MetaBones

It's actually amazing that this game is still available for purchase. The game is a collection of 5 maps named "Location 1-5" where you spawn in with no context and kill some bots with some bot teammates. Controls are a pure misery to handle as camera sensitivity is extremely sluggish. Controls themselves are not well chosen. Performance is a complete mess and there's nothing here that justifies any price tag. I got this on sale to have a good laughdue to the blatant COD rip off Switch slop but after playing a few matches, I feel physically ill thinking about playing it just to make fun of it.

This is quite a nothing burger. Charging any amount of money for this shows yet again, Nintendo's refusal to understand where their product actually sits in quality. The mini-games were mildly interesting but I have no interest in going back to any of them and since I don't have every accessory, I can't even finish some of the mini games. If this was packed in for free with the console, I'd say this is interesting, albeit lazy. Since it's a product with its own price tag, I have to say it's an embarrassment.

I've enjoyed my time playing the game but as a value proposition, this is not worth the asking price of $80. Prime example of Nintendo overestimating the quality of their product. Visually and with presentation, it's quite excellent! Free roam is enjoyable, knockout mode is actually fantastic, and and it's overall enjoyable to play in this chaos. But I was honestly expecting a much more robust progression system, more fulfilling unlockables, more sensible UI and menus (character and kart menus are endless pages that require too much work). I miss kart customization as well as more standard tracks that have repetitive laps as well. Don't get me wrong, the open-world style of tracks keep things quite fresh and unpredictable for a time but there's something to be said for the mastery that comes with being able to practice the same lap a few times to improve your overall performance. This feels more like survival which as its own enjoyable elements to it but we lose something in the process.

There's a lot of great potential here for a game that's a blast to play through with friends but at the core of the game, they took everything I loved about souls games from this and forced me to play fast and frantic. Something I'm not a fan of doing. That itself is not the biggest issue. My big issues are traversal feels a little clunky climbing up rocks and such, performance is difficult to look at, the game's difficulty feels insanely unbalanced, there's no cross-platform support, no 2-player only mode, and the game isn't balanced for 1-player either. These are all features missing that I would hope they add but as it is with the several hours I've played, I'm just not excited about jumping back in. If anything, I just kind of want to go back to Elden Ring.

I really can't say enough postive things about this game. It's impeccably designed, wonderfully crafted, and incredibly passionate in its vision. The folks at Hazelight should be proud of their work here and I'm excited to try it again next year with a new co-op partner

Visually, this game is quite a treat and aside from my daughter enjoying watching me play it, I myself didn't find much fun to be had. Sure the varied mechanics for each play make for a microsmic gaming experience for Peach to delve into numerous game genres but the mechanics were so painfully simplistic it felt boring and un-stimulating to play through. I wish I could say it was fun but I just wasn't very entertained and felt the game was overall bland and frustrating to play.

Stellar in every aspect. I adore everything about this game and am so shocked it took me this long to get around to playing it. Deserves every award it ever got!

There's some things to love about the game and I actually like the cell-shading style of the aesthetics but the game is just not fun to play. It's way too simple for any personal able to read (which you need to know anyway). Its content doesn't justify the price since it feels like there's a lot of bloat for such a simple gameplay loop. There are some great moments sprinkled in here and as a co-op game itself, it works better than others to make both players feel valued and important but after a few hours or so, me and my daughter got bored and preferred to play something else. She hasn't asked to play it since and I haven't felt inclined to myself. Also, at this point, there's no excuses anymore for Nintendo to have poorly-optimized first-party games for premium price.

I generally don't like to give a rating to a game I haven't seen the credits to but since this game is so set on not allowing me to finish and forcing artificial boosts to xp grind my way through the game, I have to call it quits and say this is a poor experience. I found the main story interesting for the first hour and quickly got bored. Not many encounters ended up being fun. Entire progression felt poorly designed and unfulfilling, combat was rough and janky. Movement itself felt outdated and for a game of this budget, I was actually expecting overall better quality than what I got. The criticisms of where AC has gone and Ubisoft's approach really shines brightest here. I can't support this un-fun and bloated game with intentionally predatory design choices designed to make the player pay more to advance the story. The game had potential and there are some good moments but the entire experience can't make up for the fact that while I didn't spend hardly anything on this game, it wasted my time harder than most games available.

There's a lot to love about the game and I really liked the art style. The concept of 2D to 3D jump was a wonderful idea and the game mechanics themselves have a ton of creative promise. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite live up to it's potential with shocking glitches and bugs, clunky combat, and a few contrived areas, puzzles. I would generally recommend the experience since the value for money is fair enough but it doesn't hit the marks I was hoping for. I also expected a game that would work with local co-op but alas, the single-player only structure felt like it stunted the narrative potential of the experience.

What an experience! I never played the original but always wanted to so when I tried this version out, I was pleasantly surprised to find a well-paced, highly effective, and immersive horror sci-fi experience that delivered an incredible atmosphere and high-quality game. I loved every minute of the game! Technically, it's one of the most impressive games I've played on my PS5 and for a remake, I appreciate the added features, options, and improvements. I also can't get over how good the sound design is! Overall, I loved almost everything about this game. I think I would've liked to see a different menu system and there were a couple times when button presses were not responsive but these were quite rare and didn't really detract from the overall experience. Fantastic in every level! Well done to Criterion and motive and EA for the project. Please finish the trilogy for remakes!

