What a great time I've had with this. I've just finished the first game which means I've now beaten all three. The first is most definitely the hardest, with a lot of patience required but learning patterns and platforms etc pays off eventually. The first two islands are really good, but the difficulty spike on the 2nd does get a bit ridiculous.

But nevertheless I persevered and had a really good time. As an overall package, it's fantastic. Part nostalgia, part great platformer, this has been exactly what the doctor ordered over the last couple of weeks. I've not long got over covid and moved house so it's been a really tough time for me and this has been pure comfort gaming from start to finish.

Thank you Crash Bandicoot. I hope your depth perception improves in the latest one.

Gotta say, this looks great in Series X. The enhancements make it look as good as many Xbox one games. Anyways, this was some good Gears action. When I first played this, I just ploughed through it. I didn't enjoy it and traded it in soon after. I think it was at the point in the 360s life when I just grew tired of shooting things in depressingly brown environments.

I enjoyed it much more this time around. Yeah it's still brown a lot of the time, although we get a nice tropical treat in the final act, and it does feel like it's going through the motions in the opening act. I was reading a bit about it and apparently this was most well received Gears on the 360? I guess people really did like dull and uninspired environments back then. But I guess the multiplayer was just as popular. I still never got into that myself.

As far as this stacks up, it's very enjoyable and it's an improvement on the first, which controls a little clunky these days (this was improved in the ultimate edition on xbone). I realise now that I have played this, 4 and 5 in reverse order so far this year. May as well dive into 2 next!

I had a lot of fun playing this for the most part. I really enjoyed the first game so getting this was an obvious choice, however I got stuck on a boss fairly early on so I stopped playing for a good while.

I decided to pick it up again the other day and the boss was toast in a few tries. This then opened up the game and I really started to enjoy it. However there was the odd difficulty spike here and there, that felt a bit too much at times, but I soldiered on and eventually got to the end boss (not before meeting tougher versions of bosses I'd previously killed). I think it's one of the more unique end bosses I've encountered and it had quite the learning curve. I must've taken some time to beat it.

Then I got a bad ending. Unless it's a cliffhanger for the new game? I'm assuming it's the former. And that I either need to pick up the remaining power ups throughout the game that I've missed or I need to defeat the final boss a lot quicker than what I did.

Despite the bad end, I had a good time playing it, it's a great action platformer with lots of variety and plenty of challenge. I look forward to playing the next one.

EDIT: I went back and picked up the remaining collectibles and power ups and beat the last boss again. Still got the same ending so fuck it, I'm done. Bring on number 3 (when it's significantly reduced in a sale).

It took me 7 seasons (although it's technically 6 as you take charge of your first game at the end of the 1st season) to not only win a playoff game, but make it all the way to the Retro Bowl. In that time, I managed to create a team using mainly draft picks that eventually became winners.

Players that won several end of season awards including MVP and player of the year for their respective positions. Players that I have nurtured and worked with to bring out their best. Sometimes they have an off day but still give it their all. A team that started off with 1 win to their name and ended up with top rank and 5 stars on both offence and defence. I could've ploughed all my money into a superstar to carry the team and hope for the best, but I decided the grind would be more rewarding. And it is. In a way I've grown attached to my team of rookies and developed superstars. It's taken a minimum of 18 games each season to finally reach the Retro Bowl and just to get there is reward in itself.

I was on the fence about this before I took the punt and bought it. I was big into Tecmo Bowl back when the NES NSO app launched and was hoping it would replicate it. However, you only play offence. All the defensive plays are simulated. This actually put me off at first. However, I had a few quid to spare and finally bit. It was an excellent choice as I was immediately hooked.

You're the coach and you also make the offensive plays in the game. Starting the team from scratch was great. You only worry about a select few players and the main coaches, as well as upgrading facilities etc, but it doesn't get too deep or technical. In fact the management aspect is rather shallow compared to most games with those features. But still fun enough to get something out of it.

