I skip town for a couple weeks and the site looks totally different!

Games Beaten

• Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (Switch)

I have been playing this series since Shinobi III on the Genesis and Art of Vengeance is one of the best. The beautiful art immediately catches the eye and pervades the game. Sometimes the backgrounds (and/or foregrounds) are a sight to behold but are never distracting when it’s time for action. It can be so stylish! The music, while not particularly memorable, is always fittingly epic and cool.

Joe Musashi has a great moveset for combat and traversal and the game does a good job of expanding it along the way. The levels vary from linear to sprawling, which keeps them from feeling stale. The map automatically fills in as you explore and makes it easier to hunt for secrets. One of my favorite aspects of the game is that you can fast travel to any checkpoint you’ve discovered. I 100%’d this game in large part because I did not have to replay entire levels to look for things I had missed.

I found the difficulty of this game to be perfectly tuned. I did not sail through the game and often had to replay difficult fights and bosses, and the optional platforming sections required precision and concentration without becoming overly frustrating. It just feels good to play.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is a worthy continuation of the series. I can see myself replaying this game one day or delving into the developer’s other games.

Games Bought

June marked the second month in a row that my only game acquisitions were from PS+. Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, a co-op shooter, looks the most interesting. Grounded: Fully Yoked Edition, which looks like it's the backyard portion of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," doesn't look like a game for me but my kids got really intrigued when it showed up in a Nintendo Direct once. Finally, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is probably good for an afternoon of fun with the family but I wouldn't expect more from it than that.

Games Being Played

• Sea of Stars (Switch)

Man, this RPG has really sucked me in!

• Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince (Switch)

I was playing this with two of my kids before our trip but we were really enjoying the puzzle platforming.

• Earth Defense Force: World Brothers (Switch)

We are 2/3 of the way through the current difficulty (much harder than what we've played thus far). I don't remember if there is another difficulty past this one.

• Piczle Cross: Rune Factory (Switch)

I was playing this quite a bit before starting Sea of Stars.

• Destiny 2 (PS5)

This spot may well change in the coming months. With no new Destiny 2 content coming anymore, we might just...ya know...play some other games.