While clearly inspired by retro-FPS games, Fashion Police Squad puts an interesting twist on the genre by requiring you to solve fashion crimes (defeat enemies) in particular ways. At first I thought this would just be annoying, but I found it made the gameplay pretty hectic and fun in later levels where they throw multiple types of enemies at you at once.

My main complaint lies with the weapon design, some of them just feel clunky to use, and this is an issue since as previously mentioned the game requires you to use all of them. I would dread seeing certain enemy types because I knew I would have to pull out "that" weapon.

The game's swagger also deserves credit here, it isn't the prettiest thing out there but it wears its art style well. The dialogue is cheeky and got a chuckle out of me a few times, and the music ranges from meh to downright bops.

P.S. without saying too much, the final level is very creative and climactic.

A novel concept for a game, and I definitely enjoy the vibes of each area. The subtle storytelling is a nice touch as you progress from level to level too.

I just don't have a creative bone in my body, so I didn't exploit most of the features you have available to get/make cool shots. I'd imagine there are people out there that enjoy that kind of freedom a lot and would be really into this game. However, rushing the objectives and trying to get high value photos still made for a pretty fun, albeit short, experience.

The most clever game I've played in years. In the beginning Tunic feels like a cute Zelda-inspired adventure romp, but the deeper you delve the more you realize how well thought-out and brilliant the game is.

It's a top-down action-adventure game that relies heavily on exploration and clever problem-solving. But really, no words can do the experience justice, it's something you have to play to understand. One of the coolest aspects is the in-game instruction booklet reminiscent of old video game manuals that you fill with pages over your journey. Each page is littered with detail and you'll keep finding things you didn't notice the last time you looked. Also, unlike other exploration-heavy adventure games in this vein that love to have cryptic secrets with no indication of finding them, everything you need to know in Tunic is written in or hinted at by the manual.

Oh, and the game has a fully realized written language that can be translated into English. And for some reason it was really fun to do so.

I have truly never seen a game quite like this and don't think I ever will again.

It's difficult to find words that describe how great this game, or rather pair of games, is. Early into the experience it kind of seemed like just a cheap mockery of 17th century London, especially with the introduction of the aptly named Herlock Sholmes. However, every major character including Sholmes had incredibly interesting development over the course of the games, and after experiencing them in their entirety it is obvious that TGAA has its own identity. Elementary, even.

The story told over the course of many hours in this collection is nothing short of extraordinary. As is the soundtrack, which both perfectly captures the theme and setting and is also amazing in its own right. This is a must play for fans of Ace Attorney, mystery, or even just visual novels as a whole. Hell, I'd be hard pressed to find someone I wouldn't recommend this experience to.

Hell Pie is a 3D platformer with genuinely fun movement, you have a built-in swing that you can initiate at any point while airborne and upgrades to your moveset only increase the freedom offered. However, the game appears to design it's levels and areas on the premise that you barely ever use the swing mechanic and that you also never get any upgrades. This makes it feel quite pointless in hunting out the upgrade collectables and less fun to use all of the cool mechanics.

Of course the most striking aspect of the game is its cartoonish yet horribly crass art style. I don't really know what to say about it, though. It's gross for the sake of being gross, and it doesn't really add anything for me. Some of the jokes in the game land, and many of them don't.

The Pathless is a pretty game with an expansive world, satisfying movement system, and a fair amount of good old-fashioned puzzle solving. However, in my eyes it fails to really nail any of these positive attributes and is also a host to a number of other problems.

Movement is, as I said, satisfying. It is also painfully shallow, which means that I often found myself bored traveling the large open (and somewhat barren) world. The art style is good but nothing more, the puzzles are mostly very simple and somewhat repetitive, and there are annoying segments where your movement is completely restricted to walking.

The game also insists on having boss fights at the end of each major area, which might as well be cutscenes because there is no challenge due to there being essentially no consequence to getting hit. I can't deny that there was some sense of grandeur to them, but the illusion was shattered when you realize you can't lose.

If it sounds like I'm ripping into this game hard, that isn't my intention. The Pathless feels like it oozes potential and the team behind it no doubt has talent. On a deep discount, the game is certainly worth a try especially as many others hold it in high regard. Personally though, I was disappointed by how mediocre I found the experience throughout.

Spirit of Justice has the same level of quality you will come to expect upon playing the rest of the Ace Attorney series. It's got satisfying mysteries both on a case-to-case basis and in it's overarching storyline. In that regard, episode 2's case stands out in particular as a fun mystery and episode 4 stands out as feeling completely out of place.

I was not really into the heavy religious/spiritual themes littered throughout this entry, but that's entirely a personal preference. There is a new mechanic in the trials that I found very interesting, but otherwise it's just more of the Wright Anything Agency's antics.

Note that this is definitely one of the longer games in the series, if not the longest. It's length is not always earned, either. Some parts can definitely drag on and there's times where you need to watch a flashback of the same dialogue like 4 times.