Rainbow Cotton harkens back to the early ’90s-2000s era with great, fun anime-based cinematics and characters with silly stories to propel the player into the wacky world of fantasy and fun. You are Heroine Cotton, and to cut the narrative right out and give you facts, you’re out to defeat the bad guys for magical candy; yep, magical candy…very deep.

The game has reversed controls. Like flying a plane, up is down, and down is up. These controls can be a tad daunting to get accustomed to the mechanics, but after a short bit, I was flying with the not-so-best of them…okay, I was bad. But (in truth) it didn’t take long to get a feel for so short a learning curve. Once I had the hang of it, I was having a blast. 

The art direction in Rainbow Cotton is very late 90’s anime with big, colorful enemies that definitely will make you laugh. This entry is, I believe, the first Cotton game in 3D. My only personal gripe is that when Cotton is in the middle of the screen, she blocks the player’s view of the enemy, allowing some cheap shots. That doesn’t make it poor; it honestly just increases the challenge. When it comes to the soundtrack, though, I wasn’t very impressed. Nothing stood out as exceptional. It didn’t ruin the experience, but I also feel it really didn’t draw you in. 

Challenge-wise, it ramps up pretty quickly. The first level sets you up to get a feel for the gameplay; not very challenging. The second stage starts to warn that it’s about to go down. By the third, everything and everyone is trying to blast your broom-riding butt out of the air. I never made it past the fourth, mainly due to the shooting, aka button mashing, tired my paws out. Then I figured out I could just hold the button down. DOH!

Rainbow Cotton is a lot of fun. It’s one of those games you can grab quickly and not have to drop hours on. The cutscenes between levels will make the kids giggle at the antics of Cotton and her friend as they journey to get candy. There is nothing truly off with this game; it’s cute with easy-to-pick-up, tough-to-master, fun gameplay. Worth every penny.

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I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I grabbed Sword of the Vagrant to review. I’m usually a straight turn-based style RPG guy, and I figured I’d stray a little bit out of my box. I got pretty excited after starting the game; the presentation and the music were excellent. Right from the start, your main character, Vivian, has had a hard road. She’s hated because of what she is and tasked to work with the very enemy she’s been hunting for a good portion of her life. She is a vagrant, so clothing seems very hard to come by as she wears the same leather two-piece outfit and knee-high boots the entire time! I was amazed she could survive any combat with all that skin exposed, lol.

A good story needs a bit of drama, and for the most part, this game has it. It definitely fits every RPG trope out there as the game is filled with lots of go and beat up this guy, and something new opens up, to the point where it’s a bit easy to predict. However, aside from the typical RPG hero to-do list for a low price tag, this game has a decent amount of depth regarding character growth. As you defeat enemies, you acquire mana, which is used for a few things, primarily unlocking new stats and skills. The character has an ability tree reminiscent of Final Fantasy 10; this is where mana is used to purchase and open new paths on the tree. Weapons and armor are also upgradeable, which is a nice feature stretching out the usefulness of your equipment.

The controls are pretty basic: an attack and jump, along with a skill button. The combos unlocked with skills are, for the most part, easy to pull off and, overall, very easy to pick up with little learning curve before getting a grip on the mechanics. The ease of movement and easy controls made the platforming sequences easy to navigate with little frustration. My only complaint is the double tap used to make your character run; if I used the stick, it would start to sprint, but the motion felt clunky, and the slightest movement would stop the running. So use the joypad, and this isn’t an issue.

For the $9.99 price tag, Sword of the Vagrant gives you a lot of content, enough challenge, and a decent story to keep you wanting to get to the end. I just hope Vivian can eventually buy clothes in her travels, as running around in leather underwear seems drafty and embarrassing!

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There are a whopping 23—yes, 23—games in the series spanning from the PS2 to modern systems today. Most of this series spent its time as Japanese exclusive releases only. Finally, the 6th game, Atelier Iris, was the first to come to the states on the Play Station 2. There are also three Nintendo DS releases. All the protagonists in this series are, or become, alchemists with the ability to make various items by mixing components.