Deciding who goes, who stays, joins and doesn't, what you do with the facilities and a few other bits is a nice little aside to the main bulk of the game, which is the football. It's probably the most simple and rewarding football game I've ever played. The mechanics are pretty basic and it's easy to just pick up and play. I've played a few Madden games in my time, and none have outstayed this (or Tecmo Bowl for that matter). It's extremely addictive, just one more game, oh dear it's gone midnight.

I've really enjoyed being head coach of this retro Green Bay and once my final game is played of this season, I'll put it to bed for a while. Yeah, I've not actually played the Retro Bowl final. It'll be done later on today. Either way, I'm gonna consider it completed. Win, I get the ring and the good ending. I may even move on to another team that's going through a rebuild and start again. But not till the real football season starts later in the year and I'm in the mood for it again. Lose, I'll consider it the bad end and leave it until I'm ready to play through an entire season again. Either way, this has been a fantastic sports title, which is easy to play, even if you have a basic understanding of American Football, like me. At less than a fiver on the Switch, I feel I've absolutely got my money's worth. A real highlight.

This is one of the games I was looking forward to the most out of the N64 library available on NSO. Out of most of the Kirby games I've played, I've usually had a good time. However Star Allies was rather disappointing, and unfortunately this game is more like that than any of the others I've played. Despite the great visuals and music, it kind of feels like it's unsure what it wants to do.

One level will be so easy it's boring, the next will feel like a tough difficulty curve. And unfortunately there was a lot more of the former. I know Kirby is one of the more accessible games for the more casual player, but there doesn't seem to be any consistency with this one.

That being said, there were a few levels I really enjoyed, especially in the middle. And it looks and sounds great. It just lacks the usual platforming pizazz that you expect from Nintendo.

Unfortunately with the NSO version, there seems to be a glitch with the underwater levels, where if Kirby gets hit, the character freezes and doesn't do anything. Kirby gets bricked, basically. The only thing you can do is start your last save state or reset the game. Apparently this is only a thing that occurs in the Switch version. To be fair, it only happened a few times to me, and while it was an inconvenience, it didn't have much of a detrimental effect on my progress, nor did it put me off playing through the rest of the game. While I did enjoy a good portion of the game, it's probably one of my least favourite platform games I've played for the system.

I've been ever so slowly chipping away at this since the SNES NSO launched. Every now and then just dipping back in for an hour here and there, a few months apart. The dark world can be a real grind, and it's about halfway through that my play through became much more fragmented.

I think the last time I actually beat the game was when the SNES was still a current generation console. I've picked it up for pretty much every console it's been available on but that dark world hump always got me. But I persevered and had a really good time. In brief stages over the course of a couple of years.

It's still an incredible game. It still makes me go wow even after 30 years. It's such a great game with so many secrets and surprises and its roots grow into so many brilliant games to come. I can see why a lot of people say this is the best one (it isn't) and I will probably keep coming back to this until the end my time on this cursed earth.

But first, I think I might charge the 3DS and give a Link Between World's another play through.

The most entertaining Destiny campaign since the game released. I had a lot of fun playing through this with a friend, and we probably spent about 7 hours on it just today.

The game feels like it's got a bit more direction to it now. Back when it first launched I played it with a few friends quite often and once you'd beaten all the story modes and strikes etc, it was very repetitive and felt like there was nothing to play for. A few years down the line, the latest expansion has probably the best new locations and story missions as well as a lot of things to do on the side as well. Coupled with the seasonal activities and PvP if you're that way inclined, there's a lot more here for your money that when the game launched.

It also loads a hell of a lot quicker playing it on Series X. You used to have time to go for a piss or cook your dinner with the loading times on the Xbox one. Now it's barely more than a few seconds. Exciting times.

A treat from start to finish. Every time I step out into the Hyrule Field, the fantastic, rousing score reminds me of just how special this game is. A game I've played every generation of each console since its release, and one that provides immense joy.

Although there are one or two dungeons that are quite testing, I can't help but love it. From the visuals (I love a good pre rendered background), the dungeon design and the characters, everything feels massive, even by today's standards. After recently completing A Link to the Past, I decided to go straight for this as I wasn't ready to let go of the Zelda games just yet, and every moment has been incredible when you see how big the leap is between the two games, and how bedded in the influence of ALTTP really is (Ganondorf is a mix of the Agahnim/Ganon fights). And I love how each installment takes its queue from the previous games and adapts it.

