I’m happy to report there’s plenty to look forward to with all three titles, and we’ll start this trio of articles by looking at Super Bomberman R 2.

I don’t have much history with the Super Bomberman series, and I was barely into my demo time before realizing that was my mistake. Super Bomberman R 2 is bursting with joyful chaos, offering the kind of hyperactive fun that can occupy an entire game night with friends and family…provided they’re cool with you attempting to blow them up.

It helps that the gameplay is surprisingly accessible. At its most basic, you’re running through mazes, dropping bombs to blast away the walls and your opponents. Your goal will change depending upon the game variation you’re playing, with Standard, Grand Prix, and Battle 64 all returning from Super Bomberman R. The new mode in R 2 is Castle, in which one side defends the castle’s treasure chests from the opposing team. Defenders are tasked with patrolling an area around the treasure chests, setting up defenses with the available gadgets to help keep the attackers away. It’s up to the attackers, of course, to find a way around them…or blast their way through them.

Even better, Castle mode includes a level editor that allows players to generate their own maps and share them online. I didn’t get hands-on time with the level editor, but the benefit is obvious even if you’re not the type to generate your own map. Players should expect a solid amount of content to keep the battles feeling fresh well after the game’s initial release. And who knows? You may find after spending time with the game that you have some solid map ideas of your own.

And don’t worry if you’re new to the series. I was, but within a few rounds my strategies were advancing beyond simply dropping a bomb and running the other direction. Timing is important. So is using the ability to kick bombs away for surprise attacks or to defend yourself. There’s plenty beyond that, but you don’t have to worry about embarrassing yourself in party games while you figure it all out; Super Bomberman R 2 includes a single player component. The game does lose some impact without the chaos of multiplayer, but the story appears goofy and cute enough to propel you forward as you learn the nuances of combat and control.

The Story Mode introduces small, ghostly creatures called Ellons that seem to be having some survival difficulty. By rescuing them, Bomberman and his friends will be able to utilize them to solve puzzles and access new items/locations across the adventure. The Ellons trail behind the player as you work your way through each level, and that can spell trouble; the Ellons are susceptible to damage, too.

The Switch release of Super Bomberman R 2 is set for September 12th for the physical edition. The digital release will launch the following day, and pre-orders are now open in the eShop. For more information, visit www.konami.com/games/bomberman/r2/.

The post Hands-On With Super Bomberman R 2 appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

You absolutely should, by the way. Pikmin 4 is my favorite game in the series. This is mostly because the new elements Nintendo has rolled in perfectly complement the core gameplay. Compare this to most of the recent Fire Emblem games, for example, where all the tacked-on diversions interrupt and distract from the action.

Before I get to those elements, here’s a quick setup. In Pikmin 4, our recurring hero Olimar has crash-landed his spaceship on an unknown planet. A rescue team is dispatched to save him, and they also crash land. You’re then sent to rescue all of them, and our adventure begins.

The planet is populated by a species called Pikmin, which is good news for you. These little fellows seem lost without having something to do, and they eagerly accept your every assignment. Toss them at enemies to kill them, at plants to harvest them, at objects to retrieve them.

Differently colored Pikmin have different specialties: red are strong and fast, yellow fly higher and are immune to electricity, and blue can swim. Those are your primary Pikmin, but various other types/colors can break sturdier objects, carry heavier items, fly, and more. New to Pikmin 4 is the Ice Pikmin, which can freeze water for easy traversal and freeze enemies for easy destruction.

Perhaps the biggest immediate change in Pikmin 4 is the communal feeling. Unlike Pikmin 1, 2, and 3—which focused on 1, 2, and 3 characters, respectfully—Pikmin 4 involves a growing commune of people who help in various ways. The more you play, the more rescuers and castaways you uncover. These characters can then be used to provide the training and items necessary to complete your goal of rescuing everyone and escaping the planet.

The gameplay progresses in intervals that provide a complete day to explore the area for various treasures, characters, and the precious sparklium that’s used to repair the ship, provide building materials, and unlock new abilities. Your available Pikmin can carry these items back to your ship, but you’ll first need to make sure you’ve cleaned out enemies along the way.

It’s also important to open more direct paths between the items and your ship. Pikmin 4 is big on the concept of “dandori,” which is described in the game as, “…the art of organizing your tasks strategically and working with maximum efficiency to execute your plans quickly.” Why make the Pikmin carry a treasure across the entire map when you can bust upon an electric gate and move your ship right next to where the treasure is? Why follow your Pikmin around as they harvest sparklium when they’re perfectly capable of carrying it on their own? Be efficient; you can (and should) have tasks running simultaneously.