But enough with the history lesson; onward to the game.

Compared to the previous Atelier game, this crafting system has had some nice changes. For instance, while the gathering is the same, the overly complex and time-consuming crafting is greatly simplified in this title by giving an auto feature. This feature mixes the components for you versus having to add them piece by piece. That option is still available for the enthusiast, but the auto feature is nice until you get a handle on the crafting mechanics.

Combat is a breeze. The simplified combo system makes it easier for the player to focus on gameplay versus what your companions were trying to instruct you to do in Atelier Sophie 1. While it’s simple, it works within the game well and doesn’t hinder or take from the experience.

This series has always looked great, and this game is no different. The cel-shaded visuals look like they were taken out of an anime and are truly excellent, as is the soundtrack. Combined, they could have made this title amazing.

So, you’re thinking, “What’s wrong then?”

As a whole, this is quite a solid title. However, my personal opinion is that it’s too similar to its predecessor. There are not enough gameplay changes to really feel that this is a brand new game. The combat system in the series hasn’t changed dramatically. Instead, it evolves with each installment so it’s different enough while having enough familiar components to keep it from having a steep learning curve.

The high points of Alteliar Sophie 2 are the narrative and the soundtrack. The story is immersive and, at times, comical. It’s very entertaining—keeping me involved and wanting to get further. The individual character development is well done, and it’s a lot of fun watching how everyone grows as the story progresses. Kazuki Yanagawa composed music for most of the Atelier series, and his work on Atelier Sophie 2 is superb. The musical scores for this game are top-notch and paint a magical sonic canvas that really pulls you in. I can’t praise them enough.

My overall take is that while Atelier Sophie 2 does nothing totally different as a sequel, it does do many things right. Streamlined crafting and a simplified combat system make this easier to be more invested in the story without keeping the average player wrapped up in overly complex game mechanics. It’s another win for the Atelier series.

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Cotton 100% appears to be a direct port of the original; they even kept the original aspect ratio and resolution. Similar to many shmups, you have a basic weapon that increases in power as you collect crystals. You also have a fairy that is similar to Gradius’s options that follow you around and provide extra cover fire. There are also different types of magic that you can find, like a shield and a flaming dragon that scorches everything in its path, to name a couple.

The game has a great presentation with wonderful creature and character animations, along with digitized voice samples for added effect. The SNES had a great color palette, and it was put to good use in the game. Add tons of parallax scrolling in the backgrounds that are also wonderfully animated on every stage. The gameplay is typical and well done; I haven’t noticed anything that interferes or detracts from the gameplay.

The port has a few extra features that were not in the original release. Save states, rewind, and classic mode. The first two are self-explanatory. However, classic mode is the original with just three lives and three continues. It’s a challenge to beat Cotton 100% in this mode. However, doing so unlocks some new features. But I don’t want to give everything away.

Cotton 100% is a fantastically fun game. The stages are way too short, though, and that’s a drag given the $14.99 price tag. But is its price a show stopper? That’s up to you, the consumer. Still, Cotton 100% is silly, entertaining, and gives a decent challenge to beat.

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Without telling you the whole story, Armed Emeth is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The previous civilization had advanced tech and, through war for control of the tech, caused one of its moons to collide with the planet causing mass devastation and destruction. Many years later is where the protagonist, Valess, starts his adventure. The story isn’t overly complex, is easy to follow, and so is the dialogue; it’s not FFVII.

Now Armed Emeth won’t raise the bar in any way for JRPG’s, but what it will do is entertain you. It has a basic turn-based menu-driven combat system, an absolute staple in the retro-style RPGs from the 16-bit era. It really shines with its customization of the playable characters. Along with Valess, you’ll meet and group up with other NPC’s. There’s no shortage of gear combinations; weapons and protective gear can have stat enhancements that protect from various things or add status effects to your attacks. Your Golems can not only be geared up, but you can also take them to mechanics that can adjust and modify your stats at a cost and with limitations. A nice game mechanic is you can only enhance your golem so much. It has limits, and if you overdo it, you can essentially break it or make it very fragile. This mechanic keeps things balanced, so no one player’s overpowered.

