JT

Just like the first game, the second game in this series holds a special place in my heart. Clementine continues to show why she is such an amazing character. This game we get to see Clem grow up a lot more and have to survive being on her own in the harsh world. The emotional story beats in this game all hit. Clem has to be one of my favorite video game protagonists of all time.

This was the first time a story in a videogame captivated me. Before this I really only played platformers and stuck to nintendo consoles. I experienced this whole game with my best friend at the time. Man that ending hit so hard and it really changed my outlook on storytelling in games. Yeah the choices you make all lead to the same story outcome, but the story and characters are so well written that it really doesn't matter to me that much. This game helped shape me into the person I am today. Play this game!

I have never loved Pokemon games, but I enjoyed this game a good amount. I think the game is still bogged down by some frustrating mechanics (I have always hated the random encounters), but generally the moment to moment gameplay is pretty fun. The map is pretty solid and the visuals are also pleasant to look at. I don’t think I would replay the game again unless I did a nuzlocke or some other challenge like that, but overall I enjoyed the game.

In my opinion this is the greatest 2d platformer of all time. With games like Celeste, Sonic Mania, and Super Mario Bros 3 it's totally debatable, but to put this game into that conversation even is saying something. The controls may feel a little loose at first, but once you get the hang of things the Kongs feel buttery smooth to control. Level design is immaculate in this game and enemies are perfectly placed where you can get an amazing flow when going through levels. Because of that, replaying the game will only show off more of the strengths than before. This game is also a great speedrunning game so if you are into that community, it's one of the best out there. The music by David Wise is so good that I would say it's worth the $60 price tag (Hey, you also get a whole bonus game attached with the soundtrack). I’m happy that this game was ported to switch where more people can experience this amazing game. If you like platformers, you will adore this game.

This is really the start of Mario being less and less inspired in each mainline 2D game. I think the reason Nintendo hasn't released a brand new traditional 2D Mario since 2013 is because they are out of ideas. Mario Maker eliminates that problem because the player is now the game designer and not Nintendo. But with that in mind, NSMB Wii is least interesting in the series. NSMB brought Mario back to 2d in some exciting ways, NSMB2 had a unique theme even if it was a bit superfluous, and NSMB U and Luigi were just better designed and had better controls. Because NSMB Wii was designed four 4 players, the levels are empty if you play single-player. At the end of the day, this is not a terrible game by any means, you can still have some good fun with friends while playing it. It gets around a 5-6 for lack of creativity. I hope whenever Nintendo decides to make a traditional 2d Mario again that they don't just reuse assets from the NSMB games and aren't afraid to get a little weird and wacky with their art style, themes, level designs, and music.

I'm an outlier, but this game just does not appeal to me. There are a lot of things that I really respect from the series like unique character designs, good music, and a pretty cool competitive community. I do think most people will really like this game and get a lot out of it, just not me personally.

This is not one of the worst games on the switch, but it is way below average for me. If your a fan of the Fifa games I would recommend you get it on a different platform unless you love the Switch's portability. The switch is still lacking a voice chat and the games resolution is much lower compared to the other consoles versions. You are also lacking some modes in this version. I would not recommend this game unless you really love soccer and the only console you had was a switch.

Mario Galaxy 2 builds off the core mechanics of the original game to take the series to a new level. Increasing the challenge of levels, better designed levels, and adding Yoshi keeps this game as interesting as the first one. The quality of music is just as fantastic as the first game. Where this game stumbles is having a less engaging story than the first, a weaker hub world, and a boring level selection system. Other than that, this game does the job it needs to and lives of to the quality of the first.

