January:February:March:20) Final Fantasy XV (PS4) (8.0) (3/2) (~33 hours)21) Blaster Master Zero (NS) (9.0) (3/10) (~6.5 hours)Yeah, the first thing I finished on the Switch wasn't
Zelda! If you're looking for a great game to go with that must-play game,
Blaster Master Zero is the right choice.
Effectively, the game is a sort of combination remake/reimagining. Several areas are similar or the same as the first game in the overworld, but there are also new areas and layouts as well.
Much like the original game, you pilot SOPHIA III, an awesome battletank that you gradually upgrade over the course of the game. There are both old and new powers to grab. Some come in the form of optional weapons, some are movement-related, and some are charge-shot items. They are all powered by your weapons bar, which takes the place of your ammo as well as your hover bar from the original. And while you find weapon recharges, the bar also recharges on its own.
You can also find life upgrades, eventually doubling your health. And the gun powerup system is still in place here, with some tweaks. A hit will still drop you a level, but now you can actually select which level of gun you want to use. So it ranges from everything between a longer-range shot to a shotgun to a flamethrower to the ultimate level, which pretty much crushes everything. Seriously, we're talking
Gradius-level shenanigans if you can hold on to it. In another nice move, gun powerups are plentiful, and can also be dropped by enemies, so you can keep powered up pretty easily for most of the game.
The unfortunate part (or fortunate, depending on your point of view) is that being able to keep such a powerful gun more easily means that you'll make mincemeat of most bosses. And there is also an optional pickup that will protect your gun level from one hit. It will recharge relatively quickly to defend it again, but suffice it to say it makes things even easier.
That's not saying there won't be some challenge, though. Towards the end, things ramp up a bit, although I hesitate to say it ever gets truly "Nintendo hard". The game is far too forgiving for that, with multiple save points, generous respawn spots, and the blissful ability to stop playing and start again unlike the original.
Graphically, the game looks very good. It's somewhere between an 8-bit and 16-bit style. The color scheme is bright, with areas having lots of pop, and it definitely fits the overall mood of the game. It's also got a splendid soundtrack, some of which sounds like some vintage Konami (some NES, but even more so MSX, with Area 2 reminding me a lot of
Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake), and of course, some cool-sounding Sunsoft-ish basslines.
Really, my only other gripe with the game is that on the Switch, you can currently only use the Joy-Cons. This means that you don't get a real d-pad, which takes some getting used to, whether using the buttons (sometimes passable, sometimes too easy to hit way more buttons than needed) or the analog stick (which works in most instances because of the decreased throw distance in the analogs, but still more imprecise than I'd like).
Oh, and the story is totally patterned after the ridiculous US version, and not the serious-ish Japanese version. It's somehow both silly and actually works. I should go dig out my Worlds of Power book for the original.
TL;DR version: If you like
Blaster Master at all, buy this game.