TrueOptimist

I really wanted to like this game more. I think the aesthetic and gameplay is really good. My problem mainly comes from the story and how it is structured. Now, granted, I only played 2 hours of the first game (back in 2021 and do not remember anything from it), but heard you did not need to in order to play this one. That being said, I feel like I am missing a ton of context here. Everything in the story seems really disjointed and comes together too quickly. The ending chapter is just a boss run with not much story or fanfare, just boss after boss. That chapter just seems rushed. I do like some of the story of the other chapters though, some seem more complete than others. One reason I say I am missing context is all these characters are so different (humans, aliens, squids, zombies, dogs, etc.) and then they all come together and no one questions anything, like why is there person a zombie?Another thing I didn’t quite care for was the card system and mainly just putting a deck together. I mean, I didn’t mind doing that in general, it was ok putting together something that worked well. But they give you so many cards for no reason. There is a ton of bloat that you will just never use. The combat itself is good, but a bit simple. It has the active defense QTE, but not one for attacking, exactly for one chapter with 2 characters you use for like 10 minutes. That is just odd, I feel like it was meant for more characters and then they just left that out for some reason. The QTE defense prompt is also boring, as is the same every time. There is no timing to it, to block more damage, you either block it or you don’t. It looks like it should be more if you do it at the right time and maybe it was slightly, but there is no indication it does block more or a que that you did it perfectly. It also is the same everytime, just a single block QTE, no combo blocking or time with their attacks, etc.That is why I am a bit disappointed, because it feels like it could have been a lot better with a few tweaks. All the characters have different moves that combo well and you can have fun making that work. But, the story isn’t where you want it to be and the combat can get a bit boring, even in the short 6 hour campaign. I’d like to see a more realized project that just makes a campaign that is not based in chapters like this one is and just tells a better overall story that isn’t rushed. 6.5/10

[Review from a Solo mode only perspective on the Free Weekend event] Marathon is a free experience wrapped up in a $40 shell. The actual substance of this game is very thin. This is a coherent shooter (gunplay wise) but that only goes so far. First off, it’s just an extraction shooter. These are very shallow in the first place, so for a $40 price tag, I feel like you need something a bit more. I mean some people don’t, but I do and I think more people should expect more. Unfortunately, the “other stuff” in this game isn’t that great. This isn’t even as good as the extraction mode in Division 2 and that was kind of just a bonus mode for a game that had so much more going on. The main thing in this game that tries to make it more than just an extraction shooter is the objectives. You get missions from various corporations in the world and they all want you to do something for them. That something varies depending on the corporation, like one might want data or another might want you to hack something. Too bad 90% of the objects are the same thing. Go into a zone, go to a specific area, click a thing or two. There are a couple factions that just want you to cause mayhem or kill other players, but that’s the extent of the missions from what I saw. After doing a dozen or so missions, it was already stale. The zones themselves are not great either. There are some cool buildings and weird tech stuff you might want to look at, but none of it is interactable or of importance. After a few runs it’s just, again…stale. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t look nice, because I do like the aesthetic of the game a lot. There are some cool things here, but you rarely get to interact with it how you want to. The weapons also look neat, but really are all the same. With the season pass (sigh) and unlocks you can unlock (skins and guns) I never cared about any of them. Most similar games have really cool skins and stuff to go for, but here, yea they look cool, but it just looks like more of the same you already have on. There is nothing crazy worthy of an “epic” skin or anything, like you would get in Overwatch, Diablo IV, League, etc. Something like, “Clearly this thing is a nicer skin I unlocked.” You don’t get that here. There is also a ton of lore, which is kind of what I want, I just hate the way it is presented. I like talking to the faction leaders, but all the other lore is just unlocked codex entries with walls of text. That isn’t compelling. I also don’t like the entire heat system and how unnecessary that is. I should just be able to sprint, not super speed or anything, just sprint endlessly. Let the heat build if I do the extra movement like the dash. Even in the rain, where it cools you down, the heat is still too much and just not fun, plain and simple. Another issue is the loot. I don’t care that you drop all your stuff if you don’t extract, that is fine, that is what these games are. My problem is the readability of the items. On a run, you are picking up TONS of stuff. It all has a paragraph of text I am not reading out in the field. I try to read it in the vault, but a lot of it is just garbage. Tiny little perks that are very specific and usually not going to help on your run or miscellaneous materials that are used for random upgrades or just convert them to credits or xp. A lot of these games have this and I know over time you learn that stuff, but it is still just a mess early on. This stuff needs to be way more simple and easy to ID when you pick it up. This game is just kind of a bummer. I would be down if they just made a single player game set in this universe. The aesthetics are cool and the faction stuff is neat, there is just barely a game around it and that is the main issue. Having talking heads that slightly move, talk to you in between runs is not enough. This is for a specific kind of crowd and I am clearly not in the group, nor do I want to be. I am glad I checked it out, but this game is just not for me, but I wish it was. 6.5/10

When this was announced, I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I love IOI, as those Hitman games are incredible, but the worst part of those games is the shooting. I was worried that the gunplay wouldn’t be great here as well as the hand to hand stuff, as Hitman doesn’t really deal with that in a significant way. But, after seeing gameplay a few months before release, I was sold. And after playing it, I am not sure what I was worried about in the first place. These guys just know how to make great games. You get all that great Hitman DNA into a spy thriller and it is hitting on all cylinders. The combat is super fun, the animations on everything is top notch, the environments are a step above even the great Hitman stages. The characters and dialog is also pretty great, it looks and sounds exactly how you want it, like a Bond movie. From the score to the locations to the wardrobe, it is all **** even have vehicle segments, which are a must have if you want to be like the films. Now, after playing a lot of Forza Horizon 6, the cars here don’t feel as good (obviously), but for the small sections you have them, they control fine. The endgame Tactical Sim stuff is also really cool and that stuff is just straight up Hitman style. Although, it would be cool if they opened up some of their bigger levels for these modes as well. It looks like they will be supporting that mode for a long time, so more stuff with existing assets should be coming. It also really nails what it is going for and I am 100% there for the next one as well. This is far and away the best 007 game ever made and it isn’t even close. I mean, I know they haven’t made one in quite awhile, but this is still on top even the nostalgia people still have for the overrated N64 title. I will say the one questionable part of this game is the story. The overall story is good, but there are a few plot points it just completely ignores that you never get closure on and that really ****. It took me a day or two after finishing it to realize it as well, like “Oh, yea what ever happened to that guy?, etc.”. I still highly recommend it.

