Kira C, Author at Pure Nintendo (2024)

Kira C, Author at Pure NintendoPure Nintendo and Pure Nintendo Magazine are your sources for the latest news on the Wii U, 3DS, and all things Nintendo.Thu, 08 Aug 2024 15:11:31 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.1Review: SPY×ANYA: Operation Memories (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-spyxanya-operation-memories-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-spyxanya-operation-memories-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-spyxanya-operation-memories-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Thu, 08 Aug 2024 15:11:31 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=154956<![CDATA[

To quote the first volume in Spy x Family, “Everyone has a secret self they don’t show to other people. Not to friends…not to lovers…not even to family. They hide

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To quote the first volume in Spy x Family, “Everyone has a secret self they don’t show to other people. Not to friends…not to lovers…not even to family. They hide who they are and what they want behind lies and painted smiles. And thus the world…maintains its thin veneer of peace.” The aptly named Forger family is hiding secrets from each other to stay alive and save the world. Said family consists of husband Loid, a spy with the code name “Twilight,” wife Yor, an assassin with the code name “Thorn Princess,” daughter Anya, a telepath, and their pet dog Bond, who has precognition. Eden Academy is the school where Anya’s enrolled to get Loid closer to his mission’s goal. Now, with all this backstory out of the way, let’s delve more into the plot of SPYxANYA: Operation Memories.

After Anya’s given the assignment to finish a photo diary by the Housemaster, you’re thrust into a drawn-out and hand-holdy tutorial. Despite that, the game is pretty straightforward, so I don’t think the tutorial was necessary. The routine of the game is to go to school, talk to classmates and the Housemaster, take a picture of Anya, go home, talk to people, play minigames, then go to bed. Repeat this process until outing day (a day trip to a different location with the family), where you can participate in a raffle and take up to two to three pictures in your selected outing location, then repeat that process until you get all the pictures to complete the photo diary. Honestly, it can get monotonous if you try to speed run through the game like I did. But is it worth going through? Or is it a chore? Is SPYxANYA: Operation Memories worth it?

Pictures are obviously a big part of the gameplay due to the prime goal. It’s why you go on outings, to get new set locations for your pictures. Before each outing, you buy three items you can bring and use as props in the photos. Taking pictures is like a minigame. You adjust the focus, angle, and time when you snap the photo. During the photo session, you watch a small cutscene of sorts; the time to take the photo usually happens when Anya makes a funny face or gestures. If you take a picture with each prop you brought, you unlock a main photo to take a picture of. After you take pictures, you look through them and pick one to put in the photo diary. Also, before going on an outing, you can dress Anya, Loid, Yor, and Bond in outfits you can buy at the shop as they get unlocked or win them in a raffle.

The raffles get used on outing days before heading to the main outing location. You unlock more raffle boxes as you progress through taking the outing pictures. Each ticket is a drawing chance to win one of the listed outfits by each box; if you don’t win, you receive player points (PP for short) that you can use in the shop and buy outfits or props outright. You earn tickets by completing missions, which are basically in-game achievements. Usually, you’ll earn them by completing challenges in the minigames.

There are seventeen different minigames, such as card games and sports. My favorite would have to be “Anya at School.” It’s a stop-and-go type of game where you press ‘A’ rapidly to start taking notes and try to be the first person to raise your hand (by flicking up the left analog stick) when Housemaster Henerson asks a question; you stop taking notes to listen when he turns to speak to the class. Controls, at times, feel delayed regarding the more frantic minigames, and some would improve if more rhythm-based (specifically, “Cooking with Yor” and “Training with Yor.”) The minigames in the “P-Two Missions” section particularly stuck out as parodies of existing games, “Tag with P2” is a Pac-Man parody, but “P2 Security Check” not only plays like Mappy, but the music sounds like Mappy. I did try out the two-player mode with the minigames, but they weren’t that fun, and most were merely playing the same game side by side.

The central locations are Eden Academy, Home, and ten different outing places. In the academy, you can chat with Becky, Anya’s best friend, Damian, her rival of sorts, and Housemaster Henderson. At home, you can chat with her ‘parents’ (sometimes), Yuri, Yor’s younger brother, and Fiona Frost, a spy who belongs to the same organization as Loid. By talking to people, you level up your friendship with them; once complete, this leads to a cutscene where you get an event CG picture to the gallery. You can also talk to Emile and Ewen, Damian’s two friends; however, they don’t have the same ‘level up’ feature, providing only dialogue and an achievement if you talk to them enough. Something great about the dialogue is the vocals by the Japanese VAs from the anime!

