this game act as they do in most other arcade racers – missiles launched at enemies in front, small boosts to give you a bit of space or hazards dropped behind for others to run into. With the exception of a couple new ideas thrown in, many of these items feel like they’ve been pulled from other similar racers – albeit with less care. None of the pick-ups ever really feel like they have much use, often doing next to nothing in fighting off those around you or giving you any breathing room. No matter how good you are at using these items strategically, you’ll be bowled over all the same once the other racers come burning through with their ultimate move. The tracks themselves aren’t too bad, generally being based off levels and environments from past Sonic games. Outside of the familiar sights and nice background designs, most start to blur together after a while – with a few feeling overly long and needlessly complicated. Some tracks will split into two or three paths at points, while others will be full of camera-tilting curves and turns aimed at sending you off the nearest cliff.

Where you can become quite familiar with the twists and turns of a level is within the game’s additional challenge levels. The single-player mode features a number of these semi-optional trials, removing all other racers and pitting you against the clock. You’ll spend the time either collecting rings, skirting past checkpoints or dodging obstacles on the road under some really tight time limits. If you’re looking to fully ‘complete’ these challenges, bear in mind that they are a brutal bunch of levels. Most will reward you with extra time if you speed through the track while drifting all over the place – a feat that would be easier if it didn’t feel like you were sliding on ice half the time. Should you manage to reach the top spot in one of these events, it will likely come in the dying seconds of the time limit after many, many attempts. It’s probably the only time that using a technical driver would be recommended, if only to get a bit more of a grip on the corners with the precise drifting you’ll need to pass. The difficulty of these do make for a great challenge, but one that generally feels frustrating and unfair rather than rewarding.

Underlying the events of the single-player adventure is a weak plot which is used to link these races together. In true Sonic fashion, it’s really just oddball stuff used just to move things along – and honestly, very few people come into an arcade racer expecting some powerful and thought-provoking narrative. Almost admitting how little attention the game’s plot deserves, the development team have inexplicably made the default option for starting a race to be ‘without story’. You could play through the entire adventure with next to no plot unless you remember to turn it on for each race. For those interested, a new character (‘Dodon Pa’) appears on the scene to challenge Sonic and friends to a racing tournament. There’s no real motive at the start, but it serves enough to pull Sonic and his crew to the racetrack to learn more. As your adventure continues and the plot thickens, you’ll meet up with and unlock new racing teams from the Sonic series. Sumo Digital was unfortunately unable to pull in a wider cast of Sega characters for this one, and Team Sonic Racing‘s structured stats and specific roles can sometimes make picking your favourite a bit restrictive too. While there are a number of upgradeable vehicle parts and designs to unlock, having such a limited character roster while other games of this type offer dozens of choices is a bit of a drawback.

This becomes even more obvious when you head online against others. As mentioned before, speed is the name of the game here and most in the online community know it. Majority of races will generally be run with the same two or three speed-type characters for every player, and each run generally descends into who can boost their team to the top as soon as possible. The design of the supermove also means multiplayer becomes a bit of a mixed bag depending on your situation. Once the team has the boost available, activating it at the same time as your group provides the best result. This is fine if you and your friends are in the same room or chat and are able to coordinate it, but it becomes a total guessing game when trying to play with randoms online. The game honestly feels like it’s at its best when played with a few friends on the couch, rather than battling through the single player challenges or online chaos.

Team Sonic Racing has made a solid attempt at an arcade racer here, with some slick visuals and the return of many of the series’ most recognisable characters. Yet beneath the surface it attempts to differentiate itself almost too much from its kart-racer competition, focusing heavily on its team approach without noticing the very obvious flaws with it. The game seems to lack the tight and reactive feel of a great arcade racer, opting instead for flashy moves and huge difficulty spikes to extend playtime. While it’s a bit of fun for friends in the same room, the game is a tough recommendation given the stronger existing racers around and Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fuelled on the horizon. Grab it if you’re really into your blue hedgehogs, otherwise it might be best to hold out for Sonic’s next outing – he’s about due for another success.