This was the first video game to ever truly encapsulate me. I first got this game, along with its sequel when I was around the age of 7. The passion this game has all over it is simply breathtaking. Every galaxy, boss fight, mechanic, and song has so much detail and care put into it. The game is a blast the whole way through. I have never had a game since that is fun the whole way through. I love the sequel but their is just something so creative and new about this that blows me away with ever galaxy I travel to. The Good- The story for this game is small but it’s perfect for a Mario story. Rosalina’s storybook is great and it’s optional so if your not into that stuff it’s not necessary. The level design is fantastic. It’s always introducing new ideas and mechanics, pushing it to it limits, and then before it gets stale it is pushed aside for new mechanics. Later sometimes even combining old mechanics with new ones. The hub is a fantastic way to travel from level to level while unlocking more as you go. Mario’s movement is just as great as it ever has been, and the spin jump with the wii remote has never been a problem for me and always worked great. The bosses are as creative as ever and maybe the best in the series. For example, their is a boss where you fight a giant shark that’s shooting shark missiles at you and kill it by throwing turtle shells at it. Also, there’s one where you climb up a giant robot and use bullet bills to take it down. The Bad- I have very few problems with this game at all. For one, getting from level to level can take about 1 to 2 minutes before you actually can start playing. The power ups are great but I wish their were more (fixed in the sequel). Some of the levels based on motion controls can be terrible to control which made some levels a pain to get through. Overall, after recently replaying this game 7 years later after the first time I played it, the game is still a masterpiece. This game has been the most important game I’ve played ever and it will probably remain that way for the rest of my life. I’ve had so many memories of this game etched into my brain. It’s a game that is just plain fun and the core ideas of this game is how I judge ever other game. This game is an adventure that I would love to revisit a thousand times over.

I want to make this clear to whoever is reading this review right now. This game is not perfect, but that’s ok because no game will ever be. What this game has accomplished is simply amazing. Nintendo finally took a shot at an open world game, with the genre being as popular as it is, and blew us away with their first go. (Spoilers from here on out) PROS- Traveling throughout the world in Breath of the Wild (BOTW) is the most fantastic part of the game. You have so many options as you are traveling. You can surf down massive cliffs and snow mountains for a blistering way to get to places. Climb up mountains anywhere to get a good view on the landscape, plan where to go next and paraglide over their. If you want to get to an area quickly you can take a horse, or if you completed the DLC a motorcycle. If your in the desert you can use a seal to take you across it quickly. This game provides options when traveling throughout the world witch plays in part why it’s so fun to explore. The other reason this game is so enticing is their is something around every corner. Their are 4 divine beast, 120 shrines, 900 korok seeds, and many side quest and mini games. So while the world is massive their is always something to see or do. The world is most enjoyed when you take your time with the game. Both me and one of my friend got the game around the same time as each other my friend tried to collect everything in the game before beating Calamity Ganon, including all 900 korok seeds. By the end of the game he had put just about 300 hours in to it. He was completely burned out and hated the game for it. This is not the game where completing it 100% completion will be fun in a short period of time. I have had the game for about 1.5 years now and still play it because I don’t do the little at at once. I beat the game a couple months after I got it and completed all the main stuff along with it like, freed all dive beast, got the master sword, found all the memories, and beat the DLC. After I defeated Ganon I still wanted to explore the world and see what I could find. I still only have about 250 korok seeds and finally finished all the shrines but I’m till even to this day having fun exploring the world. I constantly come back and find new things. I stumbled upon a beautiful dragon for the first time and was blown away. Found full towns after beating Ganon and still have fun finding korok’s around every corner. Some of the best moments I have ever had in gaming are from stumbling into stuff naturally from this game. BOTW does this better than any game I have played yet. Cons- It’s interesting because what this game achieves so well make the shortcomings seem like more of a misstep than it normally would be. The voice acting in many ways is just average, which really surprised me since this is the first time there are voice actors in a Zelda game that both Nintendo and the voice actors didn’t go for perfection. In many of the cutscene it seemed like they were took only a couple times. The Divine Beast are very interesting and unique concept the first couple you do but later on I realized they were extremely short and boring compared to past Zelda dungeons. They also have exactly the same boring interior look for each dungeon and shrine. Again, previous Zelda dungeons where much more creative and interesting than these and if one thing gets changed in the sequel I hope it would be this. Most of the other problem I had were small. The music in this game is perfect for what the game is supposed to be, but for a more personal problem I miss the bombastic Hyrule Field music or the optimistic Great Sea theme. Again this is not a problem for the game but a personal one. The durability system is almost great for the ability to keep you on your toes at all times but I would like if you got a couple more hits out of each weapon, so instead that would make players be more aggressive instead of being cautious about breaking weapons. The menu system works ok but I still often find myself stumbling around in it. Also I didn’t like how you can only hold 5 items at a time; I would like to be able to hold more. In conclusion, this game is fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in it. This is probably my favorite game of all time, mainly because I have had so many memorable moments from it and I can call my adventures in the game my own. This game got me back into video games and I really appreciate it for that. Yes, the game does have flaws just like every other game ever will, but here hoping the recently announced direct sequel can fix some of those problem, retain what’s great about this game, and come up with creative ideas and story to make it unique from its predecessor.