The visuals are something the SNES could have pulled off, but I like that. They’re colorful and cartoony with good presentation. It’s a retro-style game, not Far Cry. As I said, it’s not going to break new ground, but it does give a nod to an era of gaming that I personally loved and grew up with *All the nostalgic feels*. The music, however, is a level above the 16-bit chiptunes of the day. I can’t honestly say that the music handles all the settings well, but it gets the job done. It’s well composed and not bad at all. I just find in certain areas things are a bit too happy sounding when they clearly shouldn’t be.

The other area where I’ll complain about is the menu system outside of combat. I find it very cluttered, and while not difficult to navigate, it’s not neat and organized like most JRPG’s. It’s busy with a lot of information that doesn’t really help. Another thing is, after over 11 hours of playing, I still haven’t figured out what the GLP currency’s used for!

Those few things aside, this is a fun title. Most JRPG themes revolve around dungeons and magic, and other things. So when I see sci-fi-themed games like this, I kind of gravitate to them as they are refreshing and different. Come on, who doesn’t like blowing up bad guys with giant mechs and huge guns? In 1992 this game would have been great. Come on Kemco, make a modern version of this game.

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This HD version is a prequel that starts the story for the series; the Amnelia empire uses a weapon of mass destruction that destroys a planet! The Thiima are a long-dormant biocybernetic race made to defend life in the galaxy. The use of the weapon awakens the Thiima and thus starts the battle for humanity’s survival.

The Darius series is known for its difficulty and stunning visuals, and this one doesn’t disappoint. Even for its age, this game holds up well for being 24 years old; yup, 24. The use of polygons over pre-rendered backgrounds is nothing new today, but in 1997 it was awesome. In an age where arcades were almost gone in the US, this game helped keep the series relevant in Japan.

The two versions included in this bundle are G-Darius HD and G-Darius the direct arcade port. The HD variant has some updated 3D models of the ships, and the Bosses seem to have been smoothed out (no jagged lines). However, the gameplay is identical. The music shines in this; I found it added perfectly to the atmosphere of the game, tense and edgy. Honestly, unless you’re a diehard fan of the series, this doesn’t bring much to the table as a release and could have been included in the last Darius bundle to be ported to the Switch (Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade). Other than 3D visuals and two new game mechanics, it’s a typical Darius shooter.

The mechanics mentioned are a beam counter that can turn the tide of tough boss battles and a capturing feature for different enemies to give better offense and defensive abilities. Beyond this, it’s Darius, plain and simple folks. There is an achievement system as well. It doesn’t really do anything for you, and seems kind of a waste.

There is still a lot of fun to be had with this title; two-player co-op with a friend can be a great way to kill some time. The controls are spot-on, and the challenge factor is there. But this game can be easily beat by simply adding more credits; yup, like the arcade, you can coin-up and keep going, chucking the replay value right out the window. I would have put in a deathmatch mode for replay value, with limited lives and no continues, to see how far you can get by improving your piloting skills.

In the end, G-Darius HD is a challenging shooter from a time when arcades were still relevant. It still looks good and sounds cool, but it’s not great as a standalone.

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Sophie’s story, the Mysterious Book, covers her journey to unravel the mystery of her late Grandmother’s alchemy book that talks! As with most typical JRPGs, NPCs come and add tons of comical interactions. This is a constant throughout all three games.

Firis’s story starts in a subterranean village. Having never left her home, she longs to experience the outside world. Firis meets Sophie from the first game and begins her journey to become an alchemist.

Lydia & Suelle’s story has a similar theme to Firis’s in that they are aspiring to become renowned alchemists. Most characters from the previous titles interact and play a role in this story; we even get some characters from the Dusk series, such as Logy, who play a role. However, it’s hard to say where these three games take place in the Atelier series timeline.

