Review Round-Up - June 2021

June 2021 saw a lot of great things for SuperPhillip Central--13 years online and our 1,000th review: Resident Evil Village!

What a month here at SuperPhillip Central for the month of June! It was a massive month on the site, as we celebrated our 13th anniversary, as well as the arrival of SPC's 1,000th review! While we're on the subject of reviews, let's take a look at all seven of the reviews published on the site for the month of June with the good, ol' Review Round-Up!

The month started out mellow enough with a wonderful photo expedition starring hundreds of cute, adorable, and amazing Pokémon in New Pokémon Snap, which earned a B+. Also earning a B+ but a decidedly less mellow experience was that of the Donkey Kong Country-inspired Kaze and the Wild Masks. From safaris and platforming escapades, we then took the ocean waves with King of Seas, which rocked the proverbial boat a little too much, getting a C- for its excessive grind and repetitive content. Another indie title quickly followed, Piczle Cells, and this short but sweet puzzler impressed, getting a C+.

What came after was what the review SPC has been teasing and hyping for months now, and it finally arrived--the 1,000th review! Resident Evil Village took the honor, and it wowed (and scared with its quality) with a stellar A grade. From there, we wrapped up the month with two platformers, one retro remake with Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (which got a B-) and the Super Meat Boy-esque Super Magbot, which was quite the attractive game, getting a B.

Finally, for your convenience, check out all seven of the reviews, with links and excerpts, below. And don't forget to check out the SPC Review Archive for every review--all 1,000+ of them--ever published and posted to SuperPhillip Central!

New Pokémon Snap (NSW) - B+

With 10-15 hours of playtime to complete the initial campaign, and dozens of hours more to snap every Pokémon, fully explore every area, and earn every title (achievement-like challenges), New Pokémon Snap is very much worth its price tag. It won't enthuse every player out there, but if you're the type who loves Pokémon, the idea of seeing them in natural surroundings, and taking pictures of some Pocket Monsters, then I certainly recommend that you snap up New Pokémon Snap.

Kaze and the Wild Masks (NSW, PS4, XB1, PC) - B+

Looking for an entertaining but relatively short 2D platformer that invokes wonderful DKC-style gameplay while adding a few interesting twists of its own? Then, Kaze and the Wild Masks is indeed worthy of your time. It's challenging, it's gorgeous to look at, and it's packed to the brim with exceedingly well done designs in both levels and boss battles. I waited quite a while for the retail release of the game to arrive, but fortunately and blessedly so, my wait was most definitely worth it.

King of Seas (NSW, PS4, XB1, PC) - C-

Between the groan-worthy grind that is the campaign and utterly uninspired side quests, and tons of time wasted within its slow sailing, lack of fast travel, and punishing deaths, King of Seas is a lot of floundered potential. The base of the game is inspired with regard to controlling your ship and presents some excellent ideas, but the game's economy, glacial sailing speed, and campaign woes all lead to a game that capsizes not too long after the adventure starts to unfold.

Piczle Cells (NSW) - C+

As a puzzle game, Piczle Cells will put your brain through the wringer, giving you 100 brain busters of cell sliding, combining, and solving to enjoy. The core concept and gameplay mechanic is structurally sound, but once these 100 puzzles have been completed, there's not much else to keep you returning to the game. While puzzles have multiple solutions, there's really no incentive to find new ways to solve them, unless you really, REALLY are loving the game. The appearance of that aforementioned touch screen control-related bug made that control option less than functional, so go into the game thinking you'll be using analog exclusively (unless you have more patience for bugs than I) and you'll be fine. At any rate and even with these issues, Piczle Cells is hardly a puzzle game that I would call a tough cell--er, sell! In fact, I recommend it.

Resident Evil Village (PS5, PS4, XBS, XB1, PC) - A

[Village is] an almost perfect combination of action and survival horror elements, taking the best from past Resident Evil games, most notably Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 7. Between the astounding assortment of villains in Village--some of the series' absolute best and most memorable--the wide range of awesome moments that stun and delight to the point that you'll want to replay them many times over, and a combo of gameplay and level design that stand head and shoulders above other modern games, Resident Evil Village reigns as one of the best installments of the series to date. One heck of an accomplishment, for sure, and one treasure of a game--one that the Duke would most certainly buy for a high price.

Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World (NSW, PS4, PC) - B-

Compared to previous remakes of Wonder Boy/Monster World series games, Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World feels a bit too simplistic for its $40 price tag. Yes, the visual style is lovely to look at, and the increased personality in Asha's animations--whether she's sliding like a figure skater on ice, or shaking her can as she prepares to open a treasure chest--is also pleasant to see. However, by a gameplay and game length standpoint, Asha in Monster World isn't the strongest experience. Again, the gameplay is rather simple, and the length is quite short. These aspects notwithstanding, there is a lot to like about this remake of Monster World IV (especially if you get the physical version as--at least the Switch port received the original game on the cartridge), and now a new generation of players can join Asha on her fun-filled adventure.

Super Magbot (NSW, PC) - B

Despite being a game that did once again reveal that I'm not the mellowest platformer player out there, after personally witnessing moments of gnashing my teeth together, cursing to the heavens, and having my blood pressure noticeably rise at times, Super Magbot was an overall fun and enjoyable platformer. If you crave an almost Super Meat Boy-like challenge from your platformers, then you'll most definitely discover something great to enjoy from Super Magbot. For everyone else, you may find yourself "repelled" from the level of challenge on display in this game.

Meanwhile, a vastly different game tonally, SPC started this momentous month for the site
with a review of the cozy and quaint New Pokémon Snap!

