Reviews
Reviews of the games I play, aiming to quickly encapsulate the game’s essence and quirks. Most games have an audience; my goal is for the review to make it clear to you whether you are part of a game’s audience (whether or not I am).
A rhythm game with a story mode that intersperses visual novel scenes starring the cast of Persona 4 plus a few new characters. It’s a satisfying spinoff with a competent story that avoids the pitfalls of other P4 spinoff games - established characters aren’t derailed and new characters aren’t spotlight-stealing Mary Sues.
A 2D fighting game with a story mode that intersperses visual novel scenes starring the casts of Persona 3 and Persona 4 with a few new characters added in. The fighting game seems competent enough, but if you’re looking for more story with the Persona characters, you’re likely to be disappointed.
A JRPG that is equal parts dungeon crawler, murder mystery, and life sim. You experience a year in the life of an ordinary high school student in a small Japanese town with a lot of ways to spend your time between plot beats, including a variety of jobs to take, hobbies to pursue, and people to befriend.
A JRPG that is equal parts dungeon crawler, murder mystery, and life sim. You experience a year in the life of an ordinary high school student in a small Japanese town with a lot of ways to spend your time between plot beats, including a variety of jobs to take, hobbies to pursue, and people to befriend.
A relaxing rhythm game that uses your own mp3s. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel finished and the level of work put into the game is inconsistent. There are a ton of visualizers and for some reason even a mixer with which you can create your own tracks, but when browsing songs you can’t sort them or group them by album or artist.
An Animal Crossing spin-off that plays like a standalone expansion - it’s an entire game based around a greatly improved version of the mainline games' interior decoration mechanics. Villagers request homes in particular styles or moods, and occasionally you’re tasked with designing a public facility (such as a school) as well.
Animal Crossing is a strange series. The sequels seem to be less about advancing the original formula and more about simply bringing the experience to a new system (hence there being exactly one mainline entry each on GameCube, Wii, DS, and 3DS). There are surface improvements along the way and New Leaf is certainly the best installment yet (it helps that handhelds are a natural home for this sort of play) but the core is unchanged.
A life sim set in a small town with humanoid animals of various species (though for some reason, the player character is apparently human). In many ways it feels like an offline MMORPG with no combat. There’s even some asynchronous multiplayer as multiple players can move into the town and see each others' houses and send each other mail.
An action-RPG with dating sim elements and extensive customization options set in modern Akihabara. The premise is that a group of evil vampires who feed off of life force rather than blood have infiltrated the area, and you must fight to expose them - literally, by stripping their clothes off to inflict direct sunlight upon them.
A life sim set in a crossover Disney universe. Your Mii-based character moves into a town populated by Disney characters (and other Mii-like townsfolk) and explores connected worlds themed after particular Disney properties, undertaking quests and doing favors for beloved Disney characters. There’s a real-time day/night cycle, but it’s just cosmetic and doesn’t block off any of the game’s content.