Do y'all remember The Incredibles 2? You know, that sequel to a really fondly remembered film that came out 10+ years after the original? It was requested by fans for so long, and everyone wanted to see the family of supers return to the big screen, and in 2018 it finally happened!... But... now-a-days it's hard to see any discussion around it. That doesn't mean that it's bad, a lot of people really like it to this day, but the general consensus is that it's a lot inferior to the original; it did have prettier visuals and more impressing action, but it lacked much of the humor, charisma and heart that made the first movie special. It was, by all accounts, a clear example of style over substance...

...Oh hello there Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon!

This things existence in the first place it's surprising in itself, I mean, the original Luigi's Mansion was amazing and to this day is looked back upon as an incredible entry in the Gamecube's catalogue and one of the most unique games Nintendo has ever produced, but to see it finally return with a brand new sequel after 12 years, releasing in a handheld and developed by Next Level Games must have been an huge surprise, but a welcomed one for sure. Personally, this one was my first rodeo with the series, I barely even knew what a Luigi's Mansion was! And I do have fond memories of the game, y'know, catching ghost, resolving puzzles, having fun... but time has proven to be harsh to this game, both for me and to many, MANY other people, but I think it's only fair to start with the positives.

A lot of changes were made compared to the last entry, the clearest being the visual, and it looks... actually pretty good! It's described by many as this Tim Burton-esque style, with sharp edges and a wide color palette, and it actually looks wonderfully, it is very different compared to the first game, but it gives a unique feeling to the mansions, making them vibrant and full of ambience and personality, and the game being in a handheld, it helps to make everything even more clear. The new gameplay is honestly a huge upgrade, the new system for catching ghost makes far more rewarding it gives off a lot of feedback, the ghost-catching and some of the puzzles are by far the best part of the game, and the new look of the characters, ghosts and the way that Luigi acts have a lot of charm, and I have no trouble saying that this game was the responsible for giving Luigi even more personality.

So yeah, the game's fun and looks good, so case closed right? It's a great game, no? Even tho I would love to say that, this game has just so many detractors that even saying it's fun has a caveats, 'cause it's fun, but it's not consistently fun, at times even it's frustrating as hell.

The game is very different in structure to any other games in the series, instead of taking place in only one building and as you progress through the game you explore the different floors, this one has a total of 5 different mansions, each decided by more or less five missions and a boss. This structure does expand on the original, and the mission system could work better in a handheld and its focus on more bite-sized play sessions, but they key word here is could. Having 5 mansions does give some visual and puzzle variety, but when you have to divide them in several different missions just gives off the feeling of the feeling of passing the same rooms over and over again, and even if there are some puzzles and collectables here and there, when you just have to go thought the same thing time and time again, when you are bombarded with ghost encounters with no rhyme or reason, when you can't progress 'cause uh-oh!, the ghosts stole the thing you just got and needed to progress or you gotta go after the polter-pup, it all amounts to one terrible thing. One horrendous, hideous, disgusting thing...



Padding


The game is filled to the brim with these missions that are only there to pad out the game, and it's just not fun. Most of it is the best of cases completely pointless and in the worst boring and tedious, and I found myself just praying to end with the mansion I was at, knowing damn well that there was more to come in the next mansions.

One of the biggest gripes people have with the game doesn't help either, the ghosts. I'll say, I do like the design and personality of the ghost... in a vacuum. They are fine, charismatic and actually funny, and each one of them a cool and distinct mechanic, except the green ones, which are either the simplest out of all or they have a mechanic that you have to overcome. This is fine, fine until you realize this is everything the game has to offer. There are a surprisingly low amount of ghost considering how many mansions there are here, there are attempts of doing something original, like the three ghost mirror ladies and the blue ghost, but you basically keep fighting the same things over and over again. But hey! Just when you are getting tires... the just start using more powerful versions of the ghosts... which are basically the same visually and the only thing the change is the amount of health they have... yeah no-not very good, honestly...

And the bosses... look, there are fine bosses here, the first one is actually the better out of all of them and the last two are not that bad, but the rest of them are really underwhelming AT BEST, when you just keep repeating the same ghost over and just possesses different thing, and when your bosses are just a bunch of waves of ghost and a turret section with gyro controls., you know that some things had to be given a little bit more of thought.

The core of the game is not bad at all, but it's just everything else that drags it down, it makes it a chore to beat and to replay, and seeing constant mistakes make even the best of visuals and gameplay not able to carry the whole game. The repetition and poor variety is what kills the game for me, plus just the fact that it just wasn't a good sequel to the original, it knew how to expand on some things, but it got to lost in the process, going overboard and as such, it forgot what made the first game special, it's simplicity and brevity.

It may be prettier and flashier, but lacks the pacing, charisma, and heart of the original, it's just style over substance...

...reminds me of a certain movie...

Oh, mamma mia, if Luigi keeps getting mansions, how much time is left before he becomes a landlord?