The standard for all racing games is back again and just as fun as you remember it from 5 years ago. This time you explore Japan in a beautiful open world that is designed with exploration in mind and offers tons to do and see. Lots of events as well from standard races to drift, time trials, speed traps, off road challenges, etc. There is something for all types of cars, which is nice, because there are a lot of them, yet again. They don’t keep a lot of these locked away for long either, as just by playing and exploring you will start to unlock tons of different vehicles for free without spending your race winnings. There are also tons of collectibles in the open world and events that will keep you busy for quite a while. If you have played any of the other Horizon games, you know what you are in store for and everything is here that you want. Including an estate mode that lets you edit your house property. This seems kind of whatever at first, but then you realize your first house has a huge backyard and you can place your own tracks, sculptures, etc. to turn your property into your own personalized racing theme park. The only downside in this game compared to the last few entries is to 100% the map only takes about 30-40 hours where the last games could take 3x that. But, that isn’t a bad thing, a lot of those hours in the other games was very tedious and this cuts a lot of that out. You can get lost for hours in this game just trying to complete map objectives and filling out roads and running over mascot collectables. The soundtrack is also top notch, as a lot of other games seem to fail at putting together licensed soundtracks, the Forza people put together a perfect one that also fits perfect for the Japan setting as well. Highly recommended and it doesn’t hurt that it is also included with GamePass of course. 9.5/10

A really interesting bullet hell FPS that has fun and interesting environments to traverse. It also has a cast of interesting and weird looking characters that look like they are right out of a Tim Burton fever dream. The gameplay is super fast and feels good. The movement abilities you gain throughout the game build well on one another and by the end you are really having fun figuring out each jump puzzle to the next area while looking at the weird (in a good way) environments to kill the next messed up looking boss. The bosses are really fun as well and a great challenge. The game’s combat flow is set up where once your weapons overheat, you can just switch to another gun, causing you to enter this flow state of unloaded, rotating weapons, unloading, etc. It feels really good, especially in larger enemy rooms and boss fights. The story is also pretty good. It starts a bit slow, but there are some really good plot points later on. The visuals are really stunning, not necessarily fidelity wise, but just the scope/size/look of everything is really cool to look out. Great enemy and boss designs as well that are all pretty unique. It’s a mix of some Cthulhu horror, Doom, Expedition 33 and NieR all wrapped up in some crazy looking dudes. Can’t go wrong giving it a try on Gamepass, I really enjoyed my time with it. It only took 7 hours to complete which was a solid length for this type of game. Highly recommended. 8.5/10

An interesting little game for sure. A dystopian world filled with sentient construction equipment that you slice apart with your chainsaw sword. Pretty rad. There is also a lot of wall running and environmental climbing in between. It’s mainly that. Rarely are you doing combat actually. Then, at the end of a floor, you face a huge boss. A giant crane, excavator, etc. You can use the chainsaw sword to grip the sides and ride up or around buildings and larger enemies. It’s a pretty cool mechanic. It does work for the most part, but can be finicky at times, especially when you are switching directions while doing it. Precision platforming is also a bit odd as you have a long jump, but can’t really do small jumps, so it can be weird at times. Most of the time you want to long jump anyway, so it’s not a huge deal, but it can be annoying in a few spots. There is also a bit of dialog P (the main character) has with Orbie (the orb camera that follows her around, aka you). You can also do these little dialog scenes where she talks to Orbie and you can respond with really horny responses for some reason. It’s just kind of a bit odd they made this game horny for no reason really. I didn’t hate it or anything, it just felt a bit out of place.Overall though, the game was just a blast to play. Early on I was gathering every orb, which are the hidden collectables that are in hard to get spots in the world. It was fun at first, but further into the game, the harder they got to get and it just got a bit annoying, so I stopped going for them. I ended up only getting 86 orbs, but there are 250 total, so I was glad I stopped getting them after a while. Especially since there is only 1 achievement for them and it’s only for getting 30. It just gets tedious. Also, it took just under 9 hours to complete the game, which is a good length for this type of game. Anyway, nice little addition to gamepass and glad I checked it out.

A nice little slice of life game. Just very chill and satisfying to fill the shelves and rearrange items. It is fairly simple, but still satisfying. It does get confusing at times, as an American at least, as a lot of the foods you might not have heard of, so you do have to read the descriptions to find where they go at times. Eventually you learn it though. That’s also not a huge deal, as there is no fail state or anything like that. This is not one of those supermarket simulator type games, it focuses mainly on story. I do wish there were a few more characters, outside of your aunt that calls you everyday, there are only 4 customers that come in and out during the 6 days that you run the store. I liked getting to know their stories and whatnot, but it would have been nice to have a few other random no name customers as well, just to make it seem a bit busier. I also think voice acting would have gone a long way as well, it would have definitely added to the experience, but as a smaller team, I understand why that probably was not an option for them. Still a fun little 6 hour game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. If you are into slice of life style anime, or just a relaxing game filling up stock in a convenient store, this is for you.

A game that should definitely be my jam, but just doesn’t quite pull me in all the way. I was looking forward to this one for a little while as the game just looked fantastic from the first preview. The look of the game is definitely its strongest suit. The combat is also pretty fun, even if it’s just 2D Arkham combat. It still gets the job done. There are some good animations and combat executions. There are some good story scenes and the game is very cinematic at times. So why is this game a 7 out of a 10?Well for one, it just doesn’t feel great to play. There is a bit of input lag on the movement and I wish it was just a bit tighter. The platforming puzzles are also a bit boring, nothing too interesting here. The story is also quite boring through most of the game. It picks up in the last 3rd of the game, even if I did want a little bit more out of the ending. There are also some bad platforming and checkpoint issues. Some visibility issues that make some background/foreground stuff hard to see so it’s awkward to see what you might do at times and just have to rely on a bit of trial and error. Overall this game was just ok, I think the shortcomings in the gameplay department would be fixed if the story was stronger. It is just kind of boring, that’s its biggest problem. There are long sections that are just super boring. It’s also a bit long for a game of this type, as it is a little over 10 hours. If they tightened up the story and gameplay, made it about 4-5 hours, this would be a really killer game, instead it is kind of just a slog with some cool stuff thrown in every so often.

DON’T NOD has a serious hit or miss reputation, it's usually a hard swing one way or another. This is unfortunately another miss. While the gameplay is ledge climbing for the most part with a fairly simple story, it really doesn’t nail either of these. The characters for one are not particularly likeable and make bad decisions as astronauts and scientists. The world looks ok, but is fairly one note, and that note is ice. There are some mysteries early on that are a bit intriguing, but none of them have a big payoff in the end. This game was cruising along at about a 6-7 for me most of the way. Not great, but nothing offensively bad. Then we got to chapters 10 and 11, the end of the game. This game basically fell apart. The mechanics seemed broken, my controls seemed broken, the level design wasn’t fun. It mainly has to do with an emphasis on these stealth sections, which was already the weakest part of the game. But, the last chapter is almost all stealth unfortunately. Some bad and broken checkpointing caused me to lose a lot of time and almost made me quit minutes before I got credits. Frustrating to say the least. The control issue was also a problem, breaking your stealth with the left thumbstick, easy, but getting back into stealth, not so much. Thankfully the keyboard control worked, because it almost broke my game (and no, it wasn’t a controller issue, it works fine in other games and in that game for other functions!) Even if the game didn’t literally unveil at the seams (as far as controls and mechanics go) at the end, it wasn’t particularly going to be great anyway, it just made the situation and my feelings towards it 10x worse. Overall this is unfortunately another miss for DON’T NOD. I can really get into story based games like this and while some mysteries intrigued me a little early on, all of that fizzled out and mediocre story on top of a bad ending with broken and jank controls/player movement. That is a recipe for disaster.

