Bagubuns

There's very little to be said about Tomodachi Life that hasn't been said already. It was a cult classic 3DS game that explored a wacky Sims-like concept using Nintendo's Miis, and with Living the Dream, Nintendo opened the floodgates for what you can do. An expanded character creator, custom items, clothing, and housing, a rendered and customizable island and plenty of new things to do. The enjoyment you'll get in this game is directly tied to how good you are at drawing it and how goofy you are. Now, while the game has a lot more than its 3DS counterpart, it's also missing a lot of features, like rap battles or hall concerts. While these are things that can be added in future updates, it's just a lot of little things that Living the Dream more than made up for. I also think the Miis are way too likely to be friendly with one another, and I think that certain personalities should clash with one another more often. Other than those nitpicks, this game is a fantastically absurd time

Proud Kickstarter Backer! From the get-go, I was super on-board with YCG's vision for Mina the Hollower. They did a retro revival like Shovel Knight very well, often cited as one of the best indie games of all time, and I've had a lot of positive interactions with members of Yacht Club and the community. After riding off Shovel Knight's success for the past 12 years, we have a game that draws from the Game Boy era of games. Through the many Kickstarter updates and developer streams, we are able to see how much thought and effort was put into each detail to make it look faithful to that era of gaming while adopting modern game design strategies. I played the demo about a year ago, and I enjoyed the Zelda/Castlevania/Bloodborne inspired experience. The aesthetic was always going to be something I enjoyed, bringing me back to the feeling of playing Link's Awakening for the GameBoy. It thematically takes on a gothic art style, not too dissimilar from what Castlevania was going for, and the music, done by Jake Kaufman, is incredible as usual. However, I didn't get very far in the demo because the game had a pretty steep difficulty curve that I wasn't able to get the hang of in time. But since its original release, the game has really gotten polished up, and its fully realized world yields a lot of content. Its core mechanic, "Hollowing," where Mina buries under the ground, acts as a dodge roll, long jump, method of travel, and a way to solve a lot of environmental puzzles that the developers cleverly integrated into the world. The game is very good at teaching the player intuitively how the game works, forgoing drawn-out tutorials and exposition. The game is extremely challenging, and it especially takes a lot of time to get used to, but it is very rewarding when you figure out how everything works. Mina the Hollower is yet another home run from Yacht Club Games, and I can confidently recommend it to anybody, even if I didn't help back the game.

Arms is a unique entry into Nintendo's IP library, and I can't really foresee them doing anything with it ever again. While in concept and execution, Arms' main gimmick works very well, it never really retained the popularity of other Nintendo originals like Splatoon. However, after seeing the Switch 2's flavorless cripple basketball game trailer, I decided to revisit this game a little bit. While it's pretty fun, the novelty does wear off a tiny bit since the gameplay loop is rather repetitive for the sake of not overwhelming the player with motion control gimmicks and complex button combos. However, the lack of original modes or arenas in this game contributes to its staleness after a while. It's kind of a shame that Nintendo didn't really do much with it after the fact, even with Min-Min's inclusion in Smash Ultimate. This game was filled with life and vibrancy, with a stellar presentation and just the right amount of quirky that makes it charming to revisit, just maybe not for prolonged periods of time.

This game was already terrible at what it set out to do from the start, but with the modern-day AI uprising that's happening and the anti-AI sentiment that has come out of a lot of communities, this game ages less and less graciously. First of all, this is still David Cage's best game because it is at least conceptually interesting, if you don't take into account that the concept was apparently completely accidental. This guy has said in interviews that supposedly this game was about civil rights, but not explicitly about race, which is baffling given the sheer amount of racial imagery used within the game, from slogans derived from race activists like Martin Luther King Jr. to basically a recreation of the Underground Railroad. So the fact that the director of the game seems to lack a lot of historical intentionality and awareness is already cause for alarm, but it doesn't even delve into the sheer absurdity of the concept: that robots aren't humans, and the robots in Detroit: Become Human certainly don't pretend to be. They have inherent robotic internals that can transfer memories and logic systems that can reenact crime scenes. "Human-ness" to these androids is a glitch rather than a part of their character, so it doesn't make sense to compare racial minorities or the LGBTQ+ community to them since that implies there is a real difference beyond surface level. If you put yourself in the world of Detroit: Become Human as somebody who created robots and they acquire sentience and start protesting in the streets, I'm sorry, but that makes me just see it from the other perspective. The way the robots in this game ACTUALLY function is akin to how slave owners ACTUALLY viewed slaves back in the day: emotionless servants that acted out once in a while. I understand people are gaslit into thinking this game is great because it's visually pretty, reaching for some deep allegory, and doesn't contain unnecessary gratuity like David Cage's other stories, and I even like that the game's better ending is a result of choosing the more peaceful option (Lord knows we need more of that nowadays) but this game handles its touchy subject matter without the care and attention it deserves.

