Beta464
2009
This was a very fun and bloody time. The story isn't anything to write home about, as is expected, but the combat makes great use of the Wii's motion controls, and the visuals are unique and fun. It's not a world-shattering game, but it's a fun game that's worth your time if you have an open mind about motion controls!
1999
If you're a fan of Armored Core, then I strongly recommend you check this game out! I played it via a fan-translated reproduction disc on my Dreamcast and I was immediately hooked on it. What this essentially is, is a Fighting Game/Third Person Shooter hybrid, featuring awesome mech designs with fun, albeit somewhat dated, combat in a fantasy setting. That alone makes this standout from not only the crowd, but also from even the Armored Core franchise. However I think there's alot here for Armored Core fans to love, since the game shares alot of the mech customization elements with those games, letting you pick between different cores, each representing a different build style, then customizing on top of that with different custom parts to best suit your playstyle. FromSoftware sure knows how to craft a unique experience! The only things keeping this from ranking higher, are that the controls are pretty odd and somewhat dated (this could REALLY benefit from a modern dual stick controlled remaster) and that the game is very short, you can beat it in just a few hours, but thankfully thanks to the "arcadey" nature of it, it does have tons of replay value, especially to try different builds!
2021
This is one of the absolute worst video games I have ever had the misfortune of playing. My wife saw this at a GameStop as part of a 2-Pack that also came with Dark Thrones, which is an identical game in every way except the fantasy series it's copying, as this game copies The Witcher while that game copies Game of Thrones, and even though she only spent $5 on it, I want that $5 back. So what's wrong with it? It's an endless running platformer, that means there's no levels, only goals to hit, each set of 3 goals completes a "mission", although this doesn't actually stop the endless marathon sprint of mediocrity, why does that matter? Because after completing one set of goals, you have to quit the main menu to see the next set of goals, which does restart progress made (how many kilometers run, coins picked up, etc). To truly "beat" this game, you basically have to complete each set of challenges, none of which are fun or challenging. They're all just some variant of "pick up X amount of Y item" or "continue X amount of times after tripping". The only reason this game isn't ranked lower than it is, is because the controls work well most of the time, all 4 of em. Yup, you can jump, double jump, slide and attack, enjoy it, because that's all you can do. This game is TRASH and I can't recommend it.
I may be a little harsh on this "game" because I was expecting something different out of it than what I got, however even when viewed as a visual novel, this "game" failed in practically every regard. Our choices felt meaningless, the story was AWFUL, the characters were pitifully written at best and it all ended in a way that only a seriously desperate weeb could enjoy, the only reason to buy this one, is for the the platinum trophy that can be earned in under a minute by tweaking the settings. Dear God play something else.
I am a huge fan of Game of Thrones, I feel it's one of the best low fantasy worlds ever created and have greatly enjoyed the TV show as well as its tabletop RPG, so when I found out Telltale made a game for it, I was beyond excited! Unfortunately I did make the mistake of beating it on the PS3 which has a myriad of issues compared to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, which does drag my score down a bit due to the glitches and crashes associated with that version. Ignoring the bugs though, I found the story incredibly compelling and fun, the characters were great and the world REALLY felt true to the TV show interpretation. Hell my tabletop group even based our House on the idea of the Ironwood trees I learned here! So why doesn't it score higher? Because it's an incomplete story, sadly Telltale didn't make any further seasons, so it ends on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved. It's still worth playing for sure! But it could have been so much more.
2019
I'm honestly very impressed at how great of a job the homebrewer who made this did at recreating the original Game Boy classic, into this beautiful, full-colored New Super Mario Bros art-style game. Sure it's still a short game, only taking about 30 minutes to beat, but it's such a fun time that I don't care, I'll happily beat it as many times as I can just to squeeze more Mario enjoyment out of it. This is, in my opinion, the definitive way to experience this wonderful Game Boy classic title in the modern day and age, and it definitely helps the game to stand on its own two feet as a great Mario game overall, instead of just being "a good Mario game for the Game Boy", I would love to one day see Super Mario Land 2 6 Golden Coins remade in this style as well, but even if it never happens, I'm grateful we at least got this. The combination of classic Mario 2D platforming + side-scrolling shoot-em-up gameplay also really does help to mix up the gameplay. Give this one a go, I highly recommend it.
1992
I played and beat this game through Kirby's Dream Collection on Wii, through my Wii U using a SNES Classic controller and I found it to be a decently fun little time. For long-time gamers of 2D platforming games I can't say it has much to offer, but the low difficulty and cute/charming aesthetic of everything does it make it perfectly suited to children or adults who don't have much experience with the genre yet! Levels are short and enemy placement is honestly fairly kind in most stages, and while the powerups aren't crazy in number, they do enough to break up the gameplay a bit. For a Game Boy era platformer, this one honestly isn't bad!
This game is by no means bad, it honestly does what it sets out to do fairly well! It just so happens that what it set out to do itself wasn't very impressive. It's a fun little tech demo for the Wiimote and Zapper combo that lets you have some addicting high score-based fun, but not much more than that. Play it for sure, but once you do, there's not much reason to go back.