I never played this until the N64 was almost obsolete, but I will always be taken back to first playing this with my friend and being amazed at how good it was. And I still am.

Turtles in Time was one of my favourite beat em ups growing up. One of few games I had for my SNES so I played it a lot. This sequel (of sorts I guess) expands on the design and overall vibe of the classic Turtles game and delivers one of the best scrolling best em up games I've played since the glory days of Streets of Rage and Turtles games.

I wasn't particularly arsed about this as I thought it was just gonna be pandering drivel to be honest, playing on people's nostalgia for the old Turtles games and that era in general, but it's a genuinely great beat em up as well as reminding me how rad the ninja turtles are.

Can't wait to play through this again with my pals.

The idea of a Gears of War tactical shooter is quite good, and there was a fair amount of time where I really enjoyed it. But then as the levels went on, it felt like it wasn't going anywhere. Some missions would take absolutely ages and felt like the reward was next to nothing. Even story progression feels painstakingly slow.

I enjoyed the characters and story as well as some of the gameplay mechanics, but there were several occasions playing this where I just thought how much more I'd be enjoying an actual GoW game over this. Which is why I ended up playing through half the back catalogue over this during the course of about 6 months.

It's by no means a bad game, and if you're really into your turn based strategy shooters, then I'm sure this'll be an absolute blast, but for me it was too much of a grind. I really wanted to stick with it, but the length of the missions coupled with seeming lack of progression over many hours just had me put this to bed in the end.

Entertaining survival horror throw back to the likes of 90s Resident Evil and Silent Hill, complete with terrible character dialogue and even worse acting. A decent balance of combat and puzzles, despite the former being a little on the iffy side, and the latter being inconsistent in terms of difficulty.

Sometimes the puzzles made me feel like a genius, other times made me feel thick. But for the most part it was good stuff. The fixed perspectives and creepy music add to the atmosphere and the aesthetic really added to it as well. Finding diaries and journals was as fun as the games it was influenced by and just as goofy, too.

It's a budget game and by no means perfect,but it has an endearing quality that kept me coming back. I had a great time overall and it was nice to play a new game in the old survival horror format from back in the good old days.

A great compilation of Megadrive games, some I've never really played properly until getting this. And some I've enjoyed even more this time around. I've always had a soft spot for Comix Zone, but playing it again was great. A fantastic concept for its time, just a shame there's no continues.

Really got into Shadow Dancer as well. Until I got to a spammy boss anyway. But up until that point, it was excellent. The Golden Axe games are always a treat and although I haven't played them yet, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into a couple of the RPG's. I've had them on previous compilations etc, but I could never be arsed with them so I'm hoping to spend a good deal of time with the likes of Shining in the Darkness and Landstalker.

There are a few on there that have aged like milk, however. I always remember Kid Chameleon being RAD AS FUCK back in the olden days when raybans and leather jackets were only worn by the coolest, toughest mother fuckers around. But Kid Chameleon is no longer any of those. It's just pretty shaky. Time for the retirement home, Kid.

The experience was made even more fun by playing with the retrobit 6 button Megadrive controller, which I'd actually been waiting to get before playing this game. A great time and a very good collection of games. Could've done with one or two vehicular based titles though.

Pretty fun in wee blasts. I like that you can choose between top down views as well as behind the car. Each of the different cups take a lot of races to complete and a lot of the tracks are repeated, just with different weather conditions or reversed.

Good for a few minutes of pick up and play fun, but for something deeper there's not a lot unless you like the idea of replaying the same tracks every few races.

Car upgrades and that are fun and the vehicle options pretty decent. The mini games are alright, and the Rocket League knock off would probably be more welcome if the much better game wasn't f2p these days.

Can't really complain considering I got it for just over a quid on the eshop. One I'll definitely keep coming back to for a quick blast every now and again. Fun if you want a quick go on something for 5 minutes.