Hello gentle readers, and welcome to the SwitchArcade Round-Up for June 28th, 2021. In today’s article, we’ve got a handful of reviews for you to chew on. Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny releases tomorrow, but we’ve got our assessment ready for your viewing pleasure today. Apart from that, there are also reviews of Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, Cyber Hook, and Together. Today’s batch of new releases isn’t very strong, but there is one game you might want to consider. Finally, we’ve got the usual lists of incoming and outgoing sales for you to hem and haw over. Let’s go!
Reviews & Mini-Views
Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny ($59.99)
It’s been more than six years since the last wholly new installment in the Disgaea series. Nippon Ichi Software has had some ups and downs in that time, and you get the sense immediately that the development team wanted Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny to be a big step for the series. In some ways, it is. Rather than relying on 2D sprites for its characters, this game goes full 3D. There’s a very well-implemented auto-battle feature that helps the game move more quickly than ever. It feels inspired by the Gambit System in Final Fantasy XII, but it goes well beyond that in terms of customization options. And in a very Disgaea-like flex, you can now raise your characters to level 99,999,999. No series understands the appeal of stupid math battles like Disgaea does.
Some things feel the same. Despite various additions, the isometric turn-based battles don’t come across as substantially different from the previous games. The story hits a similar tone to previous games, though I personally didn’t find it as engaging as I had hoped. The humor is on point, and you’ll probably find yourself having a sensible chuckle now and then at the dialogue. The core appeal of making the big numbers bigger and bigger is intact here.
But there are some shortcomings, and they’re the sort of issues that by and large feel like the game was pushing beyond its means. The new 3D characters look good enough, but they sure don’t animate like the old sprites did. Performance issues and technical hiccups are incredibly common, and as soon as you have a certain number of characters participating in a battle things drag to an absolute crawl. It doesn’t feel like this game should be pushing the Switch so hard, but it clearly is. The overall plot is nearly the worst of the series, even if the characters themselves are charming. It also feels like it’s watering down the soup even more than usual, but quite a bit of backtracking and an overall lack of content compared to previous titles.
Looking at it as a whole, Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny makes a couple of very strong steps forward but sacrifices much in the process. It feels like it’s building a foundation for the future, but like most games of that sort it also comes off as a bit weaker than would be preferred. In some ways, it’s a game I’d like to recommend to Disgaea newcomers. It’s certainly more accessible than some previous entries. On the other hand, it runs horribly on the Switch, the story is entirely forgettable, and I think you’ll find a considerably better value overall in picking up Disgaea 1 Complete or Disgaea 5 Complete. As good as it is to see a new game in the series, Disgaea 6 feels a bit undercooked.
SwitchArcade Score: 3.5/5
Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX ($19.99)
A remake presents an opportunity. It’s a way to celebrate classics, shine a light on games that may have flew under the radar, address some longstanding issues in games that perhaps haven’t aged as well as others. But it’s a tricky business. The safest route is to change nothing, because once you start changing things you are making decisions on what is core to the game’s experience and what needs addressing. That takes a strong awareness of what the game is about, a perspective that is harder to have than it may seem.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World was an important game for some people. Alex was one of SEGA’s mascots before it found one that genuinely caught on in a big way, and Miracle World was both his first game and one of his better ones. If you owned a Master System, chances were that you saw Miracle World as SEGA’s answer to Super Mario Bros. on the NES. It was colorful, it had catchy music, and you certainly can’t accuse it of lacking gameplay variety. At the same time, it could be a lot more unfair than Super Mario Bros. thanks to its level design and unforgiving hit boxes. Its Rock/Paper/Scissors boss battles felt like pure chance even if they weren’t. Its final stage could be particularly vexing if you weren’t prepared and didn’t know what to do.