A cute but repetitive title that can become old fast if played at length, this is one of those slice-of-life games to pick up and play while waiting to do something else. I appreciate that it captured the spirit of the series. But I wish there was more to it, especially priced at $49.99 ($69.99 with the DLC outfits). I also experienced framerate drops, noticed clipping and an asset disappearing, got an error that closed the game, and once had to close it myself because it froze, but these could get fixed with patches. Regardless, I’d wait until it goes on sale and can’t easily recommend it to others who don’t know the source material. Overall, SPYxANYA: Operation Memories is a game for fans of the anime or manga it’s based on, but not for anyone else.

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Review: Freedom Planet 2 (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-freedom-planet-2-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-freedom-planet-2-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-freedom-planet-2-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Fri, 05 Apr 2024 14:39:57 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Freedom Planet 2]]><![CDATA[xseed]]><![CDATA[marvelous]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=154067<![CDATA[

I have an interesting history when it comes to the Freedom Planet. I remember scrolling through the Sonic Fanon Wiki in my free time in middle school to see how

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I have an interesting history when it comes to the Freedom Planet. I remember scrolling through the Sonic Fanon Wiki in my free time in middle school to see how Sonic fans design characters and seeing a character called “Lilac the Hedgehog.” Sound familiar? The Sonic inspiration in Freedom Planet was very evident in its first game, but how has it presented itself in this sequel? Let’s see.

Before starting, you should play the original game first, as it references previous events and characters. Plus, it directly states that the story takes place three years later. You can pick which one of the four protagonists to play as.

Sash Lilac is your typical heroic protagonist and a hybrid water dragon with a boost as her special move that lets her speed through levels easily. Carol Tea is a spunky wildcat with a three-bladed disk to attack with and her motorcycle, which you can summon in levels by collecting a fuel tank; she’s strong and can take out enemies easily. Milla Basset is an adorable hush basset with alchemy powers used to blast energy or shield and a Yoshi-like flutter jump but with lower health. The newest playable character in the series is Neera Li, the disciplined adviser of the Royal Magister of Shang Tu, who has a Cryo Staff that produces ice for strong attacks and can double jump.

On the topic of characters, my favorite character is Milla because she’s adorable and mysterious. I relate to Carol, having a childish and independent spirit. And while I have the most fun playing as Lilac because of her speed and grace, Neera falls by the wayside due to her flat characterization and grounded playstyle.

The gameplay is enjoyable and challenging for the most part, especially for the boss battles. There are puzzles and creatively designed enemies within the vast stages; you can get lost if you aren’t careful. New to the series are various hub worlds where you can buy potions and enhancements to make your gameplay easier, like physical attacks absorbing life from enemies and increased jumping power. There’s also the Battlesphere Arena, where you go to complete challenges to get crystals and artifacts. No spoilers, but the artifacts are important, so it’s worth playing the challenges before the ending.

The plot is one of an antagonist wanting revenge against a race that wiped out their people. While the subject was intriguing, and the story had the potential to be interesting, I wish more was revealed and fleshed out. It feels like the plot is building up to something or some point where more will be explained. But it keeps speaking in vague, shallow statements.

It’s hard because, between the catchy music, beautiful visuals, and fun gameplay, I find the story and characters a bit too shallow quality-wise. This antagonist has much more depth to her than the last villain, but I still wish there were more than skin-deep personalities to the characters and plot. The dialogue is predictable, and sometimes, the tone deflates before it can really bring any sort of genuine emotion home. For example, there’s one part where someone is supposedly gravely injured. But then, when they’re getting patched up, they act drunk for a joke.

Freedom Planet 2 is an enjoyable, creative, and pretty release overall. With a bit more polish and fleshing out in the writing, I feel it could be a truly amazing game. But as is, it’s definitely more expanded than the more simplistic first title. Priced at $24.99, I’d say it’s worth picking up if it goes on sale!

