REVIEW: Tower of Fantasy (Mobile Version)

Review by Jon Donnis

I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in the closed beta test of open-world RPG Tower of Fantasy, and now the game has been officially released I thought I would share my thoughts.

"Set hundreds of years in the future on the distant planet of Aida, the shared open-world MMORPG, anime-infused sci-fi adventure Tower of Fantasy from developer Hotta Studio and publisher Level Infinite, is now available on PC and mobile platforms globally. Players will be able to experience an anime-inspired post-apocalyptic sci-fi art style, freeform character development, and exciting combat through thrilling battles and exciting open-world exploration.

In Tower of Fantasy, dwindling resources and a lack of energy have forced mankind to leave earth and migrate to Aida, a lush and habitable alien world. There, they observed the comet Mara and discovered an unknown but powerful energy called "Omnium" contained in it. They built the Omnium Tower to capture Mara, but due to the influence of Omnium radiation, a catastrophic disaster occurred on their new homeworld."

You play as a newcomer to a small settlement, and since this is the future, we have robots, monsters and all sorts of crazy post-apocalyptic things we all love and enjoy. As you play you quickly learn who your friends are, mainly due to being pulled into battles against those monsters and robots I mentioned earlier.

Gameplay revolves around you having to complete simple tasks, to fighting enemies, to collecting items, fixing things and so on, and as you level up your character you will also get better weapons, which you can upgrade, not to mention the cool jetpack which is a lot of fun. Also after completing battles you can also teleport to set points which makes travel even easier.

So what is causing the problems, that something is called Omnium, which for some reason transforms anything living into monsters, and unless you have a suppressor equipped you can end up changing too.

I deliberately chose to play the mobile version, as it is clear to see that the PC version will be relatively easy to play, and sometimes mobile versions of games can struggle.

Controls are a bit tricky, you control movement of your character with an on screen "joystick" on the left of the screen, choosing weapons and using them is by pressing on parts of the screen on the bottom right, and then you also need to control the camera by dragging on the top right of the screen. And on a 5- or 6-inch mobile screen, this can become rather chaotic, especially in the middle of a fight, where you are trying to run, jump, attack and do all sorts, and still trying to see the screen. I can only imagine this would be much easier if using a mobile attachment to add physical controls. This game seems made for a Nintendo Switch Lite type system. But alas only mobile and PC for now.

There are plenty of story missions to complete as well as side quests to waste time on. The world is beautifully animated, and ran well on my 5-year-old phone. And there always feels like plenty to see and do.

The game feels very big, and for sure offers countless hours of gameplay.

Warning, it is quite a hefty download for a mobile game, an initial 1 gb download, plus another 7 gb once you start the game, so make sure your data is turned off and your wifi is on!

Check it out.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.levelinfinite.hotta.gp&hl=en&gl=US

and Windows

https://www.toweroffantasy-global.com/

REVIEW: Voyage on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

From Ratalaika Games and Venturous comes a new side scrolling adventure game in Voyage.

You play as two survivors on an unknown planet, with beautiful hand drawn graphics, you must keep moving forward and try to overcome whatever obstacles stand in your way so you can find your way home as well as understand about the world you are on.

Played best as a co-op game, this can also be played solo, whereby you can switch between characters where needed. A bit like "Another Sight" but your characters tend to stay much closer together.

Main gameplay involves pushing and pulling things, using each character to help the other reach places, activating "Statue Scenes" and so on. Communication is basic between the two characters, and you can switch between characters at will. If playing solo, the character you are not controlling will generally just follow you, so you may need to tell them to stay put, or to follow. You can even hug each other which is nice.

The game plays in one long continuous adventure, chapters/levels are mainly separated by the aesthetics of the scenes you are in, for example, sunlit ruins, windy grasslands, sandstorm filled desserts, swamps, misty forests, mossy forests, caves, underwater, a spaceship etc.

The game itself is more about the narrative than solving puzzles, so it is more of an experience, than something you need to think too hard about. So pretty much anyone can play this. As mentioned, the communication between the characters is basic, and in general there are no voices, no text dialog, just soothing music to listen to as you play.

The Good

A very relaxing experience, and although you will finish the game pretty quickly (a few hours), you will want to play it again just so you can pay closer attention to certain details.