This hurts like you wouldn't believe. Metroid Prime 4 is AAA slop, but not only is it AAA slop, it's AAA slop from 15 years ago. In the amount of time since the flawed but still good Metroid Prime 3, shooter games have evolved so much that Prime 4 had quite a bit to live up to. Would old fans be happy if Prime 4 changed the formula? Would new fans be turned away if it played exactly like the the old games? These questions only grew further as delay after delay slowed this project down. And after all that time, we got a load of garbage. To Prime 4's credit, it does a lot of things right, namely the things that were great about the original trilogy. The old style of FPS exploration, while relatively unevolved over the past 2 decades, feels fresh in the modern era due to how little it has been explored in other gaming franchises. The environments and worlds are decently well-crafted and beautiful. However, a lot of moments that could've made the game great were ruined by the game trying to be more cinematic or story-driven, which led to a lot of baffling creative decisions. One of them, commonly criticized before the game's full release, was the chatty, quippy side character that ruined the tension of the game. It felt as if the usually dark and brooding Metroid franchise was written by somebody who worked on a Phase 4 MCU movie. And while I initially gave this the benefit of the doubt, like SURELY this guy won't be in your ear the full game, when the full game came out, the problem magnified fivefold. Across the game, you are accompanied by GF troopers, at times requiring them to solve puzzles or fight enemies with you. These escort missions are not fun, and they are a piece of archaic game design I thought we left behind in the PS2 era. They are far too talkative and expository, they get in your way in both puzzle and combat scenarios that involve them, and they strip the atmosphere and mystery from the game, which has often been the allure of exploration in Metroid. Not to mention, the large and open world is extremely empty and unnecessary. The overworld crystals that the entire sandy area revolves around do absolutely nothing of value, there is no music unless you buy one of Nintendo's overpriced action figures, and the Federation outposts are bland copy-and-pastes of each other that don't offer immersion or variety. Even worse is that this game is also extremely buggy. 120 fps be damned if your squad of idiot troopers keep getting stuck on nothing, softlocking you, or when things you should be able to interact with just refuse to cooperate. The worst part is the combat feels like it lacks variety. Not only are you fighting the same enemies too often, but the game also triggers an event called "Fury Green," which just changes the enemies in an extremely uninteresting way. And to add insult to injury, these are only really useful for those dumb green crystals that don't do anything that important! Terrible writing? Empty shoehorned in open world? Annoying side missions that take you out when you're having a good time? How has such a prestigious franchise developed by a historically competent studio produced such garbage? Nobody knows, but the hype built up after a whole console generation as well as the critical and commercial success of Metroid Dread makes this look like an absolute disaster in comparison. I would rather play Gacha Game slop, because at least they aren't masquerading as a legendary game series! Hell, sometimes they even pleasantly surprise me, which this game definitely does not do

This game is amazing. This truly feels like gaming in the caveman days. It's cool that there are dinosaurs and no other redeeming qualities of this extremely buggy and broken game

I get it. It took me a while, but after diving into this game somehow spoiler-free despite all the fantastic video essays that talk highly about this game, I finally understand that this is one of the best-written character dramas/murder mysteries of all time. This isn't just a book disguised as a game, and neither is it pretentious. It is a game that means what it says and says it like I've hardly seen any other media have before. This game has always felt intimidating to me due to how cerebral it is. Every line of text asks of you careful discernment and to balance taking risks and exploring new approaches to figure things out. It's a game where each of your stats and your actions matter so much, and the fact there is this many routes while all being presented cohesively (and fully voice acted) is absolutely mind-blowing. Now, I always have struggled with these games that require of you to make such substantial choices like building your stats and whatnot, but you're cleverly inserted into this world as an amnesiac, serving as a "fresh set of eyes." Each character you interact with is multi-layered, and this world is built from corner to corner. The presentation and design further solidifies how well thought out all of these aspects are. I watched a 15 minute video just on the character portraits of every character, and how they show their traits through visual storytelling. This game is also great at setting the tone. It can be bleak when it wishes to be, psychologically terrifying, or even chuckle-out-loud funny. Even though this game has a lot of expository text, it blends it so well with visual interest that it creates a delicate balance of the imagination that comes from reading a book with the visual clarity in order to solve the big mystery. This game is great at forcing you to constantly draw connections all the time because it doesn't box you in, and that is so often lost in a lot of other role playing or story-driven games. What other games forces you to choose to listen to or ignore your inner thoughts that contributes to how successful you figure things out? What other games let you ponder on how much of a feminist you are not even 10 minutes into the game? All that being said, Disco Elysium is far from perfect. Outside of the wonky controls, the game's narrative can, especially towards the end of the game, feel rigid as it funnels you into one of 3 separate endings, and I feel like the politics and class conflict takes center stage as the themes of addiction, which were so wonderfully tied to the game mechanics earlier on, don't seem to have as profound an impact in the grand scheme of things. To be fair, the critiques on Marxism are political grounds no other game has covered quite in that amount of depth yet or since, but it's other major theme of addiction and the moral decisions you make regarding it barely see any payoff towards the end. My abstinence of smoking or drinking will see similar results to those that decided to do it, only I remember lighting a bunch of cigarettes as something on my to-do list that has been unchecked since the first minutes of the game. Despite that, I would recommend anybody try this game out in a heartbeat. It's a game worth experience, even if it is quite niche. I can't promise it is for everybody, in fact it still isn't exactly my preferred game style, but its uncensored exploration of its themes make for a game that is profound and beautiful and won me over.