Visuals for all three games are colorfully rendered and are very much like watching an anime film. Tons of detail was put into each character’s design. Costumes and individual presentation is wonderfully done, giving the player an enjoyable experience. The experience doesn’t end with character design. While not massive like many of today’s games, the environments make up for what they lack in size through atmospheric detail like weather conditions such as rain. These games were released for the PS3 originally, and it would have been a shoddy display if the PS3 couldn’t pull off lighting and atmospheric effects. The Switch does well to pull it all off.

Atmospheric music is a big thing in-game; every track is upbeat and compliments what’s going on. This also includes battles; the music can tell you if you have an easy or tough battle ahead by the theme.

I can’t say anything bad about these titles; they were popular with JRPG fans, and I can see why. Everything is tastefully put together to paint a wonderful canvas, 

This brings me to my next topic: gameplay. It’s smooth. There’s nothing janky or unnatural about movement or response, and the mechanics seem universal across most of the Atelier series. You have a jump and a swing that can be used as a preemptive strike against monsters to get the jump on them or to break up materials to collect.

Given that this is the DX line, all the DLC comes with each game, as well as some new stuff which I won’t spoil. You get some interesting costumes and, of course, a bikini suit for those infatuated with animated ladies! 

The only downside to this series is that it’s a niche group that will enjoy these games. Its grind-intensive alchemy system has you constantly farming for materials. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if this is your area of enjoyment. For me, the whole Atelier series is very unbalanced when it comes to this. While I understand it’s part of the story, it becomes quickly tedious when each quest becomes go here, get this, return, craft, deliver, rinse, and repeat. A little less of this and more story and character interaction are needed.

If crafting is your thing, you probably won’t be disappointed with Atelier Mysterious Trilogy Deluxe Pack. In the end, I still enjoy this series as a JRPG fan, even though there are grind issues.

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Before I get bashed for being too harsh, let me explain. The first and biggest thing is the gameplay. The controls are convoluted at best and very unintuitive. The tutorial is a joke and truthfully doesn’t even cover the basics of the controls properly. The explanations are brief and leave the player kind of guessing if they are doing it right.

For example, the first thing covered in the tutorial doesn’t say that you have to use the “A” button to select the action first. This leads to some button mashing, and eventually, you’ll get it. The next thing I encountered is when asked to move groups to a new spot on the map, you have to drag a box open to select said groups. You can barely see the box. The color they chose blends in with the backdrop so much that I could barely see it on my 55″ LED TV. On the Switch’s small screen, I can only imagine the frustration players could have trying to target their troops.

I also found a game-breaking glitch in the tutorial! As the AI explains the placement of traps, if you select the trap menu, once done, even if you choose the trap, you’re stuck in that menu. I repeated the said process numerous times to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Poor beta testing.

The game’s graphics are simple and give a very basic presentation, but get the task done. The music is actually very good and completely adds to the atmosphere of the game. That’s it. That’s the only real positive thing I can say about this title.

Honestly, I really do not like to give a bad review as developers and programmers put countless hours into these projects to bring their art to fruition. But when a game is this poorly done, I don’t have a choice. I couldn’t get very far in the game with poor controls and functions of the game not working and giving no reason why. For example, certain traps would not deploy while others you could drop multiple of.

Lastly, there is the absolute lack of any story as to why you’re even involved in the game. When I say lack of, here is the whole story. Get ready; this is a long read… ready?

“Destroy the Roman Empire.” Seriously that is it.

I usually keep the review titles I’m given; this one is so bad I’m deleting it after I finish as I know I’ll never play this again. I find Gallic Wars: Battle Simulator more of a proof of concept than an actual game. There are so many far superior options in the tactics category that this game is even a waste of time for beginners. Avoid like the plague.