Team Sonic Racing – Available now on PS4, XBOne, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Tags Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog, Team Sonic Racing, Xbox

Game Reviews

Overcooked! 1 & 2

Post author By Tydus
Post date May 29, 2019

The Overcooked! series is a special one. There are very few games around that are so easily accessible and yet so fiercely competitive at the same time. Designed to be the perfect party game, its simple controls and colourful look open the experience up to just about any audience. Pair this with some fantastic gameplay and frantic pacing, and you’ll find that – despite its name – this is a game cooked to perfection.

Launching back in 2016, the original Overcooked! was a success through simplicity. A quick tutorial at the start covers the basics of cooking – press one button to chop ingredients and another to pick up or place something. That’s it. You’re essentially just chopping things up, then dropping them in a pot or pan before serving it all up to your customers. The basics of it are so simple that just about anyone can pick it up – from your youngest sibling right through to that friend who’s never touched a game in their life. Pick your fellow chefs wisely though – once things start to fire up in the kitchen, you’ll find that most fall back on their inner Gordon Ramsey real quick.

Despite its cooperative team design and simple controls, Overcooked! knows how to dial the pressure right up. Whether it’s the looming time limits, ridiculous cooking environments or just the determination to hit those target scores, there’s always something there just waiting to light a fire under your team. While you can skate through the first few levels without too much thought, it isn’t long until you end up with more tasks than chefs to cover them – and this is generally where a nice evening with friends or family descends into total chaos.

Most of the madness comes from the flat out insane kitchens the game has you travelling through. Even the most regular looking restaurants will inexplicably be lined with conveyerbelts across the floors and tabletops, while some have been designed to split your team up as much as possible. The levels grow more and more wild as you go, eventually having you cook a hearty soup surrounded by magma or throwing pizzas together using teleporting doorways. You’ll never spend longer than a few minutes in each level, so it’s great that there’s such a huge variety of unique kitchens to keep your team on their toes. Best laid plans and good intentions almost always fall apart in the heat of the moment, and if you’re not all shouting orders and passing off filthy looks at each other at the end of a tough level – well then you’re just not playing it right.

Each entry also has some light and airy storyline running through the adventure – if only to progress you from one kitchen to the next. The first has you travelling across the map developing your skills and teamwork in order to take down… an enormous talking spaghetti bolognese. You’re given this task by the king, who himself is an onion, and his faithful dog Kevin. The minimal plot is really just there to slip a few jokes in – with Kevin often chiming in with a few shots and critiques as he feels necessary. Overcooked! 2 doubles down on the gags of the first, posing the enemy as zombified bakery items and calling them the ‘Unbread’. Outside of this, the sequel also added some great improvements such as online multiplayer and the ability to throw ingredients across the kitchen. The online addition is a huge plus when you’re looking to play with friends who can’t get together in person, and if you think lobbing food across to teammates would lead to anything other than more chaos – you’re sadly mistaken.

Rounding out both games are some fairly meaty chunks of DLC, each bringing new characters, levels and orders to deal with. Some notable extras put you in charge of poolside smoothies, while others will have you roasting turkeys with a flamethrower. It’s amazing that the team behind the series is able to keep creating new ways to play here, with all the extra content being great for those looking to stretch the fun just a bit further. This is perfect once your team gets on a roll, as it really is one of those games that demand ‘just one more go’. Despite the tension, heated words and constant disasters you and your team will run in to, this is still one of the greatest coop experiences a group of friends can have in front of a screen. Just don’t blame the game if you never speak to each other again.

The Overcooked! Series – available now on PS4, XBOne, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Tags Nintendo Switch, Overcooked!, Overcooked! 2, PlayStation, Xbox

Game Reviews

Resident Evil 4

Post author By Tydus
Post date May 22, 2019

Every now and then, a game is released that – for better or worse – changes a series or genre completely. Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 did just this upon its 2005 release, altering the winning formula that had run through the series since its inception. The game’s runaway success cemented it as one of the greatest games of its time, and Capcom have since made it their business to make sure it’s playable on just about anything since. The latest system to get the Resident Evil 4 badge of honour is the Nintendo Switch, with this week’s port proving that while classics may age, they rarely ever die.