Me and this series have a very curious relationship, I first discovered it when I got Dark Moon as a birthday present (tho here in Europe it's simply called Luigi's Mansion 2) and while I never got around playing the first one since I didn't had a Gamecube and back then emulation was a unknown topic for me, I still watched some gameplays of it and I was really mesmerized by its style and much creepier feeling... for a kid, I mean. I will probably do reviews for them both individually in the future, but for now I already let you know: I really liked these games from the moment I discovered it, as so many people do... but now with hindsight and much more experience playing much more games since then, it's clear their condition prevented them for being greater experiences; the first was a short experience meant to be as a showcase of the Gamecube's capabilities first and a full fledge game second, and Dark Moon was a sequel for a much less powerful console, and as such, many, MANY concessions had to be made for its designs to fit for the handheld, plus some stylistic changes that weren't welcomed by some. They both were great games on its owns, but they seemed to be made as technical showcase or adapted, and as such limited, for the consoles they were on, which is why seeing Luigi's Mansion 3 being such a well-designed experience feels like the culmination of this franchise, but at the same time it’s frustrating seeing it do some dumb mistakes.

Even if it isn't sold as a showing of the console's capabilities, make no mistake, Luigi's Mansion 3 is probably one of the best looking games on the Switch, and honestly one of my favorite Nintendo games visually wise. It feels like a playable Pixar movie, the animation just feels so... smooth; everything just feels so fluid, all the characters ooze personality simply because of the way they move and sound, Luigi specially is the star of the show, his expressions are so vivid and make see him run or scared is incredibly funny, tho NOTHING in the history of gaming will top E.Gadds' running cycle. The environments are the best in the series by far, the original Luigi's Mansion felt kinda samie after a point and Dark Moon, while varied, the rooms felt crammed and with some exceptions, the puzzles weren't exactly really inspired. 3 however, doesn't pull any stops, all set pieces and rooms look gorgeous, unique, and each floor has its own theme that fits perfectly with the idea of this being a haunted hotel. It all feels straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon, but with its own creepier spin, which is what they were going for and they did it spectacularly.

The gameplay also didn't lack this clear attention to detail, not only does Luigi controls amazing, but it's moveset has seen an huge upgrade. Initially, the basis is lift from the previous entry, but from there, they add so many things that make both combat and puzzles just so much fun: the slam for crowd the control, the suction shot, and the best of the best, greener Mario Gooigi, a fantastic way of implementing co-op and a addition that makes sections more unique and fun; every time this guy was needed for something, I knew it was gonna be a fun puzzle. The boss fights are also the prime example of the best in the game; the main bosses are very distinct visually and personality wise, making encountering a new one an exciting prospect, and are all the fights have more thought put into it than entire sections in other games. Like, there's a fight against a T-Rex fossil, A FUCKING T-REX. How is this not gonna be a good game?.

Sadly, this is where the problems start to arise. While there are a lot of boss battles, there are surprisingly few normal ghost, and almost all of the ones there are just re-designs of ghosts from Dark Moon, and in personality they are the exact same, so the sensations of Deja-Vu were many very much presents. There are still some neat encounters with these and the normal blue ghost add a lot more spice with different mechanics and ways to defeat them, just like the green ones in the previous game, but this time less annoying.

Honestly, while the game mostly expanded upon Dark Moon in a good way, in some respects following the steps of that game ended up being detrimental. Structurally it's kinda dumb, it has a nice premise of unlocking new floors of the hotel as you beat the last one, but the problem with this is that, aside some exceptions at the beginning, you unlock them in numerical order, and when you beat a floor, you have little to no reason to go back, and when you HAVE to go back, with the exception of returning to the deepest floor, it just feels like padding, especially when you have to trail the damn cat, those sections are horrible, tiring, slow, repetitive and just not fun. Rather than feeling like an unique building, the hotel just feels like its divided in missions... just like in Dark Moon. It still shows that handheld design that honestly should have stayed behind, or at least they should have made something more akin to the first game's approach, 'cause the elements for doing something like that are here, but not to their full potential. There are mechanics that are barely used, combat can feel repetitive after long sessions... make no mistake, the game is not perfect, but god DAMN is it good.

It's still the best Luigi's Mansion, it's visually jaw-dropping, it's unique, it's fun, it's charming, it's flaws may be present, but they don't over-shadow the good elements at play here. It's sad that once again a game on the series doesn't reach its full potential, but this one comes extremely close.

Ok, I now really love this chicken.

When I started Toree 2, I expected it to be just... more Toree, as it apparently was very similar in structure and length and saying that this game is more of the last one is both an accurate description and a disservice.

Mechanically speaking and how the levels are structured nothing changed, Toree and the unlockable characters control the same way, and the levels are still focused on speed and being bite-sized, like the game as a whole. At its core, everything was kept intact, and yet, it has a lot of upgrades and minor tweaks that make this one a far greater experience.