It helps that you have a trusty companion this time. New to the Pikmin franchise is Oatchi, a dog, of sorts, that’s capable of carrying Pikmin on his back, attacking enemies, and defending his territory. Oatchi is able to reach areas that your character cannot, and he can control Pikmin when separated from you. He’s great when working with your character, especially for charged attacks that burst into an enemy and instantly fling all the Pikmin onto its back for heavy damage. But there will be times when separation is important, especially during the numerous challenges presented throughout the game. Oatchi learns new abilities throughout the game, allowing you to assign him objectives or just work with you on getting things done faster.

The latter is key, as there are numerous side-events in Pikmin 4 that are required for completion. These include two types of dandori battles in which you either must complete tasks in a certain amount of time or battle against another character in split-screen to see who can collect the most items within the time limit. These get very tough by the game’s end, but you don’t need to be perfect to complete them; achieving bronze level is enough to win, often resulting in the release of another castaway.

But you’re not done there. The castaways are inflicted with a leafy condition that makes them unidentifiable, so you’ll need to go on new night missions to obtain the luminol that can cure them. These are basically tower defense levels in which you and Oatchi must defend one or two luminol bases with the help of Glow Pikmin. These new creatures are obtained by carrying sparklium back to the luminous, but if you spend too much time collecting, you won’t be able to defend. Stressful? Yes. But if you’re having trouble, you can bypass them altogether by having a castaway complete them for you.

It’s certainly a lot more to manage than in previous Pikmin games. As I mentioned earlier, however, each new gameplay element serves a purpose. They complement each other well, breaking up the gameplay mechanics just enough to keep things feeling fresh as you build your dandori skills. I also believe this is why—unlike with Pikmin 3—there is no true co-op multiplayer. A second player can help you fight by tossing pebbles at monsters, but you can’t explore with a partner. Why? Dandori. The very point of Pikmin is to use the resources available to you to organize your tasks into efficiently achieved objectives. Relying on a second player would somewhat defeat that purpose.

Let’s also not forget that they all look fantastic. Whether you’re above ground or underground—exploring by day or by night—the world of Pikmin 4 is wonderfully detailed and lushly colored. It’s a beautiful game that’s easy to get lost in.

There’s plenty more I could cover here, but I think it’s time to let you appreciate the game on your own. If you haven’t already tried the game, the demo is still available. And no worries if you’ve never played Pikmin before; Pikmin 4 is a great place to start. The games get tougher as you go back, and they’re all available on the Switch. Join the celebration, won’t you?

The post Review: Pikmin 4 (Nintendo Switch) appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

Nintendo Switch players in North America can access the demo on the Nintendo eShop. The demo will allow single-players to access the pop songs “Shake Senora (featuring T-Pain and Sean Paul)” by Pitbull and “TiK ToK” by Kesha. European players will be able to access the demo later this month.

Of course, if you like what you see (and hear), pre-orders are now open for both the standard ($39.99) and deluxe ($49.99) editions. Those who purchase the Digital Deluxe Edition on the Nintendo eShop will receive the following in-game items on top of the standard edition of the game:

• The Sonic the Hedgehog Music Pack that includes fan-favorite tracks such as “Open Your Heart” from Sonic Adventure, “Reach For The Stars (Re-Colors)” from Sonic Colors: Ultimate, and “I’m Here” from Sonic Frontiers.
• The SEGA Music Pack (available on September 27, 2023) that features popular tracks from SEGA’s historic roster of franchises: “Baka Mitai (Taxi Driver Edition),” “Go Go Cheer Girl!” from Space Channel 5: Part 2, and “Rhythm Thief Theme” from Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure.
• Special costumes and accessories from Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Channel 5, Super Monkey Ball, and Puyo Puyo.

As for the game itself, Samba de Amigo: Party Central allows players to use Joy-Con as maracas while dancing to 40 hit songs from the world’s most popular genres, with even more song arriving as post-launch DLC. More specifically:

• Groove with your friends and family with different party modes.
• Complete the StreamiGo! challenges to help Amigo rise to fame.
• Strut that style by customizing your character with unique costumes and accessories.
• Take the party to a global level by hitting the floor with 12 Amigos and up to 8 of your friends online in World Party Mode.
• Show the world what you’ve got by competing on the online leaderboards.

For more information on Samba de Amigo: Party Central, visit sambadeamigo.sega.com.

The post Samba de Amigo: Party Central demo now available appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

Well, nearly every minute of it. There remain remnants of the reason why I didn’t finish it a decade ago. Shall we proceed?