Mixtape is an odd game, or I should say, I have odd feelings about it. First off, this game is fine, it’s not “crazy good” or “crazy bad”. It does a bit more than your standard walk and talk story game with teens in it. It’s no Life is Strange, but a lot better than, say, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Also, if you played this studio’s other game, The Artful Escape, there is not a ton new here in terms of tone and feel. The main character, Stacy, is a typical California stoner with the stereotypical voice “brah”, and “like don’t harsh her mellow, because she will like, cut you, man”. It’s a lot of that, not just from her but from her friend Van, stereotypical as well. They want this game to play out like a movie, which it does and there are some really cinematic scenes which are cool, but their flair does not stick throughout the game. Stacy’s other friend is Cass and she has one of the worst origin stories I have ever seen as far as how she became friends with the other two. She basically said her dad was a cop and she wanted to rebel and these two losers looked like they could change her. First off, besides how lame that is and NOT how you make friends, Stacy and Van would have told her to F off after knowing the stuff they get up to and that her dad is a cop, it just didn’t make sense at all. None of the characters are unlikeable really, but they are not people I would have hung out with in high school. Let’s get to the main thing in the game, the music. That is the big selling point, hell, it’s the name of the game. What is the mixtape/soundtrack of this game going to be? Well, it’s better than I thought it was going to be and some of the score really went with the scene playing out, even if it wasn't a song I’d normally listen to. But, there is some bad music here and no great tracks I’m itching to relisten to (except for like 1 I already liked in the first place). A big issue is also the authenticity of the music and time period. They never say what year the game takes place in, but we have good clues. There is a recent softball trophy that says 92-93 season. We do have CD burner tech, which was like 91-92 when they cost like $10k and in the game they said the school had one that cost $30k. In the late 90s they were standard, so it’s not late 90s. But, we have a 1995 Smashing Pumpkins song labeled *new*, the only one in the game labeled like that., but we also have a Silverchair song from 1997? And then the pause screen has a sticker saying 1999. But, The game should only take place as early as 95, I think that’s the safest assumption. But, then that leaves a lot of tech talk, and that Silverchair song not from that time. Not sure why, but that really bugged me. I think because they were going so authentic with the time period stuff, that this just seemed all out of place. Never mind an 18 year old knowing about BJ Thomas from the 70s and even more older and obscure songs. I think there was one “hit” song out of every song in the game, everything is B-sides. Nothing gets more annoying then a music nerd **** on your music and bringing in their obscure B-sides saying. For instance, Stacy calling Pearl Jam and Green Day “meathead music” was so stupid and just not accurate at all. I didn’t even mention the actual gameplay as it is just going around and clicking on things in a room listening to conversations along with a series of odd mini games. Entertaining to a degree and they do mesh with the story nicely, but by themselves are nothing special. I don’t have a problem with these kinds of games, but some people do. I don’t hold it against it. I do admit, after seeing all the positive reviews (even though I was already going to play it after seeing it was coming to gamepass months ago) I was thinking I wasn’t going to like it. But, I did end up liking it more than I thought I would. That being said, as I go over some of the cringe and eye roll moments and mediocre B-sides, was it that good ****? It’s odd. I could totally see someone giving the game a really high score, if it clicks with you, it REALLY clicks with you. Same goes for the exact opposite. I’m still somewhere in the middle. Also, (just throwing this in there) I didn't really care for the ending. I was expecting much more and even like an Animal House style, "where are they now" kind of thing and we didn't get any of that. I still think this is a perfectly good, 7.5 out of 10 game. If you like to see an obnoxious music nerd, a stoner kid and a wannabe rebel in a 90’s version of SuperBad, you might really enjoy Mixtape.

A short little murder mystery that takes place in a small house. It's a perfect little hour long detective game that has you finding clues around the house and mainly on the computer using keywords. I enjoy the story they told and they even expand upon it a bit with another computer journal for one of the characters on the main menu once you beat the game, which is nice. It's simple, but effective story telling. If you're into detective style games like Golden Idol and Her Story, then this one is well worth your time for less than 5 bucks.

So far, so good with Midnight. Obviously we are going to have a similar style as War Within which really worked for me. I like that I can get all my weekly stuff done in a few hours and focus on other stuff. One of the main things here is the long awaited housing content. They really knocked it out of the park with the housing too. It is super robust and you can scale stuff up and down and move it just how you want it and people have been making amazing homes and decor. The new rehauled look of Silvermoon is also great and the zones have all been really fun. They also added hunts which give another way on top of delves to get loot for solo players. This also is nice since doing those gets you credit for the Tier 8 vault equipment and you don’t have to do delves now or as many as you did before so they will not get too stale as fast. The story so far is also pretty good and advancing nicely, always curious to see what they do next, especially with this 3 expansion Worldsoul saga. There is still a lot of content left to come with this expansion, but I am really enjoying it so far.

War Within does a lot of the right things that the last few expansions just have not done. First, as someone that has a lot of other games they want to play as well, this does not **** up your time at all. You have your weekly quests and delves to do then you are good for the week. You could get it all done easily in an afternoon, sometimes just in a couple hours depending on how much you wanted to upgrade your vault rewards. Speaking of delves, these are new here and a super welcome addition for someone that does not raid anymore and wants more single player or 2-3 man content. I was happy I could easily farm all Hero tier gear by myself or with a friend, just doing delves and didn’t have to do any raiding, it felt good. They also started their 3 expansion “Worldsoul Saga” which doesn’t do much here as it just gets into it, but hoping for bigger payoffs down the line. Also, with the smaller zones the dragonriding felt better as well and you didn't run out of charges as fast since stuff wasn’t 1000 miles up in the air like in Dragonflight. Some of the zones are also really cool, like Hallowfall which has a giant crystal in the sky that will change color and the tone of the entire zone. The Goblin zone is also pretty unique and fun. For someone playing mainly solo or with a friend, they are really in the zone here and give us more to do for end game progression and I appreciate that. The end of a lot of severe daily stuff also gave me time to go back to older expansions and finish off stuff I never got the chance to do. Looking forward to seeing where this story goes and the conclusion of it with “The Last Titan” expansion after Midnight.

Retrospective Review: Shadowlands is too much. There are a lot of cool things they added in this expansion, but man is it just all too much. For instance one new thing is Torghast, these roguelike dungeons you could solo or group up for and they were really unique and fun. But, you had to do them ALOT and there were so many of them you could do. They were also not very quick, as some could last up to an hour +. You stack that upon the top of all your other world quests and whatnot, it takes awhile to do everything and quickly starts to feel like Mists all over again. The story people didn’t care for with the Jailer and that whole thing, but I did like the characters and Sylvanas ’ arc. This expansion also seemed to go on forever and they kept adding zones like Zereth Mortis, which seemed unnecessary. I did like the raids, they were cool, but very long and if you were in a legit raid group, doing those all had to be brutal as far as just a time sync, even if you had the bosses on lock. The Maw stuff was another thing that was there and since you could never mount up there until very late in the expansion, it was just slow and a bit boring. They also added covenants which were a cool idea, but I didn’t like how much farming and stuff it required to just max out a single covenant for all the rewards. These were fun to go back to later on in future expansions and max out much faster. They definitely went overboard with content in a few places here, but it still had lots to do if this was the only game you were playing.

Retrospective Review: After one of the best expansions in the series in Legion we now fall to one of the worst. This was a never ending expansion. It seemed to go on forever for one. They seemed to add little things here and there, like every expansion, but this time none of it was very interesting. We still got some decent raids like always, but nothing else really stood out and was another expansion I quit early on. The story was also a bit lackluster and so was all the Azerite stuff they were going for. I just never was a great system. It was just a fairly boring expansion overall, but while I say that, you still are playing new content, new bosses, new raids and if you were a fan of WoW, you get all that, so it’s hard to get a score lower than 7 for any of these expansions.