King of Seas (NSW, PS4, XB1, PC) Review

After SuperPhillip Central's weekend celebration, commemorating 13 years of SPC, we now turn towards what will be our 1,000th review in just two more reviews! But, let's not make haste, as we have King of Seas on deck for the review treatment. This high seas action-adventure game is all about pirating, plundering, and possibly whatever else your heart desires! Does King of Seas sink or swim? Let's find out with the SPC review.

King of Zzzs

Yo-ho-ho! A pirate's life for me! Combine Sid Meier's Pirates with some of Rare's Sea of Thieves, and you have a small sampling of what 3DClouds and Team17's King of Seas has in store for its prospective pirates on its procedurally generated seas. Unfortunately, a strong start to this adventure is followed by a massive grind and giant annoyances that send this top-down perspective pirate game sinking to the bottom of the briny deep.

King of Seas starts off promising enough, offering a tale of revenge and redemption as your character's father, the king, is murdered, and your name is number one on the list of suspects. The royal armada sinks your ship after a tutorial mission, leaving the scene promptly after assuming you went down with the ship. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for you, you're taken under the tutelage of a band of pirates who decide to help you in your quest to clear your name and find the person or persons responsible for the murder of your father.

Your ship is yours to customize as you "sea" fit, so outfit away and set sail!

You start off your newfound pirate life with a ship that the pirate boss gives you, and you're able to outfit it with a wide arrange of equipment to boost its stats and abilities, such as hulls, decks, sails, crew, cannons, and more. You can either find new equipment from plundering sunken vessels, destroying ships for their goods, salvaging it from the bottom of the sea, or even simply purchasing it from one of many port towns around the world. As the game sports a procedurally generated world, no two adventures on the high seas are ever alike.

Ahoy, captain! A sunken vessel to loot for booty!

But, quickly you soon will discover that the pirate life in King of Seas is less of a thrill and much more of a grind. This isn't just relegated to the never-ending supply of simple side quests, such as sinking a certain ship, delivering goods to another port, or escorting ships to safety as they slowly sail behind you. No, this is true of the main campaign missions as well. An early one requires you to earn 20,000 Gold in order to purchase a new ship. Fine enough, but this essentially requires the aforementioned tedious and rote side quests, many of which have no rhyme or reason for their difficulty ratings. One mission requires you to deliver a package to another port, and that is somehow worth the same amount of experience as having to destroy a particular ship that can sink you in two hits.

The "no rhyme or reason" rule applies to more than just side quests. It's beyond my understanding how damage is equated in King of Seas' naval battles, too. Sometimes an enemy who is the same level as you will sink you in a few shots while other times it will take seven or eight. The fact that battles are relatively basic and amount to circling around one another, waiting for your ship's cannons to be pointed at the enemy in order to damage them, didn't instill any pleasure either. Additionally--and as I found out the hard way--other ships level up with you throughout your journey, so the only real reason to accumulate experience is for earning new perks and abilities.

Skirmishes on the seas can sometimes show some moments of excitement. Sometimes.

Furthermore, death in King of Seas--or at least getting your boat destroyed--results in you being transported all the way back to the pirate base. Generally, this is located far away from any other notable location in the game. Thus, having the "pleasure and privilege" of sailing halfway across the world map just for a chance to possibly succeed at a mission, only to fail, sink, and get sent all the way back to the pirate base is less than fulfilling and more than frustrating. I felt I was wasting my time with the game when I was sunk, as not only is combat boring and tedious, but failing and being transported back to the WAY-out-of-the-way base isn't too motivating. Quite the opposite, in fact. The lack of any fast travel options is further disappointing.

It also doesn't help that your ship initially sails at a glacial pace, even with full sails up. Contending with the wind is simply obnoxious, as I found it generally going in the opposite direction I needed to head. Now, controlling your ship, whether it be a Sloop, a Frigate, or what have you, is an enjoyable enough process. You use the front bumpers of the controller to raise and lower your sails. Up to three sails can be raised for maximum speed, and the left bumper lowers them, so you can turn and corner more easily. The back triggers access the cannons, with LT firing the left cannons and RT firing the right. Through slowing your ship to a stop by lowering all of your ship's sails, you can use medical packs on your ship to heal it--but only if it's at a dead stop without any enemies around. Otherwise, you'll be a sitting duck with foes around you, as you desperately try to heal, and your ship will end up being at a literal dead stop.

One of many port towns within the procedurally generated world of King of Seas.

King of Seas isn't smooth sailing in its presentation, either. The Nintendo Switch version, which was the build of the game I played for review, has some choppy frame-rate issues, not just in sea skirmishes with enemy ships, but also just normal sailing as well. Another issue I have with the game's presentation is that the font for ship names and other aspects of the game are just way too tiny. It's difficult to read them at least on the Switch's handheld screen, and even on a TV, they're just unacceptably small. Meanwhile, on a more positive note, I did enjoy the music while sailing the seas and doing battles with other boats. It has your typical, heroic, swashbuckling sound to the themes, and I appreciated the melodies and feel of each piece presented to my aural cavities. 

Between the groan-worthy grind that is the campaign and utterly uninspired side quests, and tons of time wasted within its slow sailing, lack of fast travel, and punishing deaths, King of Seas is a lot of floundered potential. The base of the game is inspired with regard to controlling your ship and presents some excellent ideas, but the game's economy, glacial sailing speed, and campaign woes all lead to a game that capsizes not too long after the adventure starts to unfold.

[SPC Says: C-]

A code was received by SPC from the publisher for the purpose of writing this review.