What if a retro revival like Mighty No. 9 went right? Well you get Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Koji Igarashi's triumphant return to making Castlevania, but now with a new set of faces. Seriously, as much as I love the Netflix animes, Konami has got to make some more games in the IP. I like the remastered collections, but y'all left us on a couple of cliffhangers! Ritual of the Night seems to be most closely related to the DS Castlevania games in a lot of aspects. The Shard system mirrors Aria/Dawn of Sorrow's Soul system (unfortunately with all of its RNG-based pitfalls), Meriam could be Shanoa's twin from Order of Ecclesia and the Villager Questlines being such a major part of Bloodstained was a treat to see come back from Order of Ecclesia as well. The one area in which the game loses me a little is the story, since it seems like Iga wanted to evoke Castlevania without using any of the IP, (which includes public domain figures like Dracula confusingly enough). Not to mention, the setting and enemy design feel less cohesive, and it doesn't help that the dialogue in the game is extremely tedious, more often than not serving as an obstacle to the next bit of gameplay. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I believe that the game's biggest flaw is trying to cram as many Castlevania-isms in this game without all the space in the game to do so. It delievered on its Kickstarter promises, but honestly, it overstays its welcome just a little bit sometimes. Its lack of creativity sometimes disappointed me. Meriam's dynamic with Gebel is literally Shanoa and Albus. The execution of "final boss" fakeouts felt exactly like they did in Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow. I don't really expect anything drastically different, but they were a little too similar for my personal liking. On another note, I never fully got used to this style in 3D models. I think I still do prefer the sprites since the visuals get a bit busy at times, but the cinematography during the cutscenes are great, the new boss and levels designed around 3D environments added a much needed spin on things, and seeing Meriam wearing some of the outfits and hairstyles you choose for her is fun as well. The extra modes are a nice addition as well, and the fact that they have an official randomizer mode is amazing as well; I will have to get around to that sometime. The playable side character modes are also here as well, although I haven't had a chance to fully explore those modes either. Despite a lot of the game suffering from what I believe to be a lack of focus on this project, we are still so back, and with no news from Konami about any interest in new Castlevania and new entries in the Bloodstained series being announced, this is something worth getting excited over! Also, this game is a Jojo's reference

I remembered seeing this game on Kickstarter a while ago, and having the chance to experience the finished product is amazing. The traditional Japanese art style and folklore permeate every crevice of this game, being beautifully and painstakingly hand-crafted into what is essentially a moving, playable Ukiyo-e painting. The game's emphasis on platforming and movement made this a lot easier to appreciate, since the demanding obstacles combined with the silky smooth movement mechanics is what a lot of the allure of this game comes down to. Like, it can not be overstated how good this movement feels, and that alone helps elevate every other aspect of this game as well. Unlike a lot of games in its genre, the boss encounters weren't too challenging, which was not too big of a deal for me since spending minutes to hours in a boss arena isn't why I enjoy metroidvanias, but the early phases always take forever, and it's always followed by a drastic difficulty spike where sometimes the on-screen effects and camera movements become a bit much. However, the one area in which the game feels truly flawed is in its endgame content, or if you are a completionist like I am. Since you are required to find all Daruma and Omamori, defeat all bosses, clear all areas, complete quests, and fully upgrade your tea vessel, there is a lot of grinding required. In addition to that, there are quite a few locks and keys that don't have a massive payoff. Overall, a solid metroidvania that has unfortunately been overshadowed by the similarly conceptualized Nine Sols, but still a nice overall experience that doesn't overstay its welcome

Doom Eternal is a very interesting and humbling entry in the modern Doom franchise. Culturally, it made a splash akin to "Barbenheimer" where its release alongside Animal Crossing and the contrast it created made for a very interesting marketing element. At the same time, the increased complexity this game brings to what made Doom 2016 so genius made the game feel quite different. Whether it is different in a good way or a bad way really depends on who you are. For one, there is a story with a bunch of cutscenes and lore and whatnot, but to be honest, it didn't really add all too much and it's kind of weird how much focus was put on that as a new feature in the game's promotion. In addition to that, there are a ton of new mechanics related to platforming. Doomslayer now scales walls, jumps and dashes across platforms, and swings around the arena in an attempt to turn this game into a movement shooter. It feels quite clunky, though, and a lot of these mechanics felt shoe-horned in, and it made combat arenas feel less of a power fantasy like in 2016, but more of a clumsy fumble around the arena. That's not to say that any of it is bad, especially since the game now requires a lot more split-second strategy and it keeps you on your toes, but as somebody who is already out of his element with shooter games, my experience with the game was a complete mess. It's undeniably a great experience, having amazing music and design, and it's still designed to reward aggressive playstyles, even polished up a little more. It's just hard for me to really get into and to recommend unless you are really mentally agile.