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Review: Pixel Cafe (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-pixel-cafe-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-pixel-cafe-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-pixel-cafe-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Fri, 05 Jan 2024 20:29:00 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=153325<![CDATA[

Pixel Cafe is the journey of Pixel, a young adult who, after an argument with her mother, runs to the last place she ever felt loved and cared for—her grandma’s

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Pixel Cafe is the journey of Pixel, a young adult who, after an argument with her mother, runs to the last place she ever felt loved and cared for—her grandma’s house. In an effort to pay the bills, she tries to keep a stable job as a cafe employee. For one reason or another, she loses her job and has to pick herself up and move on to the next ‘level;’ a.k.a., the next cafe.

Things start off simple, with each passing day adding more items to sell that decorate food or drinks at the cafe. For example, the coffee you serve can eventually have milk or ice added to it and even put into a coffee takeaway tray. A detail I like with the customers is when you serve them what they want immediately; they make surprised faces and noises. Speaking of customers, some of them are unique, like the heavy footsteps of one customer who orders a lot of items instead of at most three, and rocker customers who get upset if they aren’t served right off and will smack the counter to mess up the order you’re working on in anger.

The gameplay is interesting, as each item is either mapped to a button or selected with the left joystick. It can make it hard to get orders done quickly, and you can’t afford to forget which button is mapped to what or get overwhelmed with keeping track of items to prevent drinks from spilling over or food burning. Thankfully, in options, you can toggle to have the buttons shown and even play the game with the touchscreen instead. If basic gameplay isn’t challenging enough, some days even feature a nightmare mode, which I tried once and found too overwhelming.

The gameplay controls in the cafe are the worst part of Pixel Cafe. I feel the game would’ve been better suited for play on a computer or 3DS (were it released earlier). Playing with the touchscreen feature was a bit better. But I don’t like using my Switch for touchscreen, so I decided to put up with the original gameplay setup with the button shown toggled on.

Other than working at the cafe, you get virtual-novel-like cutscenes about either the present, getting to know your boss or talking to yourself, or the past, remembering your grandmother and the gripes with your mother. The writing of the cutscenes tugs on nostalgia, contains very relatable scenarios, and can be pretty melancholy. You can go back to your grandma’s house to buy furniture with your pay from work. The more expensive the furniture, the more happiness points Pixel gets, which you can use to improve the quality of life for your job by making things easier to do. You can also use your pay to upgrade your workplace, like getting more counter space.

Overall, Pixel Cafe is a charming cafe time manager with great pixel art. The chill Lo-fi rock soundtrack fits well with the mood, scenes, and themes of each cafe you work at. I’d say its price, $12.99, is fair as the game is pretty well done and has a good amount of content.

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Review: My Time at Sandrock (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-my-time-at-sandrock-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-my-time-at-sandrock-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-my-time-at-sandrock-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:15:25 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=153004<![CDATA[

Having played My Time at Portia, I was curious what this sequel, My Time at Sandrock, would be like. It’s pretty similar if you are familiar with the first release,

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Having played My Time at Portia, I was curious what this sequel, My Time at Sandrock, would be like. It’s pretty similar if you are familiar with the first release, except you’re in an Oasis desert town.

You arrive in Sandrock, along with your builder rival (of sorts), Mi-an, to become the new builder in town since the old one is retiring. You get a home where you craft and produce materials to progress the story and fulfill commissions. Just be sure not to chop down trees because that’s illegal due to the lack of vegetation in the area. Throughout your time in Sandrock, you will see wanted posters for the mysterious Logan, learn about these lizard people called Geeglers, and maybe find true love.

The gameplay is basically running around collecting materials, fulfilling tasks, and exploring. To get these materials, you can harvest from scrap piles using your pickhammer, hands, and axe, kicking trees, and attacking creatures. There’s hardly any downtime, and you’ll rarely get bored. The game can actually overwhelm you, especially if you’re focusing on the main plot (like I was), and suddenly Commissioner Yan reminds you that no commissions got done and your reputation is low.

I kept to myself mostly and progressed in the story, but as I got to know the townsfolk, I grew fond of Unsuur, Owen, and Fang. Something that is great in this game is that, unlike a series like Harvest Moon, you can romance older adults rather than just young adults, and there are quite a few options. Not all of the characters were interesting, but I liked the touch of voice acting to help breathe life into the characters. The music is also really nice to listen to.