You’ll play as Leon, a returning fan favourite that hasn’t been seen since the series’ second entry many years earlier. In the interim, he’s somehow found himself as an agent of the US government with reporting lines to the President himself. So when the President’s teenage daughter is inexplicably kidnapped by a small religious cult in the outskirts of Spain, naturally it falls on Leon to single-handedly swoop in and save the day. The plot is just ludicrous B-movie schlock, but it takes itself so seriously that you end up just giving in and riding its unique wave of madness. Leon’s mission will have him crossing a few different parts of the Spanish countryside, down through caverns and across small islands – stopping only to make a general mess of the place while questioning the locals. You’ll also run into some notable allies and antagonists along the way, such as Jack Krauser – a mercenary holding an unsettled grudge with Leon – and Ada Wong, another returning favourite from Resident Evil 2. There’s a larger cast than there generally has been in the past, with even minor characters stealing the spotlight every now and then. Their actual delivery and relatability, however, is a bit of a hard sell. For example, the addition of Ada is a cool throwback for fans of the earlier games, and she provides an interesting little anti-hero vibe given her existing relationship with Leon. Yet it’s hard to take her seriously as she zip-lines across rooftops, cartwheels through rooms and fights off monsters in an ankle-length silk dress and heels. I warned you earlier – don’t try to sit there and make sense of it all.

One character that will become quite pivotal to Leon’s mission is Ashley, the girl you’re sent out to save in the first place. You’ll actually track her down quite early, but for reasons I won’t spoil, you’re not able to simply pack up and leave once you’ve found her. It’s at this point that the game’s direction shifts slightly, in that you’re now responsible for getting her through the rest of the trip in one piece. While not as painful as it could be for the most part, this task would be a whole lot easier if the poor girl wasn’t absolutely useless. Look away for a minute to fight back some mob, and she’s getting carried off into the sunset with little resistance. She’s got a habit of standing directly in the midst of a fight, and will offer less than no help if you’re in a bind. I understand she’s not supposed to be some battle-trained war hero, but games like The Last of Us and the recent God of War have since shown that the partner dynamic can be done much better – both in and out of combat.

This is just a minor inconvenience however, when mixed in with Resident Evil 4‘s otherwise frantic action and tight gameplay. It’s here that the entry steps away from the roots of the series, forming some sort of hybrid between action and survival-horror. Rather than dark mansion corridors and slow-built chills, Leon’s now out in the open and often overwhelmed with enemies. You’re also given much more resources and a camera angle that puts you right in the thick of it. This makes Leon an agile and strong lead, allowing for encounters where you’ll be diving out of windows and running circles around danger. In balancing this, Capcom have also upped the stakes when it comes to enemies – doing away with the usual slow and shambling zombies from past games. Instead, the infected here are able to run, climb and beat down doors in their hunt for you. Like any good angry mob, they’ll also come at Leon with pitchforks, fire and crossbows. You’ll even spend one of the earlier moments of the game with a bloke very keen on showing off his shiny new chainsaw.

Each encounter with the locals is a tense game of cat and mouse, as you try your best to cut your way through while saving resources for the real nightmares. For while the average townsfolk will keep you on your toes, any of Resident Evil 4‘s several boss creatures will straight up tear you in half given the chance. This is where the real challenge is, with each of the unique fights forcing the player to use the environment to their advantage – almost like solving a puzzle while trying to keep your head on your shoulders. More often than not, simply emptying rounds into them isn’t enough – Leon instead needing to outrun, outlast or outwit his enemy in order to survive. Each just as deadly as the next, these monsters will range from human-sized foes that rely on speed or stealth, right through to real nasty creatures the size of houses. These battles are a great way of breaking up the game’s pacing, and their inventive design makes them almost timeless – even after all these years.

What doesn’t hold up as well, however, is the look of the game. While keeping in mind that this is a HD version of something made over a decade ago, Resident Evil 4 just suffers from being several shades of brown. The grass? Brown. The buildings? Brown. Any paths, cliffs, furniture or water? You best believe they’re all brown. Even once Leon leaves the more rural surroundings behind after the game’s first act, the environment just becomes a heavy blend of grey and black. This becomes more noticeable when playing it this week on the Switch, as scaling everything down for the smaller screen does no favours for how it all looks – even when the rest of the experience is solid on the portable system (despite the sad lack of motion aiming). A definite sign of the times, this look was common for action releases on older systems during the mid-2000’s. Playing through the environments today is a visible example of how far the medium has come since, and can take a bit of getting used to for modern audiences.

