Zski

This review has me torn, because Gears Tactics is a shockingly smooth transition into an XCOM style tactical shooter. Although this game leaves me in a weird spot because I am a huge fan of Gears of War and XCOM, yet it doesn’t quite scratch either itch. I just kept thinking I want to either play a proper Gears of War game or a proper XCOM game. That is not to say the game is bad, it’s a good game. It’s a well polished game but it would benefit from a sequel to build on this excellent foundation. The game shines for Gears fans because the characters, the plot, the atmosphere, everything is highly reflective of the series. I also appreciate the focus on action instead of the increased focus on stealth in the XCOM games, like it truly feels like an action filled Gears game despite it being turn based. But something about the mission design just makes me care a lot less about the battles and characters than I did in XCOM. I think the difficulty is a bit easy, and on the highest difficulties it feels entirely way too punishing. In XCOM it felt like any bad move would result In losing a character or failing the mission, but the RNG in this game feels very generous. The storyline feels very much like a Gears game, the battles can be long (in a positive way), the length of the game is extremely generous. The game is good, and I wish they made a sequel to build on this foundation. Definitely a lot of fun to be had, but it leaves many itches unscratched.

This game is fantastic. It’s my third time starting up a new farm, and every time I end up spending many many hours with the game. I enjoy the variety of content that is offered here, and all of it can be enjoyed whether you just casually play it or want to explore the depth of the content. Every single activity has some degree of a pleasant gameplay loop without making any of it overly complex to the point where it’s unenjoyable. When you combine the amount of activities with the amount of time you have in each game day, it creates this pleasant loop that keeps you coming back because you want to see more and more. The graphics, music, characters, environments, everything is just super charming. Everything about this game is this perfect blend of being very simple but having more depth than what it initially seems like. I can easily see myself going back to this game for many years to come. It’s just a comfortable and relaxing experience with the right amount of addictive gameplay loop.

This one is very tough to review when revisiting in 2024. All in all, its a very solid boxing game that was fantastic for when it was released in 2006. I remember spending a lot of time with this one. I was revisiting the game this year, and while there is still plenty of fun to be had, there were many elements that were vastly improved in Round 4 and Champion. The total fight control really sets this apart from most combat sport games, and it really holds up well against the modern UFC games. It makes you plan your moves and your approach to attacking since its a more deliberate input, and you cannot rely simply on button mashing. The AI is shockingly really impressive about 75% of the time. The AI will protect their injuries and adapt to your fight style so you can't throw the same punch over and over. That combined with the controls make everything feel like a deliberate engagement. Oddly enough, that applies to the head, but the body is hit or miss. Sometimes the AI does not protect their body enough, which leads to way too many openings that are impossible not to take advantage of, especially when they protect their head better as the fight goes on. I think this is a result of the almost complete lack of footwork which results in the boxers just being planted in front of one another like rock em sock em robots. Again, at the time of release, this would have been very easy to overlook as everything else was very advanced, but Fight Night Round 4 added inside fighting which completely changed the mechanics. Otherwise its a great game. I had some issues with the judges just being all over the place with scoring, almost to the point where sometimes it feels truly random. The stamina management is a little off too, even if you just throw jabs and straights, the stamina meter drops off way too much for professional fighters by round 5-6. Most fights don't really make it past round 7-8 because of that. The career mode is fun, but feels pretty bare bones. You can't even look back at your previous fights, which is odd that this wasn't included back then. Overall, its a great game that is absolutely worth revisiting in 2024, but if you have access to Round 4 or Champions, there is definitely no reason to stop at this one.

I am going through some of the classic Mario sports games after the multiple modern disappointments. This game is fantastic. It builds on everything that was established in Mario Golf 64, which was already exceptional. I appreciate how they didn't try to reinvent the formula, they just did everything they could to enhance it, and they did it wonderfully. While I think the courses are fantastic and add a nice variety, I feel like they could have added more. That was probably the biggest disappointment for me. The variety of characters is nice without too many fillers. The variety of game modes is great. My biggest gripe with it is that the tournament mode follows a predetermined scoresheet, so you aren't technically competing against any CPUs, you're always shooting for the same score. Once I realized what was happening I was very disappointed there. Otherwise, its fantastic. Plenty of modes to keep you busy, but greatly enhanced when playing with other players. I consider this to be one of the best arcade golf games.

I spent about 150 hours with this game on PS5 when it originally released. I absolutely hate Souls games, so Elden Ring had a steep learning curve which I fought through, and then eventually ended up thoroughly enjoying it. I saw the DLC was coming out, decided to give it a shot on my Steam Deck, and now I'm already 50 hours in a second time, just two years later. This game is a masterpiece. The gameplay itself is extremely hard to digest, especially at first, but once it connects, it makes for an experience that few other games pull off. My first time with the game I thought the combat was stupid, but I eventually just ended up accepting it as I ran through the rest of the game. My second time with the game, I am far more appreciative of the skill that combat requires out of you. The second time around, I am enjoying playing around with the builds a lot more. Its a very thick combat and build system, but once you digest it, you appreciate the intricacy of it all. I still find the exploration of the game to be the defining characteristic. The game provides you with minimal guidance, and lets you loose into the world. Due to the difficulty and learning curve, there is a lot of trial and error in the exploration as well. Even on my second playthrough I stumble into an area that is way too difficult for me, so I am forced to either push through it or wander the other direction. I appreciate how there is little guidance, because it creates this feeling where you aren't in any hurry to experience the world - this is something that most games struggle with today. There is minimal HUD, minimal dialogue, minimal direction, you just wander. There are times I wish the narrative was a little more concise and clear, but I do appreciate it for what it is. The visuals and atmosphere are another defining characteristic. The world is something unlike what you find in any other videogame. The art design is absolutely stunning, especially after you leave the initial area which is a bit bland. The creativity and imagination required to create a world like this must be impressive. There are no words for the atmosphere and visuals other than its something you have to experience yourself. There are areas that feel so much like you're in a dream state, yet they are fully explorable. Overall, this game is fantastic. Again, this is coming from someone who thinks Souls games are terrible. This is among my favorite games of all time. I encourage anyone who gives this game a shot to really tough it out through the initial learning curve because the payoff is absolutely worth it. Its a game that you are in no hurry to complete, and just experiencing the world is part of the enjoyment.

Super addictive game for anyone who is a fan of poker. Its essentially a poker game mixed with the deck building and rogue elements of Slay the Spire. It’s fairly straight forward, but it requires a healthy amount of planning and strategy, especially in the later rounds. While I enjoyed Slay the Spire, I did feel like 75% of that game was my brain going on autopilot. You cannot do that in this game which I very much appreciate. It’s such a fun new angle at poker. The only complaint I have about the game is actually related to one of its strengths - the presentation of the game is very simple. The music, the graphics, the visuals, everything is extremely simple. Part of that is the charm and appeal of this game, it’s literally just streamlined into focusing on the gameplay. Considering that I spent a ridiculous amount of hours playing a small Texas hold em device powered by a single AA battery when I was much younger, this is going to keep me hooked for awhile. No idea where this game came from, but if you like poker and Slay the Spire, you’re in for a huge treat. Who knew that in 2024 I would be hooked on a rogue like permadeath poker deck building game.

I was really hoping to enjoy this one more than I did as I was a big fan of Road Rash when I was growing up. Unfortunately this game was not the attempt that the legacy needed. It just felt like the game is trying too many things without really putting the right amount of attention on anything. For example, in order to add something along the lines of flying motorcycles, then they should have better refined the control of the actual race itself; in order to add something along the lines of gunplay, then they should have better refined the hitboxes. It takes some time to get used to the pretty poorly designed physics, but even once you master them enough to use them to your advantage, one of the other poorly designed mechanics get in the way. I'm fully aware that in order to execute melee combat like this in a racing game, your motorcycle has to essentially link up with the motorcycle next to you, but when there are multiple motorcycles around, it feels like you link up very randomly. Then the throttling of the speed just feels way too arcade-y, not saying that I expected a hyper realistic experience, but the quality of the racing and mechanics that you are getting with this game are similar to that of the generic motorcycle racing game in the arcades where it almost comes down to dumb luck. It still feels like there is dumb luck in this game, but they overcompensate it with other mechanics so its still possible to win regularly. The music is horrible and repetitive to the point where I had to turn it off. Then I was treated to the horrible and generic sound effects. The graphics are fine. The amount of maps, motorcycles, and characters is beyond disappointing. The one positive thing I can say is that I appreciated the rogue style gameplay loop, in which you can spend money that you earn in each run, but also gain overall experience to improve your stats. That is one redeeming point that allowed for me to enjoy the game a little longer than I probably should have. Overall, its just a really sloppy game. They tried way too many different things without trying to make any of them actually good and enjoyable. Road Rash deserves better than this.

I played this a decent amount during the early release. Decided to revisit yesterday at the launch of 1.0 but was not expecting any revolutionary changes that would address my underlying concerns. Since this game is positioned by the community to be the Diablo 4 killer, I'll have to reference that game a lot here. I have a lot of thoughts on this game. I'll start with the positives. The itemization and skill trees are fantastic. I am extremely impressed that a small team was able to create this and refine it to a relatively precise and complex system. The itemization has that random number generator function that hits the same dopamine channels that the "slot machine" gameplay of Diablo 2 perfected. There is still room to grow, but truthfully its very impressive. I do find both the itemization to be superior to that of Diablo 3 and Diablo 4. With that being said, in the endgame, the things I dislike about the game (outlined in the next paragraph) made it particularly challenging to be as invested as I was in a system that fundamentally isn't quite as good, such as Diablo 4. The skill trees are fantastic in regard to how the mechanics function, but I can't help but feel that the actual skills are blatant ripoffs from many other ARPGs. They're just really low effort ripoffs of characters and moves. The one thing this game does very well compared to any other ARPG is adding the mastery system, which gives an artificial sense of having more characters and variety than there really are. I really appreciated **** for the bad. This game is extremely generic and lacks any personality, which really makes it somewhat of a slog. The world is exceptionally bland from top to bottom - the enemy models are generic, the setting feels like an unenthusiastic mashup of random fantasy themes, the atmosphere is lacking any and all personality, the music is repetitive and generic, the voice acting is pitiful, and the story is just hilariously bad. I don't play ARPGs for the story or the campaign, but you would be dishonest if you didn't acknowledge that having a nice cohesive theme helps pull everything together. This game has such a lack of personality that it really hindered my ability to become invested during the early release and during the full release. Truthfully, it has the same amount of soul and personality similar to a random shovelware game on Steam. Further, I really respect the small team for being able to pull off the underlying mechanics, but this "full release" still entirely feels like its in early access. I wonder where we draw the line between early access and full release, because this still feels half baked. While the underlying mechanics are solid, the lack of a cohesive presentation makes me lose interest very fast. It held my attention for a little while the first time around, did some endgame stuff, and then I quit. This time around, I'm still pushing through the campaign but it is a complete slog. Yes, Last Epoch does some things a bit better than Diablo 4, but on the flipside, everything else is uncomparably worse than Diablo 4. Last Epoch is an okay game. Its not awful, and it can hold your attention for a little while to get your money's worth, but I feel like it would be more appropriately priced at $20 given the quality of the product that you receive.