The biggest issue with My Time at Sandrock is the quality. While there is a lot of quantity, and I feel there is a lot of heart put into it, there is a crazy amount of pop-in and bugginess with the graphics. Some of the character models look uncanny or ugly. One character in particular, Matilda, often T-poses as they walk, which is kind of amusing since she’s the minister in town. But I know it’s not on purpose.

Overall, My Time at Sandrock is a decent game that could be great with some further polish. If it gets another patch, $39.99 is a fair price, as there’s lots to explore in this large, addictive game.

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Review: Fall of Porcupine (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-fall-of-porcupine-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-fall-of-porcupine-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-fall-of-porcupine-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Thu, 03 Aug 2023 18:59:52 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=151849<![CDATA[

In Fall of Porcupine, you play as a junior doctor, Finley. He’s an anthropomorphic pigeon who recently moved into the charming little town of Porcupine to work at St. Ursula’s

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In Fall of Porcupine, you play as a junior doctor, Finley. He’s an anthropomorphic pigeon who recently moved into the charming little town of Porcupine to work at St. Ursula’s hospital. After a bump on the head, he starts a routine of going to work, occasionally stopping by to socialize with the town’s anthropomorphic animal folk, and trying his best despite the bugs in the game sabotaging his journey from either progressing or being an immersive experience.

Ignoring the bugs for now, you can make Finley wander around town to chew the fat and investigate items or send him straight to work day-to-day. At the hospital, you are given patients to care for using minigames, like balancing pill effects correctly, holding down buttons at once to redress bandages, or examining the right body parts in the correct order. The minigames also get progressively harder over time. Throughout this daily routine, you come to know your co-workers, patients, and town folk, explore Porcupine, and learn that being a doctor isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. As Spider-Ham once said, “…you can’t save everyone.”

The graphics please the eye, boasting a gorgeous lineless art style that occasionally makes it challenging to identify jumpable surfaces. One minor detail that bothered me was the need to jump to ascend stairs instead of using the analog stick’s up direction. This issue was notable due to the frequent need to traverse the hospital’s stairs. The music and sound effects create a lovely and highly atmospheric ambiance, brimming with charm. The characters are distinct in personality and have depths that you can uncover.

So, about the bugs, they are an issue. On one occasion, I was softlocked in darkness from trying to open a door and had to restart; made even worse by the fact that there’s only one save file. Such bugs reminded me of KOTOR 2 on the Switch, but Fall of Porcupine is somehow worse because of its save features. I held my breath during each long transition, fearing being stuck in the black void again. There’s also lag, framerate drops, clipping, and freezing that leave the game overall feeling unpolished. On the positive side, while doing this review, it received an update that fixed an issue of a permanent cursor in the menu’s center. It’s highly likely that an update may fix the issues and bugs I mentioned before, and I’m unsure if this is only for the Switch version.

If it gets patched and put on sale, I’d say go for Fall of Porcupine, as it’s informative and memorable. But this charming, albeit short game with a lot of heart put into it deserves better than the bugs it has. I don’t think I can recommend it in its current state. The worse patient Fall of Porcupine needs to cure is itself!

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Review: ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-ark-ultimate-survivor-edition-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-ark-ultimate-survivor-edition-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-ark-ultimate-survivor-edition-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Thu, 08 Dec 2022 21:28:59 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=149485<![CDATA[

I’ve playedARK: Survival Evolvedon Xbox, PlayStation, and PC through Steam, so I wanted to see how it would hold up on Switch.ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition, orARK for short, is a

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I’ve playedARK: Survival Evolvedon Xbox, PlayStation, and PC through Steam, so I wanted to see how it would hold up on Switch.ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition, orARK for short, is a huge game, including all the expansion packs and DLC. How would a game as large as this work on a hybrid system? Well, before we get into that, I’ll explain whatARK is all about.

You awake in a strange land, in only your underwear, and, as the title says, your basic goal is survival. There are currently six story arks and six custom arks. Story arks are official maps with explorer notes following the main story, while custom arks tend to be larger and noncanonical. Some creatures are only available on certain maps and have their own unique challenges.

The creatures you encounter may be skittish, neutral, or aggressive to you. Some you can tame, and some are just used to harvest sources after killing. Creatures tend to have unique ways to be tamed, whether passively through berries or getting knocked out and having food put in their inventory. I say creatures because not all of them are dinos, some are mythical creatures, and some are uniquely created forARK.

