A cool addition to the base game, but when by the end I was actively figuring out how to avoid certain game mechanics so that I didn’t have to deal with stealth sections that feel designed to make you fail over and over until it gets dull… well, let’s say it was far from the greatness of the base game, but it had some decent peaks at least. The ending kind of left me feeling more empty than fulfilled though. It doesn’t take away from Outer Wilds, but it also doesn’t add anything substantial or meaningful that the base game didn’t already do better.

ARMS was free to play as one of those NSO trial things for like a week or so, and I had my fill of it in that time. Beat the hardest difficulty of the arcade mode, fooled around online a bit, and that’s where my interest faltered and I felt like I had done everything the game had to offer, pretty much. It’s pretty fun, rather creative and in terms of presentation and personality, it has both down great! There’s just not much content to keep you engaged, so though I don’t regret playing it, the fact I had my fill during that trial period says it all.

Starts off very fun, with it giving you the choice between doing the level legitimately or going for a more destrucive, chaotic approach. Only the completion time for a level really matters towards your end rank, and it's lots of fun fooling around and causing a lot of destruction or trying to avoid it (and failing). However, the further you get in the game, the more it gets rather frustrating instead of fun, with one or two floors having essentially 'escort missions' where the AI either doesn't accept a more creative answer, or it gets stuck on level geometry and it's a hassle getting it unstuck. To top it all off, it crashed on us a few times as we played, and though not a huge problem since most levels can be cleared pretty fast if you know what to do, it does take away from the fun of destruction a bit if you also need to watch out you don't overload the game and lose progress.

Still a great time, especially in co-op and probably best experienced that way, but later levels became a tad too frustrating to score the game higher.

The concept alone is still so wild, Mario jumping around from planet to planet in space. I got this at a bargain price for my Wii U having never played it when it originally released, and it had not lost any of it’s shine. I loved shooting from planet to planet through launch stars, I think Bee Mario is such an underrated power-up and the orchestral soundtrack with plenty of bopping tunes is still one of the best. Not many Mario OST’s that have music this grand and dramatic, haha.

It can be a tad gimmicky with its levels, but I personally didn’t mind these too much, and always had at the very least a decent bit of fun with them!

Funnily enough, the story and the atmosphere surrounding these story beats really pulled me in on this one. Yeah, story in a Mario game, who cares about that? I apparently do, and Rosalina’s little bedtime story as well as the ending to the game really left me quite surprised with how much more it immersed me in the game world, where Mario is usually full steam ahead with bombastic fun. Here there’s moments that are more subdued and calm, with even a slight melancholic tone to it, which felt oddly fitting for a game set in the vastness of space.

In either case, anyone and everyone owe it to themselves to give this one a go.

A perfectly serviceable entry in the New Soup lineup, which is enjoyable to play but the main gimmick ends up rather confusing. It’s all about collecting as many coins as possible, but in the end all that does is having you get showered in 1-ups. What’s a hundred coins worth anymore when there’s millions all over the stages? When does the little ‘bling’ of collecting coins turn boring when you realise that the game does nothing creative with them besides giving you a ton more than usual? A shop to use your crazy amount of coins could’ve been nice, or levels that unlock after a certain amount of coins has been collected, but as it is, it’s a boring gimmick that doesn’t bring much variety with it. The game underneath that gimmick is about as good as any other New Soup game, but that’s not much to write home about.

I absolutely loved the concept, figuring out the languages bit by bit and getting progressively better and faster at figuring them out, but it also feels like I could get away with guessing and brute-forcing it a bit too easily sometimes. I feel like this concept has so much more potential, but as it stands, this was a magnificent experience. I felt totally immersed in the world, the way you slowly grow to understand more about each layer of the tower and the people there... absolutely worth a look for anyone who is even remotely interested in the concept of a game about decyphering languages!

The characters always get praised so high, but let me be honest. These characters? They kind of take a while to grow on you. Many of them are either kind of dull, generic or straight up annoying (looking at you, Teddie) when they first get introduced and during the middle of the game. But there's a certain point in the game where the story really picks up, and I could not put it down anymore after that. The characters really come into their own, not every social link is a smash hit but many of them are at least somewhat enjoyable, and the story feels neatly tied together with some emotional beats that took me off guard.

I did not cry at the end of this game. I don't think any of the characters in this game deserve that strong a reaction with how insufferable they could be during some moments, or just walking anime tropes at others... but I do look back on it fondly.

Story aside, after playing Persona 3 FES, the rank 10 rewards and the fact social link give out new skills to use really made that gameplay loop that much more satisfying. Nothing to complain about there, even grinding for sidequests wasn't that much of an annoyance. So yeah, a hearthy reccomendation, but you'll have to stick with it to see it truly shine. There's some grime on this gold, but it's still golden.