Phil Villarreal's Blog, page 85
March 7, 2019
"Braveland Trilogy" Switch Review
A fantasy-inspired hex grid combat epic, "Braveland Trilogy" tests your tactical skills amid increasingly hectic challenges.
Five years after it was released on PC, the game comes to Switch in a mildly refined form. The game fits well into the console's slate of strategy-minded games.
Stylized, hand-drawn visuals lend a timeless feel to the presentation, and the controls have held up well, ably adapting to the Switch's twin-stick format.
The overarching story is a tale of redemption. You guide a warrior's son whose village was decimated by a raid. You seek retribution by rising through the military ranks, taking command and grinding your way to prominence in the land.
Loading up your party with archers, footmen, healers, scouts and the like, you can adjust your forces to your play styles, leaning into your proclivities, whether they be loaded up in an attack-focused mindset and aggressive, risk-taking stance or well-balanced and conservative.
You'll often find the need to adjust your technique on the fly, deploying your skills to take advantage of the scenarios that emerge.
With a user-friendly interface that makes the game easy to pick up and play but may frustrate veteran gamers who long for the difficulty to ramp up, "Braveland Trilogy" works as something of a starter strategy title, as well as a welcome, nostalgia-tinged throwback for those who grew up with games like this.
Publisher provided review code.
March 6, 2019
Book Report: "The Color Purple"
The Color Purple by Alice WalkerMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
A challenging and linguistically innovative novel, Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" is an effortlessly intellectual think piece wrapped in a gloomy historical drama.
With a Steinbeck-like urgent optimism, Walker shows off a boundless sense of rhythms and flows of poverty-ridden country life. Her protagonist, Celie, maintains an earnest sense of self-affirmation as she tells her tumultuous life story via letters to God.
Celie's backwoods vernacular becomes a poetry in the way it weaves and stumbles its way through deep philosophical thoughts. The writing dares you to overcome your own ingrained social prejudices to truly hear the message at play.
Walker's vigorous messages cry out for justice for women, people of color and homosexuals, who are forced to bear burdens thrust upon them by the powers that be. Her message of love and understanding sings out proudly.
Walker's choice to narrate the Audible adaptation was crucial. No matter how studied the voice performer, there's no one who could even pray to come close to matching Walker's command of the spirit and commitment to the downtrodden characters she carves out.
"The Color Purple" is a cleverly written and consistently emotionally overwhelming fable. Walker's shrewd, sense-of-place sorcery makes you feel and think what its characters do. As if you were reading your own stack of letters rather than those of Celie.
Publisher provided review copy.
View all my reviews
March 5, 2019
"Sudden Strike 4: The Pacific War" Review
Tactical combat has a way of bringing war to life on a grand scale. The isometric RTS "Sudden Strike 4" impressed hardcore World War II fans upon its 2017 release with invigorating gameplay, detailed visuals and satisfying ease of use.
The game's high points were able to neutralize some of the shortcomings, including a jumbled interface and awkward point-and-click controls that made a rough transition to consoles.
A well-designed mission structure and rich breadth of varied content went miles toward stoking the fires of its community.
There just aren't many games of this ilk around anymore, and diving into the game brings back the "just one more mission" draw that keeps you playing long into the night.
"The Pacific War" DLC freshens up the game by adding the Pacific Ocean theater. Replacing tanks, paratroopers and infantry with warships, fighters and bombers.
With historically accurate scenarios and the vivid scene setting that's become the franchise's trademark, "Sudden Strike 4" continues to grow and evolve in the years since its initial release. Playing the game is a bit like opening up an interactive history book or documentary.
Publisher provided review code.
March 4, 2019
"Dead or Alive 6" Review
In many ways, fighting games will always play like retro throwbacks. The charm of quarter-munching arcade fighters will always stick with certain, accepted formulas, such as health bars in the upper corners, special moves and round-by-round formats.
In that sense, the games are time machines to fever-pitched competitive scenes of the 1990s or early 2000s. "Dead or Alive 6" holds onto the now all-but-forgotten era of 3D fighters, pioneered by the likes of "Virtua Fighter."
Games of this mold prioritize approach angles, momentum and evasion, with routines such as the stick-and-move taking priority over traditional combos. A rock-paper-scissors metagame of strikes, throws and holds emerges, with players psyching each other out to gain the upper hand.
"Dead or Alive 6" stubbornly sticks in its chosen era of arrested development, and any knocks on the game for its retro sensibilities are tone deaf. Team Ninja's creation bursts with all the trappings that fans of the series desire, from anime-style sexuality complete with outrageously goofy, breast-jiggling physics, exaggerated move sets and melodramatic music.
Stage design is as elaborate and stylized as those of the characters, with destructible aspects of levels begging players to ram one another through structures, creating a dazzling display of barely-organized chaos.
The online suite is still a work in progress, with only ranked matches available at launch, and lobby play planned for introduction later in the month. As of now, that aspect is the weak link of the gma'es suite of modes, but a slow rollout is preferable to a sloppy and forced bug-filled launch.
Still, it's a fair question why Koei Tecmo felt the need to push the game out now rather than wait until it was feature complete until release. The chosen pattern amounts to using hardcore gamers as paid public beta participants.
There's no denying how much fun there is to be had in the game as it stands now. With its ample humor, dazzling pyrotechnics and pulsing entertainment factor, "Dead or Alive 6" stands alongside the likes of "Street Fighter V" and "Injustice 2" and the upcoming "Mortal Kombat XI" in the new generation of fighters that thrive for their dedication to the old ways. This game launches you forward by taking you back.