There's definitely some fantastic ideas going into this game and the visual presentation is of course top notch. Unfortunately, the campaign suffers from poorly designed and terribly unbalanced combat encounters, episodes that last way too long, and writing that is quite predictable and cliched. There were elements to this game I thoroughly enjoyed but slugging through the campaign became so arduous that I just couldn't take it anymore.

As an expansion, this might be the most ambitious and well-worth DLC that's been made. It has so many hours of quality content with incredible places to explore, fun and challenging bosses to fight, and interesting lore that expands on the base game in meaningful ways. I'm truly happy with buying it and it really fills in Elden Ring into a complete fantasy RPG experience. That being said, I do have criticms. First one, difficulty. I've played through every ince of Elden Ring base game as well as Dark Souls and Bloodborne and I can say that the difficulty with some of these bosses (two in particular) are designed so brutal, it's not balanced and fair in any least bit. I had to resort to a completely different build that required no skill just to complete the last boss and I know I will never fight him again. Second, exploration is haulted at so many turns due to it's lack of interconnectivity (something FromSoftware is known for). Traversing to different locations and pieces of the maps require way too obscure methods to get there and these paths are just too hidden that looking up guides just to see where to go to progress is frustrating. Third, fire furnace golems. Done The game truly is incredible and it is a high-quality piece of DLC that is very much worth the price tag but the extreme difficulty, obscure and confusing traversal, and unfun enemies do make me concerned about their future with the next games. I hope the right lessons are taken from this DLC.

As my very first Final Fantasy experience ever, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this old classic. I enjoyed the gameplay, the adventure, and the music (so good). I also enjoyed having some customization options to craft the game experience to be a bit more personal but I feel like the devs/publishers could've provided more options than what's present including really old school visuals of the old format game. In-game, the only major complaint I had was the game's final boss being just way too overtuned for what's natural. I think that boss needs some serious balancing help.

For as long as it took me to get to this game, I have lots of regret that I never finished it sooner. Bioshock is an unforgettable gaming experience from start to finish. It's rare that I have so few complaints with a game but I really feel like Bioshock is an airshut tight experience. The story is absolutely incredible, the art direction is immersive, and the gameplay is varied with many weapons and tools to use in various situations which keeps encounters fresh and replayable. For a game as old as this, it's aged like fine wine and anytime is a great time to play this masterpiece ****.

Overall, the game truly is great and ambitious. It's a miracle this game runs on the switch considering how intricate the mechanics are and how much the hardware is being pushed to its absolute limits. In most ways in fact, Tears of the Kingdom improves on Breath of the Wild in almost every way. I enjoyed the story more, the problem solving is quite creative, and there's lots of technical quality of life improvements in terms of inventory management, cooking and recipes, balancing, classic dungeon structures with a more directed narrative and focus. There are however some issues. First, my favorite part of Breath of the Wild were the shrines; bite-sized and simple mental exercises that were short and enjoyable. In Tears, the shrines were my most hated and frustrating aspect. They were simply too difficult to figure out on my own I had to look up a guide after an hour of experimenting only to say "oh that's how you do it, yeah I never would've thought to do that". In those moments, I felt like I've been cheated of my time. Especially since you only get 1 blessing of light. The new mechanics and tools in this game are quite genius but how they are implemented can be very awkward to execute. I'll also mention that core aspects of the janky combat and controls remain completely unchanged from Breath of the Wild which is an obvious area of potential improvement. Overall however, the game really does succeed in important ways that make it worth experiencing.

It's definitely a fun game with lots to offer. As a piece in the Arkham world, I think it fits well and provides a pretty solid story. I also enjoyed the "open world" aspect of a larger Gotham to explore and I didn't really feel like the "emptiness" of the city was a real downside. The issues I have with the game come from every mark not quite hitting its full potential and several moments/boss fights I feel like being among the worst in the series. The game also feels much less polished in terms of mechanics, flow, combat, and scene-to-scene dialogue. It really isn't a bad game but by the end of my playthrough, my mind was more opened to the many moments of mediocrity that hurt the game. It's still fun and worth checking out if you're a fan of the Arkham games.

Can't express how great this game really is! Bloodborne is many fans' favorite FromSoftware game and it's easy to see why. The environment and atmosphere is unmatched, the gameplay is smooth and more dynamic than other Soulsbourne titles, and every other aspect makes this game a true masterpiece. I do have a few criticisms but they are minor. First, after several playthroughs, I truly believe the beginning of the game is just too difficult. The learning curve is extremely steep and it hurts its chance of keeping players that would love the experience. Second, the chalice dungeons feel like a solid experiment but much more could've been done with them. Thirdly, the 30 fps is a disappointment since 60 would've been much better. Still, your eyes adjust to the motion so it's not too big of a deal. Lastly, there are story elements that would've made the experience better if they weren't so abstract and vague. More clarity would've definitely helped the overall game. I'm used to Dark Souls and the vague storytelling but this might be FromSoftware's most abstract narrative to date. All my criticisms aside, I do feel like a 10 is an appropriate score due to how creatively rich and finely tuned the game is. I loved each area and boss in its own way, I loved every weapon and felt the balance was on point. The trick weapon system was a fantastic choice and the overall experience was one of the most unforgettable gaming experiences I've ever had. Out of all FromSoftware games, I'm most excited to start new playthroughs more than any other title from them. Did I also mention this game has some of the best gaming music of all time? Yeah, I think it does!

The title has a lot going for it in terms of rules and accessibility for players to play with different rule sets and customize the experience to be what they want. Presentation itself is quite good but the monetization and poor gameplay experience soured the experience for me. Even having the game set to easiest difficulty settings resulted in AI opponents spamming me with skips and draw twos in a way that no real life game ever paralleled. It's not a terrible buy but I'd only recommend it if it's on a sale and even then, Ubisoft seemed intent on in-game advertisements even before the title screen which is never acceptable to me.

