After a seemingly never-ending period of stagnation for most who weren’t die-hard fans of the Mega Man franchise, receiving game after game after game AFTER GAME that did nothing more to expand upon the franchise in a way that would be worth constantly going back to again and again and again, the series managed to pull itself out of that rut with the original Mega Man X. For the most part, it was still your average Mega Man title, but it managed to pump in just enough speed, action, new features, and iconic elements that would not only help start up a brand new sub-series for this franchise, but would also bring the series back up to shine in the spotlight for millions once again. So, after that brief detour into nirvana, the classic set of Mega Man games would continuing doing its own thing for a bit, releasing another NES and Game Boy game now and then, but then, the time came to where Capcom decided to finally take the classic series to the 16-bit era, and they would naturally do so with the next chapter in the mainline series, simply known as Mega Man 7.

Just from the sake of circumstance alone, Mega Man 7 exists in this… odd little bubble, especially for the time that it came out. People were already so used to the hotness that was Mega Man X, loving how that game would take the classic formula and expand it in not just that game, but future sequels to come out, so whenever this game came out, it definitely went pretty much ignored by most people, for very clear reasons. Even today, when people go back to the classic games, this one is probably gonna be one of the last games anyone ever brings up, just because of the fact that it just kinda… exists. However, don’t think for a second that I am gonna diss this game because of that, because let me tell you…. I FUCKING LOVE Mega Man 7. Seriously, ever since I initially played it however many years ago, I have loved it oh so dearly, much like plenty of the other Mega Man titles, and if I can be so bold to say this, I would even consider it to be my favorite entry in the entire classic Mega Man series. I can definitely see why others would have a vastly different opinion then mine, which I will definitely get into as we go on, but for me, this game manages to continue the classic gameplay that we all know and love, while also adding just that little bit of extra content, to make it so wonderful to go back to even after all this time.

The story picks up sometime after the events of Mega Man 6, where Dr. Wily is FINALLY put behind bars by Mega Man, and the world seems to be at peace once more… that is, until due to Dr. Wily’s absence, several backup Robot Masters that he created out of fear of failure are activated, who would then start searching for Dr. Wily for quite some time. Eventually, they would locate where Dr. Wily is being held, and would thus start a rampage in the city to get him back, so it is up to Mega Man to get back in action, see what is going on, and defeat Dr. Wily once again in order to save the world….. again… for the millionth time………… the struggle never ends. The plot is pretty standard for a Mega Man game, but I do like how it does have some continuity with the previous game, and I really appreciate that they don’t try to hide the fact that it is actually Dr. Wily who is the villain the whole time (RIP Mr. X).

The graphics are absolutely fantastic, having an art style that I think fits classic Mega Man PERFECTLY, and having plenty of great enemy, character, and boss designs, as well as plenty of great animations to be seen throughout, the music is, naturally, pretty fucking great, having plenty of great tracks that I love like this one and this one, but I will admit, a lot of the tracks are a little too “samey”, which can make it feel pretty repetitive at points, and the gameplay and control is exactly what you would expect from a typical Mega Man game, except there are now elements of Mega Man X leaked into it, which does wonders to make the game much more interesting and fun to play, especially for me, who sees this as a match made in heaven, clearly.

The game is a 2D action platformer, where you take control of Mega Man yet again, go through plenty of different levels in whatever order you want (for the most part), run, jump, and shoot your way through plenty of different robo baddies, big or small, that will attack you on your way, gather plenty of different health/ammo pickups, different types of Tanks, extra lives, and plenty of upgrades to assist you in both the short and long-term, and take on a lot of bosses that are….. complete jokes most of the time, but there are one or two difficult bosses in there, so hey, I guess that… somewhat makes up for it, especially when you acquire their special weapons to use as your own against the many other foes that await you. A lot of what you typically expect in a Mega Man game is here and accounted for, which is already great for someone like me, but all of the new additions, the art style, and more make this what I would consider a damn-near perfect entry in this series, despite its very apparent shortcomings.