This review contains spoilers
Stranger of Paradise was a game I was initially a bit unsure of, Final Fantasy takes on other genres/franchises (in this case, the Soulsborne genre) tend to be a bit hit and miss, with some being excellent, and others being incredibly disappointing. But I'm happy to say that in the case of Stranger of Paradise, it's a game that surpassed all of my expectations. The combat is incredibly addicting and fluid, feeling like a combination of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Final Fantasy 15, Dark Souls III, and Sekiro. This sounds like it makes the game overly derivative on paper but with all these aspects combined together, it's actually a very unique experience that I feel will satisfy both Soulsborne fans as well as Final Fantasy fans! There are a few things I disliked, such as the overly generous placement of Crystals (this game's version of Bonfires) and the lack of corpse rush, however, I understand that this was done to make the game more accessible for fans of Final Fantasy, as opposed to being purely for Soulsborne fans. The game also features difficulty settings, which is uncommon for the genre, but I do ultimately think this is a good thing, since Soulsborne fans will likely default to the hardest setting they can anyhow, while more casual Final Fantasy players will likely set it to easy or normal. The story itself I initially felt was mediocre however when I finally beat the game, I saw that it all looped back together in the end and made for a pretty satisfying narrative that actually adds a ton of value to the first Final Fantasy game, while also being great as a standalone. The ending was very powerful in my eyes, with some of the choices the developers made feeling incredibly impactful and emotional, as well as very dark. Overall, I do love this game and feel it's a very solid experience that fans of both the Soulsborne genre and Final Fantasy series should check out. The only reasons I'm not ranking it higher is because of the overly generous Crystal placement and the fact that the Sage job is INCREDIBLY overpowered, and runs the risk of trivializing the entire game, since Ultima, which appears to be exclusive to the job, is cracked beyond belief. Still a great game though and one I intend to platinum!
So I went into this game with absolutely zero expectations, I figured "eh it's a Mega Man Battle Network clone, it'll just be more gameplay I enjoy" but I quickly found myself genuinely enjoying the characters, and storyline! I found the game struck a great balance between brand new ideas and plots, as well as callbacks to various Battle Network titles, the combat was exactly like the last Battle Networks, which is to say it was excellent, the enemy and Navi designs are all 100% new and original, which was a pleasant change up from all the characters that I love, but was all too used to. The game is injected with a lot of humor, mostly from Shanghai herself, but also isn't afraid to get dark and very serious to help the narrative, which I really enjoyed! This game was also the first one to catch me off guard with a plot twist in a very long time and that final boss was a very tough but fair challenge that tested my response timing! On top of all of this, the game felt genuinely lovingly crafted and combined all the best elements from actual Battle Network games into one brand-new exciting adventure. I loved my time with this game and I STRONGLY recommend it! It's honestly even better than the games it was inspired by.
2007
So I wanna start this by saying, that when this game lets you play it as a fighting game, it's decent. Not bad, not great, just decent. The constant switching from the buttons for regular attacks to the touch screen for special attacks can be frustrating since you don't really have time to use the stylus and the touch pad on DS systems aren't always very responsive to finger presses. But what's more egregious than that, is that during the story mode, fighting is actually a rarity. Make no mistake, the story in this game is a mini-game collection, and worst of all, barely any of the mini-games feel Bleach related. Mayuri's trivia is really about it. Because of all of this, I can't rank the game very highly, as I genuinely just didn't enjoy it much. Play something else Bleach fans, this ain't it.
So I played through this with a friend in couch co-op on the Wii with the Wii Zappers immediately after running through House of the Dead 2 and, while I still had a great time with it, it was an obvious downgrade in most regards. The gunplay wasn't quite as satisfying and the bosses weren't nearly as good, however, I still ended up enjoying my time with it. It's worth a play for sure, it's just not quite as good as the game it's following up.
So I played through this with a friend in couch co-op on the Wii with the Wii Zappers and it's just an absolute blast, it reminded me so much of playing in the arcades, movie theater, and pizza parlor when I was younger. No, it's not a deep game or really a scary game, but it's a FUN game. I like to refer to games like this as "gaming comfort food" because you always have a good time when you do so despite there being no real substance to it lol. I enjoy the game a lot and strongly recommend it to fans of old arcade light gun games!
2015
Okay I know the other Halo fans will crucify me for this one but I don't care, Halo 5's story was fantastic, I loved seeing the events unfold from both Chief's and Locke's perspectives and the gunplay was the best it has ever been. The enemy variety is brought back from Halo 4 but with campaign map design that's actually solid and well-built! It also provides an incredible challenge on Legendary, especially when running solo, but the AI is actually well designed enough that it's perfectly doable if you learn to use them properly, but it's even better with friends. Not to mention that this game's online, ESPECIALLY the Firefight, are the best the series have ever seen, this game is an amazing time and I 100%ed it because of that!
2014
This is easily, one of my favorite games ever made. It's a FPS and a Bullet Hell AND a Rogue-lite, which makes the game incredibly hard at times but an unbelievably satisfying experience. The guns all feel unique with some being unbelievably satisfying to use and I found myself spending far too much time playing it, eventually getting the full 100% unlocked. Play this one if you haven't, it's so cool.