Among Us was a fun game about strategically lying in a mafia style murder mystery game featuring funny bean astronauts. I say "was" because the current state of Among Us feels really bloated and confusing. With all the different roles that have been added, conversations and discussions become a lot more cluttered and it throws off the balance that made Among Us so ingenious. There was already a decent amount of complexity to the Crewmate/Impostor format, but now with all the new special roles added, it's like Among Us it TRYING to be something like Mafia or One Night Werewolf. The issue is that in those games, you're typically using your imagination, but with all the visual stimulus as well as still needing to complete puzzles, the Among Us experience becomes very cluttered. It's not like a cash grab or anything; the new maps are still pretty fun and creative, but it feels like it's just adding stuff to hook players back into a game that's simply past its prime. Ironically, this new content may also be some of the things keeping players from wanting to come back. It would be hard to reach that pandemic level of virality again (haha), since it was simply a "right time, right place" sort of game where you had to be there. If you were there, it was glorious, but unfortunately the game is losing its charm a little. The game is far from terrible, but this game is probably better left a good memory

Rayman Legend can be best described as a poorly conceptualized video game with a myriad of genuinely outstanding moments. There is no mistaking why many so highly praise Rayman Legends, since its combination of great (mostly) art direction, fast paced and challenging (sometimes) level designs and unique ideas offer us what was so great about Rayman.

Into the Breach is another great game that I am very bad at. The delicate balance of strategy, combat, and resource management means you're constantly on your feet, making sure you're aware of every mechanic. What's the most mission-critical? Can I risk letting one of my units get hit? How do I minimize civilian casualties? Add onto that the occasional hazards to spice up the gameplay, and you're met with an extremely thrilling and challenging time.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

New Horizons is undoubtedly one of the most important games of all time because of what it was when it came out. In a seemingly indefinite period of stress, paranoia, and social distancing, this game released at the right place to provide hours of comfort to millions upon millions of people, becoming one of the unexpected bestsellers on the Switch (and actually amongst all video games). It is gorgeously presented, full of whimsy, and provided the core experience that Animal Crossing is known for... but it unfortunately doesn't do much to stand out. The game is still good, but especially in comparison to other Animal Crossing games, the content feels very sparse.

Kinda cool and silly how I can't do anything in this game unless I buy a buttload of expansion packs

Golden Axe is a relic of its era. The gameplay is pretty mindless and the hit detection kind of blows. From what I heard, maybe Golden Axe 2 and 3 will give me a much better experience

This is what I wish the Final Fantasy 7 Remakes/Modern Final Fantasy were like. If Donkey Kong Bananza isn't good, this may be my GOTY 2025. This is an interesting turn-based party combat system with gorgeous fantasy world design and art direction, one of the greatest video game narratives I have ever witnessed, and a top-notch soundtrack, all done by a relatively small team. The opening moments of this game are instantly gripping, providing you with an interesting narrative, and plenty of shocking revelations and mysteries to string you along the way. Each act provided so many engaging character moments no doubt enhanced by the amazing performances that go above and beyond the gold standard. Each location is a visual feast, with all sorts of fantastical and mystical set pieces inspired by numerous different painting styles that invoke a sense of wonder and dread at the same time. I will say that exploration isn't nearly as deep as I had hoped, as the level design does barricade you a little bit to guide you to where you need to go, but more often than not, notable landmarks reward you for checking them out. The combat system is very engaging as well, seemingly drawing from a little bit of Persona 5 (of course) and some of the Mario RPGs (and the parry system is out of Dark Souls apparently). It still finds a way to put its own spin on it, like being able to aim your weapon at a weak spot freely. Dodging and Parrying enemy attacks took a while to get used to, and was easily my biggest frustration with Expedition 33. The timing window is unrelenting in Expedition mode, and I'm sure it would be even tighter in the game's hard mode. But the incredible animation work makes it not too difficult to figure out how to best tackle each enemy. Combine that with the Pictos and Luminas system, and you have battles that are dynamic and challenging, but approachable enough. One other gripe I have is the shoehorned platforming, which is bearable in most instances, but had more than one instance of really slippery execution. The music is absolutely amazing. Mark my words, "Monoco" or "Goblu" will be my top song on my Spotify wrapped. The difficulty of the game feels challenging enough as well, and each segment inbetween Expedition Flags aren't too long or too short. Aside from my own skill issue, I believe this game has plenty of things to do and see that will satisfy both JRPG veterans and newcomers alike. Sandfall Interactive is an absolute miracle of a studio, and I can not wait for their next project.