It's quite painful to give this any lower than an 8 since these games were amazing for my childhood and I think they are good games at their core. This port/particular release of the games though has so many issues that can't be ignored. On PS5, the offline/single player modes work well and stable (minus one big problem - more on that later). The slightly upscaled textures look decent but sometimes expose how visually dated the games are now and the 60 fps performance has been quite stable and impressive. Their addition of old DLC content was great and the opportunity to play this once again on console after so many years of not being able to is refreshing. The gestures is great for game preservation and I want to support projects like these as much as I can. Unfortunately, this is where praise has to end for this release. As much as I've praised the game's offline modes, Battlefront II's main campaign is actually missing content from the original game. Controls seem off too. When I booted up Battlefront's offline modes I was impressed by how good everything felt. This was strange when I hopped over to Battlefront II to find the controls and navigation felt off. The majority of issues present with this release are the incredible number of problems with the multiplayer. Information and stories are accessible about the multiplayer launch of this game but needless to say, it's a train wreck. Each day passes I see more and more improvements so that's good but there are still issues present at the time of writing this like matchmaking problems, disorganized servers, lack of balancing/quality control, etc. My several multiplayer attempts have been an insane experience of spawning in, getting shot immediately, then respawning only for the game to end. On top of the multiplayer issues, I think a release like this deserves some accessibility elements and quality-of-life improvements. For example, there are no inversion/reverse control settings to change in starfighter battles (or any mode), no controller remapping, and no explanations as to the career stats/medal system. Overall, I'd still recommend the game on Nintendo Switch and Playstation since they haven't been available and been time-capsuled to the PS2/Xbox but if you're on PC, there's really no reason to grab it. The other versions work fine too and are cheaper. For those that don't have/like PC gaming with these (like me), $35 for this is worth it enough to see updates to the game and preserve the game for your own library.

For a free-to-play fun and poppy game that anyone with the most basic PS plus subscription can play, the game does a lot right. Where it succeeds most is its fun gameplay and variations of characters. Its presentation is great and its well-polished with no technical issues I encountered. The combat and gameplay is rewarding and easy to get yourself **** into. The compliments stop there though as the online store/microtransactions seem quite expensive compared to other options. The story, voice-acting (at least in English), and single-player experience are all quite poor to be honest. The fact that it has any solo gameplay modes at all is appreciated though but when it comes down to it, I realize this really isn't my kind of game. I can still appreciate the good qualities of the game though and for any fans of this kind of game, I would recommend giving it a try since barrier-to-entry is so incredibly low.

While I did participate in multiplayer with a friend and do everything effectively twice, I was shocked to find myself at about 120 hours into the game and still hadn't seen the credits. For any player that's wanting to skip all of the exploration, story, and world-building, Elden Ring can certainly cater to you. However, as someone that likes to take my time with my games, I enjoyed being a part of this world for so long. Full retail price doesn't even cover the amount of content and fun you can have in this game. While I did get frustrated with certain mechanics and features of the game (like the boss's unwillingness to stop their combos for one second to give you a chance to attack), I felt like this was FromSoft's culmination of countless lessons. As someone that just finished Dark Souls 1 not too long ago, I loved all of the quality-of-life changes they applied to this formula. This really is a remarkable experience and one of the best games I've ever played in my life.

This has become my comfort/relaxing game when I want to enjoy an interesting space exploration journey without much conflict. I love the open and free feeling of flying straight into a planet, land, discover, and then fly seamlessly to a new planet. The game feels pretty well-optimized for the PS5 although loading times are quite long but framerate and fidelity is pretty stable. I also have to applaud the team of Hello Games for continuing to improve the game over the years to make into what more of what fans wanted.

A new and improved version in UFC 4 in mostly ever way, I've been thoroughly enjoying my time with it. The new features are quite enjoyable, the new punch card system took some time to accept but I actually think it works with the daily and weekly challenges. I love the fight predictions mechanic and the new roster has a ridiculous amount of fighters for each weight class. Even some old ones from the good ol' UFC 3 Undisputed days which is what I grew up with. My favorite aspects though are the new ground grappling system and frostbite engine updates. Both make the game so much better to me! My only real gripes right now is some of the striking doesn't seem quite as snappy as UFC 4. I hope they tune up some of the responsiveness to some of the basic striking it's kind of feeling a little sluggish. Really this is a great update to the game. Might not be as dramatic of a change for some people but I think they improved where they needed to and kept what worked. Definitely would recommend to any UFC fan/fight game fans that enjoy UFC/UFC games and don't automatically hate anything with the EA label on it.

At first, I didn't want to be too harsh but I thought if this game wasn't a 0, what game would? The game certainly has its audience that enjoys the "so bad it's fun" genre but I found the game so painfully unpleasant in every category I felt it unfortunate that I spent the measly $5 only to not have an ounce of fun with it. As excruciatingly difficult as the game is, I never felt a sense of accomplishment, gratification, or discovery. Not every game needs a story or compelling characters to be fun, but there's nothing here to grab on to emotionally. Aesthetically, the game looks, feels, and sounds ugly. The music is (intentionally mind you) obnoxious, the character controls are clumsy, and the game is just completely pointless. Again, it's clear that all of my issues with it are intentional but that doesn't make the game any better.