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The Unexpected Quest is a simple RTS with limited resources, gold, food, and wood to manage. If I were to suggest a slow easy-going no stress RTS, this would be it. The game moves only as fast as you want for the most part. You control if you’re going to move to the next section of the map by removing an obstacle in the path; this also prevents monsters from just savagely eating your workers. As you complete little puzzle quests, new features and buildings become available.

But this game is so linear that it can be kinda boring. Unlike 99.9% of other RTS games out, the maps are preset. The player can only build on construction sites, so again unlike others with open maps that force the player to strategize and prioritize what, who, and where to build, The Unexpected Quest takes all the guessing right out. This limits the game and forces the player through the map to get from the start point to finish leaving no room for the player to do anything but exactly what it wants you to do. As you progress, more classes become available, but again the devs made this even more like it’s on rails! Only one class can fight one type of monster, and it tells you exactly what class will attack, so no guesswork in seeing who will be the most effective.

Visually it reminds me of Gauntlet Legends, kinda silly character designs with clunky animations. The soundtrack is uninspiring as well; it doesn’t pop out and is easily forgettable. I did like the silly Charlie Brown sounding speech and the screams of your workers when a monster chases them after you set them free! I can see the appeal of younger gamers would have for a title like this, as it’s not complicated or hard to follow, and you progress easily and at a steady pace. The controls are very easy to learn and also uncomplicated, point-and-click.

As an adult and long time gamer, I feel this really is for a much younger crowd of players. It’s not necessarily a bad game, just very simple and easy with no real apparent challenge. In short, it’s good for a kid who’s just getting into RTS style games. Adults keep looking unless it’s for your 12-year-old. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either.

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All puns aside, Operation Blackout is a solid title with fun cel-shaded models that look like the old cartoon I loved as a kid but now make me cringe when I hear Yo Joe! Bringing this series to the present and making it relevant this way seems the most likely direction to go. The game gives you control of some of the most iconic characters from the series, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. But one of the things that makes this fun is the fact they’re mixed with plot lines. One mission might be a Joe mission or a Cobra one, giving the player a chance to see both sides’ stories. It’s littered with cutscenes in a comic book-like art style with voiceovers, tying each mission and plotline together, something I wish they’d done differently as I would’ve loved to see them animated. The story is pretty cut and dry, Cobra has taken over the world, and it’s the Joes’ mission to set things right.

The gameplay is like any other TPS with twin-stick controls, one for movement and the other to aim. There is a sight feature for quick aiming, but your reticle needs to be close to the target, and it only holds for a second. Aiming with the right stick is tedious. It’s very sensitive, and the slightest movement can have your reticle 90 degrees from where you wanted to aim, ugh. After a few hours of gameplay, I was fairly used to it and had somewhat of a handle on it. There are some vehicle missions as well, which I thought was pretty cool, and the controls are no different than moving the characters. 

Using the Unreal engine was smart as actual gameplay is very smooth, and the Switch does excellent in keeping up, with no slow down or dropped frames that I could detect. In fact, even on action figure mode, aka infant easy, you would be surprised by the number of enemies and active background models moving at once on the screen; I had a hard time keeping up.

I was all excited when I noticed the team play feature. When I went to set it up and play online, my excitement drowned in disappointment as it’s local only with no netplay. You can have up to four people play. Sadly, I was denied the satisfaction of roasting someone because my only opponent was my wife, who declined to play at first. After some prodding, aka begging, she finally said ok for one round. Team mode allows you to choose your arena map and character with a two-player split-screen top and bottom and (I’ll assume) four-player splitting it four ways. I could see where this could be entertaining provided you had four friends, Joy-Cons, and a large TV. Sadly with the effects of Covid still affecting our communities, I could not really enjoy the multiplayer feature. Again I stress that an online option would have made this title far more interesting.

Overall I think G.I. Joe Operation Blackout is decent but will quickly fall into obscurity with the abundance of better quality third-person shooters on modern consoles. In my opinion, the diehard genre fans won’t give much thought to this without online gameplay. In truth, this game will mostly appeal to a limited niche, mainly GI-Joe fans.

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