Kirby: Planet Robobot is not just the best Kirby game on the 3DS, but one of the best entries in the whole series, telling a surprisingly thoughtful story about rampant capitalist greed, the dangers of technological progress, and imperialism. Its level design is also both complex and varied, never letting the new gimmick interrupt the flow of the action.

The opening cutscene shows Planet Popstar in peace – King Dedede is playing chess, Kirby is sleeping, Meta Knight is looking cool – when suddenly the shadow of a huge alien spacecraft is cast on them. The Access Ark, as it is called, arrives unannounced on Popstar and installs drills on the ground, dropping machines from the [...]

Boasting the series tried and true formula of demon hunting and an engaging combat system, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey is an excellent dungeon-crawling RPG that successfully builds an oppressive, pessimistic atmosphere while telling a story about humanity’s suicidal greed.

The story is set at the end of the 21st century. Humanity amounts to 7 billion souls and social conflict has been escalating while the planet suffers. There’s war in Eastern Europe, an economic crisis in South America (rampant inflation has led people to raid malls), and the most powerful nations just stand by, accumulating wealth. To make matters worse, a space anomaly appears suddenly at the [...]

“Time marches on and sooner or later you realize it is marching across your face.”

Lake is a game about a specific time in some people’s lives, usually when they are in their thirties or forties and suddenly realize that everything has passed in the blink of an eye. It was just yesterday that they were going to school, worried about grades and homework, and now they’re adults with bills and responsibilities. Their childhood friends are now married and with kids, living in another town. They were so busy working, studying, producing, and meeting deadlines that when they finally stop to take a breath, they realize that more than a decade has gone by. It’s a game about nostalgia [...]

Released alongside Nintendo’s biggest commercial failure, the Wii U, ZombiU managed to remain one of the best examples of its console’s unique features until the end of its lifetime. It uses the Wii U’s gamepad to great effect, providing a tense and unnerving survival horror experience that largely succeeds in turning zombies – gaming’s most popular cannon fodder – into fearsome creatures.

We play as a random survivor during the zombie apocalypse. In the game’s brief intro, this survivor comes across a safehouse in London, where a mysterious man, who calls himself “the Prepper”, speaks over the intercom, trying to offer some advice. At first, the Prepper acts like a guide, [...]

Chorus is a competent space combat shooter that offers fast-paced action and a fascinating if underdeveloped story. The lack of mission variety can hold the experience back, but the game’s space dogfights are usually exhilarating enough to make up for it.

The protagonist is Nara, a former ace pilot of the Circle, a religious group that is wreaking havoc in the galaxy, trying to make people submit to their doctrines by force and killing those who refuse. She is a deserter in hiding, working as a simple scavenger for a man named Sav in the reclusive settlement of the Enclave.

Nara chose a job that wouldn’t let her forget her past deeds: while scavenging, she often comes [...]

Battle Chasers: Nightwar, a turn-based RPG based on Joe Madureira’s fantasy comic, boasts a beautiful art style and a serviceable, if repetitive combat system. Unfortunately, its barebones story leaves much to be desired: Nightwar may look and play alright, but the narrative element that could have improved the experience is just not there.

The story follows a group of misfits, led by a girl named Gully, who wears a pair of magical gauntlets from her dead father, who was once a great hero. This puts a target on her back, but fortunately, she has some friends (the swordsman Garrison, the golem Calibretto, the rogue Red Monika, and the wizard Knolan) to protect her. These [...]