I feel much better about this game now thanks to the new quality of life improvements, pacing improvements, and the option to play without motion controls. It still does suffer from some repetition (namely the boss fights) but I appreciate it far more now in a post-BOTW world for how well it shook up the formula while still adhering to the classic Zelda structure. The whole world is one, big dungeon and there's very little downtime once you're passed the intro sequence. The dungeons have great puzzles without feeling too complex and the combat has a fair level of challenge that keeps things interesting.
It's far from perfect, but way back in 2011 this game was a miracle. It's definitely popular to hate these days but I can't deny the fact that there isn't a single other game I've poured more hours of my life into. Ten years later and I'm still playing.
A potentially great action RPG marred by some of the most boring, repetitive world traversal I've ever experienced. You want me to run back and forth across this massive map with nothing going on, outside of fighting the same, annoying enemies every time? Maybe at some point I would've unlocked a mount or fast travel but the game wasn't incentivising me to keep going. I like the character creation and the combat certainly give me Monster Hunter vibes, but beyond that....nothing of value. People are saying this is a Japanese development team making a better western RPG than western devs? Am I missing something? Western RPGs have worlds with things in them, this does not.
Pure fun incarnate; this is what video games are all about. It's the Mario game I had been dreaming about since Sunshine but never thought I would get.
It's frustrating how this is simultaneously the best entry in the series while still lacking a ton of features that made the others so great. I can say I've sunk over 400 hours into New Horizons alone, which is far more than what can be said for any in the series since the original. New Leaf is cool, but can you play it on a TV? Nope.
Still like it more than the Galaxy games. Sorry, but sandbox Mario is simply more fun to me and before Odyssey this was the tightest he ever controlled. That stuff matters to me more than 100% completion, which is something I've never bothered to do with this game.
How can a game that's so wacky also contain some of the most dry, overlong cutscenes I've ever sat through? A masterful balance of fun and mind-numbingly boring that I have not seen before or since.
It warms my heart to know that Japan is still making simple, medieval fantasy RPGs with no fancy bells and whistles. Just a good ol' fashioned fun time; it has a humble, retro feel with a modern coat of paint and level of polish. Of course you'll want to play the Definitive Edition because it has some neat extra features (like being able to play the entire game in classic 16-bit style) and the orchestrated soundtrack. Even though this was originally made for the PS4 I thought it looked fantastic on my Switch. Such a damn good port.
Sorry, but the boost formula will never capture the same spirit as the Adventure games for me. I definitely see the appeal and it's fun in its own way, but it doesn't evoke the same feelings.
A neat distraction but I can't imagine playing this for hours, let alone days on end. Combat-focused experiences aren't really my thing and Hades hasn't done much to sway my opinion.
One of the most delightful gaming experiences of my entire life. HAL knocked it out of the park! I admittedly don't have very much experience with Kirby, I really only played the original Dreamland on Game Boy as a kid and Adventure on the Wii Virtual Console. But this truly feels like that perfect 3D translation of the latter's gameplay, in the same way Breath of the Wild was to the original Zelda. Kirby finally made the jump and he did it with flying colours. This game is so consistently fun that it was hard to put down. And it's not as easy as I anticipated either. Those early worlds are nice and breezy, sure, but some of those later challenges and post-game bosses are certainly no pushovers. A lot of correct timing and pattern recognition to take into account. The levels are just pure fun and full of surprises, and they really feed into my "comb everywhere and find everything" itch. Between the collectibles, missions, levelling up copy abilities, timed challenges, minigames, and boss rush there is a surprising amount of replay value here.
The story may be nothing to write home about and the objectives can feel fairly repetitive, but it almost doesn't matter because this is undoubtedly the best Halo has ever played. Easily the strongest entry since Reach, even if 343 still isn't living up to the franchise's full potential. But it's the closest they've gotten to Bungie's greatness. Even though the plot is barebones, Master Chief himself might be the most interesting portrayal we've seen of the character to date. Dare I say...I enjoyed this more than Reach and it might be my favourite entry since 3? Can't really speak for the online mode. I played a few games and it feels solid, but I generally can't stand modern progression systems. So this rating is just for the campaign. Maybe I wouldn't be as kind if I had paid full price for it, but as a jumping-off point into Game Pass on my shiny new Series X this was well-worth my time. Barely any downtime spent on loading screens and a smooth, consistent 60 fps? Simply wonderful.
A very solid platformer that I had a lot of fun working my way through. It's incredibly easy but sometimes it's nice to kick back and turn my brain off once in a while. It's a great introduction to the genre for kids, no doubt. Much like Spyro it's very satisfying to run through a level and collect all there is to collect in one go. But with that in mind, Lucky's Tale doesn't offer much in terms of its own identity; really it feels like an amalgamation of all the platformers I grew up playing. There's a little of everything here: Mario, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong, Crash, and the aforementioned Spyro. Lucky wears its inspirations on its sleeve, almost to a fault. It's not very original, but it's still a good time.