Taking inspiration from its younger sibling series, this game now adds hidden collectibles and upgrades that you can find throughout the game, and there are a FUCK TON of these things to find too, ranging from simple stuff like the letters R, U, S, and H that can grant you the Super Adapter, to some more hidden goodies and secrets that you can find such as being able to get Proto Man’s shield. While I wouldn’t necessarily say all of these upgrades are all that useful (Beat got a major downgrade in this game, unfortunately), a lot of them are a big help, especially later down the road, making the game that much more fun whenever you do get these and take full advantage of them. Not to mention, they aren’t that hard to find either, which makes one-hundred-percenting this game feel like a breeze, which is a nice change of pace for once. The secrets in this game don’t just extend to the items either, as there are also plenty of different hidden pathways you can take in stages if you know where they are, and there is even a hidden track that you can find in a certain stage if you know what combination of buttons to hit whenever you are going into the level. It sucks that it only plays once, but as a fan of GNG, this shit is legendary to me.

Alongside that, not much is changed about what you can see and do in this game, but there are several new, noteworthy additions that would become staples of the series, such as with the new characters that show up in this game, Bass and Treble. These two are pretty much just meant to be the rivals of Mega Man and Rush, with you fighting against him in the beginning intro stage of the game, who you will then find/fight again multiple times throughout the remainder of the game, and in this game, he is…. kinda whatever? I mean, he’s a cool character and all, and I love that he becomes a staple character in the series from here on out, but I dunno, aside from his final fight where he and Treble combine to take you down, he doesn’t really come off as that interesting or likable. Despite that though, he does get better in later games, so it is great to see that they stuck with him for quite a while, and he would even get his own chance to star in a game right alongside Mega Man as well…………….. to mixed results (we are gonna have fun with that game, let me tell ya).

In terms of how the game itself plays, it does play pretty much like your standard Mega Man game. Ya run, ya jump, ya shoot things, ya get new powers, ya set fire to the forest and murder all of the innocent animals because Mega Man is an asshole…… y’know, the usual shit. If you have played any of the other games in this series before and since this one, you know pretty much what to get out of this game, and it still manages to be really fun and addicting all the same…….. to me, that is. Yeah, we may as well bring up one aspect of this game that does manage to turn people away a lot of the time, and that is that, compared to the other Mega Man games before this, this game is… kinda stunted, at least, in terms of the main gameplay. It still plays and feels like Mega Man, but your movement speed feels reduced, all of the environments and enemies feel a lot bigger and more condensed, and Mega Man himself has a MUCH bigger sprite than before, making this game kinda feel like a bit of slog in comparison. Despite all that though… I have never really been bothered by that at all. Yes, it is undeniable how sluggish this game can feel compared to the other Mega Man games, but the way that you do move, shoot, and find all of these hidden secrets and upgrades still feels really great, just as great as playing one of these games should feel, and I manage to have a fantastic time with it either way. Does this make me weird? Eh, probably, but if you didn’t think that already at this point, you clearly haven’t been here long enough then.

Now, despite how much I will praise and defend this game, I can still definitely agree with some common criticisms that this game faces, such as the fact that some of the boss fights in this game FUCKING BLOW. In the previous Mega Man games, whenever you got to a boss with the weapon that was their weakness, it made the boss fights relatively easier for the most part, but there was still that sense of challenge that you could plainly face with a lot of them. In this game, however, if you go to any boss with their weakness, they become YOUR BITCH. Anytime you hit them with the weapon, they will get stunned long enough to get into a lock, meaning that you can constantly hit them over and over again before they even get the chance to do anything, and they will die very quickly. This isn’t an issue with all the bosses, but for some like Cloud Man, Junk Man, and ESPECIALLY Spring Man, they don’t stand a chance against you like this, which does kinda make them less fun. Ah well, at least we have other bosses that are still challenging…. even if they can be a bit much at times (fucking Wily Capsule, man…).

Aside from that though, the only other criticism in this game that I have is that the cutscenes, for as little of them as they are, are REALLY slow. Throughout the game, there will be plenty of instances where you will have characters talking about something, such as after you get a weapon in one of the main stages, or even after you defeat a boss, and while a good number of these have text that you can speed through, a lot of other times, you have to just sit there and waaaaaaaaait for them to go by, and maybe it’s just because I’m an impatient shit, but this drives me crazy. This is especially true with the intro cutscene, where whenever you start the game, you HAVE to watch this opening sequence of Mega Man, Roll, and Auto driving through this city, and then seeing Mega Man find Dr. Light, and everything else that follows. There is no option to skip this scene at all, so yeah, it really is somewhat of a buzzkill whenever I come back to replay this game and this cutscene shows up, meaning I just have to sit back and wait, tapping my foot impatiently. But hey, it’s ok, because in the good ol’ Mega Man tradition, we do get some fun little typos that are funny to see in some of these cutscenes. Makes you laugh and remember to just have a great time with the game.