In its defence, each new iteration of Resident Evil 4 has provided a good touch up and polish of what it does have, and it also comes with a fair amount of additional content outside of the main campaign. A short series of levels titled ‘Separate Ways’ puts you in the shoes/stilettos of Ada, allowing you to see the events of Leon’s mission from her side. An interesting side note to the main campaign, Ada’s segment also features some new areas and encounters – while also letting you get around with her fancy little grapple gun. Yet the real time-sinker comes in the form of the game’s ‘Mercenaries’ mode, where you’re dropped into a small location from the game that is now swarming with enemies. Your selected character will then have to defeat waves of monsters while keeping an eye on resources, health and the clock. With some creatures not seen in the main story and some big rewards for high scores, this mode does a great job of showing off the game’s solid gameplay and action style. And after all is said and done, this is the real reason Resident Evil 4 found – and continues to find – its success. Its general design and mechanics were such masterstrokes back in the day, it set a baseline for the entire medium going forward and is still infinitely playable today. As much as its looks may fade, sitting just below the surface of this classic is a modern action shooter that runs like any recent release. Give it a chance if you have even a passing interest in action-adventure titles – you might even come around on the charming madness that its cast and plot try to serve up along the way too.

Resident Evil 4 – Available most recently on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, XBOne & PC.

Tags Capcom, Leon Kennedy, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Resident Evil 4, Xbox One

Game Reviews

Pokémon: Let’s Go Eevee & Let’s Go Pikachu

Post author By Tydus
Post date May 8, 2019

Pokémon’s little yellow mascot takes the spotlight once again this week, making his live-action film debut in Warner Bros’ highly anticipated Detective Pikachu. While the movie is a big shift from what we’d usually expect to come out of the Pokémon universe, it does draw heavily from what made the series a worldwide phenomenon to start with – especially when it comes to the love it gives the titular hero. In celebration of its release (and due to just a smidge of hype), we’ve decided to revisit Pikachu’s most recent outing on the Nintendo Switch – in yet another quest to catch ’em all.

Being the second remake of a game from the late 90’s, the announcement that Pokémon: Let’s Go would be the first RPG in the series to hit the Switch was met with mixed reactions. Pokémon Yellow, the original from which this is based, hit its 20 year anniversary during the same year – so this new release had a nice bit of symmetry. However fans had been holding out for an entirely new adventure – one that would take advantage of the power and flexibility of the new Nintendo hardware – and so were torn to learn that they’d be getting a remake using mechanics from the popular free-to-play mobile game, Pokémon Go.

Despite this, Let’s Go still captured the majority of fans upon release late in 2018, predominantly because Nintendo and Game Freak had achieved exactly what they’d set out to do. This entry was never about further inflating the roster of catchable creatures or developing new regions and deeper competitive play – it was created as a celebration. A tribute to the series’ roots – its original characters, gameplay and world. In stripping back many of the franchise’s growing layers and complexities, Let’s Go was able to tap into what made series such a hit all those years ago – and in doing so, it was a success.

Before even starting the game, you have a choice to make. In usual Pokémon RPG fashion, the franchise’s first big Switch entry is split into two releases: Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee. Both versions are almost identical, save for a few Pokémon exclusive to each version – and, of course, your partner for the journey. Your partner Pokémon will play a much larger role than in any past entry, often playing a role in most of the adventure’s story beats. It also has access to exclusive moves and, despite not being able to evolve, is strong enough to be an unassuming little powerhouse in battle. You’ll come across numerous outfits and accessories for them too, as they’ll be travelling out in the overworld with you at all times (they also come in handy as the game’s fast travel system and field-move users). What I’m getting at is that Pikachu and Eevee are central to just about everything that goes on, so make sure to pick your favourite before you dive in. Once you do get started, you’re quickly introduced to your chosen sidekick before being sprung into your new adventure across Kanto.

I use the word ‘new’ loosely here, with Kanto being the oldest and most recognisable region in all of Pokémon. However the Nintendo Switch has allowed for quite a significant step up with regards to how the game looks and plays. The towns, routes and characters of Kanto have never looked better, and – despite this huge facelift – almost every area of the game has been faithfully reconstructed as they were in the original. The path through Viridian Forest is still exactly the same as it was 20 years ago, and you can still pay an outrageous sum of money for a Magikarp in the Pokémon centre outside Mt Moon.