Levels are much more focused and more unique, when a level in Toree 2 is not introducing something new, is expanding something that was already established, and the levels themselves have a clearer identity and are more memorable. While there are only 8 levels and each 2 tackle one particular zone or theme, they still feel fairly unique in both how are they presented, the music they have and the design itself; for example, the first space themed level is you travelling surrounding a space station, while the second one happens while a space battle is taking place. These things just add much more personality and lead to far, FAR more memorable levels that the ones the original Toree 3D had. It also helps that the final level in this one is actually amazing, visually unique and this time around it has a proper conclusion, the original game just kinda... ended, while this time around there's actually a final boss and pretty cute conclusion. Also, Toree wears a costume for some of the levels, which is both a really cool addition and extremely cute. My bird had nice glasses and now a cool hat? 10 out of 10 character design.

The music also has a major upgrade, the OST in the original was already good, but it suffered from having very small and poor done loops (the final level specially was HORRIBLE and I don't want to hear that song ever again, like, holy shit dude at least don't have a clear fade out and fade in); they clearly paid attention to that in this one, as not only music is only way better, but the loops are done masterfully, to the point that even the song with lyrics never gets tiring (tho the small duration of the levels also helps).

Presentation wise still retains that classical PS1 look that Slactro is very good at conveying, only that this time the creepy visuals present in the original are much less prominent here, and that makes it when you encounter a particularly creepy thing, it's much more impactful that it could have been if the game was full of them.

Sooooooo, yeah, I'm actually incredibly surprised, the team knew to recognize what worked and what didn't, and the result was a really fun platformer that is a joy to speedrun. I honestly kinda wish it was longer, 'cus that way they could have introduced more thing and make this something far greater, but as it is, it's an amazing little sequel and a that is just a dollar worth, and I recommend it regardless if you already played the original or you simply like 3D platformers.

I just really like being positively surprised, and I'm glad that I can say that a Toree game is pretty amazing.

May you attain enlightenment

Now this is how you do a fucking videogame!

I've never been a fan of shumps, I tried many times to enter the genre, but those attempts ended with me frustrated or dying over and over again not even knowing what hit me. So I began ZeroRanger excited but cautious, after all it was very possible that it didn't grab me as well... that was not the case.

This game presentation hits you like a damn truck, it's fascinating to me how a game with only mostly two colors can look so pretty and visually clear. The animations and transitions are so clean that any praising would be underselling it, and the music... holy mother of orange is the OST one of the best I've heard in a long time, not only it's awesome on its own but it also serves as the perfect accompaniment to the rest of the game, making even the least difficult parts of the stages the most hype thing to ever exist.

It plays just like another shump would, but from a very simple base it builds up masterfully the rest of what's to come; the enemies feel distinct enough so when you see one approaching, you immediately know you have to prepare yourself and adapt; the bosses are a spectacle but still pretty challenging; as you progress through the game you unlock new power-ups to your ship and you can go back to a beaten level to unlock more and personalize your ship with the ones you prefer; the progression system feels like a middle finger to the arcade shumps of old and this time the end is not the end, but rather a new opportunity to grow stronger and to get more and more continues to use in the stages... It amounts to an experience that it's just pure fun and a treat to the eyes. It's also apparently not very hard compared to other games in the same category, which I do agree, but it's still fairly challenging, maybe a bit too much sometimes; there are certain moments where the difficult spikes are very much apparent, like some stages that are criminally longer compared to others (tho in the grand scheme of things they all are pretty short) and some bosses, in particular the final one, are a huge leap in difficulty, tho that does make defeating it much more satisfying.

But perhaps what caught my attention especially half-way was the story, itself the game doesn't much dialogue and story progression, but it's constantly surprising you, toying with your expectations, tricking you into thinking it's over, and delving into incredibly weird visual and narrative themes. Not only keeps you engage, making you truly live and feel the need of the destruction of the alien menace Green Orange, but it also makes you ask a ton of questions and wanting them to be resolved.

The ending is something that I've seen done in barely any other games, much less in the shump genre, and it's mind-blowing, and it all culminates in one last decision, one last challenge that I honestly didn't see coming, and the pain this last part made me feel couldn't be even described. The uneven difficulty, some types of shots being imbalanced and that possible final outcome are probably the biggest problems of the game, but it's the last one that breaks my heart, 'cause it's both discouraging and genius, it does something that games that I could count with the fingers on one of my hands have the balls to do, a true masterful decision for the story of the game and makes the stakes feel palpable, but a true heart-breaker for those not up to that challenge, like me...

I say all of this and without spoiling it because I really want you to play this game, but at same time be aware that at the end, your perceptions of it could change, as it has for many other people. For me? ZeroRanger is one of a king, a true masterclass of both design, music, presentation and story, it's not perfect, but its damn close.

It has the courage to be its own thing and to tell what its wants to tell, all while being fun and surprising no-stop, and I truly value that, more than anything.