As you gather sources to craft items, building parts, etc., you gain exp and level up. (Your creatures can also level up.) Once you level up, you can add a point to boost one of the many stats: health, stamina, oxygen, food, water, weight, melee damage, movement speed, crafting skill, and fortitude.

Your ultimate goal is to collect all the artifacts from caves scattered around the map and creature parts you can get from killing animals. From those, you go to the boss tribute stand to put the required items in and start the boss fight with your creatures to battle the boss monster in easy, medium, or hard versions of it.

Now that you have an idea of the basic premise of ARK, how does it hold up on the Switch? There are a few differences between the Switch version and the rest. After creating your character, you can usually pick the area to spawn into the map, whether it’s easy, medium, or hard. But in this version, you can’t initially; only after dying can you pick where to respawn. It seems to prefer the easier areas, though, so it isn’t too frustrating that you aren’t able to choose. Also, after you make your character, a short cutscene plays to tease the player with what their goal should be and clarifies what the story is a little bit. I really appreciate this and think it is good for new players, or ‘beach bobs.’

The graphics are muddier and appear washed out in color. The audio also seems a bit compressed. When it turns to nighttime, which is usually hard to see normally, it is ridiculously dark on the Switch. Often you can tweak the brightness by adjusting the gamma in options, but even that doesn’t help in this case. The frame rate seems sort of choppy and sluggish compared to the other versions. An annoying thing about the Switch version is that the quick item slots are only 8 boxes compared to the 10 you usually have. This might only be a thing that annoys me because I have an order I put my tools in the slots, so I needed to simplify what I really need quick access to.

Surprisingly, the online play works well, and it is cool to have a portable version ofARK for playing on the go. But would I recommend it on Nintendo Switch? $49.99 is…pricey for the quality. It’s worth it if you have no other way to play ARK, but only if it goes on sale. ARK: Ultimate Survivor Edition itself is a very good, if not great, game, but this port is more mediocre than the best it can be. While I like playing it on Switch as an existing fan, I’m not sure I would if I was new to the game.

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Review: Hokko Life (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-hokko-life-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-hokko-life-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-hokko-life-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Mon, 26 Sep 2022 22:30:12 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=148705<![CDATA[

“Mom, can I have Animal Crossing?” “No, we have Animal Crossing at home.” Animal Crossing at home: Hokko Life. This meme was running through my head while I played Hokko

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“Mom, can I have Animal Crossing?” “No, we have Animal Crossing at home.” Animal Crossing at home: Hokko Life. This meme was running through my head while I played Hokko Life.

I’m not opposed to games taking inspiration from other games. For example, Stardew Valley is inspired by the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series. However, despite taking inspiration from an existing property, Stardew Valley manages to have its own identity by doing things differently and even improving on some aspects of the original inspiration. I don’t feel I can say the same for Hokko Life.

Like in Animal Crossing, you’re a solo human in an anthropomorphic animal town and are tasked with repairing and breathing new life into it. The animals are kind of off-putting to me, especially Moss the Giraffe; they look like Animojis or animatronic animals. They also don’t have much in terms of charm or interesting personalities. You slowly progress as you do tasks like chop wood and give items to people. At times, it can be hard to tell what you’re supposed to do to progress the main narrative. So, I just talked to people and did chores until something mildly interesting happened.

One of the big things in Hokko Life is crafting. You’ll need to chop wood and make it into lumber to use it to make furniture for others or for yourself. The assembling is very slow and sluggish to control, which makes it nearly unbearable. You can paint the furniture and place it in your house or the animal villagers. You will also find yourself needing to plant a LOT of trees to have enough to chop to progress in the narrative.

Other activities you can do are catching, fishing, and farming. While I wasn’t able to try out the farming, as it is a mid-game feature, I did try my hand at the other two. Catching bugs is the first one you unlock; you press the A button to catch the bug, but your character swings the net from side to side, which can take a little bit to get used to. Fishing is one of the more interesting features to me as not only do you have to wait for the shadow of the fish to bite your line, but you play a little mini-game once you have it hooked. You have to move the analog stick up, down, left, or right as directed, but also, you have to be careful not to push it too much and build up tension to break the line.