What an adrenaline rush. Somehow I played this game when it first came out and quit within the first hour or two because I found it boring. I still stand by that, the first couple hours of the game are extremely boring. But after playing and loving Doom Eternal, I put this back on my backlog to revisit and try again, and I’m very thankful I pushed past the oddly slow start to the game. This game just captures the spirit of Doom so well. You are up against waves and waves of really strong enemies, yet you can still overpower them. I really love the glory kill system here, because the enemies truly do a lot of damage and can take your health down really fast, but the faster you kill and use the glory kill executions, you can keep your head above water. That combination of hard hitting enemies and encouraging you to execute the enemies makes this feel like Doom - you are just a machine. The graphics are great, and they still hold up pretty well in 2023. The music is awesome, especially as you progress further in the game, it just adds to the rush you get from the game.Amazing gunplay, amazing controls, amazing music, amazing variety in enemies, which all together make for an adrenaline rush of a shooter. I did have some complaints about it, specifically the level design. Despite having a waypoint on your compass, I found myself getting lost way too much, which took away from some of the excitement. Going from a badass fight to having to circle around for 3 minutes to find the door that’s above you really hinders the experience at times. The other complaint I have is that while there is a variety of weapons, the further you get you realize that the only truly viable weapons are the super shotgun and gauss cannon. The only reason to use the other guns is because you ran out of ammo, so you use them to hold you over until you get more ammo. Regardless, this is among the best FPS of recent decades. Doom Eternal was a step up on this formula, which is shocking because they got this game essentially perfect, minus a few nitpicking complaints of mine.

Surprisingly fun shooter that is very faithful to the franchise, but the fun tapers off partway through the game. Huge fans of the Robocop franchise will love the amount of detail they put into this game. I rewatched the first movie during my playthrough, and the setting, the layout of the precinct, the layout of Murphy’s home, the characters that directly reflect the characters of the movies, the new characters that are cannon to the IP, even down to the smallest details (Robocop’s car sparking as it leaves the garage) were truly a shocking amount of detail. Any fan of the franchise will love this game. With that being said, it’s not perfect. The core gameplay feels very appropriate for what they were trying to do - you really feel like a super heavy tank. Slow moving but can blow away enemies. The shooting mechanics at first were a lot of fun, I was sitting and smiling as I would slowly walk down a hallway mowing down tons of enemies. The occasional destructible environments were also a ton of fun. But halfway through the game, that magic wore off. As you go on and face enemies with more armor, the weak gunplay becomes more apparent. It’s fun, but it’s gimmicky and it’s flaws really start to show as you get further in the game. Luckily the game mixes it up with a lot of dialogue that is very on par with what you would expect to happen in the movies. It’s cheesy, but in a super 1980’s action movie charming type of way. Often times the dialogue leads you to a side mission where it just feels like regular cop duty, which is actually pretty fun. I enjoyed some of the side missions more than the story missions. You’ll find yourself combing through a video rental store, saving cats, writing parking tickets, etc. Combine all of that into open-area levels and you have a few fun little areas to explore. Some of the levels are more fun than others, and they really vary not only in quality, but in depth and duration. They claim there are 31 missions, which is true, but some missions are a 30 second walk down a hallway and a 15 second cutscene (seriously), others take 30-60 depending on the side content you explore. Regardless, it’s a nice variety, with a surprising variety game length to it all. The graphics are somewhere between pretty good and blatantly dated. The environments all look pretty good, but the character models feel very much a few generations behind. Outside of the okay voice acting (though intentionally cheesy delivery), I found the sound design to be pretty bland. It all felt a little repetitive. It really feels like I’m playing one of the best games from two console generations ago. A great feature of the game is the storyline, while it’s nothing huge, it’s very much in line with the themes and arcs of the movies. Despite my complaints, I actually enjoyed the game at first, but it really started to get less interesting halfway through. It’s not a perfect game, but it did a fantastic job at what it set out to do. I am most impressed with how faithful they were to the franchise, it really blows me away when you consider that most games based on franchise just take the IP and do whatever they want with it. Fans will love it without a doubt because it’s more Robocop, but the core gameplay is a little flawed. The game is loaded with personality (or again, cheesy lack of personality, in the good way) and charm. I had some fun with it, way more than I expected at times, but admit got progressively more frustrating I wasn’t able to see past the flaws anymore. I finished it, but I don’t believe I’ll find myself reflecting back on this one much.

I have considered purchasing this game for a very long time. I kept reading about the difficulty which made me a little concerned. As a huge fan of XCOM, this was nowhere near as intimidating as the other comments made it out to be. Its more challenging, but its in the same ballpark. The depth of the game is very satisfying, there are a lot of different mechanics in play that take a lot of playtime to fully understand. This is a game with a steep learning curve, and unfortunately very little of it is overtly spelled out. It takes a lot of trial and error and self learning to understand. Its not completely overwhelming beyond the first hour or two, but you just learn the rest of it naturally the more you play. The mechanics seem to be so deep that no matter how much you play, you're always learning details. This is not a game where its impossible to enjoy without spending hours of research, which is what I feared. The overarching resource management is also a lot of fun. Its just a blank canvas **** where every run will be completely different, and I think that really adds to the replayability. Its fun managing all of the different brothers while under resource constraints. I think the most exciting part of the game is the challenge - just do yourself a favor and start with at least medium difficulty and iron man mode. I cannot imagine this game being nearly as fun without having the pressure of failure at your heels at all times. I failed a lot at first, but I found myself hitting momentums at various times by trying out new things and learning the game little by little. Losing your best characters and losing your company is part of the game, if you take that out, then you are not doing it right. Its very similar to XCOM in that aspect. The weakest areas of the game are the presentation, but I respect it because its definitely not a focus of the game. The graphics are really bad, and not even in the charming indie game way. The characters are all just busts similar to chess pieces. Luckily they add some backstory to the characters you make you feel more invested. The music and sound are equally as bad and unambitious, but again, that is not the point of the game at all. After my first 5 hours with the game I realized that I will probably spend some time with it. I immediately purchased the DLC and did not regret it. Now I'm around 25 hours in, and plenty of time left to enjoy it. Fantastic game and it really succeeds at what it sets out to do.

Slipstream is a fantastic game in concept, but it feels like it’s missing a lot of pieces that would make it a game that is enjoyable for a longer period of **** game knocks it completely out of the park in terms of graphics, art design, and the music. The pixel art is absolutely stunning, the car models are excellent and you can tell exactly what models they were going for, the backgrounds are stunning, the variety in the levels is excellent so you really get to experience a lot. I think they really did a great job with a lot of the design choices, for example the colors are exceptional. Neon colored cities, gray industrial areas, purple mountain ranges, it’s amazing. The music is great as well, very fitting to the game **** gameplay itself is okay. It’s not bad, but the AI is really awful. I’m used to the retro rubber band AI in racing games, but this game really feels like an uphill climb. I have been in races where I have the same exact car as the AI, I’m in full slipstream boost, I’m handling the corners extremely well, and the AI blasts by me at speeds that my car cannot even reach. I can appreciate a game that requires near perfect races to place high, but this almost feels sometimes like you’re up against a random number generator in regard to how well the AI races, regardless of the difficulty. It’s really my main source of frustration with the game, because it could have been great. The lack of pull for any of the modes is also disappointing. I love how seamlessly they connect all of the levels, and with that, you should be able to create a mode that keeps you entertained. But it just feels like the modes are stitched together levels with slightly different game variants. I think this game could have benefited from some type of progression system or career mode, because often times I fire up the game and I’m done with it in 20 mins. This could have been a great arcade machine game in the 90’s, but it feels super shallow by today’s **** could have been something special, but it’s a beautiful yet really hollow game experience.

Going into this game, I watched videos and was very concerned that the dialogue would get a little dry and really start to bore me. After 20 hours, the dialogue is probably the highlight of the game and what truly makes it stand out compared to most other RPGs. The writing is fantastic, the acting is fantastic, the response selections are fantastic, the consequences to your responses are fantastic, and the D&D dice mechanic based on your stats is fantastic. It’s a very immersive **** gameplay itself is also great. I love a good turn based system, and this one makes you feel like you're in control with the vast amount of skill and spell options. However with that being said, I'm a little torn about the difficulty of the game. I love a game that is a good challenge, including one that takes a few tries to complete some of the tougher levels. With this game, you definitely get those challenging areas, but what I don't really get is the satisfaction of feeling like I overcame the challenge - instead, I get more of a feeling like the luck was more on my side this time around compared to my previous attempts. That's not to say the gameplay is bad, its actually pretty good and enjoyable, but I would not feel comfortable saying its anywhere near perfect. Its very good and adds a lot of variety. The exploration is a bit linear, which threw me off. I wasn't expecting a wide open world game, but not something where most of your journey takes place on one guided path. The graphics are really good. I do feel like some of the characters look really pasty or like they're made of clay, and the facial animations vary a lot in quality (some are exceptional, others are comically bad) but generally they're still within the same ballpark as a Bethesda release. Potentially worse. The music is great, I wouldn't say its a highlight, but it certainly compliments everything that is happening in game. I did notice a LOT of bugs though, just graphically the game has a lot of glitches. I never cared in other big open world games like Fallout of Elder Scrolls, but its really hard to look past some of the glaring flaws. One element I didn’t particularly care for was the itemization. It’s there, it’s present in the game, but the amount that you come across new items throughout the duration of the game is really infrequent. It almost feels a bit pointless. Maybe I just didn’t know what to expect here, but I feel like the items in the game were painfully underwhelming. The absolute most obnoxious part of the game was the romance options that are constantly being thrown at you. I always thought romance options in games were a little strange, but they always felt like options. In order to experience them, you have to pursue them. Not in this game. Every single character is constantly trying to have sex with your character. It’s beyond character development, it just happens so much as you progress through the game that it makes me like the characters less. This was by far the biggest immersion breaking point of the game. You can outright be rude or mean to characters, and then out of nowhere you'll be in a weird sexual tension cutscene. It made me realize about halfway through Act 2 that the characters don't actually have that much depth, they just come up when their time is ready to either try to have sex with your character or do a huge lore dump before disappearing again. I got about halfway through Act 2 before I quit the game, because I realized how shallow the story telling actually was, and how all of the companions are programmed to try to have sex with you regardless of your options. It made me feel like I'm playing one of those weird hentai anime relationship games one too many times. There is magic in trying to create a theme of getting to know the party you're traveling with, but when they are all programmed to have sex with you by default, its just silly. All in all, its a decent game. Its a very unique experience in 2023. It honestly takes me back to gaming in the 90's and early 2000's. Its a very immersive experience until the glaring flaws start to shine through so much to which its hard to look past it. What I enjoyed about the earlier part of the game is that you don't really feel like you're making much progress - I would turn on the game and play a couple hours and feel like I went nowhere, but still enjoyed it. After a certain point, I just realized the story is very simple, and when I realized the companions are just vessels that will try to have sex with you regardless of your actions, it ruined the game for me. I originally scored this about a 7-8, but this within itself ruined the game so much for me to the point where I had to lower it to a 6-7.

