The truth is the 2D Mario series still has not successfully shaken off the New Super Mario Bros stink. In those games, the structure and formula to The Perfect Mario Stage was found and hammered into every single level over and over again, for several games straight, and I can still feel that formula looming over all of this game: Introduce the level gimmick, iterate on the gimmick and make it slightly harder, then combine it with another gimmick for an Unexpected Third Act Twist. An appealing fresh coat of paint and cute animations ultimately can't hide that. It's not like it's a bad way to make a game, but it's nothing compared to how far games like SMB3 and SMW would go to shake up the formula.

The Wonder Flower gimmicks go a long way for mitigating this feeling, as they often do just interrupt the level completely for something genuinely spontaneous. This goes a long way in making levels much more memorable than anything in the NSMB series, that and the new enemies introduced. Every new enemy, from what I remember, compliments the platforming and introduces a new challenge in navigating the levels, and that's really cool. These games definitely need more of that, more weird guys that do cool shit.

Obviously the animations on Mario and Co. look great, as well as their models in general. Mario in particular is the best he's looked in a long while. But I have to say, something is lost in this game's decision to remove unique attributes from each character. As big as this cast is, all the characters feel much flatter than they did in SMB2 or 3D World because of this choice. Badges are a neat system but they're not a substitute for this, as it removes that little bit of charm from each character. While many of the badge powers are neat, I feel like they could have gone farther in allowing you to just totally change how the game is played, rather than being either "here's a neat bonus" or "this is a joke one don't pick it".

I say all this negative stuff but I still would say I like the game! It's still a fun 2D platformer, I like those when they're done well, which isn't often these days. Also, thought it was neat how this game clearly took a couple lessons from games like the DKC series and Rayman Origins/Legends, I like it when Nintendo isn't just completely insular.

Spoony will never see the gates of Heaven for how he treated this game.

One of my all-time favorites, the peak of FMV adventure games in one of the weirdest, most fucked up packages. The acting on display is actually above and beyond what you expect from FMV games, and compared to Phantasmagoria 1's incredible display of the stupidest people of al time, Phantasmagoria 2 is entertaining from start to finish, and the endgame is a SLAM DUNK winner.

This game rules, Curtis is one of the top 10 best gaming protagonists, Blob Gang Rise Up.

The first 3D spider-man game and also properly playable game.

PROS:

- Unique Levels: Each level trying to present different experience, different enemies, different places and it succeed to do that. I never bored playing the levels. => +2
- Enough combat System for Fun: We have punch and kick attacks and four web slinging attack. 1. web slinging attack that gives a high damage of attacks at once(it is very useful for fighting against boss and trying to solve some puzzle elements). 2. Web slinging attack which can pull enemies to ourself .(this is my favourite). 3. Web coat which can coat the spider man's hands with webs.(sometimes can using). 4. web attack which can damage to enemies who can close enough to spider man.(I least used this because it has giving low damage and so much spending web) => +1
- We're seeing a lot of marvel characters => +0.5
-The levels are properly filled with puzzle elements and enemies and do not feel like a walking corridor. => +1
-The spider man costumes are nice touch for the diversity. => +0.5

CONS:

- Our biggest enemy in this game is the camera. => -0.5
- The boss fights are very disappointing, with the exception of the mysterio and maybe the ryno fight. => -0.5
- The fighting against symbiote enemies are so boring. it is not working web slinging attack against them. There is a web of fire attack that can be used against them but instead of adding variety, he took away diversity. => -1

I grew up with this art style and was really happy to see a newer game pay homage to it. You can tell it comes from a place of love and respect for PS1/N64 games. Somehow the dev has also successfully captured the "feeling" of such a game, with the hollowed out sound, and reigned-in color palette.

What I find most fascinating about this game is how its gameplay looks kinda janky and old, making it feel like a late-90s/early-00s game, but it actually plays very tightly. The movement is precise and deliberate, and the platforming is truly some of the best I've played in a 3D game.

Unfortunately, the lack of a map coupled with my poor memory means I'm never going to finish this. For $6 though, I'm glad I tried it out

Predator 2 deserves a mention for being the most ridiculous anti-drug game of all time, the game oozes with 80s "Winners don't do drugs" vibes, being an ultra violent game opposing drugs to gain moral credibility.

While the game technically features predators, the main concern is the swarm of drug-dealing gangsters taking the whole city hostage. For some reason, the predators teamed up with the drug smugglers, taking a shipment of cocaine to their home planet, the entirety of the game is spent in the streets, shooting gang members in a top-down shooter and confiscating needles, the last level transitions to the Predator spaceship guarded by a Berserker Yautja; you inevitably blow it up and save the day.

The game is short and has a complete score system which makes it replayable. The game is there because it's a surreal experience, it's not a good game, but it's not terrible either, save for the ridiculous premise.

This game is very good, on all fronts this is a block buster in every sense of the word. However after completing the main story in around 16 hours and barely touching the side content I feel like I am walking away from this game less excited than most other people. For my tastes I feel like the main missions are what you come to this game for, not the genuinely boring side missions. I completed one of the prowler missions and immediately knew I wouldn't complete them. What about "Spider-man" screams slowly walking around and scanning objects to solve the easiest puzzle possible, what made insomniac think that puzzles were one of the pillars that had to be included in the spider-man game play loop? I don't know and obviously its just not my cup of tea because I don't see other user reviews mentioning them that often.
My main thoughts after finishing this game is that I hope for the next one we can see multiple locations with smaller more dense world maps (kind of like sonic's "open zones") which for me personally would encourage exploration as I didn't explore New York much this time around. Also there are some writing issues and story moments that I found to be a bit heavy handed or poorly delivered but once again that is my personal jerk reaction to this games writing style. All in all if you love spider-man and own a ps5 I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with this game, if you will be returning to play over and over though I am not sure.

I played the Japanese version, and that seemed to remedy the strict time limit. On top of that, the input for a space-making roundhouse kick was changed to something simpler.

I really like the gimmick of having to find the boss room through a maze-like set of rooms. But I never really felt compelled to explore due to the time limit. If you finish a stage fast enough, you can even get additional lives.

Otherwise, it's not amazing. The visuals and atmosphere are fantastically grim, but it's ultimately a bog-standard brawler that doesn't have much else going for it. The upside is that there are multiple endings for your performance, and most bosses are difficult, but fair enough as to not be frustrating. You could do worse.