Publisher provided review code.
March 3, 2019
"The Way Remastered" Review
A somber and elegiac tone poem, "The Way Remastered" tracks the lonely quest of a space explorer who is tormented by the death of his wife.
Obsessed with uncovering the secret to eternal life, he makes increasingly high-stakes risks as he scavenges for clues he believes will lead him to the path of reunion with his resurrected love.
Releasing on the Switch three years after its PC debut, the new version of "The Way" retains the rustic, cobbled-together look of the original. Its character models look something like the original-release "Sims," with polygonal blockiness that reeks of simplistic, early-2000s stylization.
What unfolds is a mildly challenging, often confounding, puzzle platformer that tasks you to stretch your lateral thinking in order to inch your way through the interconnected world.
Stiff, sometimes inconsistent controls and obtuse solutions sometimes mess with the flow of the narrative, but when "The Way" is rolling, it's nothing short of captivating. Its methodical pace works to its advantage, allowing its themes to set in and take hold of your emotions.
While not a fit for all tastes, "The Way Remastered" opens up layer upon layer of inner and outer exploration. "The Way" may never be clear, but the winding nature of its paths make up much of its charm.
Publisher provided review code.
March 2, 2019
"YumeNikki: Dream Diary" Review
Dreams are our mind's way of digesting all the sights, sounds and emotions that we experience during waking hours.
The process provides ample material for exploration in gaming, but the premise has been largely untapped. "YumeNikki: Dream Diary"
A slumbering little girl sorts through her hang-ups, stressors, longings and fears, and your task is to adapt to the disparate circumstances, navigate your way through logic-defying circumstances and work to resolve lingering problems by making sure the dreams unfold in satisfying ways.
Reminiscent of the 1996 Sega Saturn classic "Nights into Dreams," the game skips among diverse settings, each one based on the little girl's subconscious visions.
Developer Kadokawa excels in orchestrating varied visual and gameplay styles, synthesizing them all into a seamless narrative. The work is a reimagining of the original "YumeNikki," a PC horror game released in 2004. The dev team doesn't settle for a simple retracing of footsteps with augmented visuals, instead opting to reinvent the concept while still staying true to the psychological horror concept.
A triumphant fit on the Switch, "YumeNikki: Dream Diary" gives you plenty of fascinating material to explore. A dark series of dreams come to life, the haunting and often dark series of manifestations make for often enthralling gameplay
Publisher provided review code.
"Metro Exodus" Review
4A Games' "Metro" series has established itself as a bleak, brooding survival horror franchise with a distinctly Eastern European flavor. The saga is set in a depressed, post-apocalyptic society that has driven humanity underground, left to scurry around amid the ruins of the technological marvels in which it once thrived.
"Metro: Exodus" strives to be the most somber and claustrophobic of the franchise. As with the previous games, the capstone to the trilogy broods in its somber, contemplative mood. Many first-person shooters play on a power fantasy, but in this game, the aspiration is just to endure and scrape by, surviving encounters with mutated beasts or ruthless scavengers with just a sliver of health and a few spare bullets.
The setting for the third game moves largely from the decayed Russian metro to the sprawling, yet equally corroded and constrictive Russian wilderness. The story spans a year, evolving the saga as political factions rise and fall, semblances of hope flicker, die and spark up, and dread-inducing threats continue to rise from oblivion.
With a palpably raw ambition pulsing through every pixel, "Metro Exodus" feels like an expertly designed marvel. Displaying a polish and production level that the earlier games lacked, this seems to be the entry that will vault the franchise from cult status to mainstream prominence.
While the narrative continues to be patchy and confounding, the gameplay remains varied and vigorous. You rarely face challenges that seem repetitive or contrived. Although some action sequences lead to set pieces that feel a little forced and overproduced, the general effect is a cinematic flow that always packs a punch.
Single-player-focused experiences seem to be a dying breed, but the likes of "Metro Exodus" show that a dogged commitment to traditional survival horror values can pay off in a major way. The twists that 4A adds to the formula continue to pay off, and "Metro" continues to chug along, siphoning its dystopian angst as fuel.
Publisher provided review code.
March 1, 2019
PHIL ON FILM: "A Madea Family Funeral."
For my written review, click here.
February 28, 2019
"Warplanes: WW2 Dogfight" Review
When "WW2 Warplanes: Dogfight" released on mobile platforms with its vivid visuals and slick gameplay, it seemed as though it begged for a console release.
Now that it's made its way to the Switch, the game seems like it was more at home on phones and tablets.
Still a stunning visual delight, the pick-up-and-play shooter's flaws shine through when stacked up against other indie dynamos on the platform.
Although the battles in the clouds continue to fascinate as a compelling game of back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse one-upsmanship, the lack of a compelling progression loop or robust narrative give you too little season to continue taking to the unfriendly skies.
The dev team at Home Net games sweetens the deal by offering a bonus aircraft -- the P-40 Warhawk -- to the mix. Completionists will appreciate the authenticity and detail granted to that plane, as well as the rest of the fleet at your disposal.
With European, Asian and African maps at play, as well as British, Soviet and Nazi campaigns available, you feel as though you get to experience a sizable breadth of the World War II experience. You truly get a sense of the wind at your back, the bullets whizzing by and the ominous buzz of approaching bogeys.
The bottom line, though, is that there isn't much here to justify the $10 cost to play the game on Switch, where you can get the mobile version for half the price.
Publisher provided review code.