I had a very hard time reviewing this game because the decades of hype set my expectations into a place that was tough to gauge. Chrono Trigger is a good game, no denying that, but I don't agree with all the acclaim that it is among the best RPGs of all time. I tried playing through it several times throughout my life and was never able to finish because it never hooked me in. I finally managed to complete it this year, and I thought it was a good game. Chrono Trigger does a lot well. Its a highly ambitious game, I would say its among the most ambitious (if not THE most) for the SNES. It achieved many things that are hard to believe were possible for this platform. To start, the graphics are outstanding, truly among the greatest for the console. The graphics combined with the story make for a really fun adventure. The story is good, but I kind of question whether its as great as everyone says it is. I think its a highly ambitious storyline that sets the game in many different settings, which allows the game to demonstrate its versatility through the graphics. But when I reflect back on the story, I think it was good, but its truly a bit simple of a storyline, outside of a couple twists. Luckily, the saving grace is that the characters are pretty well written for the most part. I have mixed feels about the sound design, there are some songs that are absolutely fantastic (everything in 12,000 BC), there are other songs that are good but then are played for hours on end to the point where they become obnoxious (Magus' castle), and there are some that are just comically bad (overworld song for 600AD, anything from 65,000,000 BC). I also found the pacing to be off. The first half of the game is BORING, and it is the reason why I quit this game any other time I tried playing it before. The second half of the game picks up momentum and genuinely becomes more interesting. I also found the pacing of the battles to feel off - you will do a story segment, and then seemingly a long adventure across the entire continent in which you face zero enemies in the overworld, and then you enter your first hallway and it is packed with enemies - it just feels off. Then add some of the confusing direction that it gives to you on a few sections so that you just aimlessly look around and really takes away from the flow of the experience. I also have some mixed feelings about the combat system. Its good, don't get me wrong, but about halfway through I felt that it added too many mechanics when its actually quite simple. I refuse to believe that anyone who plays this game uses more than 15-20% of the total moves and skills. It was so bad that I would unlock skills in the second half of the game that I wouldn't even bother trying out because I found a combination that works better for almost every situation. For example the magic system is only important for a handful of bosses and enemies, and most of the two and three party attacks are just useless once you discover the one that destroys most enemies. Around 75% through the game, I found that my party pretty much devolved into two party members doing a double attack and my third party member just spamming healing. It feels so good an intuitive until it doesn't, and then it just makes a lot of the battles feel like a chore. I do feel that the game shined the most in the boss battles, they are challenging without feeling cheap, and they are well balanced in the sense of it not requiring any grinding. With all this considered, its really hard to gauge how much of the game I feel is great vs how much of it is ambitious and impressive for the hardware. Ultimately, I think its just good. Truthfully, I enjoyed many other RPGs on the SNES more than Chrono Trigger. Its a great game and I really appreciate what it pulled off on the hardware. I'm glad I played through it once because I don't see myself desiring another playthrough ever again. I played this on Steam, and it was generally a great port. I experienced a couple minor bugs which required a restart, but it looked fantastic, especially with widescreen support.

Returning to this classic for the first time since completing it at launch. With GTA V being a decade old now, I figured I would revisit the game in the series that was (somehow) very polarizing. I am revisiting this game in 2023 and I really enjoyed it. I can kind of see what Rockstar was doing with this game, as it feels more like a step in the direction of the level of realism and immersion that was seen in Red Dead Redemption (2010). Its very different from GTA V, and I believe they both bring a lot to the table. GTA V feels like it has Looney Tunes physics, while GTA IV feels like it has a more realistic edge to the physics. Which brings me to the gameplay. Its slower and more methodical, and truthfully, I really like it. It feels a little more immersive and requires more effort to complete missions, whereas in GTA V, it was so easy that it almost feels like autopilot throughout the entire game. That's not to say the gameplay and mechanics are perfect, but I feel that for a 2008 game, they are excellent. Its a product of it's time. There are a few frustrating elements that have been refined in other games since 2008, so the slow clunky turning of the character gets in the way sometimes, the cover system is a little clunky and leaves you exposed sometimes, but for 2008, this was revolutionary. I really appreciate how methodical the gameplay is in this game. You can fly down the road max speed in a car, but unlike GTA V, you can't take a 90 degree turn going 100mph. It requires practice and precision, and the risk of crashing and dying is very high. I heard people complain that this game doesn't have a sense of speed, which I completely disagree with. Instead of feeling speed as in gaining a lot of ground in a short amount of time, you feel it in the sense of the faster you go the less in control you are of the vehicle. Again, not better or worse than GTA V, but different. The graphics hold up surprisingly pretty well. That's not to say they are modern graphics, because they're not. They are not an eyesore and it doesn't feel like a 15 year old game. What I really loved about this game is the story and the characters. The game actually has a pretty good story, unlike GTA V, and that is thanks to the very well written characters. Niko feels like the most human character in all of GTA thanks to the exceptional writing. His backstory is drip fed to you throughout the game through some shockingly powerful commentary about trauma and war, which really makes you appreciate him more. The supporting cast is also excellent, you have your goofy characters, you have your serious characters, you have your loose cannon characters, its all there, but what this game does so well is that they add context to everyone so instead of an actor in a role, they feel like living people in Liberty City with their own motives and place in the hierarchy of the city. I really enjoyed revisiting this game. There are a lot of things that did not age perfectly, but its absolutely worth revisiting in 2023. I feel like this game did a lot more to push the franchise and gaming in general than GTA V.

Its a fun game, but the fun doesn't sustain for long. The gameplay loop is interesting because it has a lot of variety, but I feel that this is also the game's weak area. If any of the gameplay elements would be isolated, this game would be extremely forgettable because none of them are really deep. So what you get is multiple gameplay elements that were taken out of the oven too soon. Luckily the saving grace is that they weave the separate gameplay elements into a really neat and cohesive package that flows decently well. Another issue I had with the game was the overarching pacing - the speed at which new gameplay elements are incorporated in the mix feels off. That combined with the story which is so drawn out made for an experience that I was not enthusiastic about in my play through. The game also feels rather linear, yet it has all of the elements that could create an interesting game that you do at your own speed (like **** Valley, Terraria, etc). But despite all of my criticisms, I had fun with the game. I got 8 hours out of it and I am content with my experience, and I don't think I'll ever have an itch to return to this game. Where the game shines the most is the charm. The character's have really distinct and memorable personalities, the overall presentation and concept just has a charming allure to the whole experience. The graphics are really nice as well. The music on the other hand, highly forgettable and overly repetitive. Its not a bad game by any means. Its just very average. It has some great things about it, it has some bad things about it, but most of all, it has many things that are just not fully baked and feel really shallow.

This is exactly what the base game was missing. I absolutely loved the base game, I played through it multiple times, but the issue that I had was that there was very little left to do by that point. This doesn't reinvent the game, but it adds the fresh coat of paint that I wanted. It gives you enough reason to return to the game and keep playing. The two new characters are actually very fun to use, and while the color swaps aren't huge, they're a fun little bonus to those coming back and for long-time fans of the series. The survival mode is the core appeal of the DLC. Its exactly what you would expect of it, but it adds a few fun features, such as being able to play as some of the bosses. Again, nothing game changing, but they tapped into exactly what fans wanted and needed to get back into the game. New game mode, new playable characters, new stages, new enemies, new color palettes, new features - its excellent.

This is a review of Phantom Liberty, but partially a review of the 2.0 update. I beat the base game about a year and a half ago before the major updates, and I scored it a 7/10. My main sentiment then was that they got a lot right with the base game, but it felt incomplete. I enjoyed it enough to revisit the game with the update and DLC.A quick comment on the 2.0 update. The game finally feels complete. I have huge respect for CD Projekt Red for not abandoning the highly promising foundation that was established in the base game. The world is still absolutely immersive and the visual design is among the best ever seen in gaming. Now the gameplay has been completely refined, the RPG elements while they aren’t a huge part of the game - they have been fully fleshed out, a lot of the questionable game design decisions have been ironed out (for example you no longer have to wear a ridiculous outfit to get the stat bonuses), the wanted system works well and is actually fun, etc. That is not to say the game is still glitch free - I still experienced a few glitches, more in the original area of the game than in the DLC, but they weren’t bad at all. The game is finally complete, and if I could revise the score I have on the original game, I would now easily raise it to a **** on to Phantom Liberty. The new area on the map is very cool, it really captures that gritty dystopian cyberpunk aesthetic in the part of town that has been abandoned by the local government. Pretty much feels like it’s straight out of Judge Dredd, and the more modern Dredd movie. Gives a lot of vibes of the post nuclear war setting of Fallout. While the new environment is really cool, it’s actually very small. I do think that the positive thing is that the trade off was quality over quantity, the new environment feels like they didn’t waste a single foot of space on the map. Despite the size, it’s a great addition.Overall the story is excellent, but it’s not perfect. They do a good job of building out the main characters, which makes some of the pivotal decisions a bit tricky. Without spoilers, I do feel like the story that sets place in the first hour of the game is pretty stupid. It ultimately ends up feeling pretty insignificant, and it kind of took away from atmosphere that I enjoyed in Cyberpunk. I enjoy the dystopian crime ridden city plot more than a Tom Clancy government drama plot. Luckily the characters and the acting saved that and still made me feel very much invested in the decisions you have to make. By the time the game ended, I felt overall pretty good about the story. I see people commenting how this took them over 30 hours to complete, I felt like I took my time and I managed to finish it in about 15 hours - again, totally worth it at the price tag of $30, but it felt like it was giving you just enough backstory to all the characters to make a few major decisions in the end. I personally enjoyed the story of the base game of Cyberpunk 2077 more than the DLC, but again, that’s not to say it’s bad.Despite my few critiques of the game, this was a great experience. That combined with the 2.0 update, I’m very happy to see that Cyberpunk finally delivered on the promises it made over the years. It’s so good that I finished the DLC, and I still plan on playing this game for weeks to come. The development of this game is a redemption story similar to that of No Man’s Sky. They saved the franchise and I’m extremely excited to see what the inevitable sequel brings many years down the road, especially since it looks like they cleaned up all the problems.