Elden Ring is one of those complicated games where the things it does right surpass almost all of its contemporaries, but some game design decisions feel like a regression of its formula. This is after the DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, which, while it wasn't bad, had negative elements that made me reevaluate every FromSoft game out there. Elden Ring's world is top notch, providing plenty of amazing opportunities that incentivize the player to find different things. It's a similar "Go anywhere and do anything" principle that made Breath of the Wild such a trailblazer, but Elden Ring's unique environments and art direction thanks to George R.R. Martin himself elevate that experience. Unfortunately, when it comes to exploration, a lot of it is gated behind the difficulty of enemies. And if that were just the case, then that would be alright since Fallout: New Vegas did something similar with its map design, but the issue is that the players of these games and the fundamental design of Souls games reward the player greatly for overcoming these challenges to the point that the "intended route" gated off by beginner enemies feels a little bit too trivial. While Souls games are infamous for not budging on their difficulty, not making these earlier areas harder for those that have overcome the rockier routes makes Elden Ring's pacing a little bit disappointing. Even Zelda did this back in 2017, where progression made harder variants of enemies spawn in earlier areas. Speaking of difficulty, the boss difficulty is challenging for sure, but it doesn't feel as fair as previous FromSoft games. There are more and more bosses in FromSoft games that pull out a crazy phase 2 attack that is basically impossible to predict based on its phase 1. There is hardly a natural progression of learning "the dance" between the phases, it's just a move to wipe your health out to create an illusion of "difficulty." This isn't every boss, it probably isn't even MOST of the bosses, but there is definitely an increasing number of them, and Shadow of the Erdtree exacerbated that issue. When all is said and done, though, this is just a concerning trend and some pretty minor things in the face of an excellent video game. While it isn't personally for me, it's still definitely a must-play for just about anybody.

Super Monkey Ball 2 is exactly what you'd expect it to be like. It plays well and it is fun, but not groundbreaking. I feel like the string of levels in each world do tend to drag on a little bit, but still a solid game nonetheless.

The DS Castlevania games are top tier, we know that. This is not a review of that, this is a review of the 2 other games we got in this package: Haunted Castle and Haunted Castle: Revisited. Actually, this is just a review of Haunted Castle: Revisited since Haunted Castle is a pile of steaming garbage. However, Revisited takes this concept and not only makes it work like a real Castlevania game, but also lovingly remasters it, which means that this was technically a new Castlevania game in 2024, which is a bit strange to think about. It is very much a Classicvania, not quite as good as the OG ones, but that's to be expected.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Fairly average for a movie tie-in game. However, there was a little bit too much sewer showdown for my liking

Extremely extremely nostalgic game for me, but unfortunately nowadays not something I would choose to play. The NSMB series has definitely taken its toll on me.

Nintendo's greed strikes again, as a once solid f2p mobile game with a community gets locked behind a paywall that asks too much for what you actually are getting.

Absolutely baffling release. While Welcome Tour does go pretty in-depth to what the Switch 2 offers and all of its technical mumbo jumbo, it had no right being a video game, and even less of a right to be $10. All these comments going "Why is this so negatively reviewed" are also shocking to me. This is such a clear parallel/response to what Playstation did for the Playstation 5 with Astro's Playroom, which did everything Welcome Tour strives for, but it's also presented in such a fun and immersive way (and not to mention, free). How did Playstation out-Nintendo Nintendo? This was supposed to be the one thing they could actually do! Sure, the minigames are playable, and there are secrets, but the entire game lacks identity and part of the "gameplay" is taking a damn quiz! Am I doing homework right now?

Gorgeous, innovative, and conceptually exciting, but in practice, very disappointing, and I'm not talking about the price because I KNOW 80% of y'all actually paid $50 for this game in the Switch 2 bundle rather than $80 or $90 separately. Mario Kart World feels like a game that is too reliant on RNG and items rather than the goodness of their courses. Not to say that the courses aren't fun or good, or that there aren't exciting things to do in them. The wall-jumping and rail grinding makes shortcuts and traversal so much more interesting now. The issue is that for many courses, these areas are few and far between and thus, your placement isn't as determined by your skill as it is by how many good items you can get. I'm sure the items can be rebalanced, but the course design coupled with the 24-character chaos just doesn't work as well. The open world sections, especially the intermission tracks, don't offer a lot, to be honest, and feel extremely empty and boring. Even worse is that these extended segments cut into races of courses where it may actually be interesting to do so, meaning only a short burst of the whole level is even interesting. Not to mention, compared to Mario Kart 8, the sense of speed you have racing around is also greatly diminished, making for an overall frustrating experience. The game is still VERY fun, and the things this game does right it does better than every other Mario Kart game to date. Knockout Tour is amazing, the character select screen is the most cohesive and expressive in all of Mario Kart, and the sheer variety of characters and how they're implemented are amazing. However, you have to take that with the bad of the game as well. I'm not the most competitive Mario Kart player, so my knowledge and handling of the systems may not be the best, but this is definitely a weak launch for the game. For the price as well, any DLC that is going to be added better be in the game for free.