Overall, Hokko Life is a bland shell that wants to ride the coattails of Animal Crossing without doing anything to stand out or be unique. The game could be more polished, with lag and weird choices in camera zooms, though not outright terrible enough to get mad at. While the visuals don’t look bad, the music is forgettable. An average game at best, its $19.99 launch price means I can’t really recommend it.

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Review: South of the Circle (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-south-of-the-circle-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-south-of-the-circle-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-south-of-the-circle-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Fri, 05 Aug 2022 15:45:18 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=148001<![CDATA[

South of the Circlereminds me ofThe Red LanternandThe Long Dark; the three share a wintery setting and a painterly art style. Unfortunately, in terms of gameplay,South of the Circleis less

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South of the Circlereminds me ofThe Red LanternandThe Long Dark; the three share a wintery setting and a painterly art style. Unfortunately, in terms of gameplay,South of the Circleis less of a game than it is a less passive movie. You know those walking simulator games? This is one of those.

You start off in Antarctica during the Cold War, where you, Peter, wake up your injured pilot. Here you are taken through a tutorial of sorts where you learn of the different “choices” or, more like, “reactions” that will take up most of the slim gameplay. There’s an erratic red dot bubble (panic, confusion, concern), a pulsing blue bubble (caring, honest, open), a blue square bubble (forethought, assertive, strong), small purple dot bubble (negative, shy, downcast), and a sunny bubble (enthusiastic, interested, curious). You stumble out into the snow to find help (since your buddy broke his leg in the crash), holding the joystick upward to move around.

As you walk, drive, or enter buildings, Peter will flashback to the past. The transitions between past and present are very smooth and one of my favorite things about this game. One example is how in the present, he hurt himself from an electrical shock, and then it transitions to him burning his hand on a hot kettle from the past. Like in the present, you can interact with objects, like fiddling with radio dials and moving around a little. But, the past is mainly made up of interactive cutscenes.

Speaking of cutscenes, while I find the voice acting, music, and overall story well done and interesting, the graphics, while stylized and striking, are often…distracting. The motion capture makes the character’s movements both realistic but very awkward; there’s plenty of clipping of hands through objects and feet sinking into the ground like it’s made of quicksand. It can really take you out of the moment, such as when Peter and Clara are supposed to be holding hands while strolling romantically but wind up touching wrists together. Or when Peter shares his paper with his colleagues, who contort their limbs as they cradle the paper. Once you notice it, you will be looking for more examples rather than paying attention to the story, which desperately tries to make you listen to it and press x to react with only one option when it could have played itself without your input.

If it interests you, South of the Circle is a game worth playing at least once. But while I can tell that some heart was put into it, it does feel like one of those artsy games trying to seem deep. Other than a few instances,South of the Circlemade me feel empty, thinking of how it could have been meatier. It’s also priced a bit high for what essentially is a movie with little gameplay.

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Review: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-star-wars-knights-of-the-old-republic-ii-the-sith-lords-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Tue, 14 Jun 2022 18:57:01 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Star Wars]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=147441<![CDATA[

Like with the first game, I didn’t grow up playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, or KOTOR 2 for short, but I did play

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Like with the first game, I didn’t grow up playing Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, or KOTOR 2 for short, but I did play some of it on a friend’s PlayStation 2 a while back. But how does the game fare on the Switch? Is this port worth getting? Well, let’s see.

After making your character, deciding the class, gender, starting attributes, skills, and feats, KOTOR 2 starts with an optional tutorial with you playing as T3-M4, or T4 for short, making repairs on a crashing Ebon Hawk. As you roll around, you see an unresponsive old lady, your avatar in bad shape on a medical bed, and you hear a banging sound from a room you can’t access. Afterward, you wake up in a chamber and find the old lady from before and a man named Atton in a force shield jail cage. From there, your story begins as an Exile Jedi. You try to stop the Sith while gaining influence over your companions, taking side quests, and basically doing the same stuff as the first game.

Speaking of the first game, I definitely recommend you play KOTOR as there are recurring Star Wars characters and plot elements that continue from there. After playing the first one, you’ll find that most of the gameplay is the same.

It has turn-based combat, and once you get within range of enemies, the game pauses for you to decide how you and your companions will attack. And then you can unpause to initiate those actions. If you want to change your attack, you can do so while battling, but if you change your target, it will pause again. You can use weapons (blasters or swords), grenades, force moves (dark or light), and land mines. One move I like to use is Force Speed, which you can use outside of battle to move around faster, making it incredibly useful when doing side quests. Another is Force Drain, a dark side move that works like Giga Drain inPokemon, damaging the enemy while gaining health for you.