Overall, despite how different it may feel, some pretty pathetic bosses, and how some of the cutscenes can be quite an annoyance, Mega Man 7 is yet another phenomenal entry in this phenomenal series, keeping the gameplay as fun and addicting as ever, adding plenty of fun upgrades and secrets to find and use throughout, and having the kind of presentation that makes this feel like a true, proper evolution for the classic series as a whole. I would absolutely recommend it for those who are big fans of the other games in the series, as well as for those who are tired of the 8-bit look that a lot of these games tend to get, because this one manages to be a massive upgrade in the looks department, and you will most likely end up loving the gameplay just as much as well. But y’know what… now that I think about it, I may have been a little too harsh on the cutscenes in this game, because you know what, they aren’t THAT bad……….. because trust me, they could’ve been a whole lot worse.

Game #595

How can I explain a game that I got the platinum trophy for and found every item, egg, candle, and everything it asks you to get yet still have no idea what’s going on story wise and barely scratched the surface as far as finding all the secrets? A game where I feel like I know so much about yet somehow know very little. It is hard to explain but I also think most people that have completed it will understand.

Animal Well is a uniquely wonderful experience that was made for serious gamers as it doesn’t tell you anything and refused to hold your hand or coddle you. If you’re new to Metroidvanias this is not where to start but if you are experienced in the genre I can’t recommend this game enough.

The number one thing that in my opinion this game does better than anything is it’s very unique clever puzzles. Very few games have made me think to myself “damn that was a clever design” but I felt I was thinking that in every few rooms in Animal Well. The puzzles and traversal forces you use not only your brain but every item at your disposal. Some puzzles make you use multiple in quick succession at the proper timing. Some have many solutions. Some will have you so stumped you start believing you don’t have the correct item yet. But every single one is designed wonderfully. The mystery in this game is unbelievable. Every single small detail seems to have a rhyme and reason to it. Nothing is wasted. Yet still the game remains a mystery even as the credits roll. The maker of the game has said it may take years before everything in this game is figured out and while that sounds crazy I believe it. Another thing that stood out to me was the art. I understand it is devolved graphics but that doesn’t mean anything to me. It just feels right for some reason. It fits with the mystery and I honestly feel like better graphics could possibly take away some of the things that make this game great.

The only real negative I have is a few of the items are absurdly difficult to find. But at the same time it adds to the mystery so can I really count that as a negative.

There are many games better than Animal Well. There are even many Metroidvanias that are better than Animal Well. For me this a rare case of a game though. It isn’t so much about how good of a game it is. It isn’t about the gameplay, or the art, or the music, and it surely isn’t about the story, as again, seriously wtf is going on. What Animal Well should be judged by to me is less the game and much more an experience. I know a lot of my feelings on this may sound like a mix of cliches and confusions. I hope I’ve made some sense. But it really is a game that’s a lot easier experienced than explained. One thing that I am certain of is you owe it to yourself to experience Animal Well.

Halo Reach acts as a prequel to the first Halo game, giving fans a look at the events that lead to the fall of Reach, and their link to the events of the first game.
This also marks the final time Bungie would work an Halo game.
It's kinda sad to see them go, but the seeds were already planted since Halo 2, and both Microsoft and Bungie had very different ideologies, so I'm surprised they stuck around for this long.

I'll start off by saying that even though the premise is very interesting... I think the story was pretty weak. It was hard for me to care about many of the main cast, since I don't think their characteristics got explored too much. I think Jorge was the character I enjoyed the most, but only by a small bit compared to the others.
Like I said previously, it does connect to Halo 1, and seeing that connection was really cool, but it was cool because it connected to another game, and not because it stood on its own merits, if you catch my drift.