It's been a great pleasure to finally have the Harry Potter game I always wanted since I was younger when I was watching the movies and reading the books. Considering the relative lack of experience from this studio, it's really impressive that they managed to create not just the school of Hogwarts but a large open world to complement the story and exploration. Not only is the scale quite large, but the attention to detail in the environments and art direction shows just how much care and craft went into the design. The developers were obviously fans of the franchise. Some have criticized the game's main story for being shallow and uninteresting. Honestly, I couldn't disagree more. I thought it was the right amount of content with enough side-mission integration and variety to keep the turns interesting. The climax of the story even felt epic in a classic video game sense. The entire experience was nostalgic and very enjoyable with lots to love but it wasn't a perfect experience. Some unfortunate open-world traps and tediums do find their way here with meaningless fetch quests, repetitive enemy encampments, and dry collectibles making the completionist's journey a bit of a drag. As an RPG, it fails to deliver any real meaningful variations of how you play, and no decisions you make really make the game's design different and unique. Ultimately, there's really one direction in the story and your character really goes so character/build freedom isn't really present here. I would care more about this but to me, the magic was living a Hogwarts student experience and while it wasn't perfect, it was well worth the price tag and the hours spent in the game. I'm looking forward to seeing what Avalanche Studios does next and I'm happy to see this game be a general success both critically and commercially.

What is there to say about Dark Souls that hasn't already been said? No other game has captured the pure joy of exploration and accomplishment more than The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Every decision you make has meaning and significance to your playthrough. The game is extremely difficult but so rewarding and the storytelling is clear enough to direct the player and motivate the direction but open and abstract enough to interpret and design your own context and story of the game. As my first From Software game now finished to credits, I'm excited to experience every single one now!

As a newcomer to the franchise, I was excited to graduate from my Mario Kart days to some real racing that I could sink my teeth into. While the overall experience had a couple bumps and hiccups, I've been generally impressed with how fun the game is and how accessible it's been for someone like me. First, the good. Of all the sports games I've played or experienced, the single-player story/campaign is phenomenal and easily the best in any sports game. The campaign features more of a continuing sequel from a past game but the small video catching me up on the story was precise and clear enough. Characters and plot are incredibly interesting and graphically, facial animations and lighting are some of the most impressive I've ever seen. The game also features a plethora of different game modes and settings to tinker around with and the UI is decently clear and intuitive enough to figure things out. F1 World game mode particularly is where you'll probably spend most of your time. I was also pleasantly surprised to see a healthy amount of single-player options for racing too since online multiplayer can be a hit or miss depending on my internet's daily attitude. The inclusion of split-screen local multiplayer too was a nice touch that meant a lot to me and the wife as well. Overall though, what's most fun is the mechanical aspects of the racing itself, which I found to be deep and immersive. The experience would definitely be enhanced if I had a wheel but I've enjoyed my time with a controller anyway. The entire experience isn't completely perfect though. I did notice some screen tearing during particular cutscenes post-race with crowds and some learning curves to adapt to deeper game/racing mechanics weren't ideal. I would've also preferred a more formal tutorial that helped me learn the absolute basics of the game since I was new. Overall, my experience has been great and the game is fun, polished, and tightly tuned with loads of stuff to do and plenty of options to try. I'm already 20 hours in and I feel like I just now have scratched the surface. I was able to grab this on sale for $35 but the full retail price is fair enough for the amount of content and game you're getting.

There's a few elements to the game that's narratively interesting and compelling but with only a mere 5% of the game being acceptable, the other 95% of the game is a boring, broken, and poorly constructed mess. The notion that the developers didn't care about the IP is something I definitely disagree with. It's apparent there is some passion in here but the game is simply so poorly conceived and flawed by design that is squanders any potential the game could have even if it was executed well (which its not). Normally, I wouldn't be too harsh on an experimental game with an inexperienced dev team but the asking price of $60 makes the value proposition so unacceptable that the game and publisher deserve all the criticism they've received. You just simply can't price a game like this at that. Maybe half the price but even that might be a bit much.

Playing through Spider-Man was a treat that reminded me of my childhood years playing Ultimate Spider-Man for the Nintendo Gamecube. It brought back a sense of whimsical adventure, exploration, and conflict that made Spider-Man such a great video game idea. But wow, have we come so far since those days! The story was quite exceptional considering how many canon villains they chose to include. There were several dialogue moments that felt forced and unnatural for the VO performances and animations maintained wonderful immersion. Some villains' however fall into stereotypical and cliched traps that only serve to be a catalyst for Spider-Man and nothing more. Still, the plot evolved from intriguing action to a heartfelt conclusion that felt more than satisfying. The game was also a pleasure (mostly) to be a completionist with. Some side-missions left much to be desired and many grindy moments of stopping crimes and defeating baddies did get exhausting after a while but the overall experience remains much more focused than other adventures games that punish 100% completion. DLC adventures were quite good too albeit slightly underdeveloped. These chapters also offered a new challenge with varying enemy types that kept the combat loops much more interesting. Unfortunately, I hated the Screwball missions and dreaded doing those for completion. I felt they weren't thoroughly designed well and it didn't help I found the characters unbearable to listen to. Combat was quite fun once I got the hang of it and the use of all the gadgets brought a new aspect to Spider-Man that made each encounter feel fresh. Exploration and traversal was definitely one of the highlights of the game as exploring the city with great attention to detail made you immersed as the characters. Technically, the game performed quite perfectly. Visual fidelity was excellent and the rock-solid frame rate gave a perfect combat experience. It's overall a great superhero game experience that feels satisfying and enjoyable to play and despite my knowledge of the core story anyway, I'm excited to return to the game in the future for New Game plus!

