RandomBolt

TLDR: With a remarkable soundtrack, direction and acting, this is a game no one who enjoys fantasy games should miss. It is unfortunately marred by technical problems (visual) and a lack of coherent, mature gameplay that is only average in the RPG design space. From the combat (confusing) and equipment you pick up, there are too many directions and it seems the gameplay designers didn't settle on something that just worked. You have: - Pictos (power ups) - Skills trees - Weapons with attached power ups. - Damage types (fire/earth/ice) and potency. - Button timing for attacks - Shooting while in combat - Each character has completely different game play - Enemy movement is very unpredictable (clearly intentional) to the point of detracting from the parrying/dodge mechanics. Some games have issues balancing out some aspect of play. Here, there is so much variation most of the gameplay elements are poor. I actually don't recall playing a RPG that tried half of this successfully and this really did not. Most of the tactical elements of healing or buffs during combat are also there but they mostly not a consideration during the tactics of combat. It is cool the team tried to innovate but they needed to cut some of the elements to make others shine through. The combat overall means it is quite lopsided, so after you learn parry patterns there is not much challenge to be had, where otherwise it can be very hard to win. Counters make this problem worse. The technical problems on PC are also quite bad. The game has no way to disable sharpening other than config files and it looks like a PS2 game otherwise. The upscaling solutions outside of DLSS are also very old and should be updated if possible. There are mods, which you should use on PC. This is a remarkable experience if you enjoy it as a story and a movie. I can't recall such well put together presentation and direction since the PS2 God of War games. Maybe Mass Effect but the direction on that is just good, not world class like we see here. It is a movie I won't forget, a game that I will.

Cat Quest 2 is often reviewed better than the first but I think this one feels rushed comparatively. Main issue being gameplay. While it does progress better than the first, the gameplay has severe unbalances that limit what you can do: no point upgrading mage spells just to encounter enemies immune to magic. You cannot do much else other than switch to regular combat, bar some level traps you can use. This means that there is little to no point in upgrading mage weapons and the mandatory health drop for mages also means you will die a lot more than what would be reasonable. There is also way too many options for equipment and spells, which I think translates into many being weak and a particular spell being way too overpowered in 2P mode. So while the game itself progresses better, some enemies or sections turn into quite a slog to get through. On Switch it also has severe performance drops with many enemies on screen (mostly 1st part of the game), though you will enjoy if if you liked the first one. I will say, get both if there is a deal, or get the 1st one if you are new to the series.

Cat Quest is a great game I didn't knew was good until I tried out the demo. It is pretty easy to get into and the gameplay is very polished. It even has an interesting plot, funny characters and dialog and good overall level design. The main issue is the plot doesn't really develop early on and you may loose interest. This is coupled with the fact that it can sometimes be a bit of a churn to get you on a high enough level to progress. I will say the developers seem aware of this and did not stretch the game to be overly long as to make this a serious problem. For two players it is highly recommended, especially as it is priced so cheap these days. Compared with CQ2, I prefer this one, as two is a lot faster and that hurts gameplay a bit. The progression is a bit better but the gameplay is very unbalanced and easy to exploit some spells. The fact that 2 has enemies immune to spells severely limits play styles, which is not an issue on the original. It is a game I highly recommend on this platform, vs the newer versions. Two plays ok on Switch but there are many slowdowns, while 3 runs at 30 fps.

I have not been a fan of Mario Games but enjoy 3D World quite a lot and have played both at the same time. This one falls in the category of many other Mario games, where the new mechanics are very "out of the box" and interesting to try out. The problem is most of them turn into very basic gameplay, obviously because you cannot craft these much as there are so many enemies to take control of. It also gets down to just collecting moons to further progress, in a game that is extremely easy. Even the boss fights are the easiest you will find in a game. I think this fails for focusing too much on changing mechanics and forgetting that the level design is very important for a good platform/adventure game. 3D World is the opposite of this. It is easy to play but hard to master and level designs are better and more engaging. So if you have none, get that one instead.

I have stumbled on this for another platform and tried out the demo. I was hooked on the great humor and very solid platforming. Even though it is rather short, I found it to be a challenging game which plays better with co-op, as you can keep re-spawning one of the players to progress. Play solo if you like a challenge. The mechanics have you piling stuff, throwing a boomerang, cutting threes or performing double jumps or forward dashes to get through the game. It does a bit of everything, all mostly very well and is very worth the full price. Boss battles have been some of the most fun I've had with my kid. Hoping for a sequel!