However, the gameplay of Halo Reach is really good! It plays pretty similarly to before, but now you access to one extra ability. It can either be a drop shield, active camouflage or a jet-pack! But by default, the one you'll always get at the start of each mission is... sprinting! They finally gave the Halo series a run button, and it feels good!
It's very comparable to the Stamina meters of recent Zelda games, but without the drawback of you becoming tired after you waste your run meter, which I appreciate.

The missions themselves were also pretty good! I really liked seeing the diverse environments of Planet Reach, many of them being locations we hadn't seen before in the series, like bars inside of buildings, for example.
Although some of the missions got a bit long, but they were still fun.

The graphics haven't that big of an update since last time, but the backgrounds really pop in this one, and facial animations are really good!
The soundtrack... I'll be honest, I only caught a bit of it. It was generally well composed, with it also being the last time Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori composed for a Halo game, but I couldn't remember much of it. That is with the exception of a theme that gets referenced towards the end of the game.

Overall, Halo Reach feels like it ends Bungie's run with the series on a high note. Its gameplay is probably the most fun in the series so far, but its story felt a bit lacking. While it didn't end on a note as high as Halo 3, at least it was high enough to make it satisfactory in my eyes.

20XX is a Mega Man X love letter set to the tone of a rogue-lite. As a huge fan of the Mega Man X series (particularly X1-X4) I was super excited to try this game out. As you can see by the star rating it was much more of a mixed bag than I was hoping to find. Before I get to the negatives I would like to give it its flowers.

As I said 20XX is a lover letter to Mega Man X and if there is one thing that they nailed it is the buttery smooth gameplay that feels just like the SNES trilogy. The first time you play the game it truly feels like you're playing an old school X game and it feels great. They give you two characters to play with which for all intents and purposes are just X and Zero with both being equally fun to play as. Unlike in most Mega Man games you can't just pick the best route by matching weaknesses of bosses to decide who to fight next. Meaning most of the time you won't have the optimal weapon to take down the boss of the level. (The theory of this is awesome the practice however will be talked about in the next paragraph.) This game also follows in Mega Mans footsteps with an amazing sound track that the series was well known for. While these positive are really strong positives it wasn't enough to make up for the negatives.

The first thing I will bring up is the second half of the bosses weaknesses I mentioned earlier. As I said, in theory it is awesome as it theoretically should make you have to work hard against bosses you don't have the best weapons to inflict additional damage upon. However, in practice, the bosses in this game are so laughably easy that there is legitimately no reason to even waste your time figuring out which bosses are weak to what. Just using the basic shots you will probably never find yourself in trouble against any boss. Speaking of easy, before I had any permanent upgrades or upgrades you can earn to show up during you run, I made it to the final level easily going through the 8 regular levels. Now that I have the upgrades it's actually hard to die before the final level. Unfortunately, once you reach the final level they flip that on its head. The enemies are not the problem but instead it throws 500 bullshit poorly placed traps at you that you have to have great timing on or you will get hit. Then the game doubles down on the bullshit as the traps are set in the sky while making jumps. You have a few frames of invincibility once you are hit so if you get hit and then fall into a pit it only counts as one damage. However, in the final level they place the traps just high enough so that your frames end right before you hit the pit causing double the damage for no reason. I don't mind a challenge but its infuriating to go through 30 minutes of easy levels only to get a randomized set of traps bull shit you to death. I say random because it is a rogue lite so the stages do change. However, for the first 8 stages they change so slightly that you almost never really notice any difference. This makes the game go from a joy for the first two hours to a slog every time after that.

20XX had so much potential but I feel like they bit off more than they could chew, leaving you with a game that feels underwhelming and begs you to only play it for a few hours. I've heard 30XX is better so maybe I will give it a try but as for 20XX I can't say I recommend this.

One of, if not the most beautiful game I’ve ever played visually. The picturesque graphics and cutscenes combined with a fittingly gorgeous soundtrack makes for a really good and memorable game personally. Also, some might be hesitant to buy it considering it’s length, but I’ve always said that length doesn’t equal quality, and I still after this game stand by that. This game took me about 3 hours, and apart from bigger games where you might expect to find some slog throughout the experience or at least once, here it’s full quality from start to finish. I’d even go so far as to say that the length accommodates the gameplay, with simpler gameplay mechanics like these it’ll eventually get repetitive and stale, so a shorter experience works here in my opinion.