Happy flight and...

Good luck, you'll need it

I have very simple tastes: if a game has dinosaurs in it, then that means it's a good game for me.

It's very hard to talk about Super Mario World without sounding too repetitive, I mean you could almost say all that for all of the Mario's but for this one is especially true. It's considered by many the pinnacle of 2D Mario, and for many others just second to Super Mario Bros. 3, and its community is still thriving to this very day: Rom Hacks, speedruns, video-essays, you name it, this game's fans are more than pleased to talk about it. So coming as a newcomer, what I have very few news perspectives to bring, other than one particular thing that I realized while I was playing half-way through: it's a game that seems to be having fun.

The game itself of course it's fun, mechanically speaking it's (almost) perfect. It takes Mario's preexisting move set and expands on it, introducing the spin-jump and Yoshi, the first changing completely how you can approach both enemies obstacle that would otherwise kill you and can be used to do incredible tricks that reward you from experimenting with it (the Kaizo community definitely didn't pass on that) and Yoshi it's just a straight up upgrade, it kills most enemies with one jump, eating is fast and can let you pick items, and eating colored shells can grant abilities like spitting fire and flying, and that adds yet another layer how you approach the levels. However, Mario still retains the slipperiness form the past entries, and while this shouldn't be a problem, after all in past games this helped to go as fast as possible through the levels, in Super Mario World it's a much prominent problems, you can still go fast in some levels no doubt, but this game demands more precision, and while Mario's momentum and weight do help make the game feel more mechanically sound, it can still be a pain in some of the harder levels. The levels itself are a weird can of worms on its own, there are stellar designs here, and because how the map it's connected it does feel like a world and levels share themes, but aside from some of the castle levels and one of two levels that introduce a new obstacle, it's really hard for me to remember a particular level past world 1. They are all competent, there's not a level I could call ''bad'', but most of them just aren't that memorable. Also, one thing I just found plain underwhelming is how the reward for most things, like secret areas or getting enough points after ending the level, is 1-Ups, and when every time you boot the game again they reset back to 5, most actions you do to get them just feel... pointless. And despite of that, despite of the few minor problems, I still had a ton of fun, 'cause again, the game itself is fun, but as I said earlier, it seems like the game itself is having fun as well.

It's by far the most experimental out of all the 2D Mario's, it isn't scared of implementing brand new things or changing what once known; it toys with the idea of being a soft reboot for the series, and after this one, many of the ideas it implemented would remain staples of the series, with others being limited to this game only, which gives it a fairly unique aura that few other titles in the series have. it's PACKED with secret, from switches that once activated affect all the levels, to two entirely secret worlds with totally unique levels. As I said before, the levels itself may not be the most memorable thing in the world, but the mechanics and enemies are; in that regard, it's like these things were perfectioned to the extreme, and the levels were more of playground to make you use all that the games give you, and just have a blast.

I know I've been critical to the game, but that's just because I ended up loving it, and as such some of its flaws became more apparent. The fact of the matter is that there's no other game in the whole series as this one, it may not be the best one for many, but is sure is unique and incredibly fun, a true jump forward that was needed for the series to continue, and a really, really fantastic game.

When I discovered UNDER A STAR CALLED SUN, I was interested by its premise, and I wanted to see how they would manage to tell something meaningful in such a short amount of time. It made me tear up, it made me feel longing for so many beautiful moments that are beginning to be harder and harder to recall. In just. Seven. Minutes.

I won't beat the bush any longer than necessary, after all the experience itself is very short and doing a full-blown analysis would be overkill and spoil you of the experience. There may be games that tell similar things in a more compelling way, but this little work of art being as it is, a marvelous reflection across the stars, a beautiful poem about missing the old times, about missing old friends... And it's precious.

Yooooo Madotsuki be like me fr, only sleeps and plays videogames.

In my Mario & Luigi: Dream Team review I lamented the fact the game didn't really do anything crazy in its dream sections aside from Luigi's gimmicks in puzzles and combat, but I feel like I didn't elaborated that much on that point; the concept of translating dreams into media has indescribable potential, but I do recognize the difficulty of doing such a task. Dreams are something more than ''movies in our heads'', a movie has structure and a meaning, a dream, for the most part, does not. Defining a dream is almost impossible 'cause there's no such thing as a dream, they are disconnected passages that our brain forms through the ideas and experiences that we have while we are awake: they are meaningless, yet they can say so much. I know that even this as a definition is barebones at best and I do apologize for the lecture, but I need to say this in order for you to understand how difficult adapting such a thing can be, and how Yume Nikki, a game made by only one person in RPG Maker, succeeds where so many others would fail and gives us what is possibly the closest thing to a playable dream we will ever get.