Might & Magic – Clash of Heroes: Definitive Edition is a puzzle RPG based on the Might & Magic franchise that dates all the way back to 1986. Clash of Heroes does tie into the series; it’s a prequel to Heroes of Might & Magic V. However, its color-matching puzzle mechanics vary distinctly from the main series’ focus on tactical turn-based combat. As such, you need no knowledge of traditional Might & Magic lore or mechanics.

Clash of Heroes focuses on five different characters, each of whom is embroiled in a demonic plot to take over the kingdom of Ashen. The story begins with a surprise attack that turns the various regions against one another. Each playable character, in turn, must figure out what’s going on and then level up to the point where he or she can mount an effective counter offensive.

By handling one hero at a time, the narrative basically becomes five separate stories. This isn’t great for the narrative, but it makes sense from a gameplay perspective. Clash of Heroes begins each encounter by randomly dropping the soldiers of two armies on a split field. Your army is on the bottom facing the enemy at the top. Your soldiers consist of various grunts and higher-powered elite units, all of which are acquired either through story progression or via purchase with your in-game rewards. You can place up to three different grunt types and two elite types on the field at once, allowing up to five different units. But you don’t always want to do that.

Combat, you see, is based on aligning the units to initiate attacks (vertical) or to convert them to defensive walls (horizontal). The grunts must match not only in unit type, but in color. So, the more unit variations you have, the less likely it is you’ll get matches. The elite units can’t be matched horizontally, but they can be combined vertically with any grunt unit with a matching color.

Still with me? Because it gets a bit more complicated. You get a limited number of action points to align your units, but you can gain more in certain ways. Removing a unit to collapse the line into a defensive wall, for example, can get you that action point back. Connect more than one chain in a single move and you’re awarded additional action points. It’s a lot to consider, especially when you’re weighing whether to defend against a pending enemy attack or to hurry up and launch attacks of your own.

You’ll also want to keep looking ahead, as basic attacks will rarely get you a win. The goal with the attacks is to hit the enemy’s line behind its soldiers, but your opponent also has walls and units in the way that will weaken your attack. It’s therefore important to chain your attacks by having similarly colored units attack at the same time. This is tricky, because different unit types attack at different speeds. An elite unit in Anwen’s story may take four turns to attack after alignment, while the basic archer grunts only take two. So, you’ll need to wait a couple turns to align the archers, but leaving them as single units makes them vulnerable to enemy attacks.

No matter how solid your strategies and timing are, battles will often come down to luck. As you lose armies to attacks (the opponent’s and your own), your stock of replacements increases. You use an action point to call them in, but you have no control over what you get or where they come in. As such, they’ll often block units you planned to align. They could also inadvertently create walls, thereby removing units from the battlefield that you planned to use for attacks.

Of course, it always seemed the enemy got perfect draws when summoning more units. How convenient that three blue units dropped right on top of the blue elite unit that requires four grunts for an attack. Did I ever get that kind of luck? It sure didn’t seem like it, but I admit it’s easier to remember the bad stuff.

If Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes was just about this puzzle mechanic, it’d be nothing more than a decent casual game. But the heroes and their units require leveling up and using artifact bonuses in the grand RPG tradition. This also means grinding, as there are numerous unfair difficulty spikes as you progress. Completing the side missions in the proper order certainly helps, but each chapter also has random encounters you’ll need to engage in order to prepare for what’s to come.

You’d think these battles would become repetitive, but that’s not the case thanks to two smart development decisions. First, each hero has different abilities and elite unit types that make you relearn how to be effective in combat. As such, each chapter requires a slight strategy shift. Second, not every battle is about simply penetrating the enemy’s defenses. Some require you to simultaneously attack specific objects, for example.

One required me to push three enemies backwards until they fell off a cliff. One boss had a nasty habit of turning my unchained units into food, which he would then inhale to restore his health. The best defense against this was to chain up my soldiers or sacrifice them to get them off the battlefield. Then, there are numerous puzzle challenges in which you must figure out the precise progression to eliminate all of the enemies units in a single turn.

It’s a lot packed into one puzzle RPG, and it’s all wonderful. That includes the graphics and audio, which feature storyboarded animations with a live narrator. These are quick enough to not slow things down, and they do a good job of adding some dramatic weight to the proceedings.

Put aside my frustration with the anger-inducing random unit drops, and you’ve got a nearly perfect time-killer in Might & Magic – Clash of Heroes. Whether you’re playing at home or on the go, it’s fun. Whether a battle takes two minutes or ten, it’s fun. Whether you’re on chapter one or five, it’s fun. Whether you’re playing in story mode or online in competitive multiplayer, it’s fun. The game’s heavy reliance on RPG strategies and random luck will likely frustrate casual puzzle gamers, but once it clicks, you’ll want to see it through…even if it took a couple releases to do so.

