Author: Graham Russell

PS4 Review Switch 

Review: Slash, spend, get a head in Lapis X Labyrinth

By Graham Russell //

The latest release from the team behind the Disgaea series, Lapis X Labyrinth is a different sort of game for the studio, but one coated with similar trappings and aesthetics. It’s an action game in which you’ll make timed runs through areas to get loot and defeat enemies, but you’re still managing equipment with effects and maneuvering around a hub world taking the place of a more efficient (but perhaps less evocative) menu system. It’s got meters for special moves, reward-multiplying “fever time” and direction-based attack inputs, but you’re ultimately still equipping a small team of customized units and bringing them to a place to slash at gems and take out specifically-marked bosses.

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Guide 

The unusual fun of Japanese golf games

By Graham Russell //

For most fans of Japanese releases, there are two words as reviled as any others: “sports game.” They’re likely to make the most open-minded player tune out at a moment’s notice, simply because of how they don’t generally line up with their basic sensibilities.

That’s not true about all sports, though. There’s one sport that Japan gets very, very right: golf.

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Guide 

Beyond Mother 3: The best Japan-only Nintendo games in need of localization

By Graham Russell //

Will we ever get an official release of Mother 3 in the West? That’s… possible, but also a question that more than enough people out there are constantly asking. The late-life GBA game has been a looming shadow over Nintendo of America, but perhaps more importantly, it’s one that’s blocked fans from talking so much about the other games Nintendo hasn’t released over here. And those are good too! Let’s break down the best prospects.

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PC Review Switch 

Review: Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission brings a Japan-only arcade experience to the West

By Graham Russell //

It can be fascinating to drop into a franchise years into a deep, devoted fandom and view it without the knowledge or context of the past. Fans of Japanese games often have no other choice, as newer entries are localized and released in the West without its predecessors in tow. Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission is definitely one of these, and its combination of cumulative elements and beginnings in a culture for which we have no equivalent makes it quite the peculiar case.

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