Fricka

I've had a bit of fatigue with games just being way too hard to a tedious degree, as if they were designed with the full intention of being hard without any consideration of making it "fair" for the player. There have been many complaints dished towards Silksong's difficulty, and while I did struggle, the game consistently fell fair. I've beaten most if not all the bosses (most of the stuff tracking the bosses online is still being made, but I'm at about 42 or so beaten?) and while I have definitely run into roadblocks, every boss felt fair. It didn't feel like I was bashing my head against a wall and praying for a lucky god run; each run I got better by simply learning the movesets of the enemies. I adore the boss design in Silksong and think its bosses are its greatest aspect. As for the areas, while the first Act very much feels like "more Hollow Knight", the game kicks up in the second Act with the Citadel, which has a far more consistent theming. While it means that the Citadel's areas blend together, it also meant that the Citadel felt like a much more cohesive zone and it was one of my favourite areas to explore in any 2D Metroidvania. While the amount of quests in the game can get tedious at a point, and the requirements to unlock/complete certain quests feel way too obscure and out of the way, the world building is very strong in this game, to the point that I began to care about the different characters and communities across Pharloom, especially when I reached the final Act and we got to see a whole new side to this world. Usually when I finish a Metroidvania and credits roll, I feel like my adventure is over, but with Silksong it feels like Pharloom is a genuinely kingdom I will return to and cherish, which I did immediately after credits rolled a final time.

Just finished Bananza, and without spoilers (trust me you do NOT want to be spoiled) this is one of if not the best platformer I've ever played, period. The game feels insanely fluid and fast paced, you're always blasting through the terrain, rolling from banana to banana at blistering pace. Destroying things is addictive, and the addition of Bananza transformations shake up the game to be far more technical in your movement and how you approach challenges. Switching between them freely is just as satisfying as it is to collect each ounce of gold in the surroundings. As for the finale? Probably top 3 of all time. This game makes Odyssey look like a tech demo.

not a single bad track new rail grinding/jump/wall ride system is amazing free roam is fun online is even more fun rainbow road is the best track in the entire series ABSOLUTE CINEMA

A great game with well designed dungeons, but its age shows clearly and there are many parts of the game that feel lacking and are simply done better by later entries.

It's a hard debate whether Astro Bot is a 9/10 or a 10/10. I love the game and enjoyed playing it at every minute, but is it one of the best 3D platformers ever like people say it is? No. Astro Bot follows in the same style as Super Mario Galaxy 2, focusing more on individual levels being their own self-contained "minigame" of sorts, and Galaxy 2 does suffer because of that approach. While I do not think Astro Bot is better than Odyssey or Galaxy 1, I think that Astro Bot pulled off what Galaxy 2 tried much much better, and it isn't even a competition. It does feel though at times that some ideas aren't as developed as they were in Astro's Playroom, that focused more on quality over quantity with its gimmicks and levels. The game also leaves a lot of its enjoyment in the cameos the game has, and while I did like them, they feel like somewhat cheap thrills and doesn't speak directly to the core quality and gameplay of the game

I enjoyed the game and I think it's good. I tried to my best to like it as much as possible, but I can't. The linear progression by no means is objectively bad, but it holds back the game from standing out. For a game that decides to "focus on combat", a majority of the bosses I outright just did not like. I liked the story a lot, though, and for a series that is usually stuck in the cycle of "Oh no! The pirates and metroids are back in trouble, and Ridley has been revived for the 20th time!" it really does stand out and paved a good direction for the series going forwards to Dread.

First game I played in this series was Luigi's Mansion 3, and I mildly enjoyed it, but was mostly bored by it. Luigi's Mansion 3 placed an immense focus more on being a much more in depth puzzle game, and ironically it suffers because of it. Upon playing this game, the pacing of the game is near perfect, with it ending before it ever overstays its welcome. Finding every ghost and boo is a joy and almost everyone praises the atmosphere of this game, which did not disappoint. Instead of sections of the game being long extended puzzles, it understands to keep self-contained with each ghost being its own mini puzzle.

While I think the gameplay is fantastic in its customisability and presentation, with a story that does feel engaging too, the game suffers (like Elden Ring) from a massive issue of balancing. I enjoy the customisability the game offers, however my issue is that it is VERY clear that some weapons are massively better than others, which becomes an issue when some bosses are so outrageously hard that it forces you to use solely the "good" weapons, even if you may not personally enjoy the playstyle that comes with that. It takes a lot agency away from players who simply want to customise their mech to whatever they personally find as fun. Instead of FromSoftware trying to fix the inbalance in weapons, they decided to scale bosses in difficulty around these higher tier builds (just like in Elden Ring). I pray that FromSoftware does not fall into these pitfalls of balancing in future games.