The post Review: Might & Magic – Clash of Heroes: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch) appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

Cross Tails focuses on two separate but intertwining stories. At the start, players will decide if they want to control Felix (from the Kingdom of Ravenfurt) or Shaimaa (of the Republic of Hidiq). What separates the kingdoms? Ears and tails. Although the characters look human, the Ravenfurts exhibit canine physical attributes, while Hidiqs are more feline. Is it any wonder they’ve always been on the brink of war? There’s also a reptilian nation, Dralbo, just to shake things up a bit.

No matter how you side in this cats vs. dogs tale, the story quickly reaches a point where a Hidiq town is attacked, sending the conflict to a boiling point. If you play as Felix, you know the Ravenfurts aren’t responsible. If you play as Shaimaa, you aren’t so sure. Either way, the stories of the two central characters will continue to overlap as they individually discover just what’s going around them.

It’s a typical JRPG plot line that’s meant to be experienced in separate playthroughs. Rather than complete one and then the other, I found it interesting to flip between save files at the points when the stories intersected. Felix, for example, reaches the village attack a few battles into his story. With Shaimaa, however, it’s her first. This approach to the narrative made for a unique method of storytelling I found compelling.

That’s important because other story aspects aren’t that compelling. Despite the crossing tales approach to Cross Tails, the plot still feels very “been there, done that.” That’s not to say it isn’t engaging, but it doesn’t feel as fresh as some of the other turn-based JRPGs I’ve played lately.

Also, although the main characters and their counterparts are distinctive and memorable, Cross Tails relies on faceless recruits to round out your combat parties. This approach helps to keep the central characters in focus, but it also means you won’t care about a lot of the people you’re taking into battle.

If you don’t care about the soldiers, turn-based strategy gamers will care about those battles. This, as it should be, is where Cross Tails shines. Combat takes place on the type of isometric battlefield that’s often compared to Final Fantasy Tactics. A more accurate comparison in this case would be God Wars: The Complete Legend, both visually and technically. The background graphics are colorful, smooth, and detailed, allowing the heavily outlined (and chibi-esque) characters to stand out effectively. The camera controls are a bit too sensitive, but that doesn’t really impact turn-based gameplay.

Battles start with a quick overview of the map, followed by selecting the placement of your available soldiers. As they’ll each have different abilities—including how far they can move and how easily they can reach higher areas—getting them in the right spot to be quickly effective is important. Order is determined by AGI, but the first couple rounds can often be used to get your team in an effective offensive or defensive formation.

Cross Tails quickly overwhelms you with numerous skills and abilities to select in battle, and you’ll need to rack up MP to use these advanced attacks and buffs (or play in easy mode, which starts you off with plenty of MP).

You also have access to highly effective beast powers, or BP, but these come in limited supply. Players can even determine the characters’ faith for various buffs.

The most intriguing variation from similar games, however, comes via Hate. This is like aggro, making opponents more likely to attack a character the more he/she attacks, heals, or uses abilities. In other words, the more troublesome a character is on the battlefield, the more the enemy will go after that character. It becomes an effective strategy, as you can fade soldiers with poor defense into the background and trust the enemy will leave them alone. Of course, that doesn’t always mean they will. So it goes in tactical RPGs.

Another big change is Cross Tail’s reliance on money. Skills, abilities, weapons, armor, recruits, job classes…all are upgraded or acquired through cash, so you really have to manage your money well. And considering there are over 30 classes from which to choose—each with its own combat strengths and weaknesses—even the simplest upgrade decisions can prove stressful.

Unfortunately, getting the money you need requires revisiting previous maps for only slightly modified battles. Often, you’ll have to do this right after completing the map the first time, making progression a real slog. This is another reason I liked switching back and forth between save files for the different paths; it helped to keep things fresh when engaging in two or more fights in one sitting.

With a lesser game, I might’ve eventually given up on it. But there are enough rewards in Cross Tails to push you through. It certainly helps that the intricate party preparation and tricky battles are rewarding to overcome.

But it’s equally important that the whole package is cohesive and logical. The cash-based system makes sense once you get used to it, and each new element, character, and ability feels like a logical extension of what you’ve done so far. A stronger story and livelier dialogue could help move things along, but Cross Tails’ competence and unique diversions from the norm should hold your attention for at least one playthrough. You just have to decide: cats or dogs?

The post Review: Cross Tails (Nintendo Switch) appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

Garlic tells the story of Garlic, a boy with the head of an onion. It’s not discussed whether his parents were being ironic or just had no idea of the shape of things to come. All we know about Garlic is that he wants to climb the Sacred Tower to reach the Cyber Goddess, as she will grant his wish if he’s successful. Will Garlic wish for a new head? A new name? There’s an awful lot to overcome before you’ll find out.