Retrospective Review: With the release of Legion, WoW finally got some of its mojo back. Legion introduced a slew of new things, including the long awaited Demon Hunter class and mythic dungeons. It also gave every class a class hall to go to and explore with fellow players of the same class. All the class halls were super unique and themed specifically for them. This also all tied into the Artifact weapons they gave us and the questlines that went along with it. The questlines for each artifact weapon were unique and interesting with loads of lore attached. It was the first expansion I really wanted to (and did!) level every class and see their specific weapon quests and class hall. All that felt so good. The Demon Hunter class also turned out to be another really fun class and an instant favorite among fans. The movement and style of play was unique and just a blast to play and move around. There were also several really great raids and raid bosses as well. WoW was back in top form after releasing Legion, my personal favorite expansion, just barely beating out Wrath and BC.

Retrospective Review: Warlords is an interesting expansion. This was the first instance of some personal “housing” we got with garrisons. Garrisons were pretty cool and it was fun to semi-customize it for your own liking, even if there were not too many options. Sending npcs out on missions from your garrison was also a good idea and a concept they brought into future expansions as well. We also got mythic raid difficulty which added a new layer to the endgame if you wanted to push for it. It started with some mediocre raids, but the last couple were quite good, even if they were a bit long. There is still daily quest fatigue here, but it’s not nearly as bad as Mists as they did dial it back quite a bit. The PvP zone they added was a bit of a bummer, it was not very engaging and did not add anything meaningful to the battleground rotation of maps. This expansion was fine, but did not really wow anyone to the degree the other expansions were offering and after this and Mists, WoW was in a slump for sure.

Retrospective Review: Oh Mists of Pandaria…how I do not miss grinding in this expansion. This expansion really was the end of grinding for me. It was the first time since playing in the beta of the original game that I had fallen off before the last patch. I played casually from time to time, but the grinding requirements got too unruly here to justify playing. The raids were also weaker, so the incentive to grind to gear up for them didn’t feel like something I wanted to do at the time. This expansion ruined daily quests, as it was just hours of the same thing every day, it was the breaking point for me. There were some good things though. The land itself was beautiful. I think it has some of the best scenery of any of the expansions still to this day in some zones. We also got the Monk class which was really fun and of course both factions could be Pandaren now as well. While a lot of people dismissed this expansion early, making fun of the Pandaren and doing the “Kung Fu Panda” comparisons, it did add some cool stuff. You had your own farm that you could grow crops and tend to them everyday. That stuff was cool. But add that on top of all the other daily quests you had to do and it just got to be too much and the raid content wasn’t quite good enough, especially the early 2-3 raids that were just not up to the WoW standard. We also got pet battles and that was a great mini-game that added even more stuff to do that wasn't just grinding daily quests. I had a lot of fun initially with their “Pokémon” in game equivalent and it added even more depth to a deep game. But, the daily grind was still so prevalent in this expansion it really killed a lot of joy for people. It was starting to get out of hand in Cataclysm, but Mists really went overboard and took it too far.

Retrospective Review: While Cataclysm was a bit of a downgrade to what we got with BC and Wrath, it still delivered a cool villain, good raid content and great world building. My favorite part of this expansion isn’t talked about much, but it was the total rehauling of the old zones. It was a JOY to go back and complete each zone as it had new and improved story that revolved around the goings on of that zone or the terror Deathwing was causing as he flew through and caused an uproar. It truly felt like the entire game had been revamped and every zone fleshed out perfectly. I ended up going back and doing every zone again just to see all the different story beats and it really added a lot of value for me, well worth doing. The raids were also fairly solid, but a bit of a downgrade to what we had been used to. More races in Goblins and Worgens which were unique, but a lot of people were so ingrained into their main character, it wasn’t something many people explored except for alts. This expansion was still really fun and had loads of content, but we felt like we might be at the edge here and they might have been losing traction soon. However, the revamp of all the old zones for me, really brings this expansion up a lot for me.

Retrospective Review: Burning Crusade was one of the best expansions they ever made, but Wrath was truly the greatest. New class (Death Knight), new zone (Northrend), new tech and story (Lich King saga) that people had been wanting since Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. Everything was here. They also added little things, like different tech for vehicles and questing that no one else was even sniffing at in the MMO space. You also got the 10 and 25 man groups for each raid, not just 1 or the other. You had great rep grinds and token vendors that gave you so many reasons to do content and gear up. It really had it all. It also added achievements which also gave you a lot of reasons to go back and do some old world content and collect certain things. It was a time when it felt like you could actually get every achievement (to a degree), not like today where there are just a billion achievements for everything and if you missed out on a later part of an expansion, you are just too far behind to catch up. But, that achievement completionist thing is a different kind of thing, so I digress. The raids in Wrath were again, a notch above the previous expansion. So many iconic places like Naxxramas (upgraded and revamped. Also people actually saw it unlike in Original WoW where it was just experienced by a small number of players.), Uldaur and of course, Icecrown Citadel. Much like fighting Illidan in Black Temple, fighting Arthas in Icecrown felt like a perfect end to the expansion.

Retrospective Review: While Original WoW so highly touted, Burning Crusade delivered on the expectations of expanding this universe and gameplay. Now when we get a new WoW expansion, it doesn’t quite feel as special. Sure you have new places to go and new raids to conquer, but it didn’t bring in revolutionary features like the first few WoW expansions. Burning Crusade added so much and they refined the design on gameplay loops to make everything a better experience. While the raids in the original game were good, they finally hit everything perfect here. Raids are still largely modeled off of the strides they made in BC. From the tight corridors of Karazhan to the massive Black Temple, it all looked and felt so good. You also had a new land to explore in the Outlands along with flying mounts which were a game changer. There were also a lot of good goals to place for yourself. With the great rewards you got from PvP, to grinding reps to doing raids, there was something for everyone. Each faction also got a new race and technically a new class, allowing Alliance to play as Shaman and The Horde to play as Paladins. This was very welcome and something the player base wanted for a long time. They also added Arena PvP, which was really fun with a group of friends and became the new real competitive way to PvP. Everything they added felt better and more refined in BC. Getting gear and raiding felt better than ever and that sense of wonder was still in the air, even if we were getting into the era of everything being posted online (builds, guides, etc.) It was still one of the best expansions they had ever made.

Retrospective Review: It’s hard to write about a game where everything that could be said, has been said. But, it’s still hard to understate how revolutionary this game was at the time. As someone who played in the beta and all the way through the release, it was something special. Everything not only felt new, it felt good. If you go back and try some older MMOs back in this time period, they hadn’t figured it out, at all. They all felt so stiff and lifeless to a degree. The world, the locations, the characters, the creatures, the players, the dungeons, the raids, everything here looked so good and felt like a proper video game that didn’t get held back by the MMO tag like its predecessors. The main 2 things that separated this from other MMO’s at the time was how good it felt to play and the world you played in and the secrets it held. That last one is really key. It’s hard to imagine nowadays, but we did not have the internet resources like we did then for WoW. While we did have websites like “Thottbot” that helped out on quests and items, it was not as expansive or explanatory as things are today, not by a longshot. There was mystery, there was discovery. Something almost no games have now unless it was just released and even then there are guides and video aplenty after a week on every aspect of those games. Not here. You were just in this world discovering everything along with other players.Builds for instance, they were not set. You could come up with your own. It could be good or not so good, it was hard to tell as damage meters were not a thing yet, you had to go by feel. There were no websites telling you “This is the best DPS spec, do this.” Sure people were discussing that online, but new builds were discovered all the time and breakthroughs in what rotations to use or best armor were not set in stone. Playing as a warrior, I remember PvPing with a fellow warrior that was just destroying everything. I checked out his gear, as it looked odd (not plate) and saw he was mainly using leather pieces, something no one else was doing at the time. But, the leather pieces all had crit on them and with 2-handed warrior Arms build, this guy was just criting players to bits and that slowly became the meta for warriors. Armor was also something special in a different way and that was the look. The armor sets in original WoW looked so good and since there was no transmog, you knew exactly what another player had one, just by looking at them. It was the ultimate status symbol. You felt the presence of a massive Tauren warrior in Tier 2 gear while you were running around in dungeon rare equipment. The look was all super unique and once you got a piece you have been waiting for, you really got stoked for it, which is a feeling long gone from the game it is today. It’s fun to reminisce about original WoW, but it’s also kind of a bummer that the world will probably never see a game or experience anything quite like it ever again, largely thanks to the internet. Guides, tier lists, etc have really taken the mystery and discovery away from a lot of players and while you don’t necessarily have to use those things, you feel like you are behind or hurting yourself if you do not a lot of the time. Vanilla WoW servers try to recreate the magic, but it does not feel close to being the same and will probably never be recreated ever again.