The landscapes of the dreams of Madotsuki go from the perturbation of reality to the absolute wildness of the impossible: haunted forest with passages that don't make sense, areas that circle around each other and have no end, enigmatic creatures with impossible forms on a path of white footsteps, lifeless concrete structures that surround a bed, ... The different sections almost never have a clear end, not even a beginning, as you could end up in one zone without knowing why, or traversing the maze that connects all the different dreams and ending up in a completely new place. After a while, what shouldn't make sense starts making sense, and what shouldn't scare you starts to give you goosebumps and chill you to the bones. It's a game that the rewards usually it's not a new ability or progression, but rather the sensation of discovering something that no one else could and the fact that experience sticks with you. It's almost baffling how well everything connects to form this surreal experience: the constantly changing visuals, the design of the zones and the music flow in a manner that makes you go from a apocalypse feeling wasteland to an upbeat space party without feeling jarring... but sadly, with such immaculate work on the dream-like aspects of the game, it was inevitable that as it progressed, some cracks would start to show up, two, to be exact.

The game has no gameplay aside of walking and interacting, which it's more than enough for the purpose of the game, as the lack of action, even if it can make the game's zones and creatures feel a bit static, it's perfect for the purpose of sinking you in this strange world. Rather, my problem comes in a more technical aspect; much of the game is designed on a perspective more akin to Earthbound, which makes the areas feel expansive, but the character only moves in the four directions of the axis, which makes going up or down in these zones, which are a lot, a total headache and can pull you out of the experience while you are trying to make your way out fighting the controls. However, my biggest problem with the game is something that pains to qualify as a negative, as it's a byproduct of how Yume Nikki manages to pull out everything else: to achieve the ending of the game, you must recollect the 24 different ''effect'' scattered across the dreams, and when a game asks you to find 24 specific things in a map that feels gigantic, with bast spaces with nothing that have the thing or passage you need in a very specific point, and the possibility of you skipping something in a zone and having to go back for it, is destined to hinder the experience in one way or another. I honestly don't know how else a natural progression could have been implemented without making the dreams feel too linear and a one note and done, but this wasn't also the correct way in doing it, as returning to a zone that when you first discovered feel magical, that special moment can lose its magic... And yet, despite these flaws, the game manages to pull you back in.

After collecting my last effect and saying out loud a tired ''Finally!'', I saw a passage I didn't see before, and so I took it. It led me to a black and white world, populated by creatures that seemed to be born from the earth itself, plunging outwards in agony, yet they remained still. They watched me, creatures bigger than life itself stared at me while the sounds of a seemingly broken world covered my ears, and after one of those creatures, it's jaw contorting and massive, blocked my pass, I need to wake up. And so, I did. And so, this game managed to enamored me again, even though I thought I'd seen everything I needed to see and, and the game proved me wrong.

Once I reach the finale, I couldn't help but to just try to grasp what exactly had I just played: it was a flawed game as a whole, it lost part of this magic as it went along, and it certainly can be tiresome to reach the finish. It's not one of my favorites, and yet, it still captivated me like so other few games have, it reaches what it strived to be tenfold, and some of its individual moments, those spaces within a bigger dream, I'll be thinking about them for a long time.

It's not for everyone, god no, even I struggled to keep going sometimes, but the experience is more than worthy: it's not one of those games that tries to say a lot and ends up falling short; it's meaningless, yet it says so much.

Just like a dream.

I'll never peak in life as much as the time I beat my whole family at bowling when I was 6 years old.

It's Wii Sports, there's not much to say, really, while since then some technical demos have proven to be more fun and compact (Astro's playroom comes to mind) few have proved to be as replayable , consistent and just plain fun as this one.

It's just a fun collection of sports games with the core idea of them being as simple as possible, and sometimes that kind of dumb fun it's all you need. Bowling is the clear winner of the bunch, with tennis and golf also pretty good inclusions, but baseball was never a home run of a game for me (pun very much intended), and boxing just feels janky, sometimes the fun type of janky, but it can just devolve into shaking the controller like a madman, which none of the other games do.

It's nothing more than a pretty fun little time spender, but the fact it's even something a bit remarkable being a technical demo and a pack in title is really, REALLY shocking when you stop and think about it.

Still, it's not the best technical demo, it's not the best pack in title, it just sits in a very comfortable spot being both things, and it rocks at what it does.

If you were to ask a random person in the street which is the best 2D platformer they played in the past years, they will ask you what the fuck are you even talking about, but if you asked the same question to someone that knows a bit about videogames, most people now-a-days will probably point to Celeste, and how not to.

Celeste is so well designed it's scary, every single part of the levels, whether main or secret, is tuned to absolute perfection; everything new is introduced and taught at a perfect pace, you first encounter a cool new mechanic and you think ''Oh, this is cool'' and then BOOM you find yourself flying across the levels, thinking ''Oh wait I may be able to do this'' and you do it and you can, it's a game that makes you be creative and think about the ways you can defeat the level, and that's thanks to the fact that Madeline's base move-set is everything you need: jump, climbing, and a dash, with this three things, the game goes ballistic without never forgetting that core gameplay, which is something that cannot be said about a lot of other games.