What an amazing direction for 2D Mario games. The classic 2D Mario games from the 8 and 16 bit era have stood the test of time and will remain timeless classics. However, the entries since the Wii era have been great, but have been running stale for many entries now. They were never bad, but they were never really exceptional. Super Mario Bros. Wonder changes this with extremely refined gameplay mixed with the most creativity and personality that I have seen in a game in a very long time. To start with the gameplay. There are no real surprises here, but everything is so highly refined and polished that it’s noticeably better than any modern 2D Mario platformer. Everything feels responsive and everything feels tight. I also appreciate that they took away the time limit, which encourages exploration more like a Donkey Kong Country game, rather than blasting through the level as fast as possible. The difficulty is pretty well balanced, there is a degree of challenge later in the game, and if you want to 100% the game, you’ll face a lot of the difficulty. It’s not painfully difficult, but it’s a healthy challenge. It’s accessible to casual players and players who want a challenge. elephant power up was one of the highlights of the announcement, wasn’t sure how to feel about that one, but the experience of playing through levels and having no idea what will happen next adds such a child-like wonder (pun intended) to the experience. Once you played enough of these games, you know what to expect - not in this game. It never really throws anything revolutionary at you, but the constant changes to the formula are something you have to experience. It also stays persistent, it’s not a gimmick that runs its course early on and then it gets old, it just keeps that pleasant wholesome excitement all the way through. The graphics are awesome, everything runs silky smooth, the colors really pop on an OLED screen, it’s all great. The animations are all phenomenal, it feels like Mario is more “alive” in this one than any other previous Mario game. Combine that with the charm and personality, you get such a fantastic game. One small issue is with the music - it’s not bad, it’s actually very good, but with everything else being so fun, there aren’t any songs that really stood out as anything of note. It does it’s job wonderfully, but it doesn’t have any of those songs that stick around or anything you can hum to. That’s me nitpicking **** in all, amazing game, it really makes you feel like a child playing this game because everything feels new and exciting. This is a must play game, and I think this one will stand the test of time with the 8 bit and 16 bit classics.

I started off the Pixel Remaster Collection with VI, and then moved to IV, which was my first ever Final Fantasy game. My thoughts regarding the Pixel Remaster of VI are similar to that of IV. What a fantastic remaster of a classic game that apparently holds up extremely well to the test of time. Even by 2023 standards, this holds up extremely well. Regarding the remaster itself, it’s very tastefully done. Most of the added effects are very subtle, which collectively make the game feel far more modern without sacrificing anything that made the original great. There are some things that are more obvious, such as smoke effects inside of burning buildings or any of the water effects, but then the subtle enhancements are so well executed that I watched YouTube videos of the SNES version to compare. I was shocked to see how similar they looked, yet how the Pixel Remaster was visibly more modern. The best way to explain it is that this game looks like you remember it from when you played it as a kid, although it’s not the same. Absolutely perfect execution. My only complaint is the goofy font selection, which can be very easily modded to restore the original font, which I highly recommend. The game itself is fantastic. I cannot decide whether I would place IV or VI as my favorite Final Fantasy game. This one feels more pure, the story is more simple (for the most part) which still creates narratives for the characters that create some strong emotional buy in very early on. That’s the difference between IV and VI, this game has a more simple narrative that is always progressing, while VI has a complex narrative with many characters that spends more time creating depth for the characters because of the volume. The story for the most part is fantastic, it has a few weaker moments but it reels it back in for a powerful finale. The gameplay is classic action turn based Final Fantasy, and it holds up wonderfully today. It’s a little more linear than I remember it being as a kid because of how revolutionary it was back then, but even with the linearity, it creates a huge sense of adventure. I don’t have anything bad at all to say about the game, it holds up very well and it perfects the classic Final Fantasy formula.

To start with my history with Souls games. I never liked any of them, at all, until Elden Ring, which I absolutely loved. I read that the next most accessible game is Sekiro, so after my great experience with Elden Ring, I decided to give this one a shot.I’ll start with the positives. The story/lore is a bit confusing but highly intriguing. Since I now understand how the story works in these games, I can appreciate what is being presented, especially since it’s a bit more active story telling compared to Elden Ring. The way they weave the story and lore into the atmosphere of the game is excellent, which really plays into the overall presentation of the setting. The graphics are very good, although nothing memorable. Mix that with a soundtrack that does the job exceptionally well despite not being memorable in any way, and it’s a great feeling **** issue, as it always was with Souls games, is the combat. I’m still having the same experience I always had with these games where I feel that the control of the character is just too loose. The slightest movement of the stick makes your character completely pivot all over the place, luckily the lock on mechanic makes it feel a little more grounded, but I hate to say it, the control of the character feels cheap. It almost feels dated, like a PS2 era game. I thought the hookshot and the prosthetic weapons work well and really enhance maneuverability compared to other games I played, but when that’s combined with the floaty controls, it feels like you have no weight in any of your actions. So I have mixed feelings about it - the maneuverability makes it feel more action based, which ironically sets up the stealth, but the way you’re forced to use it makes it lame. Maybe I’m not understanding, but the 1 on 1 fights are fun, it can be fun learning the patterns. Despite dying over and over, those segments were fun enough to give me that feeling where I knew what I did wrong, and immediately go into trying the fight again. But when there are more than one enemy present, the combat completely falls apart. It just feels like you back up a little, isolate an enemy and damage them a little bit until the group catches up, back up a little, isolate an enemy, then rinse wash and repeat.After about 6 hours with the game, I find that it’s time for me to put the game down. It has its moments, but I find that I spend a lot of mental energy convincing myself that it’s not that bad. If I spend most of my time with a game convincing myself that I’m having fun, it’s not really that fun. I can see how people enjoy it, but it’s just not for me. I gave it my best, and the weird loose grip of the character and floaty movement combined with decent combat made it hard to feel like I care enough to go on.

To start with my history with Souls games. I never liked any of them, at all, until Elden Ring, which I absolutely loved. I read that the next most accessible game is Sekiro, so after my great experience with Elden Ring, I decided to give this one a shot. I’ll start with the positives. The story/lore is a bit confusing but highly intriguing. Since I now understand how the story works in these games, I can appreciate what is being presented, especially since it’s a bit more active story telling compared to Elden Ring. The way they weave the story and lore into the atmosphere of the game is excellent, which really plays into the overall presentation of the setting. The graphics are very good, although nothing memorable. Mix that with a soundtrack that does the job exceptionally well despite not being memorable in any way, and it’s a great feeling game. My issue, as it always was with Souls games, is the combat. I’m still having the same experience I always had with these games where I feel that the control of the character is just too loose. The slightest movement of the stick makes your character completely pivot all over the place, luckily the lock on mechanic makes it feel a little more grounded, but I hate to say it, the control of the character feels cheap. It almost feels dated, like a PS2 era game. I thought the hookshot and the prosthetic weapons work well and really enhance maneuverability compared to other games I played, but when that’s combined with the floaty controls, it feels like you have no weight in any of your actions. So I have mixed feelings about it - the maneuverability makes it feel more action based, which ironically sets up the stealth, but the way you’re forced to use it makes it lame. Maybe I’m not understanding, but the 1 on 1 fights are fun, it can be fun learning the patterns. Despite dying over and over, those segments were fun enough to give me that feeling where I knew what I did wrong, and immediately go into trying the fight again. But when there are more than one enemy present, the combat completely falls apart. It just feels like you back up a little, isolate an enemy and damage them a little bit until the group catches up, back up a little, isolate an enemy, then rinse wash and repeat. After about 6 hours with the game, I find that it’s time for me to put the game down. It has its moments, but I find that I spend a lot of mental energy convincing myself that it’s not that bad. If I spend most of my time with a game convincing myself that I’m having fun, it’s not really that fun. I can see how people enjoy it, but it’s just not for me. I gave it my best, and the weird loose grip of the character and floaty movement combined with decent combat made it hard to feel like I care enough to go on.

I am a long time fan of the series, all the way since Hitman 2 on GameCube. I played all three games of the new trilogy, and while I very much enjoyed them, the value of it was questionable. With Hitman 3 converting into Hitman World of Assassination by merging all of the maps from all three games and adding the new Freelancer mode as well as other additions, this is a MASSIVE value. The amount of maps that you receive is fantastic, especially with you getting the variety from all three games, so none of them feel like a waste. For example, the intro levels from Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 were very small and felt like a wasted map in each individual game, but now with access to all of the maps, the change of speed of going from small maps to large maps adds awesome variety. The Freelancer mode isn’t perfect, there are a few bugs, but it adds a nice coat of paint to maps you’re already familiar with and encourages/forces you to explore new areas and look at levels differently. Definitely adds more content to a game already bursting at the seams with content. One critique is the extremely confusing DLC catalogue, it’s hard to tell what you get with each package, and I believe that might be by design. Regarding the game itself, the maps are fantastic. They feel more alive than any of the previous games, and it is really starting to feel like an actualized vision that the earlier Hitman games tried to create. Some of the maps are absolutely brilliant, specifically the race in Miami, the level in suburbia, and the “who did it” style mystery mansion. Mix those fresh takes on Hitman with some extremely well executed hugely populated levels and more traditional Hitman espionage levels - this game has it all. The amount of detail and the stories that develop in each level makes it feel to just get lost in them exploring around. I like how one tip you overhear takes you into another direction, then you cross paths with your secondary target, so you change your game plan again. It’s great. With that said, the jank that we have learned to embrace in previous Hitman games is still here - the sometimes overly scripted AI, the NPCs that feel like a living crowd but completely soulless individuals, the randomness of the AI that bounces between brick stupid and ignoring you killing someone right in front of them to being super sleuth investigators that will investigate all the right places at the right times, etc. It’s not perfect, but it’s absolutely the best attempt at the classic Hitman formula, though nowhere near revolutionary. Fans of the series will be extremely satisfied. The graphics are excellent, especially in the amount of detail in the maps, although it looks a lot less polished in other areas, such as the character designs. The sound design is great, although the thriller movie background music on loop gets a little old. The story is somewhere between a great overarching theme to uninspired. It adds a cool theme of feeling like you’re influencing what the global elite are doing to the world, and then it progressively narrows down to a cool look at Agent 47’s backstory, but there are so many cutscenes that are loaded with random characters that I don’t care about. I appreciate it for giving you the feeling that you’re just an assassin infiltrating the global elite, but at the end of the day, it’s good enough but still forgettable. Excellent game which will be a huge hit for fans, and an approachable experience for newcomers. Hitman World of Assassination is an incredible value.