Yet for all its similarities, there are a number of changes that have been made in bringing the adventure to the current gen. For example, the Safari Zone has been completely removed and replaced by ‘Go Park’ – a dedicated area for connecting with the player’s Pokémon Go mobile collection. It’s a great way of bridging the two games and rewarding dedicated fans, but cutting the Safari Zone completely still feels like a misstep given its size in the original. This is only one of the changes arising as a result of Pokemon’s recent mobile success, with the classic Pokémon formula receiving some significant adjustments as well.

Let’s start with the battles, or rather, the lack of them. You will no longer battle wild Pokémon you wander through tall grass, dark caves or while crossing water. Instead, battles are strictly reserved for gym leaders and other trainers – of which there are admittedly quite a few across Kanto. The battles themselves are the same as always, albeit a lot more detailed and dynamic. Experience gained through these battles is shared amongst the entire team, meaning you’re not made weaker by the reduced battle practice you’ll be getting. You’ll also strengthen your team by catching wild Pokémon that you come across on the road, which brings us to the other major change introduced here.

Random wild Pokémon encounters are out, with the player now able to see each critter roaming about in the field. Gone are the days of tripping over the same Pidgey or Geodude every few steps, as you can now pick your next catch – or avoid them altogether if you like. Once you run into your target, the encounter itself will immediately be recognisable for fans of Pokémon Go – in that all you’re required to do is make a well-timed Pokéball throw to land a catch. This is fairly simple and fun when in handheld mode, yet docking the Switch and breaking out the motion controls is almost always a bad time. Your throws are often misread, and once you’re up against Pokémon who like to move around a bit, you’ve got no chance.

For the most part, these changes are actually a benefit to the adventure. Battles are more exciting and enjoyable because you’re not fighting off waves of Zubat and Tentacool every few minutes. Being able to pick and choose your next encounter is a huge plus, and the focus on catching rather than battling means you end up creating quite a collection without really thinking about it. These freedoms also allow you to enjoy your adventure without getting too bogged down in the workings of it all. The plot itself remains largely unchanged, having you make your way to the top of the Pokémon League – stopping briefly to dismantle a criminal organisation in the background when needed. There’s been a huge attention to detail in delivering the story here, with Oak, Brock, Misty, Jessie and James all looking exactly as you remember them from morning TV in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. There are also a number of easter eggs and references peppered throughout for long-time fans, right down to a marooned truck parked suspiciously off the docks of Vermillion City.

Whilst being positioned as a nostalgic love letter to fans who have been following the series for decades, Let’s Go also cements itself as the perfect entry point for a new generation of fans to step in. Shifting the formula to match the style of the insanely popular Pokémon Go creates an easy transition for many new players, and the reduced overall difficulty results in a smoother learning curve for less experienced players. You can even bring another player along for some couch co-op, taking part in joint battles and coordinated catches to make life even simpler.

The addition of these extras doesn’t mean that all of the game’s challenge is gone, however. Upon clearing the main story, you’re given the chance to earn ‘master’ titles from new trainers that have appeared all across Kanto. Most will require you to challenge their favourite Pokémon with an identical one you have raised – the battle deciding which of the two trainers should be named ‘master’ of that particular Pokémon. While it certainly creates a large amount of content after the credits roll, you’ll really have to ask yourself if it’s worth training almost 150 different Pokémon up to their absolute max – just to be named something like ‘Goldeen Master’. Otherwise you can track down some challenging trainers from the original games – or, better yet, take the Master Ball for a walk through the dark depths of Cerulean Cave.

Whether you’re returning to Kanto with years of experience, or you’re a newcomer starting your first adventure, Let’s Go does an excellent job of pleasing both sides of the spectrum. While erring on the side of the less experienced crowd more often than not, Nintendo and Game Freak have included enough challenge and nostalgia to appeal to the existing dedicated fanbase as well. Whilst not officially “core” games, meaning that not all of these changes will be carried into future instalments, Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee have provided a glimpse of what the future holds for the series – while at the same time recognising all that made Pokémon so special to begin with.

Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu & Let’s Go Eevee are available now on Nintendo Switch.

Tags Game Freak, Kanto, Let's Go Eevee, Let's Go Pikachu, Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Pokémon