The game was much different from the beginning until just before Lord of Hatred launched. They added a lot of key things that really improved the game and helped you build your character in the season faster and more efficiently. The things the seasons brought, hordes, pits, bosses, all very good and built on a game that was getting better with every season (even if a particular season didn’t quite hit). The story however was the downside of this one. It was very forgettable and more to set the stage for the Lord of Hatred expansion. They also don’t require you to get this expansion, so the seasonal activities are in the zones, but also mirrored in the original zones as well, and these never really got touched. It always felt empty down there. For instance hell tide events, everyone just did the ones above, not in the new lands for the expansion. Same with the bosses, when it came time to farm them for gear, the ones here did not have unique loot, you could just farm the original bosses instead and never touch them. The Undercity was the one thing that was fairly unique, but you could easily ignore it if you wanted to. I was also disappointed that they never added another world boss, so you were stuck with the original 3 still. They did also add that MMO type raid thing for multiple players to go to and it was actually pretty cool the first few times. I liked the concept and the bosses had cool mechanics. However, it was short lived as it was hard to find a group for as the rewards were super underwhelming for how much you had to invest into it. As for the new class, the Spiritborn is super fun to play and has a few really cool builds that feel great. When playing seasonal characters only, it was nice to have another class to rotate to after playing all the other classes so many times. Also, at the end of this expansion, they changed the battlepasses and they were even worse than before. I hate battlepasses anyway, but these truly became gross. The cash shop is also disgustingly priced with $28 skins that are only usable on a single class. Do they look cool? Oh, yea, best skins in the game, by far. Which is another issue. One reason I am not a fan of cash shops is that all the really cool stuff they think of will not naturally be in the game to be earned, they save it all for the cash shop. And even the battlepass skins, they look better than what is in the base game, but still not even close to a skin that is almost the same price as the game itself. Even if I play hundreds of hours for Diablo, I just can never justify spending that much on a single skin (especially in a non-F2P game)

While Reaper of Souls didn’t hit with me the way the original game did, it still was a blast to play and added a lot of cool new things. The crusader class was another really fun playing class that the game needed, especially after spending so much time with all of the other ones, it felt fresh. This also added a fifth act, which was great, and Rifts, which were super fun and the new way to gear, along with adventure mode. They fixed a lot of look issues and made it make more sense, which was great, but maybe this could have been a hotfix beforehand. It still offered the same great gameplay and revitalized the game for a bit. Honestly, thinking back, both of these are firmly merged together in my head as one game now, so it’s a bit hard to separate the two. But, I do remember how much the loot system changed and how much better it made the game in general. Even if spamming Rifts could get a bit tedious, that is why you were there, for the grind. It also improved a lot of builds and gear and farming those set pieces was really fun. Your character felt completely different and way more powerful after getting your build’s set pieces and that was super rewarding. It might be a bit simple by today’s standards, but, I bet Reaper of Souls still holds up.

I was pretty excited in 2012 going into D3, as I liked everything I had seen from preview coverage and so forth. I had not played D2 at the time, but always heard great things. My ARPGs at the time were Nox, Titan Quest, Dungeon Siege 1 and 2, and Torchlight. All great games. However, none of them quite compared to D3. It was just doing everything so great. It was fun to play every class and grind and explore alone or with friends. Fantastic characters and enemies. The great locations that looked amazing at the time. Even in the very beginning, where the difficulty in the end game was brutal, when a buddy and I 2 manned Diablo on the hardest difficulty, it felt really good. Even the auction house they had, I didn't mind it. I didn’t buy anything, but it was a unique idea and I made like $300 on some very mediocre items so that was pretty rad. But, more than all of that, it was just fun. The characters, the builds, the world. It was so well designed, top to bottom. I still refer to D3, to this day, as my favorite ARPG and while I might be a bit scared to go back now after all these years, fearing it might not have aged well…I still hold it in high regard.

A perfect sequel to Vampire Survivors. If they did the same thing again, I wouldn't have hit as hard. This is a great feeling card dungeon crawler with super satisfying combos. The evolution in gameplay from just doing a 2-4 card combo in the beginning runs to 10-20+ combos later feels real good. There is a nice curve in unlocks they dull out and once you beat the last level and get your hand on some gold using that last unlock, you can modify your cards to the max to really go nuts with it. The game is just super smart with how it works and it was a joy throughout. It does only take about 20 hours or so to 100% all achievements which is a lot less than Survivors, but that's ok for now. If it is anything like its predecessor, then free DLC/support could be on the way. Not that I EXPECT that, but I could see them supporting this for awhile.

Pragmata is a fantasticly unique game. It’s not just that mixes third person shooting and hacking in a perfect blend of satisfying gameplay, but it also brings a great story along as well. This game could have been very gimmicky with the hacking/gunplay combat, but it pulls it off so well. What other game dedicates ALL of the face buttons of the controller just for hacking in a third person action shooter? The combat is the highlight of the game for sure, but a close 2nd is the characters and the story. Again, this is another time where they could have really dropped the ball. Having a little kid character in a game is poison sometimes. Are they going to be annoying? Are they going to be a pain to escort throughout the game? None of that here. Diana is a very companion on your space mission and endearing at every turn. I really enjoyed working my way through the moon base and collecting every single item in the game along the way. The red challenge rooms were also a nice spike in difficulty, but nothing too crazy. I did have some issues with the training rooms, as the first 20 or so are pretty fun and provide a good challenge. The last 10 however, were not. The one thing I hated about them was it being very limited to what kit you had going in. I’m fine with weapons/modes they pick, but it takes away all of your other upgrades as well. The main one being movement. By the time you get those last few training levels you are mostly through the game and have been moving around quickly and dashing everywhere with your big boost meter, but these challenges take all of that away and you feel sluggish. It’s hard to dial back in for the movement style courses that speed and boost meter when you are so used to what you are using in the main game, it just feels bad. But those early training missions I did have a lot of fun with and added a lot of content to the game. That might be my only complaint however, which is nice since those training missions are completely optional (although they have nice reward materials.) Everything else is superb. I do wish the story stuck the landing a bit better. I am not saying the ending was bad by any means, because it wasn’t, but I think I would have liked it to have been a bit less predictable and maybe explored a different ending (especially in the Unknown Signal true ending.) Also, for the gunplay, there is no manually reloaded for the main weapon, you have to wait while it slowly charges. This can get really annoying at times, but the more you play, you get other tools and mods that make this not feel as bad. (especially the mod that auto reloads it once you do another hack.)Overall, this is some great 3rd person shootin’ and hackin’. Diana is fun to talk to and surprisingly not annoying. I recommend giving it a try. I wouldn't say it's GOTY or anything like that, but it will probably end up on most top 10 lists this year for sure.