In other words, there were gameplay elements that Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX could improve on if that was the route its developers wanted to take. And there are indeed some changes here. The most obvious ones are cosmetic. The game looks and sounds gorgeous, but if you prefer the classic look you can flip between the two at the press of a button. You don’t have to play the game all in one go now, and you can set yourself up with unlimited lives if you want them. These are all good changes in spirit, though I feel like the hit boxes don’t quite match the redone graphics at times. Some of the stages are way too busy in their visual design, too.
Ah, those hit boxes. Miracle World is one of those games where you can generally only take a single hit. Games like these really need to be careful about judging what constitutes a hit, and Alex has always opted for a less-than-friendly approach. It was incredibly easy to die in the original game, and it’s the same in the remake. Nothing wrong with that, except it often feels like you’re dying to things that didn’t even hit you. This is one area where a change could have made a world of difference. The other point of contention comes from the boss fights. The Janken battles are so iconic that I understand not removing them. I’m not sure how to address them apart from writing a cheat sheet for the player the way M2 did with the SEGA AGES release of Miracle World.
I’m not too happy with the boss battles that did get changed. I’ll grant that in their original forms they were a bit too simple, but the more drawn out patterns added for this game don’t make them any more enjoyable. The new stages that are inserted here and there also feel unnecessary. They’re not bad, but they certainly feel like padding. The original game is admittedly rather short, but I’m not sure making boss battles run longer or adding in some bland new levels is the best way to deal with that.
The more I played Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX, the more I questioned who it’s supposed to be for. It leaves too much of the of-its-time original game intact to be a good choice for new players. It changes too many things that probably should have been left alone to work as a hit of nostalgia. With SEGA’s own fantastic SEGA AGES release of Miracle World available on the Switch for a fraction of the price, this game should have been free to take bigger chances on modernizing the gameplay as much as it updates the presentation. In the end, it’s a weird mid-point that may appeal to some (but not all) hungry Alex Kidd fans and very few others.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
Cyber Hook ($14.99)
A cool idea with a rough execution, but I’m also not sure how it could have been done better. The premise here is that you are making your way through challenging 3D platforming stages from a first-person view. You have a handy hook that you will be making extensive use of along the way, and you’ll need to master it to make the necessary times required to keep moving forward. It’s all well and good early on when the game isn’t making heavy demands of the player, but the further you go the more you realize that this is less Bionic Commando and more N+. Safe perches get fewer and farther between, and the sequences of actions you have to take get longer and more complex.
First-person platforming is a tough thing to get right on a basic level, and the more that is asked of the player the harder it is to make it all work. Even in its beginning stages, Cyber Hook leans heavily on a swinging mechanic that doesn’t always work as you might expect. It’s not a big deal when you can easily try again, but that safety net disappears soon enough. I’m not opposed to games asking the player to perform ultra-challenging feats of parkour. In fact, I rather like it. But if that’s the ask, the game really needs to get its fundamentals right. That’s where Cyber Hook misses the mark. I think players who are very, very patient will find something to like here, but it strikes me as frustrating for all the wrong reasons.
SwitchArcade Score: 3/5
Together ($6.99)
Together is a game that you’re meant to play with a friend, but you can play it alone if you like. You take two characters into a series of levels where you need to hunt for the required number of doodads, battling enemies and avoiding obstacles as you go. There’s a bit of light puzzle solving as well. It has a bit of a low-budget look to it, and the gameplay matches up with that. Sloppy collision detection and tepid attacks mean that you’re going to be taking a lot of unexpected hits. There’s a bit of wiggle room thanks to your character having a life meter, but if you run out you’ll be punted all the way back to the start of the often lengthy stage. I’ve played far worse, but I can’t find much enthusiasm for Together, especially so if you mean to play it solo.