One of my only negatives is that the gameplay is very simplistic, I think this works for a game such as this, but I just prefer more interesting mechanics and gameplay. I’d also say that by the end it got just a tad bit repetitive, but nothing you can’t get through easily. All the puzzles in this game are also really easy, I don’t want “bash your head against the wall” and “trial & error” puzzle difficulty, but at least some sort of challenge. No puzzle here really challenges what you’ve learned throughout the game at that point and that’s a bit of a shame personally. Also a lot of the themes this game throws at you is probably handled well and shown in a great way, I’m just too stupid to really understand it, but I still like it. Anyways, this game is a near must-play in my opinion. Short, sweet and absolutely beautiful, almost no reason not to try it.

8/10

Rapidly hit the point where the thought of booting up Marvel's Midnight Suns felt like punching in to work, and that's a damn shame considering how much of an X-Com mark I am. I signed up for tactical card-based RPG gameplay and base management, not a social sim with uncarbonated, room temp Joss Wheadon writing.

Every character here is reduced to one or two notable elements that are constantly harped on. Tony Stark, played by Josh Keaton under explicit instructions to do his best Robert Downey Jr. impression, is constantly making cracks about having to operate out of a scary magical castle. Dr. Strange's magical prowess is constantly under scrutiny, a dotard in a room of quippy millennials - "Dr. Spooky," they call him. Sister Grimm rearranged one of the clubs' acronyms so it spelled out "EMO KIDS" because she's so clever and quirky. Peter Parker LOVES pizza, can SOMEBODY please get Peter Parker a slice of pie!? No deep dish, it's gotta be New Yawk style, wooo, love da big apple!

Another way to put it would be if the beach scene in Persona 5 kicked off a running gag where characters had to constantly bring up Yusuke buying lobsters and equate some part of every conversation involving Yusuke to lobsters for the rest of the game. Just... close your eyes and imagine that. Lean back, get comfortable, absorb yourself in how "good" that would be. Congratulations, I just saved you $20.

I remembered Deadpool was in this game and that was the point I decided I needed to get out. It's not that it's overly snarky or self-depreciating in the same obnoxious, overbearing way the MCU is, Midnight Suns is to its credit more confident in its setting, but it's just so lame. Unfortunately, socializing with your team is a major component of the game - so much so that it's disproportionate to the actual tactical RPG elements - and unless you're willing to mash through all the tiresome character dialog to get to the conversation options that let you scream "do you ever shut up" and tank your friendship rating, you'll just have to put up with it.

Every day you have to run around this castle talking to heroes to raise their bonds, break down materials, craft new cards, fuse duplicates together, train with heroes to get daily stat buffs, send heroes you aren't using on away missions... Navigation around the castle grounds feels cumbersome, and you have so many tasks to do before you're ready to head out that combat starts to feel secondary against the lethargic pace of base management.

The tactical card-combat? It's fine. There's not really a whole lot I have to say about it. The early missions are decently challenging, and each character comes with their own attributes and pool of cards that helps give them defined utility in battle, like Sister Grimm, who is essentially your defacto buff/debuffer in the early game. Combat encounters still feel somewhat samey, but I was only about five hours in when I bailed, I'd have to imagine they get more diverse over time.

The most I got out of Midnight Sun was when I went on a nighttime walk with Blade and he mentioned not being able to see something, to which the protagonist quipped "that's because you wear your sunglasses at night."

"Hey, it's a fashion choice."

Blade was not wearing his sunglasses. I gifted him a skull I found on the ground. He seemed to like it.

Campaign only.

Just… forgettable.

The game is okay. But I really wanted more from one of my favourite franchises.

Let me start with the good…

The core gameplay is great. There is some classic Halo to be found in moments. The guns all feel impactful and great to use, and there is a good variety to use. The grappling hook is a great addition.

And what I didn’t like about the game…

Stepping out from the initial structure of the Halo and into the open world was a great moment that filled me with excitement and anticipation for the rest of the game, but after several hours I soon found the game to be tedious. It all looks the same. There is nothing of interest in this world.

I had no desire to complete any of the extra content, to be honest. I just focussed on the campaign. But even the campaign was a little dull. Visit multiple structures, progress through what feels like the same rooms repeating themselves. Locked doors that need power seeds. Yawn. Honestly the mission where you have to visit 4 towers miles from each other just to get into another tower nearly made me drop the game.