I am a huge fan of F-Zero and F-Zero X. Back when I tried to play this game 20 years ago, I couldn't get into it because it didn't feel right. 20 years later, its the same sentiment. I know Sega had their hand in the development of the game, but I believe their influence is what really derailed much of the experience. The music in F-Zero and F-Zero X was iconic, the tracks all felt very different and interesting, almost to the point where you wished that there was more lore to them. F-Zero GX just feels awkward in the presentation compared to the foundation set by the predecessors. Because of the influence of the Sega style presentation, it has the generic racing music from that era and really uninteresting backgrounds (although the graphics are excellent). The addition of content such as the characters having voiceovers, bonus videos, and more personal is awesome, but it feels very much out of place compared to what the franchise already had established. Its just awkward and goofy, and feels like its pulled straight **** Dreamcast racing game. The game just doesn't feel consistent with the series. The gameplay is pretty good. Truthfully, I like the gameplay of F-Zero X a bit more. The cars in this game feel way too loose and slide around too much, and the bouncing off of the walls feels more goofy and out of place than ever before. Despite that, I do like how all of the vehicles truly feel unique, its definitely worth trying all of them at least a few times as they provide a huge variety in how they perform. The ability to make your own custom machines is also fantastic, not only does it add a really cool level of customization, it adds a surprisingly deep level of customization of performance. The levels are also really challenging, I appreciate the difficulty of this game, because you can feel the gradual improvement of your ability with each additional attempt. And if you really commit yourself to memorizing courses, you can spend hours trying to improve your scores and times. I also thought the addition of the story mode was cool, although one of the least memorable modes of the game. This game did a lot to build on the formula that was established by the previous F-Zero games, while stripping it of the personality and presentation that made the other games great. Unfortunately the stripping of the personality really makes it feel way too much like a solid but generic racer of the era. There is a lot of fun to be had with this game, but it didn't pull me in nearly as much as the other two games. I feel like the game added the foundation for necessary steps for the franchise, but unfortunately 20 years later, this is just where they left off. One step forward, one step backward, but good enough.

This is my only exposure to the Yakuza series, and I was told this was the perfect place to start. This game brought on more mixed feelings than I have ever experienced with any game. Part of me really enjoys it, part of me is bored out of my mind. Tried it the first time a year ago and I got maybe 5 hours into it, this second time around I’m over 20 hours into it and while I enjoy it more, I am having a hard time convincing myself to finish it. The story is solid. While nothing revolutionary and often pretty melodramatic, it creates a world where some of the best characters I’ve seen in gaming exist. The two protagonists and the various villains are very well written, and I find my biggest investment in the game just wanting to see what happens with the characters. The setting itself is great as well, I recently visited Tokyo, including the Kabukicho area - they mapped out the location perfectly, even down to the location and music of the Don Quijote. I enjoyed that there were a lot of mini games to do in both of the games locations, but one flaw that I found is that they are exactly that - just mini games. Somehow the city feels really alive with the lights and sound effects, but the NPCs somehow make it feel really artificial. The mini games being randomly scattered about makes it fun, but it started to highlight how artificial the world really is. Then mix in your character’s exaggerated movement, and it just feels really odd. The gameplay is also pretty uninspiring. It feels like a beat ‘em up game from the PS1 or PS2 era. Even with the added complexity of unlocking new moves, it just never really felt exciting outside of boss fights. That and the gameplay is randomly spread out throughout the game, it felt like the majority of a few hour blocks of playing the game was watching cutscenes and reading text - some of it engaging because it added depth to the characters, some of it painful. The side stories are ridiculous. They sort of add depth to the setting, but the writing in them is just so awkward. I don’t understand the contrast between the serious or melodramatic story and the goofy little side missions that often do not fit your character’s personality. Some of them are decent, many of them are not, but I have yet to do one that felt like it was worth any of my time. But between the lengthy main story, the countless side stories and the mini games which can be fun for short periods, this game is bursting at the seams with content. If it catches you, I can see this one lasting well over a hundred hours for some players. In the end, I thought it was a good game, but not for me. I can see how people get consumed in the series, but it’s quite the commitment with so many entries that build on one another that are pretty lengthy experiences. I found myself having fun at times, just to follow it up with a 45 minute sequence of something ridiculous that mostly involved reading text boxes about things I didn’t care about. I’ll revisit this game sometime for sure, but after 20 hours, I feel like I can’t put myself through the constantly opposing feelings of a brief period of really enjoying the game followed up by awkward or lengthy dialogue that is just dumb. The flow of the game is really awful, but from my understanding, that’s what people love about the series, so maybe it’s me. I appreciate for what it is.

This is one of the better Metroidvanias on the market. I was a huge fan of the first game because it did a lot right, but it just didn’t feel like it had any footing. It almost felt like the game was trying to find itself until really hitting some momentum at the end. Blasphemous 2 picks up right from there and it hits an awesome stride with a very refined experience which still maintains everything that made the original great, while taking a few steps back in other areas. It’s a challenging Metroidvania with gameplay that echoes that of the Souls games. Spamming moves doesn’t work well after the initial few hours, and you are really required to memorize movement and attack patterns to defeat enemies. The multiple weapons with independent skill trees, and other modifiers are well more thought out this time around which makes everything feel more purposeful. The gameplay really provides a more polished and fluid experience this time around, which says a lot because the original game was not bad by any means. Where the game shines most is what really stood out in the first game - the dark art and atmosphere that is heavily influenced by Catholic and Orthodox design. While its exceptional, I do feel like the dark art took a step back with this game. To start with the positive: everything from the enemies, to the music, to the dialogue, to the artwork in the level design and backgrounds is all excellent. It’s just beautiful and twisted artwork from start to finish, and it is woven into the lore and atmosphere of the game itself in such a precise way. My complaint is that a lot of the art feels a little too random and often feels uninspired, where most of the first game maintained that dark theme. Some of the areas just feel like they were thrown together without any thought about the art or the lore, while the first game everything felt really deliberate. There is an area where an underwater temple rises from the water for no reason, with really generic visuals, and really generic enemies. It feels like its lacking consistency of the dark themes. The gore and the nudity weren't selling points to the original game, but they really added to the dark themes - in this game, that is far less present and it made the experience feel a little less impactful. The story is good, but the lore lies underneath is deep and a bit nebulous, which I mean as a compliment. I’m sure an analysis exists on YouTube that explains everything, but I really enjoyed just reading the lore of items you pick up and piecing it together with the dialogue to try to create your own impression of the story. The only other major complaint I have is regarding how confusing it is to figure out where you need to go during the first half of the game. I spent multiple hours just wandering around figuring out where I am supposed to go next and where I can unlock the next ability that will take me a little further. Every other Metroidvania gives you a nudge in the direction you need to go, but this game really just lets you wander around until you find the right path, which may happen in 10 minutes, but may happen in two hours of just aimlessly exploring. This becomes less of an issue once you're about 70% through the game, but I felt very frustrated just wandering around not knowing if where I'm heading is even where I need to go. Otherwise they really did a great job with this game, I highly recommend it as it is one of the better Metroidvanias out there, regardless of its imperfections. This game took major steps forward with the gameplay, but took a few steps back with its story and atmosphere. I gave the original game a 7/10 teetering on an 8/10, and with the forward steps and backward steps, I have to give it another 7/10 teetering on an 8/10. All in all, definitely a worthwhile experience.

Years later, this football game with outdated rosters still stands against the test of time. The gameplay is just so tight and refined that while it’s a little primitive in terms of some of the mechanics compared to what we have today, it’s just so well woven together into a complete package that you can still pick it up and enjoy it all the same today in 2023. The graphics are good with consideration to them being on PS2. The game has always shined with the sound, commentary, and presentation. It’s weird that Madden just cannot get it together after this game made a massive effort 20 years ago. It’s still incredibly exciting to pick up and play whether it’s against the computer or against a friend. With consideration to the generation that this came out in, it’s easily among the most legendary sports titles.

I haven’t played this game in maybe 20 years now. I had my memories of the game I wanted to preserve in case the game aged poorly, but surprisingly this game holds up extremely well. In fact, I’m willing to say it surpasses most JRPG experiences I’ve had since then. I’m about halfway through now, and I now remember why it was one of my favorites. The story is exceptional, but what really stands out are the characters who are all so extremely well written with their own backstories and story arcs that progress through the game. It’s actually impressive how they manage to tell such a cohesive story with this manager characters. The esper system was way ahead of its time and plays very well to this day. It allows you to create a fully customized team, but unfortunately that makes a lot of the characters pretty useless in the second half of the game. Otherwise, it’s the classic turn based game. I appreciate the two major “acts”, the first being a little more linear, while the second gives the closest thing to an open world RPG experience on an SNES (originally). The Pixel Remaster is also phenomenally executed. Most (not all) improvements are subtle changes, but they really make the game feel like it exists in your memories of the first time playing it. The graphical improvements are impactful but subtle, to the point where I had too look up what they originally looked like on SNES. The music is orchestrated but not grandiose, so that it still sounds appropriate to an SNES era game. The only gripe I have with the game is the weird font selection, but that’s easily fixed with a mod that takes a couple minutes to install. They really treated this remaster with the most respect, and the game itself holds up so well that it surpasses most other similar games on the market that have come out since the original SNES release. This is the ultimate way to play a timeless classic.

Absolutely not a game for everyone, but if this game checks the boxes for you, buckle up because you’ll spend a ton of time with it. I am coming from Football Manager Mobile, which I have spent many years with. Finally decided to go into the full game, and it’s intense. The amount of depth and control that you have over your team is not comparable to any other game. There isn’t much to say about this game, as it is exactly what it sets out to be. This is not a casual game by any means, you either go in loving it or it’s too overwhelming. I personally prefer Football Manager Mobile because it’s a little more streamlined. It gets you into the matches quicker while sacrificing the amount of control you have. The biggest issue I have with this game is that it’s such a slow burn. I completely expected this going into it, but the amount of control of the smallest details of your team consumes so much time in between matches that you don’t experience the matches and forward momentum nearly as much as you do in the Mobile games. The first preseason setup took about three hours before I got to see my first non-friendly match. It’s a great game, but unfortunately you cannot play any other games while you juggle this one in to your rotation. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing depending on what type of player you are. I just feel that it’s almost a bit too much of a commitment. Regardless, it’s a fantastic game that I know I’ll return to over the next few years. There is no need to buy the new game each year, so I have plenty of time left with this game.

This is a game that has to be played to understand why the reviews are so high. I watched videos and thought it looked neat, but it wasn’t really pulling me in. It sat in my library for over a year, and within 5 minutes of experiencing it, I understood. A couple days later, I finished the game, and what a wonderful treat for people who grew up with the original Quake. This game seriously captures the same energy of Quake without making the formula feel in any way dated. The gameplay is very simple, but it’s a nice refreshing throwback to when games required the fast paced run and gun movement rather than relying on cover. Where I think the game really shines is the atmosphere - who would have ever thought that this game with its intentionally retro graphics and play style would have a creepier atmosphere than many modern horror games. The initial part of the game gave me the atmospheric feeling of Resident Evil 4, except better. Some of the later sections of the game are truly unsettling. Between the beautiful yet extremely simple graphics and the phenomenal sound design, it helps tell the story of the game without the game actually having much of an overt story at all. Everything is told through the atmosphere and level design. It was actually pretty fun guessing what was going on and trying to create a story for yourself, since there is hardly any written or spoken dialogue. The sound design in this game is fantastic, a master in its class and it outsides most major modern horror games - especially some of the settings in the later portions of the game. It’s a pretty challenging game, but its highly rewarding. While it got frustrating at times, the satisfaction of pushing through a level and completing it after multiple tries was something I rarely experience in games anymore. The only flaw I would say is regarding some of the level design, which is true to the classic genre, but it didn’t age the best. I found myself lost pretty regularly because a lot of the textures and buildings look the same. Sometimes it allowed for some fun exploration, other times I was just running around for several minutes unable to figure out where I last saw something. There are a few really dark levels that were particularly irritating because of how difficult it was to find your way around. Overall, this is an excellent game that I think fans of the classics and modern shooter fans can both enjoy all the same. Everything this game sets out to do it excels at.

