Let's see what everyone likes to play during the dog days of summer.
Neal Ronaghan: Most of my week was spent with Splatoon 2 (check out my review and the latest Talk Nintendo for more details). Guess what? Splatoon 2 is a ton of fun. It's awesome. If you have a Switch and want to play some rad online multiplayer, you should probably get it. Aside from that, I started diving into Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate as part of my mission to see what's up with Metroid: Samus Returns' developer MercurySteam. So far so okay with that game. I'm early, but it's a totally serviceable combat-heavy Metroid-style adventure. I'm not totally in love with it, but I'm enjoying my time with it. Let's see where I am when I reach the end. It's not too terribly long (estimates place it around 10 hours) so I'll likely get through it soon. Alright, now that that's done, I need to go play some Salmon Run before the vault closes and I have to wait for the next preordained time to play it.
David Lloyd:
This week I was blessed (or cursed if you ask my bank account) by finding a cheap copy of Fire Emblem: Awakening at a second hand store. I've never played a Fire Emblem game until now and I'm instantly hooked. As a sucker for strategy games, I feel like this game was just made for me. I am loving how much thought is required to generate a solid battle plan and haven't been able to put the game down since I got it. My concern is that once I'm through this game I'm going to have to play the rest. There could only be a couple other titles in this franchise right?
Donald Theriault:
I continued my #JRPGJuly with a few hours of Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age - just enough to screw up the job system by forgetting which character needed to pick a certain job so I may end up restarting. I got up to the point where I dropped the PS2 version like a hot potato because the story wasn't gripping and I didn't have a Xenoblade Chronicles X level of light MMO combat experience. I'd like to get a little bit further in and explore more of the combat, especially since I can crank combat to ludicrous speed (tm Spaceballs) and blast through it far faster.
Casey Gibson:
After being on vacation and having all the time in the world to spend playing games, this week I had to come back to reality (sadly). However that didn’t stop me from picking up another Nindie, this time Implosion - Never Lose Hope. It’s hard to believe this game was once a mobile game, but knowing that makes sense of the incredibly short level design. Most levels can be completed within just a few minutes, but the hack and slash gameplay fits well into the design. The game offers great visuals, fun combat, an engaging upgrade system and even a fully fledged story. Although to be completely honest, I don’t think it’d be any worse off without one.