REVIEW: Lost in Play on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Lost in Play is one of those games you know you are going to love, even after only playing it for 10 minutes. And that is exactly how I felt after a short time after loading it up on my Nintendo Switch Lite.

Similar in style to classic point and click games, this uses a slightly different type of interface to interact with onscreen objects than just pointing and clicking, playing more like an interactive 2D cartoon, you play as a brother and sister Toto and Gal, as they explore their dreams, befriend magical creatures, and of course solve lots of puzzles along the way.

This game is based on the imagination of children, something that as adults we lose, but can still remember those crazy adventures we had as kids, when we didn't have computer games or endless screens to look at, instead we had to use our imagination.

"Between reality and fantasy, the siblings explore the enchanted forest of a horned beast, start a rebellion in a goblin village, and help a team of frogs free a sword from a stone."

On the Switch version of the game, as you approach objects an onscreen icon will alert you to if you can interact with it. You will need to pick things up, add to your inventory, and if needed they will automatically combine to help you further your progress. So, although it looks very much like a point and click game, the interface is simplified, which makes interaction easier, but the game itself still needs you to work out the solutions to puzzles. Luckily there is a handy visual hint you can activate if you get stuck.

As well as the general puzzles that help you progress through an area, there are also mini games, and stand-alone on-screen puzzles that need to be solved. These can range from simple sliding puzzles, to picture puzzles, as well as all manner of mini games and challenges. There is a lot of variety with the puzzles, and you will never feel as if you are doing the same thing over and over.

"Challenge a pirate seagull to a game of clicking crabs, serve magical tea to a royal toad, and collect pieces to build a flying machine."

I am a fan of point and click games, but one of my frustrations with such games is when you do get stuck, you are endlessly clicking everywhere on the screen trying to find something you have missed, going backwards and forwards from location to location, or if you need to combine items but you are not sure which, so you just play trial and error until you get it right. Lost in Play eliminates all of these frustrations, without taking anything away from the gameplay or the experience. And this is something that will please many gamers, especially the casual gamer. I wonder if the hardcore point and click gamers will dislike the simplified system?

The Good

This is a really good game, the 2D animated cartoon like graphics are beautiful, everything plays really smoothly, the puzzles have a good learning curve, and at no point did I want to throw my Switch at the wall. This is a really well-made game, with well thought out puzzles.

The Bad

Humour is child based, so for those looking for something with more of an edge, you might be disappointed.

Overall

A really lovely little game that will entertain people of all ages. I am so glad I was asked to review this game; it truly is a gem.

I score Lost in Play a near perfect 9.5/10

Out now on Nintendo Switch

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Lost-in-Play-2245945.html

REVIEW: Spinny's Journey on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Although it's been out for a while, I was asked to check out Spinny's Journey on PC.

You play as "Spinny" an alien explorer the size of a peanut, who has come to visit earth. Due to his small size, and the small size of his spacecraft, he finds himself attacked by a sparrow, which leaves him with just his emergency propellers to go find the lost parts of his ship so he can rebuild it.

General gameplay has you trying to navigate maze like levels with the spinning propellers, bit like a spinning matchstick. You have to dodge traps and navigate the course, all the while using the spin of your propellers to your advantage to pass through the course. This is much harder than it first sounds.

With over 50 challenging levels to master, including the classic 3 stars rating system. (don't hit anything, pass the level as quick as you can), there is enough to keep any puzzle fan busy for a while.

Everything is hand drawn and looks great.

The Good

I enjoy a challenging puzzle game, and although it is basically a clone of classic Kururin/KuruKuru type games, it has its own story.

The Bad

The controls are tough to master. Like really tough. Like smash your head repeatedly against the wall in frustration tough. Not impossible, but close to.

Overall

At £5 it is a bit expensive for what it is, but price aside it is a fun little puzzle game.

I score Spinny's Journey on PC (Steam) a fair 7/10

Out Now on PC Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1465410/Spinnys_Journey/

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