Fun little racing game with a very steep mastery curve. It is very challenging at first, but with enough practice and repetition you feel yourself getting a little better. That is where the rewarding feeling comes from. But I wouldn’t say that the challenge is truly natural, some of the physics aren’t the most intuitive, but you can eventually adapt to them. Unfortunately the content just doesn’t really hook you that much. The race types and challenges tend to get a little repetitive, and there isn’t much pull to keep you going. The minimalist graphics are fine and do the job, but when the graphics are minimalist, the content is minimalist, and the gamer play is minimalist, it leaves a lot to be desired. The same company made Art of Rally, which was a far superior game. You can have a couple hours of fun with this game, but that’s about the max enjoyment.

I was attracted to this game because everyone kept saying this is the new Battlefield. While the match design is exactly what Battlefield conquest has always been - you have points that you have to capture, your team has a set number of tickets, each death costs a ticket, the team that loses all of their tickets first loses. The gameplay itself, not Battlefield. I always associated Battlefield with something that is heavily squad based, and you and your squad use tactics to approach certain points, whether its by flanking enemy defenses or collaborating with other squads on the frontlines. After 6 hours of playtime, I never felt that at any point. This game is far more of a reflex/twitch shooter in a large open map. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I can see this being pretty appealing to hardcore shooter fans. The map design is somewhere in between very good and completely absurd because they reward taking pot shots out of windows far too much. Most of the experience has been getting shot by a sniper from across the map, getting lasered by the twitch shooters hanging out in windows, or not having fast enough reflexes to get the first shot off while navigating narrow hallways. There is an audience for this game, but its not your average person. What I really appreciate about the game is the progression that has been long lost in shooters. You unlock guns by playing the game, you unlock attachments for your guns by using that specific gun more. I should not be this impressed by this, but the progression feels so good that I realized how ridiculous progression in other games is these days - whether its unlocking through ridiculous challenges that make you play the game unnaturally or through microtransactions. This game keeps it simple. The graphics are largely fine, I don't have an issue with this style of visuals, but it does interfere with some of the open environments because your character blatantly stands out against the plain background, which again, attracts those potshots. A game with a large open environment benefits from trees, bushes, tall grass, etc. The sound design is fine, it does the job, but man do the sound effects get repetitive. I do miss the 3D sound and high quality audio of modern shooters, because this gets bad really fast. I loved the proximity chat, the death chat, all of that made for some really cool and hilarious moments with random people. Unfortunately it doesn't really save the game. This game has an audience that would appreciate it for sure. But not your average person, because when you boil everything down in this game, its just a basic twitch/reflex shooter. The novelty of the simple graphics and sound is pretty neat at first, but even that becomes a hindrance.

If you grew up playing run and gun shooters of the 16bit era, this will bring on a lot of nostalgia, especially when enjoyed with a friend. It’s one of those games where it’s extremely difficult, but after a brief moment of frustration, you just boot it up again because you don’t think you’ll make the same mistake twice. It’s a satisfying challenge that reminds me of Contra 3 for SNES. Similar to games from that era, there isn’t much content, as this game only has six levels, but it’s plenty challenging to get several hours of gameplay for you. The controls are solid and the balancing and difficulty is relatively good. The game is a little misleading with the difficulty as the first level is a light challenge, then the second level will humble you really fast. The graphics are great, the audio design is great, the soundtrack is pretty cool, and they all channel the same 16bit style. I think this game should definitely be played with another person for the best experience. I have to say though, if you didn’t grow up with this genre at the time when games were an hour long but kept you busy for years, you might not get much out of this. Fans should get a kick out of it if they haven’t been softened too much by today’s easy games. I enjoyed it, it’s a fun ride whether you finish it or not. This will be the closest thing to a new Contra that you’ll find out there.

A great modern take on a classic genre that was huge in the 16bit era. As a fan of action platformers, this really brought me back. This game genuinely plays like an SNES game, and I mean that as a pro and con. The gameplay is spot on to what they were aiming to achieve here. However anyone who played this genre back in the day knows there were rough edges with many of the games, so ironically, this stays true to that. I found the controls to not be as tight as I would like from a modern game in the genre, but instead it really does feel like the excellent but flawed games of the past. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about the movement and attacks do not feel fluid. Obviously you get used to it and learn how to adapt so it’s not that bad, but I found it hard to ignore. Beyond that, the game is great. It has a Mega Man X format where you can approach the levels in any order you wish (after the initial level). The game itself is relatively short in terms of content, but depending on your skill, you can still get a solid few hours out of it. That is another similarity to the classic games that I appreciate - there were plenty of games that you never saw to the end simply because they were challenging, yet you still played them for months in end. It’s pretty reasonably balanced in this game as there are extra lives hidden in each level and checkpoints that are reasonable (not too generous, but not too frustrating). There are a few options to make the game easier, but I would recommend you play this like an old school game and challenge yourself, otherwise you’ll miss the point. The only other major complaint I have is that the power moves can make many bosses a bit too easy, as you can just spam the special attack and string together a couple three piece attacks and they all fall very fast. I would have much preferred bosses where you really have to learn their moves and find their openings, the only time I really felt that I had to learn the moves without cheesing was the last boss. Once you figure out the controls and adapt to them, it’s pretty easy just to run through the levels with minimal effort. I really appreciate what was done with the art style and the pixel graphics, they did an exceptional job with the aesthetic design. It really is that impressive. The music felt a little out of place though, everything else channels that 16bit theme, but the music feels like a little too high quality and modern. Again, nothing that ruins the game, but it’s noticeable. All in all, I enjoyed it, and I think any fan of the 16bit classics and knows how to appreciate the difficulty should absolutely check it out. I believe this game is more of a fan service for fans of the genre, which is not a bad thing, but people who don’t like the genre won’t get much out of it. This game did an decent job at what it set out to do. If it weren’t for the controls and underwhelming difficulty (as opposed to level memorization and skill), I would have given it a higher rating.

Pleasantly surprised with this game. It finds that sweet spot of stupid action that you want to charge back into and a semi-complex that allows for satisfaction when you land a move just right. I say semi-complex because while it’s decently refined and balanced, you will find moments where it just feels ridiculous every 5-10 minutes. For example the blocking system feels pretty solid until you see one person being swarmed by three other enemies and somehow managing to block all incoming attacks. It’s easy to overlook those moments because generally it’s a lot of fun with a lot of gameplay variety. The classes feel very different, the weapons feel very different, and the maps have a nice variety of objectives to keep things fun. Once you try the game you’ll know what I mean, it’s just stupid fun, but there is a lot of technique to it. Even when you’re getting destroyed, it’s still fun. The graphics are surprisingly solid, the sound is good enough, the progression system exists (and is super confusing). I don’t think this is a game you can play for years, but you’ll easily get several weeks of fun out of it. It really takes me back to the old competitive online games with minimal story from the early 2000s. There is a bit of fun to be had.

It’s a more refined version of Vampire Survivors with the aesthetic of Diablo. The gameplay is as simple as Vampire Survivors, but with a few added layers of complexity. I personally found it more engaging, as it is a little bit more strategic, and you use one stick to control the character and the other to control your attack direction - it’s a minor change but it makes it more engaging. The ability to extract gear that you have to buy out of a shop adds a cool element of extraction and makes the grinding more fulfilling and less repetitive as it is in the other game. I really love the graphics and design, it really tapped into that 90s PC gaming look and perfected it. I much prefer this over Vampire Survivors, which got boring to me after a few rounds. Highly addictive game.

After about 25 hours, I feel comfortable reviewing. This game is fantastic. I really feel like this is Final Fantasy getting back to it’s roots while simultaneously experimenting in ways to drive the franchise forward. I grew up with FF4 and FF6, and while this game clearly looks and plays nothing like those two games, it actually follows the formula quite well. It’s almost as if they reimagined a 16bit FF game in a 3D world with action combat. To start on the comment, this is the main reason why I couldn’t consider giving this game a 10 score. While I have a lot of good to say about it - it’s fluid, the controls are tight, it’s flashy and rewarding, they really did a great job with it. The issue is that after about 10 hours you unlock so many abilities that it removes any amount of effort or technicality in any of the battles. They all turn into rush the largest enemy, unload one series of power moves, unload the next series of power moves, unload another series of power moves, the enemy is staggered, then use the overpower mode, and suddenly the challenging enemy is at least 75% dead. This works for almost every single enemy encounter that has a tanky enemy, and the encounters with regular enemies just feel repetitive throughout most of the game. It’s just far too easy ****. So while the combat is great, it feels like they just kept adding layers on top of a formula that came out of the oven too soon. It would have been nice to have some control over other party members, and the wolf is essentially pretty useless. This is even echoed in the weapon system, there comes a point very early in the game where you have more Gil than you have things to spend it on. The combat is miles better than FF15 and FF7R, but there is so much refining that needs to be done. If it weren’t for the excellent story, I think this may have bored me after 15 hours to the point of putting it down. So about the story. It’s very busy at first, there are so many moving pieces that try to set the foundation of the lore, but once it starts to connect the dots, man is it good. They do a wonderful job of blending the individual character story lines within the overarching narrative of clashing nations. The flow is executed so well that it’s easy to shift your attention from individual characters story arcs to the overall conflict between nations because they’re both good. As the story progresses, it gets pretty convoluted, but the active time lore helps fill in the blanks, and later on you unlock a system that recaps not only character relationships, but the overall world story. It’s truly a game changer, and they put a lot of effort into it. It will help a lot of the adult gamers who can’t dump 5 hours a day for multiple days in a row by allowing them to get refreshers of what is happening. The only complaint I have about the story is that sometimes the cutscenes make it sound like you’re going on an epic journey to the next place, but then it’s like a 3 minute walk through a marsh you have walked through multiple times already. Just felt odd at times. Otherwise, the graphics are excellent. Sometimes they are truly breathtaking, other times they look a bit muddy. The music is phenomenal. The voice acting is good, but those dialogue cutscenes are as awkward as ever, I hope that’s the next big overhaul for them. I don’t understand the complaints about the performance, it’s barely noticeable, and yet when you do notice, it’s not a big deal at all. It’s so weird that is where people got hung up on. All in all, the game is fantastic, but not perfect. I haven’t enjoyed a FF game as much as I enjoyed this one for multiple generations now.