The WHAT THE ___ series is absolutely hilarious. I stumbled upon this game when I was goofing around on Apple Arcade, and my expectations were honestly really low. What I was met with was endlessly creative gags and a unique little twist on Golf gaming.

Despite even getting an anime adaptation, Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is still one of the most underappreciated video games I have ever played. This game combines fast-paced 2D platforming and hack-and-slash gameplay with a slice of life styled rice farming simulator. While it may not be to everybody's tastes, the rice farming mechanic is extremely in-depth and seems to have a lot of research put into maintaining its authenticity. As you progress through seasons and time, your knowledge of farming and harvesting will increase, giving you a ton of systems to work with. Your rice farming has an effect on the gameplay as well, which is super fast-paced and utilizes a combination of melee weapons (your farming tools) and your divine raiment, which acts as a grapple beam and a way to combo enemies. This game also sports tons of other systems that help aid exploration, like a day/night cycle, a level system, and a plethora of special moves. Couple that with the game's amazing artstyle and design and a touching story about found family, and Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin became one of the most unique and memorable games ever. One of the best parts of the game is just the family chilling at the table and eating food. The vibes of this game are absolutely immaculate. If there is one complaint I have is that the PC version's controls are absolutely terrible, but my trusty wireless controller luckily solves everything. Please do yourself a favor and play this game

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Fallout 4 is not a good game, not because of the changes it made to the Fallout formula up to this point, but because of an inability to make their new systems fun and refreshing while still holding on to the past. Fallout 4 has such an interesting world and buildup that it intrigues you to go out and explore to save your child, but this beautiful world you're given is so devoid of actual content. Fallout 4 decides to take a more action-oriented approach on the formula, but it still decides to keep a lot of RPG elements of its predecessors, making things like S.P.E.C.I.A.L system not as involved as it was before. Couple that with terribly designed UI and UX systems for things like criticals or inventory management and an over-tutorialization of its most basic mechanics from characters that would've had depth from any other Fallout game, and this makes for a very frustrating experience. But at its core, Fallout 4 is really bad at meshing its action with its worldbuilding. Exploration is a chore in Fallout 4 because the game does not know how to adequately reward players for their pattern recognition and curiosity. Interesting landmarks pose challenges that are easily navigable by equipment the game gives you in excess and are often so full of enemies with such little reward waiting at the end of them. And characters and side quests are so boring. The writing is unnatural, and the dialogue choices you get in this game don't let you reveal as much about the world as in previous games. I thought Fallout was the game series that made you contemplate the relationships between the humans and the environment in a challenging geopolitical climate, not a Yes/No simulator. Speaking of which, when dealing with social issues, I believe games should let the player decide for themselves how to approach them, but Fallout 4 gave our main characters voice acting, so none of our choices truly feel like our own. It takes the illusion of vastness and complexity that previous Fallout games were so elegantly able to manage, and reveals the entire magic trick, making the game less immersive and less meaningful. The game fails to make use of its interesting setup, and delivers a game that lacks incentive, atmosphere, and challenge at the expense of more enemies and gunplay. And that's all assuming the game runs as intended, because Bethesda will Bethesda. This game was clearly too ambitious for its own good, because it truly had the foundation of something pretty special, but it was executed relatively poorly.

GoldenEye 007, while rightfully hailed as one of the greatest and most influential games of all time, was a nightmare to pick up and play in the modern age. While you can point out to over-tutorialization and a bunch of trackers as a bad thing in the modern AAA landscape, the utter lack of it in GoldenEye makes the game feel quite frustrating. The control scheme is primitive and finnicky, and even though it is understandable given they had to work with the N64 controller, the downside is that it utilized the N64 controller. The common defense for this control scheme is that it's different than dual-stick FPS games, and it feels fresh, but that's an argument I would give to the DOOM games, which are a bit older and still control better while still differentiating themselves from shooters of today. GoldenEye 007's control scheme just isn't that intuitive. For all its agedness, however, there is still clearly a great concept underneath it, with a wealth of incredibly fun missions and environmental design, but its janky graphics and controls make it a hard sell to somebody that didn't grow up in the 64 era.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I feel like the hate for Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is so overblown, because while there definitely are issues, like the apparently less-than-stellar DLC (which I did not buy), the strange performance issues, or the seemingly shallower mechanical or narrative depth. However, at its core, the main game is absolutely fantastic! It's impossible not to compare this game to the Borderlands series, being a spinoff and all, but Wonderlands distinguishes itself from its mother series quite nicely, especially the mess that was Borderlands 3. Its environment was very lively, which I much preferred to the bleakness of Borderlands 1, and its quirky D&D-esque narrative was really fun (and most importantly, NOT CRINGE). The game's tighter arenas allowed for more room for experimentation with movement and weapons. I've never been much of a weapons connoisseur when it came to looter shooters, but I know what I can work with, and in those aspects, Wonderlands doesn't feel like that much of a departure in variety from the other Borderlands games. However, the overall formula of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands feels like enough of an iteration of Borderlands that makes it interesting, which again, Borderlands 3 failed to do. There is a wide variety of classes, and combining classes and spells really livens up the experience and provides the sort of chaos that makes games like Borderlands interesting in the first place. In fact, the game's weaknesses are all antiquated aspects of the Borderlands games, like the terrible UI and maps or a lack of item organization. However, I would love to see this concept expanded upon, even if it may never because of the disappointing reception.