What many criticize this game for (lack of 007, futuristic gadgets and weaponry, more robotic characters and gameplay) are precisely why I enjoyed this title as much as I did. As an old fan of the game during my childhood, I decided to return to the game once again to finally finish the core campaign and see if it was as enjoyable as I remember it being. Fortunately, it mostly was. The latter missions became repetitive however and gameplay loops felt stale despite the goldeneye enhancements/upgrades. Still, the multiplayer elements surprisingly held up pretty well (even as unbalanced as they still are). Story leaves some to be desired. The plot's premise itself holds well enough but major plot beats are left underdeveloped and transitioned poorly which loses continuity and logic between set pieces. The player is left to fill in the blanks with what obviously would be there. The game is still an enjoyable ride and a smaller time commitment which is why I'd generally recommend giving it another look.

This really is the "ultimate" Super Smash Bros game! As a party game that's the ultimate crowd-pleaser, this doesn't disappoint. As a follow-up to all the other Smash games Nintendo has produced, it represents years of fine-tuning and creativity the franchise has to offer. Everything here is massively improved from previous entries. Fight mechanics are much more precise and enjoyable, items are more dynamic yet balanced than ever, and various game modes with spirit introduction add a new layer of gameplay that makes collecting genuinely rewarding. For the story mode/World of Light, as repetitive and tedious as the spirit battles can become, it ended up being so enjoyable that I was actually happy to start a New Game +. I do wish there was some more narrative elements and maybe more cutscenes throughout but I can't complain given the amount of areas, battles, and sometimes puzzles to solve. There are a couple of complaints I have. One of which is the absence of target smash which was a huge part of melee I really loved. I understand designing unique target smash courses with each of the 64+ characters is a ridiculous feet but maybe making generic stages like in Brawl could've helped. Target Smash was always a great place for me to learn all the character's move sets in a fun and challenging way. I'm also disappointed to see so many Fire Emblem characters that don't differentiate themselves from each other all that much. Sorry to the Fire Emblem fans maybe I'm just not a fan of the series that much but I would've loved to see Waluigi, King Boo, another Pokemon, and maybe some others. The re-skins of characters were disappointing as well. Why have Pichu when we already have Pikachu? The moves are the same! Even making a hefty and burly Raichu instead could've mixed things up. The DLC characters however are fantastic and add a great variety I wasn't expecting. On the game modes, I would've liked to see a few variations of the bonus stage on classic mode. However, catering the fight experience to each fighter was a nice touch. For the stages, there's more options than ever and one of my favorite features of this game is the battlefield and flat variations of every stage. That is such a brilliant and much needed addition for people that prefer the simple stage layout but want more visual variation. Another small nitpick is actually just how easy it is to unlock characters. Literally I felt like I just opened a menu somewhere and I was being challenged. Older games unlocking characters really felt like something special but it doesn't at all in this game. Overall, the game is truly fantastic, notwithstanding my nitpicks. It's fun, has so much to offer, and the fun doesn't end when you complete World of Light. I'm still having fun clearing the challenge boards, Spirit boards, and going through NG+. It really is a fantastic game and my personal favorite Super Smash game of all time now.

I came into this game in early 2023 so my experience included no microtransactions, no lootboxes, or really any kind of dirty tricks (at least from what I've experienced). I realize I came into the game experience after EA and DICE had corrected mistakes and made the experience much more enjoyable for the player. Since I wasn't jaded by from launch, I came into this game really with a neutral perspective; a star wars fan that loved the original Battlefront II and wanted to experience something like it but technically superior. Fortunately, I got just that: a technically superior Battlefront 2 with more features and things to do. That's not to say I don't have a few complaints (which I'll get into in a bit) but from my experience with the game, the good far outweighed the bad and I've loved playing this game in several different modes. It did take some time to adjust to slightly different controls and character-specific abilities but once I did through the main story and battle scenarios, I felt prepared enough to enjoy the general game modes. The story/main campaign I felt was pretty solid. I see where some criticisms come from of the story being thinly-written and skeletal in its approach. I think the criticisms of the story being terrible are not fair however. I grew to like all the characters and felt the ending was quite epic in every way. I just think Iden's character arc could've been a bit more fleshed out in the middle for her story to have a better impact. The structure for a great story was absolutely there but it ended up being just good. Better development could've made it truly great. My main complaints on the game had to do with a couple of performance issues that I experienced in the main story. On the Luke Skywalker mission I spawned in and fell right through the map. Didn't even do anything just fell right through into oblivion until I restarted the mission. On the royalty mission, when I eliminated the storm troppers they all started just floating around like they were in space and when you're eliminating that many troopers, it just looks hilarious seeing a hundred dead troopers just floating like balloons on Naboo. Fortunately, I never experienced anything like this again and still haven't. I've seen some frame-rate dips here and there but generally the performance is great despite those 2 awful experiences. Besides the couple of technical issues and the story not being as fleshed out as I wanted, I've had a lot of fun with the game and it's been exactly what I wanted. If some of these user reviewers were intellectually honest and wanted to review bomb a game to get EA to change, they would acknowledge the course correction and change their review to actually reflect the game's current quality instead of just blindly wage a hate war on EA. The game is great and deserves a lot more love now and props to DICE and EA for fixing the old mistakes and making a better game.