I adore almost everything about this game. Alan Wake 2 takes many heavy risks by focusing on story and doing many experimental techniques, but almost all of it pays off to make one of the most interesting narratives in a game that hooks you from chapter to chapter. It pulls off a stellar art direction and while the gameplay isn't the star of the show, it is far from bad either. I want desperately to place this on a perfect 10 score, but the only thing that holds it back is the lacklustre ending that doesn't act as a satisfying conclusion to the immense tension, intrigue and wonderful pacing that had been set up. Maybe I'll look more fondly on the ending once it's fully elaborated in the DLC or Alan Wake 3 when it releases in 13 years, but as of right now it's my only gripe with the game.

I enjoyed it, especially in its first hours, but that steam quickly ran out. I enjoyed doing some of the side quests but near the end hurried to end the game as quickly as possible. The world seemed quite interesting at first glance but the world building needed more developing to hit it right.

While Elden Ring feels like the most flawed FromSoft game out there I've played, Shadow of the Erdtree fixes all of my issues with the base game by making a world that remains interesting to explain constantly, all with some phenomenal bosses that remain fair and balanced (aside from the final one). The scadutree fragment system by far saved open world progression here in a game that had an issue of making exploration feel stale.

Compared to the standard of more recent Pokemon games, this game is fantastic. As a game in general, though, it is alright. When I boot up this game, it oozes of charm and feels so comforting, from its music, to its art direction and main town. The gameplay loop is generally quite engaging for the first 10-20 hours or so, but due to the loop being quite underdeveloped, it eventually becomes quite boring around the halfway mark. The story is also quite atrocious, not because the plot in and of itself is bad conceptually, but because of the execution. There is SO much dialogue and the story just drags on and on and on. The dialogue feels bloated in size and takes up way too much time than it deserves, especially noticeable in how the game requires 2 HOURS for the game to begin and you finally gain control over your character and are free to explore. I was not interested at any point. A lot of the characters also feel overdesigned, with me having absolute no interest or attachment with any of them. The game does feel like it had more love and effort put into it than games like Sword/Shield or Scarlet/Violet but the bar is extremely low, meaning that the addition of more varied face animations feels really pathetic when compared to other games with considerably less budget and attention. It's like you go to a restaurant that serves a dish with really bad presentation. Then, on the Thursday when the owner's cousin is running the shop, they put some few sprinkles of herbs on top, although it isn't very much, but is only done to appease complaints to the real owner's practices. Meanwhile, the competing restaurant next door has the presentation out of this world. This is what Legends Arceus feels like. Compared to their cousin, the owner (aka the main Pokemon devs), Legends Arceus is better, but compared to any one else in the industry, they are objectively worse and almost archaic in how behind they are on common standards for quality.

One of the most flawed games ever made, and yet, one of the greatest ever made. Is it Breath of the Wild again? Pretty much. However, do I consider that a flaw? Absolutely not. Tears of the Kingdom is Breath of the Wild but better in almost every way. Breath of the Wild was already one of the greatest games ever made, and if this game is just that but improved and on a bigger scale with a brand new mechanic that completely re-invents the wheel, then what's not to love? The game has its flaws not because it isn't like Ocarina of Time in how it does its dungeons or story structure, instead I think ToTK's approach to dungeons are extremely valid and well-made, but it has its flaws due to some repetition in its world and poor writing in its story. Aside from that, Tears of the Kingdom is the best open world game we've seen to date.

Eh. It isn't bad, but it isn't anything great either. Really just an inoffensive game that doesn't do anything wrong necessarily but it doesn't really make the game any better than it is. The game in my opinion just seems very short though for the outrageous price tag.

Starfield was the first Bethesda game I've ever properly played, and despite what many have said about it being "mid", I think that Starfield is instead a good game, perhaps even a great one. The amount of content in the world amazed me on first glance, with side quests being interesting and investing, surrounded by a world full of intriguing lore and history. I still stand firm on the fact that Starfield is one of the best games of this year, but it is unfortunately held back an unholy amount of glitches and a clear lack of content outside the major settlements, of which there are very few. Starfield does not properly utilise the fact that it is a space game, as exploring random planets offer very little if nothing at all and therefore are uninteresting to explore since there is nothing to do. The game lacks a clear game loop that drives further gameplay and provides incentive to do things other than the quests unfortunately. Starfield's reliance on these quests are also a major issue because a lot of these tend to be boring or drag on for too long. For the first 25 hours or so, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience but once I finished some major quest lines like the Ryujin or Crimson Fleet plots, I didn't feel interested in doing the other quest lines out there due to doing so many already. The game doesn't let you do anything else outside of these errands, and the things that you can do are extremely underwhelming. Of course, although I was impressed a lot by the side quests and the amount of them, for anyone who has already played a Bethesda game this may not be that impressing or anything that new unlike my experience. In a sense, Starfield is just another Bethesda game but in a new setting but with the filler wheel cranked up to 200 million. Overall, I still like the game quite a bit and I think it's unfair for people to quickly disregard the game, since it IS still a good game. Whether it is great, on the other hand, is extremely subjective. For me, it's sort of in that middling category where it is blatantly fantastic and yet at times just decent.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This is probably the worst game I have played in my entire life, and it isn't even because of the bugs. In reality, my score would be something like a 3/10 as the game does have redeeming factors, but I feel inclined to give this score simply because of how insulting it is by GameFreak and to anyone and everyone who likes Pokemon. The game tries on a new open world approach and while on the surface, it seems to be an excellent idea, the execution is extremely poor as gyms still have pre-determined levels meaning that the game isn't so much "open world", there is still an intended path for the player to go on, except this time the game doesn't tell you what that path is. Additionally, the world is extremely empty and there is nothing to do in between gyms, team star bases and the titans, all of the towns feel soulless and empty and the game lacks an identity as a whole, this game is supposed to be based on Spain but shares no resemblance. The pokemon designs are quite boring and lazy too, lacking identity and being a massive downgrade from gen 8's designs which were already a downgrade in and of itself. The story, once again, is excellent on paper but the execution is very poor, as I have no attachment to the characters and feel bored whenever there is a cutscene going on, because the game loves to drag. I've beaten this game once solo and tried playing a second time but instead with a friend alongside me and I will admit that the multiplayer feature is an excellent addition, but only because it allowed us to play the game freely and do what we wanted to have fun. However, when we decided to play the actual game and stopped goofing around, the story was tediously boring and ultimately we quit before the third gym because we didn't want to sit through more of what was at the end of the day, a really bad game.