A quick look at the graphics may submerge you under a wave of nostalgia. I didn’t play many platformers back in the day, as mentioned, but I certainly know of them and can appreciate the visual vibe Garlic achieves. Simple designs. Bold colors on black backgrounds. Easily identifiable enemies to avoid and platforms to reach. One look at this game and you know what to do.

How to do it, however, isn’t so obvious. Garlic has no weapons, just the ability to dash and jump in different ways. Most of your combos are explained with signs, not words, and they eventually become more cryptic than I’d like.

I’m sorry, what? I completed the game and I have no idea whether I actually did whatever that image was suggesting I do. Those who excel at rapid-action platformers like this may be able to master the dash combos. Not me. I pushed my way through relying only on checkpoints and dumb luck.

The checkpoints are key. But to understand them you must first understand how Garlic works. Unlike most platformers that move left to right, Garlic also moves up. This is a tower, after all. In these segments, moving off the right-hand side of the screen warps you to the left, and vice versa, a mechanic that’s often required to solve the puzzles that allow you to progress.

Of course, there are many enemies and traps in the way, not to mention the pinpoint platforming required. Sometimes you’ll lose a life if you fall, sometimes you’ll just have to work your way back up. But if you do die, be it by falling or enemy attack, you won’t have to go back far. The game is difficult, but you’ll always restart pretty close to where you died. This helps you keep up your momentum and retry the trickier portions because you’re right there.

There are 12 zones to work through, each with several levels. Of course, the endings arrive with boss battles. These are hard; I never defeated one on my first attempt…or fifth. Seventh? Maybe tenth. But with repetition comes recognition, and I was always able to eventually figure out just enough to squeeze past.

Then came the animated segments where Garlic would reach the Cyber Goddess, only to be faced with a mini-game before she moved on. Most of these are cute ways for Garlic to express his growing fondness of the Cyber Goddess.

But some were a bit creepy…as in Garlic’s a bit of a creep himself.

One segment, for example, finds him observing from a closed locker as the Cyber Goddess undresses. She senses something’s amiss, and you then have to help Garlic escape detection as she opens the locker doors to find him. If that doesn’t move you, there are even some random arcade cabinets thrown in for you to play. Why? Well, because that’s life. I certainly played my share of games while pursuing my wife…albeit without ever leering from a locker.

Other than that, and the fact that the controls were a bit too floaty for my tastes, Garlic comes together quite well. The variations in the color schemes and enemies keep the game fresh throughout, and they increase the reward of progression. A game this hard would normally put me off pretty quickly, but even the most difficult segments always felt that they were just one successful jump or combo attack away from completion. And usually they were.

Garlic is a hard game, but it’s fun. It’s not a long game, but it packs in a lot of variation and surprises. I’m glad I stuck with it. I’m not about to attempt the speed run any time soon, but I imagine many platform fans will be up for the challenge. Good luck.

The post Review: Garlic (Nintendo Switch) appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

If you’re a fan of action and adventure, puzzles and platformers, you’ve most likely enjoyed Frozenbyte’s Trine series. First launched in Windows in July of 2009, the series has grown to encompass multiple games for multiple platforms. Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is now heading for release, and will hit the Switch on August 31st, 2023.

Do any of the characters need an introduction? If you’ve played any of the games, be it individually or as part of the ultimate collection, you know of the exploits of Pontius the knight, Amadeus the magician and Zoya the thief. But if you’d like a refresher, Frozenbyte has provided the above video meet-and-greet for Pontius the Knight, “…Protector of the Realm and also the biggest pie lover the land has ever seen!”

Your sword and shield will aid you on your journey – if you know how to use them! As a skilled knight and professional pie eater, Pontius can use his sword to fight off enemies, get rid of obstacles, and even use it as a platform to help him reach higher areas. The shield, not only made to protect, will come in handy to reflect light, skate across water, and even use as a glider!

Charge, smash, fight, and puzzle-solve your way through the dangers that await with your fellow adventurers. And should you need further help, the Prismatic Talisman will be your best friend – literally. Clones can be useful!