Needless to say, transitioning from Xbox 360's UFC Undisputed 3 to this, there was quite a learning curve considering the controls were very different. The basics were similar but the ground game control took a full career playthrough to grasp. The game's general layout, point system, and objectives also took time to orient. Generally though, this is my favorite UFC game so far. There are some controls and features I miss from the old game but the sheer amount of new features and improvements they've made make for a lot more interesting of an experience. The biggest improvement is the fight week simulations leading up to your fights. The career mode lets you enjoy a more realistic approach to what athletes go through by simulating injuries, time in between fight offers, and promoting your fight through various activities. These additions really make for a fun and more thought-out approach to not just your fight but your athlete's career. I've heard complaints about microtransactions and advertisements. Maybe these were issues at launch because as I play this in early 2023, I haven't seen any. There are options to purchase more in-game currency and cosmetics but I've never been ambushed by advertisements. I also have not experienced outrageous glitches. I've seen one or two here and there and a few frame-rate dips during some fighter cut scenes but from a technical level, I have no real complaints. What I would have liked to see is more "work-out" training options in the career mode instead of just sparring sessions as well as a couple of extra positions for jiu-jitsu (no butterfly guard option so far). I also would've liked to see career integration with the kumite and backyard locations if possible. I realize some realism could've been lost but hey, it's a video game. Overall though, it was a tough game to understand the mechanics at first but once I got a hang of it, I enjoyed it a lot and am excited to begin a new career on hard difficulty. I have no doubt other critics of the game faced compromising issues in the game's early life cycle. I also have no doubt that some players are incredibly biased against EA and unable to recognize all the fun the game can offer, especially now. Some players even admit to not even playing the game and wanting to downvote the game simply because EA is the publisher. These reviews shouldn't be acknowledged unless someone has actually given the game a fair shot. If there are any new players considering it, I would say give it a chance. I found it on sale for $10 and it was well worth the money.

Notwithstanding the many technical issues my 360 release had, I simply just wasn't interested or invested in the game or story. I do think having a more powerful console/hardware could've helped the technical issues but I thought the game was a stale and uninspired world with a few interesting concepts but was banking too hard on the good name of Lord of the Rings. I thought the combat mechanics were definitely intriguing and the world building happening was quite fascinating at times but the world in which the characters inhabit feel bland and uninteresting. The open-world format also lends itself overwhelming paralysis where the player doesn't quite have enough information to know really where to go or what to do. What's worse, it feels so open that you really don't know why you're doing anything in the first place and by the time you do grasp what's going, it's too late to make an informed decision. Open-world games can absolutely be done well by the beginning of Skyrim for instance, doesn't overwhelm the player with "options" too soon but the more you explore, the more places you can go. It remains focused in the beginning while you're understanding the game and gradually opens the game up to you once you're confident and knowledgeable enough. This game could've benefited from a more focused approach near the beginning and had a gradual opening as you became more oriented and progressed. While I had my fair share of gripes, the story isn't bad. It's got great moments and a compelling premise but due to its lack of focus, the power of the story sometimes feels lost.

If ever you could make an EA sports game from Quidditch, this is it. I don't have too much complaints about the game as a whole except for a few mechanical changes that could've made the actual gameplay a bit more complex and rewarding but considering the target audience, it's hard to be too critical. The game is simply just super fun through and through. It's got great gameplay as any of the 4 major Hogwarts house teams and once you get into the World Cup series with different countries, that's where the real fun begins. I would've liked to see a more fleshed-out experience with power-ups, stats, and other extra features but again, with the target audience in mind, it's hard to be too critical. I honestly think this is one of the best Harry Potter video games available and totally worth playing. It's especially great for kids of course but it really is just super fun.

In every way possible, Melee amps up the greatness that made the Nintendo 64 Smash Bros game so much fun. It introduces tons of new characters to the roster, allows you a rewarding character-unlocking system, provides tons of bonus content and game modes to try, and fine-tunes the mechanics with much more precision. Even now on the Nintendo Switch players prefer to use the GameCube controller layout due to their experience with this game. The new adventure mode is a real treat and classic mode features a healthy variety of battles and bonus stages to test your knowledge of the character's moves and abilities. The trophy collection implementation is not only a rewarding experience but a true gamer's collection dream as it provides lots of context from outside games and overall celebrates the franchises they include. Smash Bros. Melee is a true tribute to gaming and is just one of the most fun games ever made for any platform. If you're not into smash 'em combat games, you may not enjoy yourself but there's still some things to love and respect about the game anyway.

Goblet of Fire was one of my favorite Harry Potter films and the Triwizard tournament would translate brilliantly into a game, on paper that is. I felt like this game was a drag and lazy throughout its level design with uninspired puzzles and minimal engagement throughout. Worst of all, however, was the mechanics. Orienting yourself with the camera physically hurt and getting your character's movement and spells right was honestly a matter of a coin toss. The mechanical experience of the game was just unbearable to me. There were some great ideas in the game and I didn't see too much of a performance dip unless lots of visual action was happening but the game overall is just a bland and awful experience. It's not worth the money and it's not worth any time.

I remember not enjoying this as a kid on the gameboy very much. When I revisited the game a few months ago to give it a complete playthrough, I remembered why I stopped playing the game after the first few levels. The mechanics are completely wrong for the gameboy's button layout, the levels and platforming were excruciating to get through and the tasks you're given as a player are simply not fun. If others have fun with the game that's great and I'm happy for them. I just didn't enjoy the game much. It's not all negative however, some maps had some visual variety that I thought was interesting and could've even improved the movie! That said, it wasn't nearly enough to justify buying the game again only to be disappointed and never want to play it again.

