At the moment, Whisker Squadron is hitting all of the right notes. The look is stylized, but the core mechanics feel like the old Nintendo classic. The option for selectable pilots is very good, and the decision to make it a roguelike fits well enough to provide the game with some replayability. Although Whisker Squadron doesn't have a more concrete release date, we can't wait to check out more of it as the year progresses.
The only saving grace to Ashiragu: The Last Shogun is that it runs, and you can get one Bronze Trophy out of it. Aside from that, there are no redeeming qualities. Under no circumstances should anyone play this. It's a mystery why Sony continues to let this and other games from the developer/producer exist in the marketplace at such a high price.
There's a certain audience that'll find Heavy Fire: Red Shadow to be a decent game. For those people, the turret sequences in other shooters must be their favorite part of the game. For everyone else, including fans of the series, Red Shadow is an utter disappointment. From a regression in gameplay to overly long stages and terrible presentation, there's nothing to recommend here, even if you just want to Trophy hunt. Unless you absolutely need to have every game in the console's library, stay as far away from this as possible.
It's difficult to recommend Gene Rain to anyone. The story makes no sense, and the game does a good job of maintaining that sense of confusion. The gameplay has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and the presentation would be laughable even during the prior console generation. Not even Trophy hunters would be attracted to this title because the grind to obtain them is unbearable. Stay as far away as possible from Gene Rain.
Awkward is just bad. Its premise is paper-thin, and its questions range from boring to shocking without a counter-balance to turn testy questions into a form of dark humor. The presentation is nonsensical, and the game doesn't seem to have any purpose. Its only saving grace is that the games are short, but it only takes one time before your party chooses to play something more whimsical instead. Unless you want to bring down the mood of the party or instigate arguments, there's no reason to have this game anywhere near your system.
There's little to no reason to recommend Tennis to anyone. The paltry amount of modes is unsatisfying, and the characters' only differences lie in their limited speech bank that repeats incessantly. The presentation is bearable, but seeing it struggle is bewildering. More importantly, despite the number of control schemes available, it feels like wasted work since your only real interactions with the game are reduced to hitting the ball. Despite the tempting $8 price tag on the game, you're better served waiting for any other tennis game to come along for the system.
There's no dancing around it: Road Rage is terrible. From the gameplay mechanics to the presentation, nothing is done right, and every moment spent in the game makes you question why you have it in the first place. Unless you're Trophy-hunting, there are much better PS4 titles that are worthy of your time.
CrossfireX is a mess. If you manage to connect to a server and can deal with a menu that becomes sluggish after every game, you'll find an experience that is dulled by bad design decisions. From a pair of lackluster campaigns to a pittance of maps and modes, there's not much to work with. Combined with tiny maps and shooting mechanics that don't feel good, the shooter is only appealing if you only play free-to-play titles, only care for modern military shooters, don't care for Call of Duty: Warzone, and don't have the Xbox Game Pass.
Even at its relatively cheap $5 price tag, it is difficult to recommend Connection Haunted. The premise could be interesting, but its vague nature means that there's no impetus to pursue the game's endings even though they're short enough to conquer in an afternoon. It is supposed to mimic first-person shooters from the early days of online play, but it looks decidedly worse than most of them, and the performance is passable at best. Worst of all, with no scares of any sort or action or intrigue, the game is utterly boring. Unless you're a collector and absolutely need every single Switch game, it's a hard pass on Connection Haunted.
After five iterations in the modern era, R.B.I. Baseball 18 remains a terrible series for any type of baseball fan. The modes may be serviceable, but everything from the AI to the presentation and the overall performance is severely lacking in quality. PS4 owners have a choice, so if you need your baseball fix, opt for Sony's offering once more with a tiny bit of hope that MLBAM will finally get something going next year.
There's nothing wrong with ArtPulse being more of a toy than anything substantial. Sometimes it's fun to just goof off. There's not enough here to make the title realize its potential. The creation tools are woefully limited, and the game's ability to instantly delete things stifles one's creativity even more than the limited toolset does. The inability to share your creations or save them also hurts, but anyone hunting for some easy high-level trophies will be happy. For everyone else, ArtPulse would've been a perfect demo disc experience, but it shouldn't be something that you purchase for real money.