As for the rest of the game, we know it’ll provide fans with:

• A beautiful 2.5D world with twenty levels ready for players to explore.
• Local and online multiplayer for up to 4 players.
• Puzzles with plenty of replayability and dynamic physics. Players will utilize fire, air, light, magnets, electricity and more, with puzzles tailored both for solo and co-op play.
• Challenging tactical combat that pits players against the unstoppable Clockwork Knights and the cunning Rat Gang. Try your wits and courage in formidable boss fights!
• Difficulty settings for combat, puzzles, and character resurrection. The game welcomes everyone’s own play style.
• A mesmerizing soundtrack, with songs that capture the essence of each unique environment.
• A voice cast of returning favourites and charming new additions

Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is being developed by Frozenbyte in Helsinki, Finland. Learn more at www.frozenbyte.com.

The post Reacquaint yourself with Pontius the Knight ahead of Trine 5 release appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

There have been nearly 25 games in Gust’s Atelier series, many of which are now available for the Nintendo Switch. Atelier Marie: The Alchemist of Salburg was the first, having been originally released in 1997, and it’s now been remade for the Switch. Most of the enhancements are visual: chibi-style 3D characters, higher-definition backgrounds, new 2D animations, etc. The new visuals are engaging, and the cute, 3D approach to the characters is an effective match for the game’s tone and theme. As much as I love the more modern visuals of the Ryza games, I felt instantly at home here in Salburg.

Atelier Marie Remake also provides some usability enhancements. Gameplay has been updated for modern controllers, the UI has been improved, there are new character events, and a tutorial has been added to get players accustomed to Marie’s way of doing things.

The latter is important, because Atelier Marie Remake doesn’t play quite the same as its more modern counterparts. Before I get to that, however, let’s meet Marie herself. She’s attending the Royal Academy of Magic, and she’s not doing well. At all. In fact, she may be the worst student at the school. But rather than fail her and kick her out, Marie’s professor gives her an atelier and five years to make an impression.

Would that my English professors had just handed me five years and a Mac SE.

Marie’s deadline is quite real, as there’s an in-game time limit to get that impressive item crafted. Or not. The remake allows players to select an Unlimited Mode that turns off the time restriction. I opted to keep it on, and had no trouble getting to where I needed to be within the time limit.

I point that out because, despite the tutorials, Atelier Marie Remake will have you second-guessing yourself throughout the first couple of hours. It’s more open than I expected, leaving the player to explore the town and the surrounding areas. Traveling takes time, so you could be wasting precious days getting to areas that have monsters you’re not ready to fight. Thankfully, the five-year schedule is forgiving.

Your goal of impressing the professor will require building up relationships with the citizens of Salburg so you can get their help in acquiring the materials you’ll need to craft. The actual process of crafting isn’t nearly as complicated as it is in the more recent Atelier games. The Alchemist of Salburg instead focuses on the management required to get the items you need as quickly as possible.

This includes resting; a tired Marie is not as effective in the atelier, so sleeping is important. Crafting also often involves money, which you’ll obtain by accepting quests or selling the items you’ve crafted. You can hire fairies to help you obtain certain items, and you can hire party members to explore areas and combat enemies you otherwise wouldn’t be able to. Build up your reputation doing this and you’ll get access to more lucrative quests and powerful party members.

The turn-based battles are also more basic, reverting to the simple attack/defend/buff approach. You can choose between physical and magical attacks. You can use items you’ve obtained or crafted. Defeating enemies isn’t about being clever with your party setup, it’s just about being at the right level. And if you’re not, the game will helpfully suggest you may not be ready to accept that particular quest. When you do engage in battle, the animations are simple but well done.

They have a retro feel with a modern look, and the Switch has no problem handling them in docked or handheld mode. That latter is important, because Atelier Marie feels quite natural on the Switch’s built-in screen.

In addition to the standard gameplay, this release of Atelier Marie includes a photo mode and a collection of mini-games. Photo mode is easily ignored (Koei Tecmo do love themselves some photo mode), but completing the mini-games—such as Golden Salmon Search, Catch Those Rats, and Punipuni Hammer—rewards the player with some quite useful items.

I was able to complete the story in around 10 hours on my first playthrough. That may not sound like much, especially when compared to the 80+ hours I spent with Atelier Ryza 3 earlier this year, but Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg is designed to be played more than once. Even after I beat the game, some quests were left open or not accepted. Items still needed to be crafted. Questions needed to be answered. Marie’s options are open enough that different decisions can lead to a somewhat different experience.

Atelier Marie Remake is not compelling enough for players to hop right back into immediately, but Salburg could become a repeated weekend destination for the right type of gamer.

The post Review: Atelier Marie Remake: The Alchemist of Salburg (Review) appeared first on Pure Nintendo.

I am, however, a dedicated fan of All Elite Wrestling. So, if you want to learn how AEW: Fight Forever stacks up against previous professional wrestling video games, return to Metacritic and click again. If, like me, you’re just an AEW fan who wants to know how fun it can be to become All Elite and take on your favorite (or not-so-favorite) wrestlers, let’s talk.