The Bad

If you want more of a puzzle platform type game, then you will be disappointed.

Overall

Voyage is a pretty cool little game, a fun experience, excellent soundtrack that does pull you in, and quite an emotional experience as a whole, which is quite the feat considering the lack of dialog. A wonderful story told in a beautiful way.

I score Voyage a strong 8/10

Out now on Nintendo Switch

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Voyage-2248389.html

REVIEW: Arcade Paradise on Xbox

Review by Jon Donnis

When I was first asked to review Arcade Paradise, just looking at the press material I assumed this would be something similar to the recent Capcom Arcade Stadium releases, but although sharing elements with that game, this does things a little different.

You play as Ashley, and your job is to run the tedious day to day business of a launderette after your father Gerald, has gone to the Riviera.

Now what has any of this got to do with Arcade games I hear you ask, well in the back of the launderette is a room full of Arcade games. General gameplay starts with you entering the launderette, you will clean up rubbish from the floor, pull chewing gum from seats and when your rubbish bag is full you will take it outside and put in the large trash. Back inside you will pick up dirty clothes, put in washing machines, and then in the dryer. Do this all in quick time and you will get a score based on that.

Doing these tedious tasks earn you money, which in turn you can use on the computer in the office to unlock new arcade games.

The arcade games themselves are the kind of games you would literally have found in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

The ultimate aim of the game is to upgrade and buy better machines and create your "Arcade Paradise".

The management part of the game, the picking up rubbish, unclogging the toilet, washing clothes etc, is fine, but what you are most interested in are the actual arcade games, unfortunately these are not actual classic games, but instead "clones" or variations on classic games, There are about 30 games to unlock. And they all look the part, they play the part and could easily have been made in the past. Obviously to licence real games and their trademarks would be expensive for an independent developer to do, so they had to make their own versions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it also isn't the perfect experience you might expect.

At times the game feels like too much of a chore, when in reality you just want to play some retro style games, and I wonder if the game would have been better if it just offered up a straightforward experience like the Capcom Arcade Stadium, but then if they did that, people would moan that the games are just the same as freeware games or browser games you can play online.

The Good

It is an interesting and original idea, and some of the Arcade Games I did enjoy playing.

The Bad

Sometimes the game feels too much like actually doing chores in a launderette.

Overall

I appreciate any attempt at an original idea, and there are some fun retro style arcade games to play.

I score Arcade Paradise a fair 6/10

Out now on Xbox

https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/arcade-paradise/9n2fqcgwh32d

REVIEW: Before We Leave - Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

I originally reviewed Before We Leave for its original PC release, so I was looking forward to seeing how well this game would port to a Nintendo Switch, well wait no longer it is here, and I am checking it out on a Switch Lite.

"Before We Leave is a non-violent city building game set in a cozy corner of the universe."

As with all city builders, your job is to create a society, and help it grow, and expand. Your people are known as "Peeps", and they have spent generations underground, since their civilisation is lost, you will slowly help them grow, expand the settlements, discover new as well as lost ancient technologies and eventually even leave the planet and colonise new and wonderful places.

Everything is very laid back, the mechanics of the game are very simple, the planet your play on is based on hexagonal tiles, each tile represents an area you can build on. You start off with everything very basic, and as you go along, you will find that you can research new ways to do things, everything from the way you build roads, to the buildings and so on.

One of the things that makes Before We Leave stand out, is the look of the game, as I said you play on the whole planet which has kind of been shrunk down, you will start on small islands, create shipping routes to other islands, and eventually leave the planet and go to the next.

You will start off playing with a pretty cool and detailed tutorial that will help teach you everything you could possibly need to know. It does this in steps, and at no point will you feel overwhelmed.

Since I originally played the PC version I already had a good understanding of the game, and where as originally I was slightly frustrated with the tutorial, and the placement of some buildings that had to be put in specific places, I had a good idea of what to do, so those frustrations are gone, but it is worth mentioning as not everyone will have played the game before.