This is a review from a long time fan of the series. I don't have a log of the hours that I spent on Diablo 2, but given that I played it consistently for five years, and then on and off for the following fifteen years, I'm willing to bet its well over a thousand hours. Similarly, I invested hundreds upon hundreds of hours into Diablo 3 across multiple platforms. In addition to those, I messed around with several of the Diablo clones over the years - Path of Exile, Torchlight, Titan Quest, among many others. Needless to say, I was beyond excited for Diablo 4. I purchased it on PC and on PS5 to do couch coop with my wife. I am a Diablo 2 purist, no matter what the series does, I think that is a timeless formula, so I am always a little rough to accept change in the series, even if it takes it in the right direction. Diablo 4 really takes the series to new heights while keeping the same core dungeon crawling, loot hunting, monster slaying concepts. The open world feels very appropriate for the Diablo series without steering off into other MMORPG territories. It keeps the same spirit of the series but it makes the world feel so much more alive. It is difficult to put into words but it is something that you absolutely have to experience for yourself. The world itself is static which is completely new for the series, but all of the dungeons are procedurally generated like you would expect, and it executes it very well. Blizzard made everything feel much deeper than ever before, and they executed it perfectly. I feel almost as if Diablo 3 tried to add this layer of depth, but they needed to test their foundation over a decade to make it work this fluidly. I also like the connectivity with other players - you'll find them in town, you'll randomly come across other players doing an event that you'll link up with for 5 minutes and head your separate ways. It's very nonintrusive and totally adds to the experience. The character skills development, and overall depth to the gameplay is all there - the more you play, the more you realize how complex the character building really is. Once you think you have it under control, it just adds more and more depth and complexity to it. Its the most fleshed out Diablo experience without a doubt. The great part about it is that you can play it how you wish. The complexity is there if you really want to get sweaty with the game, but there is so much content that even casual players can fully immerse themselves with as much as they feel comfortable with. I really enjoyed playing this with my wife because she largely does not play any videogames, but I managed to hook her with Diablo 3 many years ago. Its complex enough for me to be able to really get into the stats and builds, but straight forward enough where she can create and customize her character on a far more casual level, yet we can play on the same couch and love it the same. The graphics are fantastic, although sometimes the textures look a little too shiny and wet, and some of the character models in the cutscenes look like clay and a bit out of place, but overall the graphics are fantastic. The music is amazing and very well composed, or perfectly ambient. The story overall is excellent for a Diablo game, but the world building and lore is where its at. There is a ton to dig into if you are wanting to learn more about the world of Diablo, something that the series was always lacking. Most importantly, the world has that gothic art style that was present in Diablo 2, and not the oddly colorful art style of Diablo 3. Overall, nobody does ARPGs better than Diablo. Nobody. This feels like all of the growth that Diablo 3 experienced and all of their trials and errors are fully realized into this game. I'm still a Diablo 2 purist, they did everything perfect with that game. But if I want to play Diablo 2, I'll play Diablo 2. This was an absolutely necessary step for the franchise and it makes the growing period from Diablo 3 completely worth it.

This is a review from a long time fan of the series. I don't have a log of the hours that I spent on Diablo 2, but given that I played it consistently for five years, and then on and off for the following fifteen years, I'm willing to bet its well over a thousand hours. Similarly, I invested hundreds upon hundreds of hours into Diablo 3 across multiple platforms. In addition to those, I messed around with several of the Diablo clones over the years - Path of Exile, Torchlight, Titan Quest, among many others. Needless to say, I was beyond excited for Diablo 4. I purchased it on PC and on PS5 to do couch coop with my wife. I am a Diablo 2 purist, no matter what the series does, I think that is a timeless formula, so I am always a little rough to accept change in the series, even if it takes it in the right direction. Diablo 4 really takes the series to new heights while keeping the same core dungeon crawling, loot hunting, monster slaying concepts. The open world feels very appropriate for the Diablo series without steering off into other MMORPG territories. It keeps the same spirit of the series but it makes the world feel so much more alive. It is difficult to put into words but it is something that you absolutely have to experience for yourself. The world itself is static which is completely new for the series, but all of the dungeons are procedurally generated like you would expect, and it executes it very well. Blizzard made everything feel much deeper than ever before, and they executed it perfectly. I feel almost as if Diablo 3 tried to add this layer of depth, but they needed to test their foundation over a decade to make it work this fluidly. I also like the connectivity with other players - you'll find them in town, you'll randomly come across other players doing an event that you'll link up with for 5 minutes and head your separate ways. It's very nonintrusive and totally adds to the experience. The character skills development, and overall depth to the gameplay is all there - the more you play, the more you realize how complex the character building really is. Once you think you have it under control, it just adds more and more depth and complexity to it. Its the most fleshed out Diablo experience without a doubt. The great part about it is that you can play it how you wish. The complexity is there if you really want to get sweaty with the game, but there is so much content that even casual players can fully immerse themselves with as much as they feel comfortable with. I really enjoyed playing this with my wife because she largely does not play any videogames, but I managed to hook her with Diablo 3 many years ago. Its complex enough for me to be able to really get into the stats and builds, but straight forward enough where she can create and customize her character on a far more casual level, yet we can play on the same couch and love it the same. The graphics are fantastic, although sometimes the textures look a little too shiny and wet, and some of the character models in the cutscenes look like clay and a bit out of place, but overall the graphics are fantastic. The music is amazing and very well composed, or perfectly ambient. The story overall is excellent for a Diablo game, but the world building and lore is where its at. There is a ton to dig into if you are wanting to learn more about the world of Diablo, something that the series was always lacking. Most importantly, the world has that gothic art style that was present in Diablo 2, and not the oddly colorful art style of Diablo 3. They also greatly improved the couch coop for this game. You can each manage menus at the same time, which I cannot express how big **** changer this. Overall, nobody does ARPGs better than Diablo. Nobody. This feels like all of the growth that Diablo 3 experienced and all of their trials and errors are fully realized into this game. I'm still a Diablo 2 purist, they did everything perfect with that game. But if I want to play Diablo 2, I'll play Diablo 2. This was an absolutely necessary step for the franchise and it makes the growing period from Diablo 3 completely worth it.

A perfect sequel to an already perfect game. Everything that made Breath of the Wild great is equal to or greater in this sequel. I had my concerns going into this game, specifically regarding it losing its magic because its on the same Hyrule map as BOTW, and potentially over focusing on the building aspects that were covered in the previews. While the map of Hyrule is largely the same, it feels fresh and exciting to traverse the similar terrains. Following the events of the first game, while the outline of the terrain is similar, it feels very much like a new world to explore. In a way, it made it exciting to revisit the same areas to see how they were changed from the first game - I'm not saying this as a biased Zelda fan, if you enjoyed the first game, it truly is exciting to explore the world in this game. My other concern about the focus on the building is also not an issue, I was worried that it would take away from the exploration that I expect out of a Zelda game and turn it into a Lego game. This is absolutely not an issue, and they did a truly impressive job of allowing you to play the game your way. If you were one of the people that were really into the physics of BOTW, then this game added a ton of content for you, but if you're someone who enjoyed walking and exploring like myself, you can still do that with minimal tapping into the building physics. Truly the strongest element of this game is the ability to go about it your way. Most often there is no single correct solution to a puzzle - you just given the tools and you solve it your way, which in my opinion is far better than the awful direction that most puzzle games have gone over the recent decades where the is only ONE solution and instead of focusing on finding a solution, you are focused on thinking like the developer. They really made the shrines and puzzles fantastic in this game, and they were already pretty fun in the last game. The exploration in this game is really the best in gaming. BOTW was perfect as it was, but in hindsight there were a lot of areas that felt a bit empty. This game filled out the world to the point where you will reroute your path more times than you can count because you’re constantly getting distracted with side quests, hidden caves, interesting landmarks, random NPCs, enemy bases, etc. Although this uses the same map as BOTW, the entire world feels completely different and very well filled out. I’m 45 hours in and I have only completed one of the four main temples, probably explored 20% of the overworld map, explored a few of the sky areas (which to be fair, are a bit sparse), and only spent 30 minutes in the underworld. Depending on your play style, this will easily be a 100+ hour game (obviously you can rush through it much faster), possible 150-200, and it will truly fly by. It’s not a drag to force yourself through, it’s just satisfying exploration that is not replicated in any other game. That’s not to say other games don’t have fantastic exploration, but none of them have this sense of personal adventure like this one. Everything that made BOTW great is present in this game. The graphics aren't the highest caliber but they are absolutely beautiful. The sound design is flawless, still among the best I've ever experienced in a game - its a beautiful balance of silence and ambient noises and very peaceful and nonintrusive piano music. The story is far more expansive and engaging than the previous game, which I found to be one of the weakest parts of BOTW. This game is absolutely among one of the best I have played. I can tell because from the first two hours of exploring the world post-tutorial, I already thought to myself that I didn't want the game to end. I want to take my time, I want to stop to explore things, I want this game to last. Its a masterpiece. The best open world game out there. I’m usually a harsh critic too, check my other reviews.

I enjoyed the first Division game. It was a solid product for its time, but unfortunately The Division 2 did not really change the formula. In many cases this isn’t a bad thing, however the market has been flooded with these generic shooters since the release of the original game. The Division 2 does nothing to separate itself from the pack, and the era of cool themed military style shooters with the same generic gameplay started on the Xbox 360 era and died on the Xbox One era. If this game came out 10 years ago, I wouldn’t think it’s that bad, but today, I find this game so uninteresting that I don’t have the words for it. The environment isn’t that exciting, the world itself feels super empty, the lore feels like they barely tried, and mix that with some really bland shooting gameplay where you dump all of your ammo into a bullet sponge enemy running around in a tank top, and there isn’t much there. It’s possible to have some fun for a couple hours due to the loot system, but it just boils down to slow marginal improvements. It’s a lot less bad when played with friends, but there are far better options out there.

This really is a beautifully crafted game, but unfortunately doesn’t connect with everyone - I was one of them. However, it’s impossible to give this game a fair shot and not respect the brilliant design. It’s a blend of the world building and blind exploration of Myst/Riven, the time loop of Majora’s Mask, and the spirit of space exploration of No Man’s Sky. I enjoyed all three of these games in the past, but this one was a lot to digest, possibly too much to digest for some. The little solar system they created is really cool, it steps outside of a conventional solar system that we expect based on what we know. The planets seem pretty small and linear at first - it’s not like a Fallout or Skyrim game where you have a labyrinth or sprawling world underneath, but more so a carefully crafted zone that is intended to be followed a specific way. The lore is hit or miss, at least to me. Sometimes the backstory is kind of interesting, but most times it’s very surface level and just uninteresting. The story/lore is sometimes just following the explorer who was there just before you - not a bad plot, but very unimaginative. Sometimes the plot will cover something a little more interesting, but generally most of the plot lines are bland until a bit later in the game. I do like the exploration and learning to the game, nothing is force fed, there are no checkpoints, you just slowly become more engaged in the world. The graphics are pretty forgettable but that isn’t much of an issue because the visuals of the solar system living are sometimes very cool to see. The controls are tough at first, but once you figure it out, it gives a nice consistent challenge that adds to the gameplay. Overall I appreciate this game and respect it for what it is. It’s a very very very slow burn that won’t work for everyone, but there is a great game waiting for those who can get into it.