We’ll start by looking at the active roster, which contains nearly 50 wrestlers out of the box. You can tell the game has been in development for quite some time, as a few of the options are barely even around anymore: Yuka Sakazaki and Lance Archer, for example. Then there’s Cody Rhodes, who’s now in a different league. It makes sense that some of the newer talent wouldn’t be available, but wrestlers like Claudio Castagnoli and Jamie Hayter have been around long enough to have been included. Of course, DLC will surely address their absences, but considering Matt Hardy (Hardys?) costs $4.99 and the FTR tag pack costs $11.99, building your preferred stable could get expensive.

That said, there are more than enough wrestlers present to keep fans busy, and I imagine most will just pick and choose from the new wrestlers going forward.

Players will want to experiment with different wrestlers early on, as their abilities and move-sets can determine how easy they are to use. It’s surely fun to fly around the ring like the Young Bucks or the Lucha Bros, but it’s also harder when you’re new to this type of combat game which is more concerned with your mastery of striking and grappling. I had greater success when going with more grounded, physical wrestlers such as Miro and Kris Statlander, and used them to build up my skills and confidence.

This is important, because there’s a lot to learn to get good at AEW: Fight Forever. Sure, it’s possible to pick up the game and start fighting right away. There are difficulty levels designed to let you win despite your inexperience, and playing others at your level gives you some quality practice time. But to really enjoy the game requires you to master your preferred wrestler’s moves and counters, and to get a feel for the strategy of fully wearing down an opponent before applying your signature and finisher and going for the pin.

There’s a training option to help you get there, but it’s not much fun. Instead, I just hopped into as many matches as I could with the expectation to lose quite a bit. Pretty much every type of match an AEW fan could want is here: singles, tags, three-ways, ladder matches, lights-out matches, etc. There’s a Casino Battle Royal, although it doesn’t work like the real thing; new wrestlers enter only after others are eliminated, presumably due to technology limitations. There’s even a successful version of the infamous exploding barbed-wire death match. And although there’s no talk of Mimosa Mayhem, the Stadium Stampede is on its way. This will create an online 30-player battle royal of sorts that should prove to be as bonkers as the COVID-era event that inspired it. Horses? Pools? A drink at the bar? We’ll see.

Of course, all of this is more fun in multiplayer, be it local or online, provided you’ve got an opponent that’s close to you in skill level. For single-player action, the game’s clever story mode, Road to Elite, will be your focus. Here, you can take any wrestler on the roster or build your own and drive him/her through a year on the AEW roster.

Creating your own wrestler can take upwards of an hour if you pore over all of the options. Wrestling attire, street attire, build, tattoos, entrance music (“Brooklyn the Hole” is there, but Maki Itoh herself is not), entrance pose, and numerous other options presented to you, and it’s a bit clunky to get through. Your previous selections can negate upcoming options without making that clear, and the magnitude of wrestling moves is best left alone until you’ve learned exactly what they are and how/when they’re best used by which type of wrestler. After bringing Here Comes Hiner to life, I never bothered to use him. Instead, I took actual wrestlers through Road to the Elite. Eventually, I’ll start over on Here Comes and give him the run he deserves.

Road to Elite is not terribly long, but it does a good job of pushing the player through different types of matches and various backstage “skits.” Some of this is already outdated; AEW Dark still exists here, and there’s no Collision at the moment. These matches allow you to earn points and AEW cash that can be used to buff up your wrestler and unlock other items (such as historical videos and the beloved Aubrey Edwards). Points and cash can also be earned by playing odd mini games and participating in daily/weekly challenges.

So, there’s a ton of things to do in AEW: Fight Forever. It’s like an episode of Being the Elite and Dynamite smashed together, and AEW fans should feel right at home with its tone and anything-goes attitude. But there are some problems, most of which are in-ring, unfortunately. Foreign objects often create odd visual glitches during matches. The Switch has problems keeping up the frame rates, especially during online play and in handheld mode. Load times could use some picture-in-picture to keep us involved. The sparsely used commentary is oddly disruptive and often inaccurate (although the written lines during the story segments can be very funny).

Combine everything going on here, and AEW: Fight Forever becomes a disjointed but compelling wrestling game that expertly captures what AEW is all about. Its approach to the backstage antics will turn off some wrestling game purists, and user reviews have made it clear many “wrestling fans” will hate it just because the E stands for Elite, not Entertainment. Still, the action is diverse and fun (albeit glitchy), and the game works hard to keep you engaged as you improve your skill set. It all works better if you have someone to play with, but dedicating yourself to getting the best from the impressive roster should keep single players entertained until the inevitable follow-up is released.