What if Animal Crossing was good? That is Tomodachi Life. My problem with Animal Crossing is that is never really goes anywhere and gets boring FAST. There are aspects I like, but for the most part, that game series hasn't innovated in forever and just dull. Now, Tomodachi life isn't a new thing if you have played the 3DS game, but it does give you a more bigger sandbox to play with those tools. This is basically Animal Crossing for creative people. If you are not a creative person and just want a story and characters curated to you, this might not be the game for you. This game is about making your own fun. Period. Design dumb characters, stupid foods, funny t-shirts, etc., whatever you want to do. You also have say in most of the topics you Mii's bring up in conversation and if you are immature and rude like my dialog was, then it can be pretty funny. That is the kind of stuff that drives this game. You have your shops that sell items that chance everyday. From clothes to food. That is fine (I mean its better than picking fruits everyday in AC). Residents always want to talk and you can give them items, dress them how you want and feed them diarrhea soup if you wish. The one thing I really like is that they don't censor anything it seems. They will text-2-speech all the dumb and rude stuff you can think up. That is great. The bad here is that it might not have long legs. This humor will grow stale after awhile, as the mini games and little events your Mii's want to do are not that interesting at all. After about 15 hours, I feel like I have seen all they have to offer and just making new Mii's, new clothes, new food and new phrases for them, is the fun now. There are interactions I still haven't seen and I do want to expand the island more and design some cool stuff. But, I do not think I will be still playing a year from now. It's still fun, but only as funny as your imagination goes. I do wish there were more interactive things for Mii's to work with. One thing I liked about AC was arcade cabinets or TVs, etc. that you could put in their homes. This game doesn't quite have that. I mean you can give them gifts they take out and play with from time to time, but that is about it. Their homes are kind of static, even if you can pick different furniture or theme sets for them, they will not interact with it at all. That is a bummer and one of my bigger complaints with the game. But, overall this game is a lot of funny if you get stupid with it and design tons of stuff. If you just want to pick apples all day and dig up seashells, then continue to play boring ol' Animal Crossing.

MyCarrer Mode review (single player only): Since I am just a casual player in the 2K realm, I can just go on gut feeling and this feels the same as it did from 2K21. There needs to be more done here. I know they are the only game in town, like Madden is for Football so they don’t really care, but we deserve better. There are still stiff/sluggish animations, odd/awkward interactions, bad AI pathing, balls going through your hands when you try to deflect passes, etc. Even some baffling calls like defensive 3 seconds when the guy you're guarding is barely out of the paint and you don’t have a hand on him. You also lose your grade points in a game for really silly reasons at times, and most of the time there is nothing you can do about it. “Sorry I left my assignment, but I don't think they are passing to Jarret Allen for corner 3 when Mitchell is going to drive to the lane and I want to move over to help.” They also want you to box out a lot, and it never works well in these games as it hinders your movement too much. It’s either box out so your teammates get the rebound, or just grab it yourself as it’s usually hard to do both. Also, rebounds are fairly easy as there are no long rebounds in the game for the most part, everything falls in the paint and is very predictable which is super unrealistic. Getting open and around defenders feels more like glitching out the AI more than doing something smart or clever. There are still bad end of game animations as well, like opposing players dropping to their knees in a game 2 playoff game when they were down 20+ for the entire last quarter. There are also still bad options as well for online play with friends and season, for instance, you can’t do online co-op seasons still and that just ****. I mean how easy would that be for them to do? They try to tie it into their other online modes, but they do not have basic options I am looking for. The fan system is also pretty dumb, missing a random shot in a game wouldn’t “lose” you fans. Also, in the season, your team will rotate in 3 string players at times to start, even in playoff games for no reason. Stuff that just never should happen. Including injury reports when you are in the playoffs of players on teams that were eliminated, like ok, who cares if they are out 2 weeks, They are not playing again until the next season starts. There is a lot of silly stuff like that. The story mode is just ok. Seems like they spent the most time on this for sure. There are a ton of long cut-scenes and just a ton of dialog. Some of it is ok, some of it is really corny and stuff that would never happen. There are also very scripted parts that are just lame and your character acts like a social media baby a lot of the time. They also still call you MP, which they never explain, but I guess the last few games have been doing that and it just stands for MyPlayer, which is dumb as hell. I liked the more unique names like Freq, DJ or Pres. Also, they go far into the season as well, giving you more of that longer than ever before it seems, as usual that story stuff ends about right after you make the NBA. There are goals for each half of the season (and off season) with unique dialog and objectives, like win the NBA cup, win defensive player of the year, etc. They also really flesh out the life for your player and his parents, agent, coaches, etc. I do like the whole Euro-league experience. Instead of college, they have done China in the past but not Europe I believe. One funny thing they do is these social media videos from Shams. They would be fine, but it's too obvious he recorded all of them at once as he is in the same shirt and keeps looking off to the side to read the script. There were also several times I got interviewed at the end **** and they asked about my 20 rebound performance when I only got like 12. Another thing is the music. A decent blend of stuff, most not to my taste, but better than what Madden has to offer. The thing I do hate about the music though is the extreme censorship of the lyrics. Stuff that was played in full on the radio back in the day has to be censored out the ass here. I get you want to keep the rating E, but grow up. What is the point of putting in songs that have to be edited so much that every other word is blanked out? In conclusion, this game is fine, just like the other ones. I just get tired of the same game all the time. I think 2K21 was the last one I played and honestly it feels the exact same. But if you are just wanting a new story mode, this has a decent one with tons of dialog and content. I just wish they cared a little more about the actual Basketball and not make the same game they have made for the last decade. In this age of microtransactions and one studio hogging the NBA license, it feels like we will never get a truly great basketball game ever again, just like football. No competition breeds laziness.

A fun puzzle game that does not pull it's punches. I think some of the solutions can be a little obtuse and a lot of the puzzles are seriously tricky without a couple hints. Luckily there is a pretty good hint system in the game. The story is very classic spy film type story with some humor thrown in. The puzzles are pretty clever, but they will kick your ass from time to time. I think serious puzzle people will really enjoy the challenge of this one.

Does a much better job than the first game in almost all aspects. The story is better, the moment to moment gameplay is more interesting. I still don't think it comes close to the other juggernauts in the genre, like Inside for instance. But, this does improve on the first game. You have a lot more vehicles/machines to use in puzzles as well as some animals. I will say, none of the puzzles in the game are particularly tricky or hard, so it feels kind of like busy work at times. The beginning of the game does drag a bit and feels too similar to the first game though. The story was 100x more engaging this time around, which was nice. The ending was much more satisfying, even if it was more open ended. I still think it needs something else to really push it forward, but this was a step in the right direction. While I gave the first game a 6, I think Planet of Lana II is a solid 7.5/10.

We get it, Balatro, but with Dice. But, this is so much less. Balatro had the benefit of it being a spin on Poker, very easy to learn. If you knew it, you could play and form good combos easily. This is not so simple. There are many effects you can get on the dice and so much text to read, that is all becomes a blur too quickly. Once you are a boss or so into the run, it just becomes mess. You have too many dice, too many effects and it while you can form strategies, it is hard to get much consistency a lot of the time.

Cool concept and works well at times, but overall level design isn't great. There is also some quality of life stuff that is just atrocious, like quick restarts and menu control/feel. Feels really half-baked. And outside of the last group of levels, it really feels all the same with repeating bosses and missions.