SwitchArcade Score: 2.5/5
New Releases
Mighty Aphid ($4.99)
This is probably the only game you should even consider buying today. Not because it’s fantastic or anything, but because everything else is just plain bad. Many readers will be familiar with Mighty Aphid from its mobile release. It’s a run-and-gun platformer from Cascadia Games, a developer who has a comfortable, consistent quality to all of its releases. This game doesn’t buck that trend. It seems to be inspired by Mega Man, but if I’m being very honest it has more of a DOS game energy to it. Nothing wrong with that, mind you. Add in a very reasonable price and you have a nice little slice of action to get you by until the next big thing.
Rally Racer: Offroad Racing Car Game ($19.99)
As you can probably guess from the word salad title, this is a port of a rather middling free-to-play mobile racer. Over on the App Store it goes under the title Extreme Racing 4×4 Online, but I guess they couldn’t bothered to implement the multiplayer in this version so some sort retitling was a necessity. So yes, this twenty dollar version of the game actually has fewer features than the free one. But at least this version won’t shake you down to buy sacks of diamonds for fifty bucks or anything. You can buy one of EA’s racers for only a few bucks more than this. Just throwing that out there.
Pocket Races ($4.99)
Alas, the magic trick has been fully unveiled for me. Now that I know that Pix Arts, Benjamin Kistler, and Piotr Skalski all shop for their pre-made games at the same store, a lot of the fun has gone out of ribbing these releases. Anyway, this is another one of those games where you race small cars in big environments. You get four racing environments, a bunch of minicars, and a local multiplayer mode for two players. Probably of similar quality to the other games using this template, but I’m not throwing any more money at this stuff to find out.
AnimaLudo ($9.99)
If you’re not familiar with it, Ludo is a board game that descended from Pachisi. You may know it under some of the names Hasbro marketed similar versions under, such as Trouble or Frustration. It’s a dice game where you race to move your pieces around the board. Simple enough for kids to enjoy, but not so boring that adults can’t have some fun with it too. AnimaLudo seems aimed at family enjoyment with its cute appearance and animal theme. You can play alone or pull in a few friends or family members in local multiplayer. An actual Ludo board probably costs about the same as this if you grab a cheap one, but I suppose you don’t have to worry about clean-up here.
Bocce ($7.99)
Setting aside what I said a couple paragraphs up, some of these Pix Arts games don’t look like pre-built templates from an asset store. Some of them look so simple and low-quality that I could almost believe the developer put some bits together on their own. Anyway, this is a Bocce game built to the typical standards we see from Pix Arts. You can play against the CPU opponent at three different difficulty levels or go against another human in local multiplayer. There are six different balls and six different backgrounds. And that’s everything I’ve got to say about it.
Sales
(North American eShop, US Prices)
Well, what kind of interesting things do we have in today’s inbox? Some sales on Thalamus games like Lumo and Death Ray Mana SE. The two Dadish games and Super Fowlst 2. And… not much else in the way of excitement, I suppose. The outbox is small so I’ll let you check it out yourself. I mean, grab Golf Story if you haven’t somehow already bought it. Beyond that, I leave things in your capable hands.