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I say “kind of,” because these aren’t actually Tomb Raider brand games. They feature Lara Croft, but they aren’t set up in the typical third-person action style of the classic Tomb Raider games. Instead, you get a top-down, isometric view of the action more akin to a dungeon crawler such as Diablo or Nine Parchments. More importantly, both games in the collection are meant to be played co-op; 2010’s Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light supports two-player local multiplayer, while Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris supports up to four local players.

In this way, both games excel. You can play either of them on your own, but they’re not nearly as fun. Cohesively working with a teammate or teammates to solve puzzles and dodge traps is much more thrilling than stuttering through them on your own. Enemy difficulty (amount, really) is scaled based on the number of players. So, you can get Lara through it by yourself, but she’d prefer some company. Note, however, that there is no online multiplayer option.

Each game comes with a perfunctory story that provides little more than a setting and incentive. In Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, the typical unscrupulous bad guy unwittingly unleashes Xolotl, the Keeper of Darkness. Now, Lara and (if you’re going multiplayer) the ancient Mayan warrior Totec are left to capture him before dawn. Of course, you can’t unleash the Keeper of Darkness without also freeing his countless minions, so there are plenty of monstrous beasts for Lara and Totec to fight as they chase Xolotl through numerous tombs and ruins.

In Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Lara journeys to Egypt to face off against an evil god named Set. Our hero has more companions this time, joined by a treasure hunter, Carter Bell, and a couple of handy gods: Isis and Horus.

Honestly, neither game requires more than a setup. These are meant to feel like co-op arcade action games (does everyone remember Gauntlet?) that quickly dump you into the frenetic action and keep you there. Both succeed to varying degrees.

The pacing in both games is great. The bulk of the gameplay centers around getting from here to there, and the challenge of doing so is largely determined by the rewards at the other end. All of the characters have different abilities, so players will need to work together to overcome obstacles. Lara, for example, has a grappling hook she can attach to objects to cross caverns or to pull friends up ledges. Totec has a shield that can allow safe passage through arrow traps or provide Lara a higher platform from which to jump. When entering tombs to discover artifacts, the game slows down to provide players time to work through the environmental puzzles blocking the treasure: spiked platforms, trigger traps, out of reach ledges, etc.

Getting to most places, however, involves fighting. Weapons (guns, mostly) are acquired as you progress through the game, and can be assigned for use via the d-pad. Certain weapons are more effective against certain enemies, of course, but only the defaults have unlimited ammo. Thankfully, both games provide plenty of ammunition pick-ups and health packs/areas.

Combat plays out like a twin-stick shooter. Players move their character with the Joy-Con’s L-stick, aim with the R-stick, and hold down ZR to fire. Bombs can be dropped and detonated with the Y button. And characters have the ability to dodge or roll away from enemy attacks or traps. There’s almost always something to shoot at, and there are various times when hordes of enemies will be unleashed in quick succession.

Between combat and puzzle solving, the multiple levels seem to go by a lot faster than they do. My son and I were often surprised it took us over half an hour to complete a level when it felt like half that. It was somewhat embarrassing, then, to see that one of the challenges was to complete those levels in under five minutes.

Those challenges are important, as they provide most of the incentive for multiple playthroughs. You’re highly unlikely to beat the time challenges on your first run, and certainly not while attempting to retrieve all artifacts. For example, one challenge in a level of The Guardian of Light is to collect all 10 red skulls, one of which requires you to enter a river to reach it. That same level also challenges you to cross the river without entering it. Does that require two playthroughs or is there a solution we just couldn’t find? The replayability is a welcome factor, as neither game is terribly long; The Guardian of Light can be completed in 7 to 10 hours, while The Temple of Osiris is even shorter at 5 to 8 hours.

Those times are about right for a modern playthrough of games released in the early ’10s. Feral Interactive hasn’t enhanced either title, after all. We’re getting these games as they were released, but I think that’s fine in this case. The arcade action and puzzle solving hold up really well, and are perfect for taking on one or two levels at a time. The controls are simple and precise. The graphics are a bit dated, but nicely detailed, and hold up quite well on the larger screen. Elements get lost in handheld mode, but the preference for multiplayer means you shouldn’t be playing on the Switch screen anyway. The graphics perform well whichever screen you choose.

The Temple of Osiris does suffer from the occasional hiccup and some blurriness, but rarely to the point that it impacts gameplay.

These games serve as a welcome Switch debut for Lara Croft. Action gamers will have a blast if they have a buddy or three on hand to play with. The Lara Croft Collection may not be the Tomb Raider you know, but it should make you remember what you loved about the original games.

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