GStratos's Lightning Round - game impressions and showcases

[GStratos]

Gear.Club Unlimited
- Release date: 2017
- Developer: Eden Games
- Version: 1.2.0 + all DLC (Nintendo Switch)



Eden Games is one of those legendary developers that made their name in the mid 2000's, with the wildly popular Test Drive Unlimited series. After those two games, the company split into two: part of it formed a new studio, Ivory Tower, that would go on to create the (in)famous The Crew games, while the rest of the downsized company sputtered along until, in 2017, they released Gear.Club Unlimited for the Nintendo Switch. Like a few games for Nintendo's platform, this was originally a mobile title, but thankfully all microtransactions were eliminated for this edition of the game. It is a fairly simple racing game with a holiday aesthetic, as most of the tracks are set on coastlines, near holiday villas, or in canyons. The graphics are fairly simple and there is unfortunately a lack of music during the races themselves. Eden Games always struggle to get the physics and controls in their racing games to be just right, and unfortunately Gear.Club is no exception: the controls feel delayed but also overly sensitive, resulting in lots of overcorrections. Still, the game has a very gentle difficulty curve, and it's easy to make progress. Perhaps too easy: in the initial part of the game, most of the races will be less than a minute long, and it's not hard to overtake the opponents as long as you don't crash. I went into this game looking for a coffee break racing game, and while this serves that purpose just fine, don't expect much in the way of depth even compared to other short arcade racing games. A four player local multiplayer mode is also included. The series, at least, did well enough to warrant two sequels, on Switch/Switch 2 and PC.

[GStratos]

Zero Gunner 2
- Release date: 2001
- Developer: Psikyo (original), Zerodiv (ports)
- Version: 2026 re-release (PC)



When I picked up a Dreamcast in the late 2000's, I ended up browsing various lists of games to see what exclusives were worth picking up. One of the games that kept appearing was Zero Gunner 2, the sequel to an arcade only shmup, so I downloaded an ISO, burned that to a disc, and it quickly became one of my go-to games for the console. It was brought back to modern systems in 2020 by City Connection, but in lieu of the license expiration, Zerodiv has picked up the pieces and re-released it (once again) in 2026. I am playing the PC version here, and this is my first time playing the game in quite a long time. Zero Gunner 2 is famous for its 360° rotation mechanic, where you can hold one of the keys on the controller to rotate your chosen helicopter (out of three possible picks). It was novel for the time, but now it definitely feels very clunky compared to all the twin stick shooters on the market. The game has seven stages, and the order of the first four is randomized on each playthrough. Like a lot of shmups from this era, the stages end up feeling remarkably short, most of them being less than two minutes long. The graphics have a clean, appealing look to them despite the fairly basic environments you often find yourself in like a simple ocean or clouds, however the music while not bad is definitely on the generic side. The game is generally very easy compared to most shmups, although there are multiple difficulty levels available. Most of the enemies, including the bosses, are not very aggressive and go down quickly, and they release both weapon powerups (not much complexity to these) as well as points: these tend to gravitate towards your ship whenever you're not shooting, meaning you'll want to scoop them up if you find yourself in a position where you can hold your fire for a while. This game lacks the depth you'd expect out of a great shmup such as Raiden, but as a "coffee break" game this remains a worthy proposition - I'd say it's even better now since I can just immediately launch the game via its executable without any load times to speak of, instead of having to use an emulator, or even my old Dreamcast.