As a massive fan of the game during my childhood, I decided to revisit the game this time without the rose-tinted glasses. While it remained fun and enjoyable to play through the journey of the story, I felt like the replayability of the game just isn't there once the journey is done and you've saved all of the "shadow" Pokemon. The game wasn't bad at all but rather lacks in any scale or scope for any of the areas. There are virtually no extra content to have fun with and the game feels like it's missing some great bonus modes and features that would've made the game much better. Still, what has been done is done and executed well. In terms of other Pokemon stories where you save Pokemon from an evil gang, this is easily one of my favorites. The game could've just been bigger and better than Pokemon Colleseum but didn't quite live up to what it could have. It was still a great nostalgia trip that holds up moderately well.

Following up on one of the best action games in recent memory, Batman: Arkham City manages to up the ante in almost every way you can imagine. While it loses some of the focused and contained psychological elements of Arkham Asylum, this sequel makes up for the loss in sheer scale and ambition in its story, side missions and extra DLC content. Not only did Rocksteady create a bolder and more ambitious game story, but they also created more memorable villain boss fights, multiply Riddler challenges by 5x, and just smash so much more content and things to do in the game. I loved the Catwoman and Robin DLC challenges and options in-game as well as the introduction of new skins to play with and of course the much larger map Batman has to fly across. Also important is the slightly refined combat mechanics from Arkham Asylum. One of the very few complaints I had with Asylum was its occasional combat mechanic issues and clunkiness that made it less fluid than hoped for. All those issues were fixed in the sequel. If you're a fan of Batman games, this might be the definitive Batman game out there (still need to play Arkham Knight). The story, challenges, gadgets, content, and overall experience make this simply one of the best games I've ever played.

Ultimately, this game is what convinced me to pick up a Nintendo Switch and while I've loved the game, I'm also grateful to it for opening the gateway to a lot of other great Switch games! Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the pokemon game I never quite knew I wanted. Yes, I knew I wanted a more free and "open-world" style Pokemon experience but having the time-period be so feudal and simple was something I would never think of. Yet, it now stands as one of my favorite games in the franchise. The premise of lawless and dangerous Pokemon expeditions is intriguing from beginning to end. You start as a helpless nobody that moves up the ranks to a respected and confident Pokemon master ready to brave the elements and enemies you'll encounter. The excitement of making the franchise fresh again cannot be understated. Arceus managed to keep the suspense up by constant discovering new Pokemon in various locations and completing the first Pokedex. I've heard critics complain about some clunky mechanics. Personally, I've experienced no such problems. Everything felt smooth and intuitive enough and once you understand the basics, mastering the mechanics are rather straight-forward. My only complaints come down the aesthetics and scope of the region you explore. First, the aesthetics, the art-style by design was a great choice in my opinion. I just think more graphical detail could've been added to enhance certain landscapes like bushes and trees. This would've furthered my immersion. Second, scope of the region. I was happy with the amount of places to explore and find Pokemon but felt a little disappointed that there weren't small villages throughout the region. The idea the Jubilife is essentially it is quite disappointing. This could've been a great opportunity for additional side-quests to help neighboring villages and their relationships with the Pokemon they'd likely be afraid of. I would've also liked to some kind of flash forward in time to your character's original time era to take a glance at how things have changed. I understand that's asking for a lot but it could've sent the game soaring. All the side quests and space-time glitches where strange pokemon appear are great additions enough to keep things interesting apart from the core game. Overall, I would've liked to see some more technical finesse to the final product but the number of risks they took and bold gameplay make this game far outweigh its admittedly many flaws. Most importantly, however, it made me fall back in love with the game franchise that made me love video games in the first place. For that, well done!

As far as Batman games go, it really doesn't get much better than this. The developers obviously knew what would captivate players and gave them a contained, focused, and varied journey as Batman's toughest night! For 2009, the visual fidelity and graphical performance are quite impressive and I didn't have too many issues with frame rate dips on the 360 minus the occasional hiccup when switching to new locations. Load times were pretty fast and general performance was solid (although it heated my 360 something fierce after a couple of hours). What impressed me most was the story and narrative that drives Batman further into the hellhole that is the Asylum. The pacing feels similar to a contained horror survival while seamlessly blending some nice detective/mystery-solving elements, environmental problem-solving, and some great brawling action. My only gripe with the gameplay itself was some combat encounters felt a little stiff and not as fluid as it should have. Several times I saw myself completely missing the target (even when I shouldn't have) and then other times countering in the wrong direction only to have my combo remain intact. The minor combat hiccups weren't consistent to ruin the game or anything but I felt like it could've been refined just a tad more. The Scarecrow sequences interwoven with the game were especially incredible and my hats off to not only the developers executing these ideas but the creatives that thought this up in the first place. The transitions between the real world and Batman's hallucinations are transitions I can only imagine in this medium and I feel like Rocksteady has taken full advantage of this medium to provide a definitive and memorable Batman experience. The voice acting was incredible too. Joker's taunts and henchmen's re-used dialogue did get repetitive and thoroughly obnoxious after a while but the voice talent on display makes the bother much less. Character variety and villain encounters are also unique and fun to experience. The terrifying environment of Killer Croc's lair is thoroughly anxiety-ridden and the careful maneuvering of Bane makes the boss fights grounded and rewarding to go through. In general, it's hard to imagine this game getting any better. If the combat mechanics were just a tad smoother for me, I dare say the game is perfect. It not only delivers on anything a Batman fan might want in a game, but it also makes it thoroughly enjoyable to collect Riddler's trophies, unlock Arkham secrets, and pursue challenges long after the credits roll.