I'll preface by saying that these are two very good games for their time, with remarkable voice acting, story and soundtrack. You should play them if you like adventure games but anywhere else and maybe even the Dreamcast version if you don't care much about the visuals. The Switch version has a lot of stutter when transitioning areas, even ones that are not corridors designed to stream assets. Lots of popup in some places as well(similar to some bugs on PS5 but worse). Has some performance issues with fog effect but that is relatively minor, all things considered. There are some glaring technical bugs on top of the stutter, like some cave or building entrance being sky blue before assets load in. This is very noticeable, happens multiple times and is hidden by fog in the original games (I played on Dreamcast). All of these bugs should have been fixed by now. The camera seems to have some issues with the new control, where when you stop moving the stick it will be much closer than it should and will stay that way. It is only ok if you use the "center view" button to fix the camera again. Other overall issues: - Default audio is low and mismatched and intro plays with almost inaudible music (see DC version). - The "save game" option is akin to auto write to memory card when some area unlocks. Loads from the beginning of the game and need to use portals. - All hints should be disabled by default!!! Game encourages you to explore to understand your environment. - Sensitivity is also very high by default, makes platforming a nightmare. Stutter aside, a good thing is that loads are very fast. Almost non-existant, which makes the stutter even more puzzling. I'm also quite disappointed that the lost levels are mostly empty and you can't even played them together: you have to load the parts of some area individually.

This game started pretty well, with interesting story and very cool boss fights. Unfortunately, after 3 to 4h of relaxed play, the level design becomes not great and enemy design becomes quite bad. The weapons are interesting but combat is not great. It tries to be smart with weapon/enemy matching but it becomes a chore rather than fun. There is a lot of backtracking that gets you nowhere. Especially if you have missed some door to unlock and think the way to progress is going back. Or you get some ability that seems you can progress through some part of the world, instead you just wasted 1h and need some other one to go through. These kinds of things need to be obvious within 5 min of play. Pretty good soundtrack at first but some themes are quite bad. Very inconsistent. Will also say that the character and most enemies are small on a 50" screen. One of the boss fights was zoomed out and especially bad at that. I would say this is one for only hardcore Metroidvania fans to consider. (and speedrunners) If the world or story interests you instead, get the guide next to you.

This game is a remarkable experience from start to some 2/3 of the game. Music, animation, storyline, combat, it goes on and on. *Spoilers about game lenght* Even what people would expect to be worse part of the game execution I enjoyed a lot, even more than the first part of the game. I won't delve too much into it because spoilers. What I felt is towards the later part of the game, it fell apart somewhat, preventing this from being a resounding 10. Yoko Taro seems to mention a time crunch in interviews and I think it shows. At this point one is probably 25-30h into the game. I feel it would have been better to not stick to wanting a 35h+ game, as there would have been times the game could have ended well and passed on to a sequel. So there was some amount of "one more thing" and with lack of time the execution suffered. I hope this particular stage of the game is remade some time later, so we can enjoy what the creator intended for this remarkable game. As someone wisely said on a review, I wish I could forget this just to play it again.

This is very good game, with very refined LEGO game mechanics while also adding new ones. It is great for kids to play and is a very funny writing throughout. It plays GTA style, open world game with a lot to do and a good amount of area to explore. Great if you just want to relax or play with your kids. The finale is pretty well executed and I think is one of the highlights, where it shows how much dedication was put into this game. Classic game, although many people may enjoy more mature experiences.

This feels a similar game to play compared to PSO or Diablo, when it comes to how you progress. You get some pre-determined buffs after X deaths and collect cells to unlock upgrades. What does not look the same is that the randomness aspect means you have to slog through the same dungeons looking for the way out, instead of getting to the new areas fast, as on more classic RPGs. The areas just do not change enough to be interesting. It is the same type of upgrades scattered, same type of enemies, just spwaned differently. There is a pretty big lean into increasing difficulty through not restoring your life, which can make this incredibly frustrating. There is not much room in the combat to feel you are getting better, it is much more related to what you pick up and what upgrades you can keep unlocking. The massive christmas lights also don't help with enemy visibility and further deter from the combat being interesting. Collectively, this has been the most frustrating game I've played in years. I have given this multiple tries but always put down the controller feeling like this is a waste of time and no fun is to be had here. At most, some 3h-4h of getting to know the game and the fun ends there.

I am posting this review so people don't get driven by the hype on this none. I really enjoyed both 2D and 3D Metroid but this really falls short and user ModestPavement does a good summary also. Enemies are not challenging, are very boring and repetitive, mostly changing appearance rather than gameplay. They also re-spawn too frequently, which adds to the problem. The level design is very repetitive and bears much of this blame also. The level design is extremely linear, which is surprising. I had to contend with two invisible breakable wall after each level and one of these didn't even register anything on the map. If you spend time teaching players that breakable walls have marks, why would you have both on the same levels?! Worse, why would you put one of these next to some breakable blocks that can only be unlocked later? This is after 3 hours of play, mind you. The EMMI encounters are interesting but quickly become frustrating. They say you can counter but really no, so it's another gameplay fail. The platforming is ok but nothing really worth talking about. I'm glad I bought a physical copy because I am shipping this one to someone who wants it. It would have been very frustrating to pay $60 for this, as many indies that cost 1/4 the price are much better games.