There's barely anything salvageable in Down to Hell. The backgrounds look nice enough, and the music is decent if you aren't too picky about your metal. Everything else is a cautionary example of the kinds of sins that game developers should avoid. Even if you were to find the title for less than $1, there are a plethora of similar games on the Switch that do a much better job, so there's no reason to look in the direction of Down to Hell.
Just Deal With It is an example of a title that just wasn't planned out well. The inclusion of online play is fine, but it's wasted since there hasn't been an online community to speak of since the game's launch. The forced multiplayer means that there's no real way for players to learn the games on their own, and the use of power-ups feels arbitrary. Unless you want a more expensive way to play these games with friends locally, your best bet would be to check out YouTube tutorials for these games and break out a physical deck of cards.
Gungrave VR is a game that not only tarnishes its own legacy but also leaves a bad impression of VR as a whole. The gameplay is shallow, as attacks feel slow and lack any sort of impact. The limited nature of the stages and the lack of any intelligent enemy combat makes the affair boring, but the clunky implementation of VR is what really drags down the game. The VR feels unnatural, and it doesn't safeguard one from getting nausea. There's still hope that the upcoming sequel will fare better, especially if it sticks with more traditional gameplay elements and presentation, but this VR take is one that players can easily skip.
Agony is obsessed with getting the atmosphere right at the expense of gameplay. From the bones and viscera adorning every the world to the torture and writhing bodies, the developer has certainly succeeded at creating a place that is disturbing and fascinating. Once you get over the edgy environment, you'll recognize that there are many issues with the game: broken tutorials, inept stealth elements, a possession system that isn't explained, poor checkpoint placement, gamma issues, and mediocre voice acting. In a way, the experience you'll have with the game matches its name perfectly, so unless you're desperate for a masochistic experience, Agony gets a hard pass.
Arto isn't ready yet. There's a good premise, the mechanics play out well enough, and the hook of painting the environment with different art styles is certainly appealing. However, there are simply too many issues in every category that cannot be ignored no matter how hard you try. Should this extensive list get fixed, players will encounter a decent game that we could recommend checking out if you're curious. As it stands now, you should avoid Arto.
In the end, to The Top, Mammoth! is a mobile game that's found itself awkwardly ported over to the Switch. The core gameplay loop is enjoyable enough for some quick gameplay sessions, but starting things off with some devious level design doesn't endear it to the target audience. Several design decisions, from the menus to the vagueness applied to power-ups, don't help the game's cause, and the obvious padding in a few areas and some pretty big bugs leaves much to be desired. The more tactile controls make this better than the mobile iteration, but on a system that already offers a plethora of quick pick-up-and-play experiences, it's difficult to recommend this title.
Green Phoenix aims to serve two distinct audiences but succeeds at pleasing neither. Shooter fans will hate almost everything about it, from the lack of proper aiming to the lack of enemies. Fans of deep narratives will find the story to be derivative and uninspiring and will hate that it is told so poorly. It may look pretty, but there's no real reason to give this a shot.
The concept behind Open Country is solid enough. A more relaxed hunting and survival simulator in a traditional game structure has an audience: those who feel that hunting games are too vague for newcomers. While some of the quirky bits can be forgiven, the busted hunting mechanics and the dated presentation bring everything crashing down. Unless you're the very forgiving and patient type, pass on this title.
To put it bluntly, Tamarin is messy. The story isn't that interesting, and the characters try to make it sound important but come off as pompous. The platforming is decent once you learn that you have useful moves, but the finicky nature of some elements and the slippery physics mean that asking for precision is inviting frustration. While the thought of resurrecting a Jet Force Gemini-style game is intriguing, the execution fumbles greatly due to it casting aside the advances that have been made in third-person shooters in the last 20 years. Unless you're craving an exercise in frustration, steer clear of Tamarin.