[GStratos]

The Conquest of Go
- Release date: 2025
- Developer: Wolfey Studios
- Version: 1.2.5 (PC)



I've never been particularly good at board strategy games, but I've always been fascinated by their gameplay. Chess is the obvious one most people play, but there are many others such as Othello/Reversi, Checkers, and Go. This last one is apparently the oldest strategy board game still continuously played to this day, and while I heard of the basic rules I never attempted to play it until I grabbed this video game, The Conquest of Go. In the board game, each player takes turns placing either white or black marbles on the board: the objective is to capture as much territory as possible by encircling it with the marbles, while attacking or defending when the opponent tries to do the same: if a stone runs out of "liberties" (aka empty space to its sides) then it is considered captured, including groups of stones, unless they have "eyes" in the form of two empty spaces within a group. It's a very simple ruleset but massively complex to actually play. In this video game, besides having a set of tutorials that explain the rules of the game, it also allows you to customize your ruleset against various levels of AI to try and learn the game and even has a game analysis tool - but granted, just like chess, this won't be a substitute for having an actual grand master. The star of the show however is the campaign mode: set on a world map with territory you can conquer from your enemies and defend from attacks, offensive operations take the form of a Go match while defensive operations take the form of Go puzzles. It's a brilliant concept, and one I wish would be made also for Chess and Othello. Either way, if you're interested in strategy board games at all, definitely check this one out.

[GStratos]

Golf Story
- Release date: 2017
- Developer: Sidebar Games
- Version: 1.0.1 (Nintendo Switch)



I think a mix between a JRPG and a sports game is a truly excellent idea even for someone like me who cannot stand RPG games. Golf Story sees you rise up the ranks at a golf club, and in the process you can talk to people, solve sidequests, collect items, increase your stats after leveling up, and also play some other things such as minigolf or frisbee. The game is presented with simple but charming 2D graphics that really convey the feeling of a golf field well. While initially the environments you play in are what you'd expect, eventually you'll move on to outlandish courses featuring things such as dinosaur bones or eyes on the ground. The dialogue is fairly well done for what it is, but being a person who prefers to skip cutscenes and whatnot, I was really disappointed with the lack of a text speedup function. The golf gameplay is probably what you'd expect: you select your trajectory, distance, and pitch, then you hit the action button for a bar to start filling up, you hit it at the right moment (usually all the way to the left) before it starts going back to the start at which point you want to hit the central purple area for maximum precision. You have to of course keep in mind different types of terrain as well as wind, which will make even short shots change direction quite drastically at times. Slopes are represented but mostly as an interface thing since visually you cannot really see them. There are also stage hazards such as moles that get in the way. Refer to the Critic's review of this game for more details on the gameplay. Golf Story is pretty good, and received a more divisive sequel, Sports Story (also on Switch 1) that expanded the scope to more sports types.

[GStratos]

Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX+
- Release date: 2010
- Developer: Namco
- Version: Namco System N2 (Arcade)



Wangan Midnight is a highly popular series of arcade racing games set largely on Japanese highways, originally based on a manga - it's been described to me as the "Forza Horizon of Japan" in terms of sheer popularity, while in the west it is practically unknown among most gamers. There are many entries in this series but I decided to start with one of the more well regarded ones, Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX+. This is one of those arcade games where you have a memory card you can carry with you and have data saved to it, albeit it has a limited number of usages, so you can record your progress in the camapign mode and play it over multiple days if need be. The campaign has you confront a number of rivals with text overlaid on the screen to flesh out the story (which I'm not reading - eyes on the road!) as well as the usual circuit and time attack modes. Most of the tracks take place on highways and the scenery is practically sparkling with lights and lit up buildings as you go, but there's also some very scenic mountain roads should you choose to go that route. The gameplay is about what you'd expect, though it is a more conventional racing game compared to the Tokyo Xtreme Racing titles - there is no "health bar", you just have to get to the end in first. The races tend to be somewhat long compared to the TXR titles but the courses are more interesting, with wider roads and more turns, despite still being mostly just straight lines. Of special note is the trance soundtrack, by legendary composer Yuzo Koshiro - it is absolutely fantastic! Check it out on YouTube. Overall, Wangan Midnight was a pleasant surprise and I can understand why even in the west this is a well regarded series by the few who know it. Give it a try if you can - works fine on the TeknoParrot emulator if you set up the memory card manager program in the background.