City Builders are practically always developed to be played with, with a mouse, obviously with a Switch Lite there is no mouse, so it is the available joystick and buttons only, since the worlds are based on hexagonal areas that you can build on, this actually made control slightly easier than it would have been otherwise, so this was a big positive. However one slight negative was the camera angle control using the bumper/trigger buttons, zooming in and out is easy enough, but that accurate control you get on a PC is just not possible on a Switch Lite. Not a massive problem, but for perfectionists trying to get the exact camera angle you want is a bit of a pain.

As city building games go, this is pretty cool, it looks great, it sounds great, it has some original touches, it is easy to pick up and play, and things do get more complicated and detailed as you grow, that it keeps the challenge going.

The Good

Looks great, easy to play and learn. Works well on the small screen, perhaps better than I expected.

The Bad

The camera angle is a pain, as I mentioned.

Overall

A Fun city builder, that fans of the genre will love.

I scored the original PC version a solid 8/10, I give the Switch release a 7.5/10, a few small issues with the camera angle, as well as trying to read very small writing on the screen takes the score down slightly, but other than that a very good City Builder game.

Review by Jon Donnis

Out Now on Nintendo Switch 

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Before-We-Leave-2249176.html

REVIEW: Sweet Transit (Early Access) on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Sweet Transit is an intricate city builder where the railway is the king and the solution to all your city problems.

We have had hundreds if not thousands of city builder games over the years, and quite a few of them have been based around railways, and this is exactly where Sweet Transit sits. Although the railway system is the centre point of the game, it is much more than just about laying tracks, you also have to build a city, you have to create production lines, turn small villages into thriving modern cities.

You start off with a simple warehouse, and as you grow your village you will also grow your railway network.

As I mentioned earlier this is an intricate city builder, if layman's terms that means this is a detailed simulation. Perhaps a little too detailed and intricate for some hoping for more of an arcade experience.

Instead of just jumping straight into the game, you really need to start off with the tutorials, so you can get an understanding of how to get going. If you jump straight into the game, you will quickly get stuck and have no idea what you are doing. The onscreen display is not the best and I hope improves massively as the game further develops.

The tutorials themselves are ok, but also need improvement, especially when it comes to placing signal signs so the trains know where to go, that is beyond confusing and the tutorial does nothing to really help you understand it. In fact, I only got through that part of the tutorial by chance, and just trying to click everywhere until something worked.

And this I feel is the biggest problem with the game. Instead of creating a simple game which they could then slowly add to, and make more detailed and complicated, they seemingly have started with a ridiculously complicated system, and are now trying to work backwards in helping people understand how it works.

If you are only interested in attracting hardcore city builder enthusiasts, then that is fine, but if you want the casual gamer, then this is the worst possible way to go.

The idea of the game is great, start with basic trains, move through the steam era to the coal era and beyond, create production lines, keep the people happy and busy. But perhaps what they have done so far with this game is just make it way too overwhelming for the casual gamer.

I would suggest a simplified mode to work alongside the full-on simulation mode. Something that a player can pretty much start to play without having to spend ages trying to understand the mechanics of the game. This is where Sim City hit perfection. You could start off with no real idea of what you were doing, but as you built your city you learnt from your mistakes, restarted and got better each time.

The Good

I like the idea of the game; the graphics are decent and I rather liked the music too.

The Bad

The controls are poor, the tutorial is not great, and the on-screen options are confusing and just get in the way.

Overall

You can excuse a lot in an early access game, the developers are still figuring things out, and I appreciate the fact they are honest in wanting to create an intricate city builder sim here, but one of the biggest problems I have noticed with developers is that they never take a step back and look at the game from a fresh viewpoint. You can spend years and years making the perfect super detailed sim, but then at the end of all that time and effort, if hardly anyone purchases it, was it worth it? Keep things simple, grab the attention of the casual gamer first, and then go as intricate and detailed as your heart's desire. Help people fall in love with the game, and then give them everything they ask for.

No score for Sweet Transit since it is only easy access, and I am interested to see where the game goes in the future. If the developers will keep on the track they are currently on and just iron out the issues, or if they will try to appeal to a casual gamer, and ultimately sell a whole lot more copies of the game. It is not impossible to do both either, it is not one or the other. Arcade mode and Simulation mode. Side by side. I know personally I would enjoy this game much more playing it in an arcade mode where I could just have fun building fancy cities and railway networks.

Time will tell.

Out now on Easy Access

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1612770