And yes, Celeste is hard, VERY hard, in my first playthrough I died about 4,000 times, far more than with other games, so why then while playing, for example, Super Meat Boy I was as rabid as hell, but with Celeste I barely had any stressful moments?

The answer is in how the games presents itself, which is, for a lack of a better word, ''chill'' (no pun intended). Celeste is beautiful, both in looks and sound; it's pixel art it's marvelous, everything looks stylized to the extreme, and that simplistic look helps the game both in how it looks AND in gameplay. And the sound it's almost otherworldly, every sound effect is feels right, recognizable and submerges you even more in this little world, and the soundtrack is honest to god one of the best I've ever heard, period, every song is both memorable and it fits well with each moment, it can be calm, upbeat, oppressive, sad and victorious to a range that's fantastic.

In contrast to all of this, the game's story themes are very heavy, and it doesn't shy away of that. Depression and a sensation of lack of self-worth is what envelopes the game as a whole, but in the end I didn't found myself tearing up sadness, but of joy. Madeline's adventure is one of acceptance of a part that we don't want, of accepting the fact that yes, we may not always succeed, we may sometimes fuck up, but that is a truth that we must accept, and once we do that, we will be able to come up top; this is not the first game to tackle this type of themes, but it was one of the first to tackle it this well both in its story and in gameplay.

I did get mad and stressed ta few times during my time with Celeste, but all of them could be considered my fault. The game really brings home the final idea of doing things at your own pace, the sections where you have to go truly fast and few and far between, respawning is fast as hell and it gives you all the options needed to make this climbing as hard or as easy as you want to. It lets you be you, and never looks down nor up on you for it, it simply has a ton of respect for the player as much as the player has for Madeline.

Celeste is not perfect, some of the side content is really whacky to say the least and what it demands of you to reach the final base levels is sometimes exaggerated, and I'll admit some parts of some base levels are not all winners, but that just pales in comparison with the sheer magnitude of the rest of the game. This may not be my favorite 2D platformer ever, but it has some of my favorite moments, this is truly a piece of art worth to be celebrated, and its message almost everyone will found a lesson to be taught, a reason to keep climb.

Just... don't overdo yourself, ok?

Be seeing ya.

''It's Still Shitposting Even If You Are Being Ironic''

I heard this phrase many, many years ago in a YouTube video, and it would take me another many years to find out originated in 4chan. It's honestly a bit hard to admit it since I despise that foul site with every fiber of my being, but I think about that phrase a lot, I mean, not referring to shitposting itself, but what it implies as a whole. This dumb phrase from a dumb forum and the context I found it in taught me how if you are criticizing or calling out something, if in that process you do the exact same thing as the one you are poking fun of, you lose both meaning and credibility, a fault innate in mot of the parodies without substance, but this can affect also even the best of works.

Dark Souls III, if it's about one thing, it's about cycles; the same thing forced to repeat over and over until it's just ashes, but even like that it's forced to burn. The kingdom of Lothric has fallen victim of this cycle, it's clearly implied that this new kingdom stands were once there was a place called Lordran, where the events of the first game took place, and the monarchy that crowns the land has maintained its power over this single idea: Keep. The fire. Alive.

It's probably the most, for a lack of a better term, sad story in the franchise. There was a lot, and I mean A LOT of tragedy in past games, but in here, the desperation is truly palpable. Never in another game have things gone south this bad, and it's almost scary how the end seems inevitable... but this feeling doesn't take long until it begins to dissipate. Dark Souls III is based around the idea of how this cycle has damaged the world beyond repair, and it kinda puts us in the role of the villains, we are tasked with doing this labor, continuing this cycle, one that's now being rejected by the monarchy that imposed it, it's a perfect spin on the first games story, yet, I can't shake this feeling that in other areas this whole incredible idea kneels tho thing it's criticizing.

Past areas and enemies, instead of being treated as this forgotten thing as they were in DS2, are vividly remembered and even celebrated, the Abyss Watchers and Oceiros for example, while incredibly characters in its own, end up being just big fans of pas bosses, which could work in this context, but I think it defeats the purpose od the initial narrative. Cycles are a thing that have consumed this world and as it was already was seen in DS2, is practically impossible to escape from, but when names from past games are directly mentioned by almost everybody and in a ton of items, it doesn't seem anymore like the is invisible yet omnipresent and it has lost all of its meaning, it feels like it HAS meaning, like there are things to be remembered, which I think defeats a lot of the strength the original message had. It feels wrong to called it ''fanservice'' 'cause it just isn't, it just feels like it fails in the delivery of its marvelous story in some places, and it ignores a surprising amount of things that its younger brother, as flawed as it is, did very, very right.