A ‘switch weapon’ button is pretty useful. You can assign a blaster in one slot and a sword weapon in the second one and easily switch between them, depending on the combat range you find yourself in. For example, certain companions can join your team depending on your alignment, gender, or supplies. So making more dark side or light side choices can affect who you get, making the game replayable to try to get different companions. Like in the first game, you can have two companions with you at a time. Overall, there arethirteencompanions as opposed to the original’s nine.

I have to admit that there are bugs that, from what I looked into, weren’t in the original game or other ports. This port seems to have some issues. Like in the beginning tutorial, the graphics were sharp and great. But, the further I got into the story, they seemed fuzzy and muddled, like they were underwater or something. Still, I started it up again, and the graphics seemed back to sharp!? It’s very strange. I also got an error that closed my game before a cutscene loaded; thank goodness for autosave! The cinematic cutscenes have very poor audio quality; they are staticky and super loud compared to the rest of the game. I tried to fix it with the option settings, but it didn’t help.

Overall, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is not the best port on the Nintendo Switch. It’s priced at $15.00, and I can’t recommend it as much as its predecessor unless you want a portable copy of KOTOR 2. Of course, updates might be made to patch the various bugs, but if you want to try out this version, be aware of the glitches and frequently save so you don’t lose anything if it crashes!

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Review: Epic Dumpster Bear 2: He Who Bears Wins (Nintendo Switch)https://purenintendo.com/review-epic-dumpster-bear-2-he-who-bears-wins-nintendo-switch/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=review-epic-dumpster-bear-2-he-who-bears-wins-nintendo-switchhttps://purenintendo.com/review-epic-dumpster-bear-2-he-who-bears-wins-nintendo-switch/#disqus_thread<![CDATA[Kira C]]>Fri, 14 Jan 2022 00:01:58 +0000<![CDATA[Reviews]]><![CDATA[Nintendo Switch]]><![CDATA[Review]]>https://purenintendo.com/?p=145478<![CDATA[

Try not to take Epic Dumpster Bear 2 too seriously. It’s more of a meme and takes itself comically serious in an ironic sort of way. If you missed the

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Try not to take Epic Dumpster Bear 2 too seriously. It’s more of a meme and takes itself comically serious in an ironic sort of way. If you missed the first game, don’t worry, there’s a recap at the beginning of this sequel.

An evil corporation is experimenting on animals and ruining the environment; you know the story. Dumpster Bear is fueled by a sense of revenge and justice. You experience some cutscenes in between levels in a world and then face a boss at the end. After the boss, you get another cutscene to fuel Dumpster Bear’s determination to defeat the bad guys. Also, before each level, you get a bear fact.

The levels are like Mario, in the sense that it’s a side-scrolling platformer that you have to run through, defeat enemies, and collect three red coins throughout the level. Some enemies include giant colorful wasps, gators snapping out of barrels, and wild boars. At the end, instead of a flag pole, you face-plant into a bullseye to earn points. There are some bonus levels you can run through that cost coins to unlock, ones that you collect throughout. Thankfully, around halfway through a level, there is a dumpster with a spare heart, a checkpoint if you die.

Speaking of dying, if you lose two lives and die, you have the option to retry, retry with an extra heart, and give up. I don’t know why you only get two lives to start with, but it does make the game a bit harder. Get used to dying, at least for me; the levels were really hard, even without three hearts.

The frame rate and movement make me think that this game would be great for speedrunners. Which I think is intentional because apparently, you can unlock speedrun metals. It reminds me of those Mario Maker courses where you have to be precise in order to speed through the levels.

The graphics are…graphics. Dumpster Bear creeps me out as his jaw unhinges far more than natural, and when you go through the levels, he looks like he has a hunchback or his back is broken. I don’t think you’re supposed to take the graphics seriously, but I figured I might as well mention the obvious.

Epic Dumpster Bear 2: He Who Bears Wins is a funny game that controls great. Though I wish the story was a bit longer, you unlock bonus levels. I’d say it’s worth checking out.

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Kira C, Author at Pure Nintendo (2024)

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