It would be an 8.... but it's a bit of a poor release for the Switch compared to what they did with Crystal for the 3DS back then. You got it digital for 10 bucks with the Celebi-event and there was a somewhat physical copy in stores, too (I got that one :P). Now it's 20 bucks with nothing in sight. Still, 20 bucks is fine. And the game still holds up. Probably the best pokemon gen imo, colorful graphics, the bonus content after the Top4, set events with Ho-Oh, Lugia, Deoxys, very cool. There's stuff I'd like to be seen improved in pokemon, like less trainer fights (they make me sleepy here and there) and better music-transitions (It's always a bit weird to switch from the lavandia town theme to the pokemon center theme once you get inside). Or the other time it was very atmospheric and then the "joyful" theme where you surf comes lol. Also the world doesn't rly make you interact with the NPC's which I often find odd but also natural like the real world. Still, a bit more action would be nice.
I think the game design in this one is pretty much perfect: the pacing in which you progress, get new tools and courses and in which the world and the pokemon unfold just works right on the clock. People say you have to be patient but this game is relatively quick. It's a bit hard to find all the pokemon. Not sure if I could have gotten gyarados and dugtrio without help. But at least the hints are there. Well, maybe not for muk :( But even backtracking is fun because your head already crafts ideas of how to use your new tools.
If this game was a bit more polished I would have even given a 9/10. So this is a high 8 in my book. It's rare to see a game that works so well with its pacing.
I very much like how Mario moves in this game, the bosses are cool mostly, the cutscenes look fresh, there is an active progress in story, and all in all I like the ideas with the cap. However... I can't bring myself to like this game in the end. And I rly tried. A lot of the worlds you can visit feel average. There's two or three I like a lot.... but out of 14 I think?! So most of the time I had to force myself to play the game a bit. A lot of the moons in the world are repetitive. Every world has a coin-moon, one costume-one, one mountain-climber-toad-one, one scarecrow-one, one clef-one, one in a 2d-level......... and a lot of moons are basically given to you for free. And the rest of the moons feel like micro-interactions but very very rarely they rly unfold a story. Furthermore the camera **** ass. It's cinematic which was never the case nor necessary in a mario game. You pretty much miss out on moons cos of the set camera angle. And the cinematic element makes the camera very slow if you want to move it. It's a pain... so imo, the game lacks the freedom to move and look around. Maybe as a closing point (only a minor one): I don't know why....... I've seen it in Super Mario Party. But why have texts/text boxes and backgrounds turned into vanilla? Back then you had beautiful fonts and everything tried to look pretty. Now it looks like my old school presentations. Like when you get a moon you have this vanilla text and red background. Doesn't add much excitement to the achievement. Well, getting most moons feel as easy as buying a snickers anyway ig. I don't want to bash on this game since it's so overly welcomed. But for me, it tries too hard to be a "best of", you see elements from every super mario game in it and I wished odyssey had built more upon its, actually, fresh approach.
I mean for 6 bucks you can't complain. The car models, the music, the tracks, the backgrounds. Cool vibe. It's fun for 20min. Then there is nothing left to do, sadly. The game would be a lot better if the game design made any sense lol. Who wants to spend hours on hours to get the most expensive car? Or finish a challenge and immediately get caught by a polic chase and lose money? Or only spend 20min in a game in general?
Rest in peace, Ella Viman. I am sure she would have loved this game. I think this is perfect for children but also adults who may enjoy an easy relaxing puzzle/platform game after a hard day at work. I was very fixed even tho I wished for this game to take more place above the ground instead of swamps and caves and so on haha. I think it would have bloomed more with more daylight. Great job for a small team of 15-20 people. Sure, it has not many wow-effects but it doesn`t often happen I want to play a game and not need to force myself to. Hope Planet of Lana 2 is in the making :P ;) :D
It's still diamond and pearl: good games from back then which have their own quality but you have to rate the remake. And besides a few nice things most of the remake is... rather disappointing. The overly repetitive trainer fights in this gen or the okay-ish chibi-look are to be managed but sadly there is a lot more: I don't like the download-content being limited to an early time where the game was released. When you are late to the party it always feels like a good big chunk of the game was just being taken away from you. Yes, this is how it always was... and it's bad. Of course legendary pokemon need to feel special but look at Mystery Dungeon: that's how you make them look special (like gods almost) but they are still included in the main game, "always". Another big thing imo is the money-grab. This is my interpretation but why did they not remake platinum? Well, I guess it's better to have two versions so people buy both (double the money) and let's remake the versions that didn't have the extra giratina-content so we also save production-money in the process. Pretty smart. As I said, the game itself is still decent but the bitter aftertaste is something you can't just wash down with water.
Reminded me a bit of F-Zero GX as in how the vehicles moved. I adore the concept of shooting and racing even though it doesn't quite always work here. The visor can't move below the x-axis, it's very slow on the y-axis and it doesn't always shoot the target you want cos it tries to auto-aim to the nearest target I guess. Also if you crash and slow down the weapon often isn't reacting to the next target that's standing right in front of it: resulting in adouble-crash. The perfect-medals that rely on you shooting, too, feel redundant since you have all the time in the world to get all the **** vehicle itself moves quite smoothly: it really feels like F-Zero there. I think only the deadzone when you steer 100% into the corner acts a bit weird. Like the vehicle suddenly has more steering range. It makes moving in sharp corners a bit weird. But yeah, I like this reaction based gameplay. Would have loved some more explanations on how the crystals and combos work but it was fun to figure that out. The game is very suited for speedrunning for sure and would be astonishing to watch probably. I wish there was a solution to the weird jump bugs that sometimes happen where your vehicle falls over and you need to reset. Very random. Music and desgin are great, especially for such a small team. Good job
Well, the game is short, probably too short for its complex story and relations (the issue with making an indie game I guess). Wish this game had more gameplay, like puzzles, and more pictures or events in general that would make the game more fun and less tedious with all the texts. Besides, everything is solid... we have lovely written characters and a beautiful vibe where the devs show that they can bring out the emotions. You can also chose how much you want to explore. Decent game!