Maybe a lot of these things sound like ramblings but you gotta understand that I love this game: It's beautiful, it's very well designed, it has the best action in the series, its encounters and boss fights are jaw dropping; it does a lot of minor mistakes, but otherwise is incredible in its presentation and gameplay. But Dark Souls was never entirely about those things, for some people it may be and I do respect it, but not for me.

It's in this last battle when the games message finally hits its hardest, even more than in the fight against Prince Lothric and Lorian, the Soul of Cinder feels like the culmination of everyhting the game tried to be and teach, a battle against everyone responsible in continuing this cycle of pain: a final dance against the players and Gwyn, and as the music sets in the second phase, it was one of the times I didn't feel the game was calling back or celebrating a past thing, it truly end this moment, and it's saddening the rest of the game didn't.

It's true conclusion wouldn't come after almost a year later, and I'll talk about in the future, believe me, but Dark Souls III, as it was given to us, is the definition of a shattered masterpiece... yet at the same time, that feels so right for this world and these games... makes you wonder if that was the point... maybe not, but, the hell do I may know?

What?! It isn't amazing?!

But... but...

But it has Popple in it!

I remember finally picking this game after so long of wanting it, it took three years, but I finally managed to buy it, and man, what a blast. It was packed full of creativity, it was funny, it was entertaining and it was unique; what a great game... Looking back on it and after several attempts of relpaying it, I can't shake the feeling that I only felt that way 'cause this was my first experience with the series, and as time has passed, its flaws have become more and more apparent.

The combat is by far the best in the series, or at the very least on par with Bowser's Inside Story. It's feels like a natural extension of its older brothers: more snappy, more options, faster and with more interesting enemies; the Dream battles are a treat to play, giving a whole set of options even tho technically you only use one of the brothers, and the bosses in both the real and dream world make you use all of your options, make you think how to defeat them and their attack patterns and one of the most inspired in all the series. It's honestly amazing and... and sadly that's were my compliments with the game mostly end.

The fast pacing that went into the combat clearly didin't to the rest of the game. It's slow, very, very slow, the game's tutorial is infamously long and impossible to skip, but I wouldn't have as much as aproblem with it if it weren't because it just.


Keeps.



Going.


The plot and pace are constantly broken by these little tutorials to every minor thing; there's no moment of ''eureka!'' or a fast tutorial like in past games, everything has to be explained to its last details and it just feels dragged. I'll give it to them, they did implement a lot of mechanichs and little minigames, but it's the way they are implemented that creates conflict with the rest of the experience.

Pi'illo Island had SOOO much potential to be incredibly interesting, and while yeah, the isle itself it has some pretty novel ideas and some interesting areas, it's whith the dream world where they drop the ball. Is not as bad as what Partners in Time does, or rather doesn't do with its time travel mechanic, but it's still disappointing. Dreams are such a wild concept, and the way they could be used is almost limitless; instead, we get remixes of the afromentioned areas, where a character has a whacky costume or some minions that don't do much and only extend the lenght of the game with things to do. The beggining of the game has this incredible moment where it explores Luigi's pshyche, and the story of Dreambert and his people and the war against Antasme is pretty novel, but in the end , the game never explores the condition of a character in the slightiest ever again, and it uses the context of the story to give the player some context for the collectables.

The Giant Boss battles are... meh. More spectacular than the the ones in the previous game for sure, but they all feel VERY slow, and the only one I can call exciting is the last one, which admitedly is pretty good; and the puzzles feel much less inspired, even tho there are some amazing ideas here and there.

Dream Team has clearñy a ton of good ideas but doesn't have the courage to fully explore them, it chooses to prioritize quantity before quality, and it doesn't reach its fool potential because of it. It does a lot of mistakes for the sake of giving a striking experience, but it lacks the substance of its predeccesor.

It may be still VERY fun, but being fun or at least interesting is the bare minimun a game should be.

Oh so that's how they make them huh?

How fish is made is about a lot of things, is about fear, is about choice, is about acceptance... And triying to tackle so many things in so little time hinders it.

The game is striking visually, it has a certain look that works really great, putting an unique spin into the ''fleshy-mechanical'' look. It's crude in both its world and its characters, which I actually really liked. Gameplay wise is just a walking... well, rather splashing simulator, you move forward and interact with the fish you come across, which, being a game that so short and focused on the visuals and dialogue, it makes perfect sense.

Unfortunately it still has a lot of focused with all of things it wants to tell, and at some parts it can just feel weird for the sake of weird (tho I'll never forget the isopod dance). However, there's one theme across the entire experience, and that's the theme of ideals and decision; the whole game, all characters are determined by the decision of going UP or DOWN. There are those convinced in their ideals, tho those clearly chose a lack of sense of intelligence; and those that are unsure, this idea is present right until the very end of the game, and it is very interesting, but the ending itself out is very confusing and while interesting, it doesn't seem to say something clear for itself.