Disclaimer: The game is probably more of 8.5-9, but the Switch 2 version specifically lowers it to a 7.5-8. The limitations of the Switch 2 are prominent here as there is some heavy frame loss in certain areas and lackluster graphics in too many areas. Should have played it on PC, but wanted that RE Generations triple pack too much and I paid for it by getting a lesser experience. As for the actually game, I did enjoy myself, but I do think they went a little too far in some places. There were also some story beats that I just didn't think they handled well, specifically the Emily storyline. They also did a bit too much of the "Hey, remember this from other RE games? Huh, do ya?". I don't mind some nostalgia, but this one kind of comedically hits you over the head with it until your eyes roll. The combat is fine, I do like the 2 play styles you switch between. The only thing I did not enjoy is the melee combat. While the parrying feels good, the hacking does not. Leon gets a "power strike" that is just L1 and R2, but it feels like a wet noodle and it don't daze, stun, knock back or effect enemies at all. You are just hitting a spongey bag of flesh. I get they didn't want you to just easily melee through the game, but there has to be a better way then having this attack feel so weak on an otherwise overpowered feeling character. There were also a few gameplay moments I don't enjoy, but they are nothing new for the series. These moments just revolve around one thing usually...a big roaming guy you can't kill. Almost all the games have one and it **** every time. You roll your eyes when they show up, backtrack until they get out of your path, then proceed. They just waste your time/ammo/resources and just not a fun mechanic in any game. Overall though, the game does a lot of fun stuff. While there were some moments I was had a less than ideal time with, it seem to always turn around in the next section. Unfortunately those great areas are too short lived at times, like the mansion level for Grace in the beginning. I would have liked to spend more time there. It also goes a little too over the top in some places and I still think RE in general can't decide if wants to be serious or campy, it never picks a lane and some times the tone shift just makes you shake your head and laugh at how absurd a scene can be. Despite all of that, it is overall a pretty good time.

The premise is good. Heist stuff with a National Treasure type flare. The game is at it's best when it's doing that too. I like the core of the gameplay; Find your way into rooms, explore, find artifacts, plan an escape route and then escape fast. That part is good. Unfortunately, there is the not good and it messes with the core experience. I liked casing the smaller places, but it got to be a chore in the bigger, later levels. Also, early on every other level was a tutorial that seemed unnecessary and bulky to the experience. In between missions you also go back to your hub, which was cool looking, but I wanted more with it. Activities, mini-games, etc., just something more than have long meaningless talks with people. That is one my other points. The story is super dry and boring. It was fine early on, but every twist and turn was so corny and predictable it wasn't worth my time at a certain point. The characters are also super generic, very stereotypical architypes (techy, strong, rich, nerd, athletic, etc.), I wish they fleshed them out a bit more, they all just were very one note and just played their role. I also had several bugs that made me rerun missions and bug UI out at times. The in game save system is also very lacking. You cannot save on missions at all if you quit out. Even if you are one step away from finishing a long level, you start back at your hub if you quit or get a bug or error that closes the game. That is a real bummer and soured my experience quite a bit. This could have been a really cool game if it stuck to the simple planning stuff, exploration and getaway runner, but unfortunately it just falls quite a bit short. Maybe a sequel would clean some of this up, I'd be interested in giving a 2nd game a go.

Really solid game. Fun in co-op. Really makes you feel like a badass, just chopping down hordes of enemies with ease. Can get a bit repetitive in the 7ish hour campaign, but has some really cool moments.

A metroidvania that Hollow Knight wishes it could be. Except for a few long run backs, this game runs circles around Hollow Knight in every aspect. Please keep in mind I did not care for Hollow Knight, but everything that game does wrong, this one does right. From the visuals to the story and characters, every part works together so well. Tons of secret areas to explore and new abilities that make exploring even more fun. The music is also fantastic and it swells as you get further into boss fights, really making them seem grand. Really well made boss fights that don't overstay their welcome and are a good challenge. Just a beautiful game all around.

It's no mystery what kind of game this is after you watch the trailer. If you are into these detective style games like Obra Dinn, Golden Idol or Duck Detective, you will be right at home here. That being said, it is a good one of those. Difficulty wise it's between a Duck Detective and Golden Idol and that goes for length too, coming in at about 5 hours to complete. It tells a good complete story that tracks through all the levels as you slowly reveal what is happening. Not much bad to say about it. There are just a few cases where you find a document naming a person you need to ID but just their last name will be bolded to grab and then you have to find their first name somewhere else, that is a bit annoying. Especially after you might have ID'd this person several other times in previous levels so you know who they are already. But that's about the only negative that comes to mind. I am a big fan of these kinds of games so picking this up was a no brainer. If you were not a fan of the other games that I mentioned, you are not going to find anything new here that will convert you to this genre, but if you are a fan, then you will feel right at home. 8.5/10

A bit of an odd one. It has style, it has mechanics, but both lack a bit. The look of the game is great, but some areas close up look pretty bad. The big mechanic in the game is parrying, that is the game. This is really fun, but a bit janky at times. Overall though it works well. There are some really good boss fights, which is the core of the game. Some areas to explore and collect stuff to upgrade your guy, but it's kind of whatever, the boss fights are the focus. Overall, for the $4 bucks I got the game for on sale, it's well worth the price of admission. Fun fights, fun combat, good atmosphere. It's just a bit janky, which you expect from smaller studio and a cheaper price tag. Worth checking out. 7.5/10 (rounded up)

Friendly Kerbal. That's this game. It is super accessible and eases you into harder missions in a smart way. the FMV YouTube video story isn't the best, but it serves the plot. The messaging in that is fairly eye-rolling super strong anti-capitalist messaging. But at least when the characters chat with you, you can talk **** to them and be an ass, which is pretty funny. I just really liked ship building system. It slowly upgrades over the course of the game and eases you into harder builds. The game revolves around different challenges you receive from people and they are all fun, unique ways to make you vary yours builds and try new things. I think this game is super overlooked and does some things not many other games are doing and doing it in an interesting way (uploading videos of your rockets to your fake YouTube channel). If you tried Kerbal and liked it or tried and it thought it was too much, I would get this one a try. It's doing stuff on a smaller scale, but later gets into some cool stuff and it's all easy to do because of the simple interface.

I am a fan of all these investigation games that have been coming out lately (Obra Dinn, Golden Idol, Duck Detective). This one is more like a serious Phoenix Wright, which is cool. They really did a great job with the theming and look for the game. Everything looks fantastic. The subject matter is also super interesting and history buffs of WW2 era Germany will have lots to engage with here. The game only goes over 2 cases, but both are fairly long, about 4-5 hours each. I liked planning the case on the blueprints and combining the evidence as well, that felt good when it all comes together. Wish there was bit more here, but its all done so well with lots of care, so its hard to ask for much more.

Love the concept. I think it works for the most part but a bit bogged down by all the weapons you get. Each riff kit for them is unique, but early on when you get them they put enemies in front of you that really require you to use them. So you naturally just move away from the first weapons quickly and end up using just one of the last 2. I like the concept of different instruments but you cant really use them all a lot, most people will just stick to the one they like and never use the others after awhile. The level design is fairly basic with collectables that are easy to find. The combat is really fun once you get it going with all the mods and riffs in your deck that build off one another. Really cool bosses as well. I was hoping a bit more though after reading glowing reviews on Steam. Still a fun game though.