The antagonists were interesting but the boss fights really lacked ambition.

Not a bad game by any stretch, but it’s left me really disappointed and underwhelmed.

Sadly, not even NightDive can save this game. I'm a fan of "weird" games to the point of being a Boogerman apologist, but this ain't it. The levels are even larger and more confusing than the renowned FPS classics of the time, none of the weapons feel good to use (nevermind the fact you're stuck with a frying pan for the first couple of maps) and it's kind of hard to tell what the level geometry is even supposed to represent at times. The jetpack is a cool concept, but it doesn't mean much when all you're doing with it is flying over barren maps. I guess it just goes to show that just because you can remake anything and everything in 2024...doesn't mean that you necessarily should.

One of the best late Taito releases that isn't Little Samson or based on another IP. It's a very straightforward action platformer (even simpler than the Flintstones games) with the levels being themed around various parts of a food joint. I really like how everything is presented on a restaurant menu as you progress through these short-but-sweet platforming 'bouts.

As others have stated, the game does get it a bit obnoxious with enemy placement. However, it never really got to the point where I stopped enjoying myself (which I can't say for something like Ninja Gaiden or Castlevania III).

Also have to give bonus points for the rival chef/final boss looking a hell of a lot like a cross between Dick Dastardly and Waluigi.

Have you ever played a game that, despite all the good or bad things that it does, made you feel completely numb to it at the end of the day? Like, you can definitely form opinions on all of the things that it does, what it does right and wrong, how you think it could improve itself, and what you love about it, but at the end of the day, you just simply… don’t really care about it at all? I would argue that this is probably the worst kind of reaction you could have to any kind of game, even more so than straight up anger or hatred, because at least you can feel genuine, proper emotion from that rage, as you could if you end up loving a game, but if you don’t feel anything at all towards a game at all to the point of it being mind-numbing to you, then it’s probably gonna end up being less memorable to you, and you will probably forget it ever existed in the first place. This is essentially how I felt after I had beat the forgotten 90s arcade platformer known as Blue’s Journey.

I had never heard of this game until quite recently, where I was looking for another game from ADK to play and make fun of, since that is a running theme that I have built up for myself at this point. Out of their selection, I found this title, and based on how the poster looked, I thought it looked stupid, yet charming enough to where I would probably end up liking what I played. So, I decided to give it a shot, and I would say that it is a good-ish game, but… man, is it one of the most “whatever” games I have played in some time. It does have quite a bit going for it, and if it was somewhat more polished and refined, we could have ourselves a bonafide hidden gem on our hands here, but instead, we have a game with good elements and ideas that is extremely rough around the edges that I couldn’t give two shits about once it was all over.

The story is standard for this kind of game, where the insect kingdom of Raguy is taken over suddenly by the evil Daruma Empire, who seek to spread pollution and chaos throughout the land, so it is up to Blue to set out to not only stop the Daruma Empire from doing their evil deeds, but to also save the fair Princess Fa as well, which feels like a story that fits right in with typical video games stories of this era, not only because of how generic it is, but also because it’s a pollution PSA, and you know how they LOVED making those around this time. The graphics are good, having that cheap, yet still impressive looking style that Neo Geo games were known for at the time, but it doesn’t have that much of a distinct or impressive art style for me to like it too much, the music is alright, having plenty of upbeat tunes to listen to while you’re murdering all these innocent creatures, but nothing stands out as too original, catchy, or infectious, and the gameplay/control is somewhat standard for the kind of game this is, implementing some features that could be seen as innovative for this genre…. you know, if it hadn’t already been done before, and if this game did anything more with these concepts, but hey, A for effort.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of Blue, go through plenty of different stages throughout the expansive kingdom of Raguy, defeat the many foes you will encounter with the various weapons that you will find, or just by throwing them at other enemies, gather plenty of different weapons, money, and health items to assist you along the way and give you more points, enter various buildings to either speak with the inhabitants who will assist you on your journey, or to browse a shop full of many helpful items, and take on several bosses that can be a bit tricky at first, until you realize just how pathetically easy they are. There is a lot of typical fun, arcade platforming to be had here, with a lot of neat different gimmicks and traits that do make the game feel like it is actually somewhat trying, but then, when you take a step back, you will find that a lot of what this game does has been done once or twice before in plenty of other games, and in comparison, this game doesn’t do that much at all to make it stand out or feel unique.