This is a very welcome return of a series that most forgot about. The gameplay remains entirely unchanged, and it has the same addictive gameplay loop from years ago. It’s simple enough for non-strategy game fans to pick up and play and satisfying enough for strategy game fans to sink many hours into. The remade graphics, sound, and presentation are nice, but arguably unnecessary, especially with consideration to the GBA being included with Nintendo Switch Online. It modernized the graphics and sound but added very little to what otherwise would have been the charm of the GBA presentation. There are several smaller quality of life features and new things such as online play, so it’s a nice little package that blends the content of the original two games. Absolutely worth picking up for old fans of the series and newcomers alike.

The best racing game on Nintendo 64 without a doubt. The gameplay is extremely fast and impressive that they were able to execute it this well on a 64bit console. The courses are all phenomenally designed that give a huge variety in style, which really highlights the amount of vehicles in the game. Each vehicle has unique strengths and weaknesses which provide benefit on different cups and courses. While there are a lot of vehicles that feel relatively similar when you offer a total of 30, the art design of the characters and vehicles make it feel like you have plenty of options. The art design doesn’t stop there, it is reflected in the visuals of the courses and the awesome music. Then add a variety of game modes include solid multiplayer experiences, and you have a fantastic game. It’s one of the rare games of that era where I want to go back and beat my old records. You won’t find this combination of near perfect execution anywhere else on Nintendo 64. It holds up extremely well in 2023.

This is a very well made indie game that reminds me of Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening on a much smaller scale of an adventure, but I mean that as a compliment to the game. Instead of having a big scale odyssey of an adventure, it’s a small scale journey of an unusual day at the office (literally). The gameplay is very simple, but it really boils the mechanics down to movement, positioning, and timing rather than having a ton of unnecessary weapons and items. The gameplay is very much skill based, but since it’s such a simple experience, it will provide you with enough of a challenge where you’ll have to repeat sections multiple times but it will almost never get to the point of frustration. Everything feels very fair, and when you die, you instantly know your mistake. The graphics are simple but charming, especially with the character designs. The music is fantastic, it really creates a very melancholic atmosphere. Truly the music is one of the strongest features of the game. Another point of the game that I feel is highly underrated is the story and the message. It’s not anything huge or memorable, but it does a really good job of exploring death, grief, and existential healing - something that is rarely explored in games. All in all it’s a very enjoyable experience. I don’t think it’s very memorable, but it’s an experience that provides the right amount of challenge and design to keep you engaged to the very end. The only major flaw with the game is the lack of a map. If you have to stop playing a dungeon or exploration point in the middle of the level, it gets really difficult to remember where you are. I feel if you are not going to provide a map, then there should be hard save points to indicate good stopping points. Otherwise, it’s a very good game.

Easily one of the most addictive rogue-lite games on the market. The gameplay is very easy to pick up and play, and very rewarding when you find the rhythm. The gameplay really echoes and channels your deepest muscle memory of playing platforming games in the 16bit era, except with the modern fast pace that you would expect from most games these days. Its very fast paced, it almost feels like button mashing at times, but the gameplay is very tight and fluid. The progression system is also very well paced, and it drip feeds new items at a perfect speed. The game consistently introduces new items, moves, or costumes for you to work toward unlocking, so it brings in some grinding, but it is not a chore by any means. Its fun exploring the new weapons and finding the best combinations. The graphics and sound are beautiful as well, which also pulls at your nostalgia strings. Everything is very simple, yet very effective. I have been playing this game for years across multiple systems, and I keep coming back for more. This game was fantastic years ago, and its even better now in 2023. The amount of content they continue to add to the game is astonishing, and I absolutely love all of the easter eggs to the major indie games on Steam that share the shelf space with this game. I would highly recommend you buy all of the DLC upfront - it adds so many new areas, new costumes, and new weapons that its best just to have it from the start. The only flaw with this game is something that this genre will naturally suffer from. While there is a ton of content to unlock, there will always be a wall that you hit with this game where it begins to feel repetitive. I personally think that this is unavoidable in a genre which involves doing the same thing over and over. But of all the rogue lite games, this is the one I have consistently returned to. This is a must own on Steam.

Cool concept, below average execution, which makes for a pretty average game in an extremely crowded rogue lite space. The biggest selling point of the game is the art design. It captures an aesthetic and theme of something that really reminds me of Canabalt. The music is good, the graphics are solid, the setting and aesthetics are nice, which is the only thing that stands out from the other games in the genre. The only issue I have is the font is small and sometimes tough to read. The gameplay is fine, it really feels like a side scrolling Enter the Gungeon in many ways, but something about it just feels uninspired. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it just doesn’t feel really well executed. It really makes it feel unremarkable knowing there are other similar and better options out there. To it’s credit, it does have a couple unique mechanics, but nothing to really write home about. I got the game for $2 and I felt that it was a steal at this price. But even at the heavily discounted price, I couldn’t help but want to play some of the other games in the genre. It’s not bad, but it’s not great.

I played the first game with pretty low expectations, and it exceeded my expectations. I went in to this game with the expectations set by the last game, and again it exceeded my expectations. The sequel doesn’t really add anything revolutionary to the formula from the original game, but it completely improves and refines everything that was set by the original game. This game is easily among the best RPGs on the Switch. The graphics are stunning. They channel those old Super Nintendo RPGs while really maximizing the HD-2D to make them feel fully modern. The music is truly unbelievable, every single track enhances the atmosphere and the setting, but it really captures the underlying emotions of what is happening. The stories vary in quality, but largely they are a big improvement to the previous game. There are many awesome moments in the game. The characters are generally better as well and provide a lot of great variety. The new gameplay elements aren’t game changers, but they all add to an improved experience. Luckily the gameplay of the turn based mechanics largely remain the same, and it’s fantastic. Easy to pick up, very rewarding once you start to master it. The general flow of the game is much better as well - the original game felt pretty linear despite giving you the option of doing the stories how you wanted to, this game feels like a sweet spot where it isn’t a wide open world, but it feels like the story unfolds with how you guide it. The only issue I’m finding is the length, which I’m a bit torn about. It’s an extremely long game, which may make it feel like it overstays it’s welcome, but I think the redeeming factor is how there are many hard stopping points that don’t really interfere with the fluidity of the story. So you can easily play it for a few weeks/months, take some time off, and relatively easily resume where you left off. After about 15-20 hours I ended up changing my review from a 9 to an 8. The game is still great, but once you unlock most of the map and you are just following through with the different chapters of the characters, it gets so cutscene heavy that it becomes really hard to stomach at times. I can’t tell you how many times my screen went dim from not touching any buttons. The core gameplay is fantastic, but the further you get into the game, the less you spend actually playing it. Or the other alternative is that instead of a massively cutscene heavy chapter, you will get a chapter that is just a short linear dungeon that forced you to grind there for an hour or so. That’s not the case with all storylines, but it’s very noticeable. Part of me really appreciates the variety, but the other part of me lost interest because of the lack of focus. Overall it’s still an excellent game that builds upon the original game in a large way. It has a lot of content to keep you busy, but the content quality has such great variance that it’s hard to remain consistently excited.

I have been playing Madden games for probably around 20 years. However historically, I skip a few years each time, and I only purchase after the football season to save on the cost. The reason for this is echoed in every review you see if every Madden game in recent memory: the improvements are often minimal or they take the game in the wrong direction, the games have the same glitches for many years in a row that are never ironed out, the balancing of the game feels really off to which you have to spend a couple hours playing with the sliders to have reasonably realistic stats and scores, and graphics/presentations that are just many years behind par. Most of these issues are present in Madden 23. It’s been a few years since I played Madden, but typically I play at least one franchise season (15 or so hours), but unfortunately I cannot get myself past half a season of this game. To start with something positive that I truly appreciate about the game: They actually got the balancing done pretty well out of the box: stats and scores are pretty realistic. The negative counter balance to that is the extremely overbearing momentum meter. While I’m sure momentum was built into other Madden games, it is just way too obvious and way too present. One touchdown and an interception on the opponents first drive almost maxes out the momentum meter, which is fine and I understand what they’re going for, but when you are the team that is down, the uphill climb is extremely unreasonable. Players will regularly run poor routes, drop easy catches, and fail to make most blocks. The only way to overcome the momentum meter is luck, because skill gets dampened so much. It’s ridiculous and makes the game very frustrating, especially when you miss easy players or give up massive plays due to the same glitches you have seen for years. The teleporting ball, the ball that magnets into a receivers hands, the players sliding off of the running back, all of those wonderful glitches that I have seen for 10 years are still in there! The same weird character models are in the game, where the super stars look life like, but the lesser known players look ridiculous. Somehow FIFA has to model an absurd amount of players from a huge amount of teams and they do very well with the major leagues - meanwhile Madden can’t do one league of 32 teams. It’s lazy. The visuals aren’t bad, but they don’t feel like they’re from this generation and have a lot of lazy corner cutting. As much as I would love to hate rate it a 1/10 because I’m tired of the only NFL game series to be such a lazy cash grab, I have to objectively give it a 5/10. It’s playable, you can have some fun with it, but the flaws are tough to ignore in this one and really ruin the longevity of how much time you can spend on the game.

What a pleasant surprise. The immediate comparison in mind is obviously to Papers Please, but this is far greater in scope. Think Papers Please mixed with My Summer Car, or any other solid indie “life simulator”. Its far more than just checking documents as you do in Papers Please, it goes far deeper in terms of gameplay mechanics and moral choices. While each of the gameplay mechanics are very different in terms of quality and execution, they flow extremely well together and compliment one another. For example the transition from very well refined document/cargo inspection to a relatively unpolished shooting sequence is still an excellent variety of gameplay, even if some of the other sequences aren’t as great. Then your performance is rewarded with money, which can be used to purchase equipment/upgrades for you to do your job better, or some minor luxuries. The moral choices are cool but poorly executed. Granted I think this will be ironed out in time, but it almost feels kind of pointless doing anything other than the moral choice, simply because the moral choice pays so well. Once they balance some of the economics of the game, I think this will better highlight the moral choices. One unfortunate thing about the game is that once you figure out the formula of who to search and where to search, it loses a lot of its magic. Its a game that is best played going in blind. The presentation is far from perfect, but good enough to get the job done. Given the size of the studio that made the game, it’s very impressive. But objectively, the graphics and the sound is good enough. The animations are pretty rigid as well. The core enjoyment is the detailed oriented gameplay. I am enjoying this game, and I am excited to see what is in store for the future. I hope more people give it a chance, because there are a lot of hours of fun to be had here. Its around 15 or so hours for a play through before I started to feel a little burned out.