The use the game makes of the double screen and the villain variety boosts this game's luster much more than other Spider-man games would've for its time. The adventures are fine, the story is decent, and the playable villains are the most enjoyable part of the game. Unfortunately, the game doesn't offer anything in terms of re-playability. It's visually unappealing (even for a DS game) and it's linear and contained approach leave no room for bonus content or anything compelling once the credits roll. Overall, it's a decent DS game experience for a good price so if you can find it for a severe discount, it's worth checking out.

Giving this thing anything less than a stellar rating is quite controversial but nevertheless, I need to be honest. 90% of the game is phenomenal. The other 10% is detrimental enough for my own enjoyment that it brings the entire game down in my book. First, the great. The open world aspect lends itself well to the franchise and was a fresh take on the formula. Starting off with all your necessary tools and learning how to use them promotes creativity for problem solving unlike anything I've ever seen in a game. The exploration has scale and depth I truly wasn't expecting. The survival elements to the game were very interesting and was mostly executed well. Next, the negatives. This boils down to really just one: weapon durability. The constant and pervasive anxiety I had while fending off enemies, wondering if I'll be able to defend myself in any moment decentivized me from exploring further or engaging in combat. This was a huge detriment to me as a part of the combat is getting creative and problem solving. When I was constantly going into battles and burning through literally all of my weapons and still having enemies left, I ended up needing to run away with no weapons left and nothing to show for my efforts. If the game had provided some ways to repair some weapons or increase durability just by a bit, things could've been different. Exploring new locations, gaining new skills and equipment, meeting new people all lost its vigor when I simply just didn't want to explore anymore due to the stress this aspect brought. Even a game as brutal as Dark Souls manages to keep weapon durability reasonable and repair options accessible. BOTW did neither and created a rather stressful and frustrating experience. It's a shame too because besides that issue, the game is phenomenal in every possible way. I just wished they would've made that aspect more player-friendly so I could enjoy the experience more. While the game has deserved the praise it has received, I haven't returned to the game after about 20 hours. I just stopped and didn't want to return to the world that did not provide the tools I needed from the beginning.

A review for this game is tricky since it's a labor of love from the author. It's an indie game with a minimal budget and a heartfelt center. I admire the passion, the exploration, and the artistry the creator put into this. It really is a beautiful experience by design. Unfortunately, the game was a drag and difficult to get through from start to finish. The concept sounded interesting and I enjoy myself a methodical slow-burn. However, the maps you explore are barren and uninteresting, the objectives are extremely tedious, and the mechanics are amongst the clunkiest and most awkward I've ever experienced. Getting yourself from point A to point B was an extreme chore and not very pleasant. For a "story-telling experience" in a game, I also didn't appreciate how unfocused it was. The "open-world" approach where you can go anywhere and do anything at your own order and pace I don't think contributed to the experience. Having a focused objective system with less places to visit that serve no function would've helped the game and the narrative. The narrative itself isn't voice-acted particularly well with every line being the same somber one note we hear again and again. The emotional thread felt over-the-top and too sentimental as I didn't feel like there was no development of its themes but rather and "introduce and payoff" structure. Unfortunately when there's no development, the payoff means very little. Again, I don't like to harp on passion projects with limited budgets and resources. You can tell there is real passion and I would be interested in this creator's future projects. I simply have to categorically assess the experience on its own and I just didn't really like it, nor would I recommend it to anyone.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This definitely is the definitive version of Mario Kart! More courses than ever before and a killer roster makes this a great experience on the Nintendo Switch. It runs as smoothly as can be and I've never been more impressed visually by a Mario Kart game (not that there's a ton of visual competition)! The extra DLC booster course pack provides even more value and great courses. Some of the remaster/remade courses from previous games look stellar and it's nice to see a few new courses added in as well. There are a few characters from the Mario franchise that I think could've been added (Diddy Kong, goomba, etc). I would've also liked to see a "double dash" co-op option but I may be in the minority for a feature like that. Overall, it's the best Mario kart game I've ever played and Nintendo did a great job with this one. It absolutely deserves all the praise it has received.

The expansive map and places to explore didn't make up for an enjoyable experience when it came to the countless anti-immersive issues and problems the game had. If I had spent $35-$40 on the game, I wouldn't have been so harsh but spending the amount of money I did for the game while it was severely unfinished felt like a burn of the worst kind. Still, there is fun to be had. The world is gorgeous and fun to explore, there's lots of new mechanics and content introduced to a Pokemon game, and it generally is a bolder and fresher take on the franchise. While I respect the risks taken, the games technical flaws were simply too many to count and it bogged down every minute of enjoyment I had throughout. After completing the core game, I decided to sell my copy since I didn't feel much motivation to return to additional side quests or explore further. At that point, my love for the game was long dead and it simply wasn't enjoyable. The sheer amount of issues, bugs, and poor graphical and frame rate performance was just simply too much to be acceptable.

For a free-to-play, PS5 pre-installed game, this little game has a surprising amount of content and challenges to do. The PS5 dualsense controls are on full-display here and make for an extremely enjoyable time. Both me and my daughter who was watching me had a massive smile on our face throughout the entire playthrough. This would easily be worth the $5-$10 I would be willing to spend on this but the fact that it's free makes it an even better value. The game itself is great with cute characters, great gameplay and mechanics, and fun environments that are designed very well. Finding every little nook and cranny and grabbing every trophy for platinum is the most fun I've ever had with grabbing a platinum. Definitely worth playing with your PS5