Four short stories that go nowhere and are not that interesting. All are in different art styles and those are nice to look at, but at about 10 minutes per story and none of them grabbing me, it just was kind of like, Ok, guess that was a game. Even at the 3 bucks i paid, I still feel I didn't enough. It does look nice **** there is that...

I am not a fan of the Silent Hill series. I've seen them from afar for years and always thought they were kind of dumb. I've only played one before this game and it was that free PS5 one a few years back and I absolutely hated it. So why did I give this game a chance. Well, for one, the setting, it had me intrigued. Also, listening to a lot of GOTY podcasts, this was coming up a lot and people seemed to like it. Also, it was like $32 on sale, so that was the tipping point for me. As for the game, I didn't hate **** looked nice...good theming, etc. However, I am not a fan of games being obtuse, just to be obtuse. I feel like I got no closure at all. I had to look up all the finer points of what actually happened and for a lot of my questions, people still don't really know or its intentionally vague. That is not satisfying. At all. I get what they were trying to do and if you are in to that, great, I am genuinely happy that it all worked for you. But I felt a bit empty inside after finishing it, just scratching my head. Maybe I'm just dumb (guilty), but I just wish they went in a few different directions to give me just something to hold onto. For gameplay stuff, I think the combat is run of the mill for these kind of horror games, so its "bad on purpose", I guess. Puzzles are very lack luster and some are actively bad I'd say. They are also thrown in at odd points, like "Oh shoot, I guess we haven't had a puzzle in awhile, let's throw one in here" type vibes. Boss battles are kind of a joke, very simple, easy. Also, the game for the most part is super linear, but that is par for the course in these types of horror games I guess. I am teetering on a 6 or 7 for the score, but I ended on a 7, because I didn't have an awful time playing it. Some parts were genuinely cool. But, at some point I think they lost the plot and it became something a little too out there for me and my tiny brain.

The only downside to this game is the price, let's get that out of the way. $30 for a 45 minute game is just too much. There is replayability for sure and different endings, but it just needed more. I would have liked to see a 3-4 hour campaign and some extra modes that play off other others Terminator games. That aside, this is a great game. You can tell how much they care about the Terminator IP. Everything you want is in this game from that franchise. The pixel art is super top notch and looks really good in motion. I do like that there are alternative "what if" paths in the game as well. I feel like if they extended these levels out, added maybe a co-op options, a few modes...this would be a 10/10 no question. However, the run time is an issue and it doesn't have those extra modes I wanted. But, if you are a Terminator fan, this is game you must play, just not necessarily at $30.

Great story telling and world building. It also looks amazing. Some dialog can be a bit corny, as they go for some "The Boys" type humor and it can be a bit eye-rolly if you are not into that style of humor/dialog, but it was really good about 95% of the time. I was a big fan of The Wolf Among Us and up until now, that was probably my favorite, Telltale narrative style game like this, but this is better. The main gameplay (besides selecting dialog options) revolves around 2 mini-games, Dispatching and Hacking. Dispatching is actually really fun, I enjoyed deciding who would go out on missions, building stats and synergizing with different heroes. There were a few missions you fail because of just RNG, but it's all part of the game and in the end, even if I failed more than I wanted to, I still maxed out my dispatcher level, not that means much to the story (I don't think?) It would be nice if there was just a mode after you finished the game to just do dispatching, as I did want a big more of it, even if you do a 1-2 sessions of it every chapter. The hacking isn't something you are doing a ton, but I did also like the hacking mini-game. Obviously this is a game about choices and branching paths. I did like the way my story turned out, but I am also interested in the other paths I could have taken. This will probably be one of the few times I go back and play one of these style games again, but with completely different choices to see how that plays out. Maybe it will mainly be the same, but I am curious to see how they handle certain things if you are down the other path. If you liked any of the Telltale games and enjoy superhero stuff, this is definitely something you will enjoy. Lots of good voice acting and story that makes all the characters endearing in someway. Even if you are not a fan of QTEs, you can relax and turns those off, but I do think they add a bit more engagement to the fight scenes. Glad it has both though, so the player can choose. Overall just a fun game with memorable characters that is definitely one of the better games to come out this year. 9.5/10

Incredibly disappointing sequel. I really enjoyed the first game and maybe the first fifth of this game. It quickly rehashes a lot of ideas the first game had and never really feels like a true sequel. It also forces you to do a lot more BS to get to the ending as just finishing all the unique level stars isn't enough, you have to do almost all the prankster stars as well. Some of the level design is made for a character that controls much better than Mario. A decent amount of trial and error that is just frustrating. This comes from unclear goals or just poor level design. The game also is a step down in theming. Rosalina's cool space station ship from the first game is gone, and now you have a tiny Mario head that takes about 2 minutes to explore and there isn't much here. Even the level select is lazier as it is just a tradition Mario path through levels instead of the cool galaxy view they had in the first game. For the boss fights, like the first game, a lot of repeats. Some stage fights are decent and unique, but the big Bowser fights all repeat. Even the last fight is a repeat fight, just with one extra bonus easy phase to it. But thinking back, Bowser fights have always been repeated in these 3D Mario games and never that good really. Overall, while there are some decent levels and the game looks great for a Wii game, there is just an abundance of issues here I cannot overlook. Even the decent levels are like B, B-'s. I was rating levels in my head and I think maybe 1 level out of the 71 stars I got was an A tier level. Lots of D's in there and that doesn't make a great game. 6.3/10

Just a nice relaxing hour long experience about cleaning up ocean waste. Good physics and really clean pixel art.

I was looking forward to this game, despite not having any love for the Prime series. I am way more into the 2D Metroid games and none of the Prime games did anything for me. Even when I tried to revisit it last year with the Prime 1 remake, I just hated it. I thought this time would be different, as its a whole brand new thing. And I think, all said and done, even if this isn't a great game by any degree, it still might still be my favorite entry in the Prime series. For starters, the game does look really nice, but when you really start staring at the details, it is really rough around the edges. Definitely some Wii era textures in some spots. But overall, the games does look great from far out, including Samus suit. The other characters, not so much, super generic soldiers with some personality. You see their faces like twice in the entire game and then it gets covered up. They are devising, annoying at times, yes, but overall there are bigger issues with the game. The open world for one, is just disappointing. This is Mario Kart World all over again, but worse somehow. An open world for no reason and nothing to do in it. Collecting green crystals is fun for about 5 minutes and they want you to do a LOT of it for really no reason. To extend the run time? The open world also puts more distant between the dungeons which adds more unfun backtracking and load times. Backtracking has never been fun, in my opinion, in the Prime series, but here it was even more of a slog because of the extra travel area. The bike feels ok, not great. Just give me more to do in the desert with it, races, challenges, combat, anything! The dungeons are pretty good, this is where the game shines. To the big ones to the tiny puzzle ones that are like the Zelda shrines. The shrine like ones are cool, but there are like 5-6 of them? make 20-50 of these, this would have been very welcome. The big dungeons look good and are really fun the first time through (back tracking, not so much). The areas are well thought out with lots of secrets. The boss fights are subpar I'd say, some are good, some are pretty bad. They all, however, feel like a fight you have done before in these games, nothing new here, every standard stuff. Overall it just feels obvious this is not the game they wanted to make, there is just some many glaring issues and missing content, I just know they didn't want to ship this game this empty. But they did and this is what we got. At time I felt like the game was around a 8.5, had some good moments, but the lows are like a 4-5. It's definitely not a bad game by any means, just more disappointing. The ending doesn't help with things either, yikes.

Very short 20 minute experience. Still a decent little detective game for the length. Would enjoy more content in this style in a longer form game.