amphibious_ReViews

Starting its life on the Gameboy , Link's Awakening  offered a full Zelda  adventure on the go. Now, its remake for the Nintendo Switch  offers the same, and so much more! My first experience with the game was the DX  edition on the Gameboy Color . I had a lot of fun with it, and the introduction of Mario  characters to a canon Zelda  title felt impossibly delightful. However, the limitations of the console did cause the first two releases to suffer in a way that the remake remedied nicely. The Switch  version offers the same quirky atmosphere as the original, and it faithfully recreates the island of Koholint and its inhabitants, while also adding content that deepens the experience, making it worth the investment for new and returning players alike. The world that was (re)crafted in this game holds so much to enjoy. The interactions between characters range from heartwarming to comedic, the puzzles are never easy, but always rewarding, and the story is unique within the franc

Starting its life as the hack Crazy Otto , Ms. PAC-MAN  has had a turbulent history that has since made it rather obscure compared to its (frankly less-enjoyable) originator, PAC-MAN . I'll spare you from that here, but it is definitely worth reading into more if you aren't familiar. Luckily, it is still available on mobile, albeit with swipe controls that leave something to be desired. When playing Ms.  PAC-MAN , you may notice that the gameplay is identical to that of the original  PAC-MAN , but the field of play is not quite as familiar. Making this the better of the two games is ghosts with unique personalities (not just memorizable algorithms), four rotating mazes (rather than just one for all 256 levels), and fruit that travels around the maze (adding complexity beyond the capabilities of stationary fruits). Overall, Ms.  PAC-MAN  is still a simple arcade game, but it will easily give you a better time than the original, which earns it my endorsement as the best cla

I enjoyed the Rumble games on the 3DS for the cute art style, the enormous collection of  Pokémon , and their simple gameplay. When I found out that I could have that on my phone, I jumped in immediately. Although plagued with far more microtransaction schemes than its free-to-play predecessor on the 3DS , I never felt frustratingly compelled to put any money in the game, which I appreciate. Most of the gameplay consists of exploring an island and defeating increasingly stronger bosses in an effort to uncover more of the island and collect stronger allies. This gameplay loop kept me engaged most of the time but offered an auto-attack mode for when I was feeling lazy (which was more often than I care to admit). Unique to this game within its series is the event-style island switching. Every two weeks, the available island would be replaced by a new one with new  Pokémon available, leaving the previous island permanently inaccessible. This kept the game fresh by letting me start agai

Before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was released, I knew three major things - it was bringing together every fighter from the previous series entries, introducing surprising new characters from previously unrepresented franchises, and reinstituting a single-player story mode. I've enjoyed the entire  Smash Bros.  franchise so far, I play a lot of different video games, and I loved Brawl's  "Subspace Emissary" mode, so it's easy to say that I was all in for this new game. Although I wasn't in the financial state to pre-order the game, I was lucky enough to have a fantastic group of friends that decided to host a release party with two TV's and twelve controllers! That's where I think  Ultimate  truly shines. As much as I enjoyed the single-player "World of Light" game mode, I find that I reach for this game more when I am looking to have a great time with friends than when I am looking to pass the time on my own. The combination of clean

Dragon Quest was not that fun for me. It was absolutely a worthwhile experience, and I'm glad that I played it, but I have been spoiled by the likes of Final Fantasy and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 , so I know how amazing JRPG's can be. However, all of those games have roots somewhere, and Dragon Quest is almost indisputably the granddaddy of my favorite genre. The whole game was rather short, extensive grinding was an absolute must (not really my cup of tea), and the story was simple, but all of the bones were there and they were strong. Dragon Quest offered a relatively large world to both explore and interact with, it had opportunities to grow stronger with experience or better gear, and it had a grand villain to defeat. That was enough to keep me playing to the end. After playing through the whole game, I concluded that it earned its place as a milestone, but everything that it offers can be found better somewhere else, so it really only holds a place as a relic. I rec

Although it was technically released before Cube Escape: The Lake , I believe that Seasons  really shines as a sequel. It's longer, it's deeper, and it's far more confusing. However, it "calls back" to The Lake  in perfectly subtle ways that both answer questions and create more, in a way that Seasons  feels like the first chapter in a story with The Lake  as it's prologue. Like all of the other Cube Escape  games, Seasons  is a room-escape style hand-drawn horror game. I use horror lightly though, as it is less scary and more unnerving. The game had a way of making me feel on-edge while still keeping me wanting more. The puzzle gameplay is also engaging, with each new discovery feeling like a true accomplishment. Unfortunately, this is still a rather short title, and it left me wanting more. On the other side of that coin, it is part of a pretty lengthy series, so I will have no shortage of follow-ups! The game can be played online here (as of 5/11/2

Save for Team Fortress 2 , online shooters have never really been my thing. However, Fortnite has held its ground as such a huge cultural phenomenon... and it's free. I had to give it a try at least once, and for a while, I was actually pretty interested. I'm not proud to say it, but I did buy the battle pass once, and I had some fun trying to complete the challenges it came with. However, the only time I was really enjoying myself with the game was when I would play online with my friends. Fortnite is a battle royale shooter with destructible environments, which allows players to harvest materials and build their own protective structures. This adds a nice layer of depth not present in other battle royale games, but I found it kind of difficult to learn, especially when I'm trying to dodge the bullets of 99 other people. Thus, most of my time was spent trying to sneak up on my opponents or trying to snipe them from a safe distance. Although I'm not great at the g