For what was promised as the return to good Sonic games, is in reality yet another mediocre one. Sonic doesn't work in an open world environment and simply seems out place. What is also out of place is the massive amount of random rails and platforms littered across the sky making it look like a glorified **** obby. The entire gameplay loop of exploring the open world is to do these **** obbies which are extremely automated and short, ending before they even begin and involve a very easy challenge. The cyberspace levels are also very boring, all of which lacking a distinct identity and having random techno music. The only memorable level in the game is 1-2, and that was only because you had to actually try when getting the right time, BECAUSE OF A BUG IN THE GAME. No joke, when a mistake by the devs is the best part ****, then you know something is wrong. The combat is also repetitive and feels like button mashing without the skill needed by hack and slashes. The bosses for each area are good and the music for each are excellent, but the reason I can't justify giving the game a good score just because of one aspect is because of 5 hours of boring gameplay, broken controls, and awful writing that I have to go through to get there. Also, the new update DID fix the final boss, but added ridiculously hard and objectively unfun challenges you have to do to get there, once again reinforcing the idea of spending a time playing **** to get to the good part.

One of the greatest 2D platformers of all time and in my opinion, the greatest 2D Mario game. The game oozes of charm and passion, each level is well designed and with its own flair and recognisability. No longer are the days where Mario is stuck to a strict formula, now worlds are longer, levels are more diverse and explore more themes/art styles other than the basic grass/desert. This game shares a lot of qualities as 3D World but in 2D form factor, and it works perfectly, especially with the wonder seed adding so much more to each and every level. What I will say though is that there were too little bosses and were generally okay, plus there was a lack of great post-game. Otherwise, phenomenal.

As someone who absolutely adored the original, this game is literally that, but even more. What's not to love? Not only did they remake the entire game in Unity, but expanded with new endings that still carried the brilliant commentary on video games the original had (if more explicit now with a couple). Every step I took into the new content I was surprised by the game by how much more it does than I expected. While most of the old endings remain the same, I am happy that way, and it really shows how faithful and passionate they were, and yet still dedicated to not disappoint the player, providing delight and awe. A must-play if you have not played the Stanley Parable before, but an even more must-play if you already have.

The best I have ever played, and not an exaggeration at all. The singeplayer has a phenomenal story and characters, and the co-operative is extremely fun. And when you're done with both campaigns, you have infinite content through the workshop (if you look hard enough). The music as well is also really good, and a hidden gem. If you have not played this game yet, what are you doing with your life?

I initially made a review for this game that was a perfect 10/10 score. At this point, I had not yet finished the game. The first half of Elden Ring is without a doubt one of if not the greatest open world game ever crafted. However, once you reach the wintery areas and the second half of the game begins, there is a noticeable fall in quality. Areas are now barren and empty and there are little to no new bosses in sight. The biggest issue however with the second half is its balancing, in which the game no longer feels fair and instead is hard for the sake of being hard. Enemies now do too much damage and you do too little, but the most egregious thing is the way the bosses in the second half work. These bosses are lightning fast and are brewed together with **** mechanics and constant AOE that at times feels unavoidable. The fact that bosses can transition so quickly into a new combo without you having time to react makes the game sided against anyone who isn't using a dex or magic build, meaning that players no longer have the freedom to choose however way they want to play and now have to abide by meta builds in order for bosses to seem feasible. The first half alone would be a 11/10, but the abhorrent second half (although it does have its moments) brings it down for a 9 for me, still an excellent game, but one that disappoints.