Select New Games on Sale
Brawl Chess ($3.99 from $9.99 until 7/2)
Little Mouse’s Encyclopedia ($9.09 from $12.99 until 7/2)
Lucah: Born of a Dream ($5.99 from $14.99 until 7/3)
Landflix Odyssey ($10.49 from $14.99 until 7/4)
Get 10 Quest ($2.09 from $2.99 until 7/4)
Pizza Bar Tycoon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
The Choice of Life: Middle Ages ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Lofi Ping Pong ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Enigmatis: Ghosts of Maple Creek ($8.99 from $14.99 until 7/5)
Never Again ($6.99 from $13.99 until 7/5)
The Storytale ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Spider Solitaire ($1.99 from $8.99 until 7/5)
Food Truck Tycoon: Asian Cuisine ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
Breakfast Bar Tycoon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/5)
#1 Crosswords Bundle ($4.97 from $5.99 until 7/6)
The Bug Butcher ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Inferno 2 ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Spooky Ghosts Dot Com ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Galaxy Champions TV ($1.99 from $6.99 until 7/9)
Back to Bed ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Dimension Drive ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/9)
Rainswept ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Luckslinger ($6.99 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Lost Wing ($1.99 from $7.99 until 7/9)
Batu ta Batu ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/9)
Lumini ($2.49 from $9.99 until 7/9)
Best Day Ever ($13.49 from $14.99 until 7/10)
AnimaLudo ($3.99 from $9.99 until 7/11)
Lost Castle ($3.99 from $9.99 until 7/12)
Super Space Snake ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/12)
Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption ($4.74 from $18.99 until 7/12)
Dyna Bomb ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/13)
Metaloid: Origin ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/13)
Ghost Sweeper ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/13)
Rusty Spout Rescue Adventure ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/13)
The Skylia Prophecy ($3.49 from $6.99 until 7/13)
Moon Raider ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/13)
Escape First ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Escape First 2 ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Escape First 3 ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Escape 2088 ($3.20 from $4.00 until 7/15)
The Experiment: Escape Room ($3.19 from $3.99 until 7/15)
Stealth ($2.49 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Curious Cases ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/15)
Dark Nights with Poe & Munro ($11.69 from $12.99 until 7/15)
Tiny Racer ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/16)
Loopindex ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/16)
Beat Me! ($2.59 from $12.99 until 7/16)
Viviette ($5.99 from $9.99 until 7/16)
Fly the Bird ($1.99 from $2.49 until 7/16)
Sudoku Master ($2.39 from $2.99 until 7/16)
Checkers Master ($3.99 from $4.99 until 7/16)
Mythic Ocean ($11.99 from $14.99 until 7/16)
Lumo ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/19)
Death Ray Manta SE ($2.00 from $10.00 until 7/19)
Bezier: Second Edition ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/19)
Cecconoid ($1.99 from $19.99 until 7/19)
Rogue Aces ($2.59 from $12.99 until 7/19)
Dadish ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/19)
Dadish 2 ($1.99 from $9.99 until 7/19)
Super Fowlst 2 ($2.00 from $10.00 until 7/19)
Figment ($2.59 from $19.99 until 7/19)
Ludomania ($2.00 from $4.00 until 7/19)
Flowlines VS ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/19)
Klondike Solitaire ($1.99 from $8.99 until 7/19)
Sushi Time! ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/19)
Pancake Bar Tycoon ($1.99 from $4.99 until 7/19)
Moto Rush GT ($1.99 from $14.99 until 7/19)
Go! Fish Go! ($1.99 from $3.99 until 7/19)
Ghost Files: Memory of a Crime ($2.09 from $14.99 until 7/19)
Skyland: Heart of the Mountain ($2.09 from $14.99 until 7/19)
Sales Ending Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 29th
Commandos 2: HD Remaster ($23.99 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Drawngeon ($2.49 from $4.99 until 6/29)
Dungeon Warfare ($2.49 from $9.99 until 6/29)
Golf Story ($7.49 from $14.99 until 6/29)
Guacamelee! 2 ($5.98 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Hardcore Mecha ($18.74 from $24.99 until 6/29)
Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption ($11.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars ($21.99 from $39.99 until 6/29)
My Riding Stables: Life with Horses ($10.49 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 ($5.99 from $19.99 until 6/29)
Onirike ($13.49 from $14.99 until 6/29)
Project Highrise: Architect’s Edition ($9.99 from $39.99 until 6/29)
Severed ($3.74 from $14.99 until 6/29)
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adv. 1 ($17.99 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adv. 2 ($17.99 from $29.99 until 6/29)
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack ($2.48 from $9.99 until 6/29)
That’s all for today, friends. We’ll be back tomorrow with more reviews, more new releases, more sales, and maybe even a bit of news. So far all of tomorrow’s releases are at least of some value, which is a pleasant change from today. I hope you all have a marvelous Monday, and as always, thanks for reading!
