The Bad
Enchanted Portals
***click here for our review***
Enchanted Portals is a Cuphead rip-off. It’s a boss-heavy run-and-gun shooter, with an olde timey cartoon aesthetic. It does add a fantasy theme, which is a welcome change. But Enchanted Portals fails in the sense that its controls aren’t precise enough. It also has floaty platforming. If Cuphead didn’t have its precise controls, it wouldn’t be the classic that it is today. Our reviewer concluded “Enchanted Portals falls far from its influences due to its poor execution”. A poorly executed rip-off is well-deserving of a Bad spot in The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from September 2023.
Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten
***click here for our review***
Monochrome Mobius is a turn-based JRPG spin-ff of the Utawarerumono series. It has a really fantastic combat system, inspired by the Grandia games. But aside from that, it’s a pretty generic JRPG experience. Monochrome Mobius also lacks polish, and has really horribly directed cutscenes. Our reviewer concluded “the combat won’t be enough for casual fans to prioritize it over other genre offerings”. JRPG fans will be sad to see one on The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from September 2023, but nobody will remember Monochrome Mobius anyways.
Shuyan Saga
***click here for our review***
Shuyan Saga is a visual novel fighting game, which sounds like a cool idea. Its major issue is that it’s a port of a 6 year old mobile game, and it has all the issues one would expect with that. The upscaled graphics don’t look good on console. It’s an ok story, and an ok 3D fighter. But it’s just got a lot of clunk in its presentation. And Shuyan Saga’s nothing special at its core. Our review stated “In 2023 and on bleeding edge consoles, Shuyan Saga feels out of place and unlikely to satisfy gamers used to more elaborate productions and nuanced mechanics”. Mobile game ports need to strive to not end up in the Bad section of articles like The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from September 2023. But apparently they don’t.
Do you agree with our The Three Best (and Worst) Video Games from October 2023? What were your favorite games that didn’t make our top 3? Let us know in the comments.
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