With that being said though, there are some elements about the game that do make it stand out, with said elements going back to what the main character can do. Along with all of the different weapons you can use to defend yourself, you also have the power to shrink yourself down to size, allowing you access previously inaccessible areas and find some neat secrets. This is a pretty interesting concept and mechanic… at least it is IN THEORY, but here, this ability is useless to me. The only time I ever actually used this ability was in the second-to-last or last level, where I actually could not proceed without using the ability. I’m sure I probably could’ve gotten more use out of it through experimenting with several of the areas I went through, but most instances of this coming into play would only help me in getting extra points and shit like that, which I don’t really care about in this case.

Other than that though, there isn’t that much here to make the game stand out from others of its kind. There are alternating pathways that will require you to do multiple playthroughs to see all the levels, so that’s pretty cool for those who are completionists, and there are shops that you can often visit in order to purchase goodies, but most of the time for me, either I didn’t have enough money to get anything, or the stuff that they had on sale wasn’t really worth spending anything on at all. And lastly, after beating each boss, you get the chance to participate in a lottery in order to gain permanent upgrades like extra health, which was really helpful whenever I got the chance to take on that. The rest of the game is your basic arcade platformer through and through, having all the typical ups and downs of one, and while I still consider the game to be good in its own regard, it all just feels so… artificial to me, to the point where I just can’t even be bothered to care too much about it. Then again, I could also say this for a lot of the games I have played from ADK.

But of course, since this is a typical arcade platformer, it also comes with the typical arcade platformer problems you have come to expect. First and foremost, arcade syndrome does rear its disgusting, grease-covered face around the corner, with plenty of enemies being thrown at you in many different areas, but unlike something like Athena, it doesn’t feel mindless, and all the enemies feel like they belong in the places where they do spawn. It can just be a little hectic with how many there can be at once in one given area. Secondly, while most of the platformer is serviceable, there are specific parts of the game that can just straight up BLOW ME for all I care. There were at least two different times where I encountered a section where you need to jump on these moving platforms that were going from the right to the left, each row having different speeds to them, and these sections are ASS. Not only can the platforms be spaced out enough to where you need PIXEL-PERFECT jumps in order to land on them at times, but also, in terms of the second of these sections, you have barely any time to get on these platforms before either being pushed off an edge, or blocked from getting anywhere, making all of these feel like a crap shoot that isn’t fun to deal with in the slightest. Thankfully though, this only applies to these two sections, as the rest of the platforming is serviceable enough to where I can get by without complaining like a little bitch more than I already am.

Overall, despite arcade syndrome still being a blight on this Earth and some bullshit sections here or there, Blue’s Journey fits perfectly alongside plenty of the other ADK titles I have played, being a very run-of-the-mill arcade platformer that does take plenty of inspiration and ideas from plenty of different places, and has its own interesting ideas as well, but it doesn’t do enough with said ideas or inspiration to where it feels that useful or substantial, making for a decent experience, but one that I myself couldn’t care too much about. I would recommend it for those that are big into old-school arcade games, and just want something to play through in about an hour or so, but for everyone else, there are plenty of better options out there that you could go with aside from this. But, before I go, I may as well show you all what the game over screen in this game looks like, because it is guilt-trippy as FUCK. Seriously, they try their hardest to coerce you into putting more money into the machine, and when you don’t do it, not only do they call you a bad guy, but they also show the polluted wasteland that YOU caused by not putting another quarter into that machine. Well, gee, SORRY, Mr. Game, but if I want to be talked down to like I’m a tiny child, I would just go re-watch the Avatar films, ok? I don’t gotta put up your shit too.

Game #594

i absolutely love animal well. i was expecting to enjoy it, but really i wasn't prepared for just how magical it feels. the map is incredibly dense, the puzzles are intuitively designed and have a great sense of accomplishment, the boss fights (which i wasn't expecting at all) are actually really creative puzzle fights, which i usually dislike.

my only MAJOR complaint is that it does feel a bit railroaded at times, a lot of areas deliberately prevent you from sequence breaking, which is something i find annoying. but other than that, just a ridiculously good game.