While many technical aspects of Lego Star Wars has not aged very well, the simplicity of its design is its strongest attribute. It offers a kid-friendly approach to designing levels and telling the story, most of which is mimed in a charming way that I wish the Lego games still did. The game offers a plethora of extra collectibles that give this compilation a ton of replay value. I love so many little details about this game like the Cantina hub world or the humorous little quirks within their animation. However, there are many dated systems and mechanics, one of which being the look of the game, which is a lot less "Lego Set" looking than I remembered. Not to mention, the janky camera controls or the tedium of collecting everything. Overall, though, it is a charming adventure that is still well worth playing even after the Skywalker Saga.

For my opinions on Garfield Kart: Furious Racing, search up "All of iDubbbz tweets at Garfield" on Reddit

One of the most unique and fun platform puzzlers I have ever played, with a wealth of satisfying mechanics. I just wish it was longer

Hi-Fi Rush is an absolute miracle ****. Despite coming out of nowhere, it quickly became a success, which proves that good game design truly does move units. This is a unique blend of Devil May Cry-esque hacking and slashing and Crypt of the Necrodancer-esque rhythm timing that is so endlessly satisfying. The entire world pulses to the beat of the music, and the game makes sure you feel it, so you can most optimally land your hits, which of course, are stronger on the beat. Unlike Crypt of the Necrodancer, the game doesn't totally punish you for missing beats, which ensures a very smooth learning curve. The game is also one of the most charming and funny experiences ever, boasting a cast of lovable characters and an incredible artstyle and sense of humor. If I had to pick one element this game lacks, it's within its non-combat sections, as the jumping is great for fighting, but not so great for platforming, often feeling like you need to purposefully overshoot even the most basic jumps. The completion experience is also a bit ****, requiring you to S-rank every level on every difficulty, but that's not the focus of the game, so it's honestly whatever. However, it's at least bearable, and the rest of the game just wowed me so much that it's basically water under a bridge.

Yoshi's Island is one of the most unique Mario Games of all time, and one of the most well-aged SNES titles as well. So much was put into this world, from an unexpected backstory to the iconic Mario brothers, to a unique artstyle that still looks gorgeous today thanks to the underutilized Super FX chip 2. Not to mention, iconic music that has graced generations of Nintendo fans and Nintendo-tuber background music. There are so many concepts at play, and they figured out a way to give Yoshi their own movesets and abilities, which are all extremely fun to use. The entire concept of this game is one long escort mission for baby Mario, and instead of being annoying (except for the moments you listen to Baby Mario's wailing), the game makes this quest worthwhile. In typical escort missions, you have to pause your typical gameplay style to make room for a liability. However, Yoshi's Island feels freeing since losing Baby Mario doesn't lead to a game over, but instead gives you time to retrive him, with Yoshi being basically invincible otherwise. This game's level design is also really different compared to the blocky and geometric shapes of the past 2D Mario games, this game was the first to utilize all sorts of inclined planes and surfaces, and they figured out unique uses that spiced up the gameplay. The mechanics within these games also feel like something Nintendo wouldn't ever explore again until Super Mario Bros. Wonder. What other game would you touch a certain type of enemy and then start hallucinating? They drugged Yoshi in this game! Speaking of enemies, the ones at play here are so meticulously designed, and the bosses (usually a weak point in 2D Mario games, if I'm being honest) are equally unique and challenging. While this game's difficulty makes it a bit tough to 100% with all the collectibles, the extra stages are a nice little reward. Overall, one of my favorite gaming experiences, period.

Blue Prince is fun game idea with amazing presentation, but in terms of its execution --- hell, even in terms of its concept of an adventure-roguelike deckbuilder --- is fundamentally flawed. The criticisms about RNG when it comes to room selection are completely justified since you're expected to solve puzzles and prioritize certain tasks based on the "cards" you are dealt, which influences how the rest of the game should play out for you. The issue with that is that you'll often be juggling multiple puzzles at the same time without any idea if you'll even be able to solve them. On one hand, it's really interesting that Blue Prince makes you really think on your toes and execute quick decision-making, which is probably an aspect of the roguelike genre that Dogubomb wanted to incorporate into the mix. Roguelikes do have a way of kicking you down over and over until you get that one majestic run that hooks you into doing it all over again. However, an unbridled randomness system ended up being quite the chaotic and unsatisfying way to experience the game's puzzles and exploration elements. I would much rather a system that selects tiles based on what threads you already have, giving the illusion of randomness, but controlled for the player's sake. The story is still really intriguing, and it's not to say that the puzzles are poorly designed; far from it. It's just that the way in which you interact with the game is quite the headache sometimes, and the mystery surrounding this gorgeous world is just not worth the brutality, in my opinion

Help me, I'm addicted......................................................

This game is the best scam of all time. It does everything nearly perfectly, but ended up being a 40-minute experience. At least it's bundled in with the Phantom Pain nowadays

Hey guys, Redfall is now "fixed" and "playable." Naw, the bugs were what made it worth talking about. It had a solid concept, and really exciting trailers, and it doesn't live up to it at all. Storytelling, presentation, game feel, and world design all are either lackluster or bad. 70 dollars for this makes Nintendo's Mario Kart World prices seem almost generous in comparison.

Death Stranding is a game with a vision to be something different than the rest of the games industry. It requires you to put away your expectations and look at it for what it is. The game takes its time to get to where Kojima's vision springs to life. The game is supposed to kick you down and make you feel alone in its first act before opening up and serving as a metaphor for breaking out of isolation for you to rebuild this world. The multiplayer really hits like a truck, as the game actually becomes really fun. You have to learn to crawl before you walk, learn to walk before you run, and in that shared test of patience and suffering, the bonds between each other really come to life. However, it feels like the tedium in the first few acts wasn't a result of intentional design, but rather terrible collision, boring exposition, and pointless and unoptimized game design. I accept that the core gameplay may just not be for everybody, but it's a lot to ask for the artistic effect of the game to be on the front of your mind as you are actively wrestling with the jankiness of just making it over a hill. I have a deep appreciation for what this game is trying to do, but respectfully, I never want to touch it ever again.

Horizon Forbidden West improves upon everything that Zero Dawn did, and basically treats itself like a reboot of the franchise rather than a sequel. Clearly frustrated at the comparisons to Breath of the Wild, Horizon Forbidden West definitely tweaked some of its movement options and condensed the world. While it is still very hand-holdy, it is still an improvement nonetheless. Where the biggest issue comes in is with the story. The first game's story and worldbuilding was pretty good, only held back by some of the performances. This game, however, opens by connecting you with characters that probably didn't leave the biggest impression on you in Zero Dawn, and having you explain to them that the events of the entire first game were null and void. If this game is your introduction into the series, this may theoretically be a better start, but if you came from Zero Dawn, this game just adds a bunch of things that should've been there in the first game. I don't think it deserves an award for something like that. This game also adds a lot more collectibles, which is cool and all, but Aloy's pickup animation combined with the strange spread of resources makes this an absolute chore. Not to mention, the side quest fatigue is real with this game. Some of it is about as fun as finding all 900 Koroks in Breath of the Wild. Another game that should've been a lot better, but was held back by questionable flaws.

Horizon Zero Dawn is undoubtedly a very solid game with great worldbuilding, fantastically and beautifully optimized graphics, and yes, a female driven narrative. However, the game is in a strange intersection where it feels like it wants to be something much larger, yet still plays it unbearably safe, and it doesn't really have that X-factor that kept me very engaged. A lot of its systems were extremely derivative, and it launching in the same timeframe as Breath of the Wild exacerbated the blandness of Horizon Zero Dawn for me. The voice acting and characterization of most characters that weren't Aloy took me out of it a little bit. Not to mention the graphical errors, which is were few and far between, but were extremely noticable any time they happened. The gameplay in combat is very solid, though, derivative as it may be. It takes what works in games like Zelda or Shadow of the Colossus, and makes it their own. But where there is a fantastic combat system, there is a terrible exploration system that is hand-holdy and limiting, which is very frustrating in what should be a curated open world. "Curated" may even be too strong of a word because plenty of this world is extremely empty, requiring you to do a lot of traversal with a very limiting set of movement capabilities. TLDR, minus 4 points for having a ginger protaganist

God hand is a lot of that good ol' edgy PS2-era fun. The humor is memorable, the script is campy and corny, and it's overall a very fast paced beat-em-up. The gameplay offers a lot of decent variety with the moves you have, and it clearly paved the way for games like Sifu or certain elements of modern God of War. There are certain hardware limitations that work against the flow of the game, however, like sometimes strange hit collision will have multiple attacks land on me, instantly wiping me out and the camera angles are so tough to grapple with here. I also think a lot of the enemy organization was sometimes a bit ambitious, sometimes having a cluster of them, but sometimes some of them just idling while you pummel another, and other times them really laying their attacks on you heavy. But you can kick a gorilla in the balls, so who am I to complain? There are also a lot of accessibility worked into the game design, which despite being humiliated by Gene in the title screen and having to grovel before your opponents, is a really interesting quirk of this game that makes it that much more interesting. This is a game where the more energy you put into learning its systems, the more of an experience you will get out of it. While many parts of this game hasn't aged very well, other elements of this game are quite unique, and you can certainly see where its cult classic status comes from.