That's my biggest problem with the game honestly, it has sticking visuals, funny dialogue and it can be interesting to theorise about, but itself it doesn't seem to tackle a greater idea or express a particular way of thinking, tho I guess that could be the point...

Either way, it's still a barely half an hour long experience that it's pretty bizarre and even scary that will leave you thinking a bit after you finish it, which being a university project and as short as it is, it's honestly pretty surprising.

Let's see what choice you make, and whathever that is...


''Oh yes, you'll be buried with it''.

I think I literally cannot cover this experience with all of the respect and nuances it deserves. Is less of a game and more of a retellling of the horrors a transgender woman had to go through. Is utterly devastating, and I found it very hard to even give it a star puntiation, 'cause this is not an experience I can quantify in the slightiest.

Sometimes I'm blind to the terrible experiences that other people had to suffer and continue to suffer, and its works like this, so beoutiful yet so painful, that open my eyes in a lot of ways.

''There was no dramatic music, nothing changed. I felt the exact way as I fel before.''

But in my parcial blindness, one thing I do understand is trauma, a feeling that eats from the inside out, a silent pain that makes you belive that there's no hope, but there is, and it's neccesary to make pain not silent, to make it heared to our loved ones... sometimes this can make them push them away, neglect us because of our hardships that we had no control over, but a lot will stay by our side, and we must do this to move forward, 'cause we have to live life, because it's worth living. There we will not be music as we all live this, no dramatic tracks, just a sensation of empiteness slowly feeling in, sometimes it will empty a little again, but in the end, it will heal.

I may have no say in this matter at all in the first place, since I'm not trans nor a sex worker and by that this horrible experience will never hit me as hard as someone that had the misfortune to live it, but I still do understand the pain, I understand the feeling of moving on.

I'm glad the creator did this. I'm glad that this little 30 minute retelling exists only as a way for her to cope. I hope she is ok.

The first game to dare to ask the age old question that has plagued humanity since the dawn of time...

What is a-Mario?

Turns out the answer is a pretty good game.

To say this game is a cultural milestone would be complete understatement, its the landmark title of the NES ,and while it didn't end it itself or at least not alone, it represents the end of the videogame crash 1983.

While the NES launch line-up has a few other pretty good games and all served the purpuse of advertising the NES as something more akin to a toy than a console, in retrospect all of them have this, for a lack of a better word, kinda arcaic feeling, still retaining somewhat of an early 80's arcade feeling. Then Super Mario Bros. comes and slaughters the competition, which was not even competiton, is was the equivalent of an older sibling beating their younger brothers at Smash Bros., so one-sided that it wasn't even funny.

This was truly the first of the modern videogame console experience, the sheer quantity of levels, the secrets and the possibles skips clearly inteded to replayability; Mario moves in a slippery way that makes it hard to traverse the levels slowly, but it's an absoluty godsend to zooming across the screens, jumping and doging enemies like a madman, when this game hits its hardes, it's when it does something amazing for the time, or when it lets you have fun with its controls. It truly shows a ton of creativity, things that now we take for granted looking back are such a bizarre mix of elements and concepts that shouldn't work, but they really do. Truly a fantastic game....BUT...

It always pains me to do this with older games, 'cause it's almost inevitable, and in Super Mario Bros. case especially feels wrong but... yeah the games does have a lot of problems. My biggest complains don't even have to do with its age, the biggest thing that shows the passing of time is Mario's movement, but even I praised that 'cause it feels designed to master it. The level design however, in worlds 1 and 2 it feels actually pretty novel and fun, but from world 3 onwards, the cracks start to show.

Levels become a lot less different and start to blend with each other, at a certain point it feels that they just throw random enemies into the levels just to fill them (worlds 7 and 8 are a clear example) , the obstacles themselves start repeating; and by world 4 we have already seen everything and they don't do anything interesting with the ideas presented, and there's the MAZES, if there's an aspect in this game that feels ''arcadie'', it's the mazes, by far the worst part in the game and just here to pad out the time and make you lose both your lives AND your time. This game has a ton of fundemental design problems that I just couldn't ignore... as much as I couldn't ignore the fun I was having inspite of all of that.

Super Mario Bros. wears its age with a badge of honor, it's the stepping stone for evrything that released later and for every dumb mistake that it makes, there are one or two things that just make you awe and simply make you have fun.

This was not only the start of saga, but of an entire legacy, and for only that I'm thankful that I played it, t I had a really good time as much as a stressful one, but I wouldn't change anything about it from the slightiest.

Because the moment I started the game, that song started playing and I gave my first stepts in 1-1, Ieven after everything I've played, games leagues far better tha this one, I still had a smile on my face, 'cause it was him, a-Mario.

Finally, after about a year of leaving it halfway done, I can say that I've beaten Super Mario 64 and now one question remains, is it any go- I'm not even gonna try to make a joke out of this, is Super Fucking Mario 64, of course it's pretty good... tho it's obvious that it shows its age in some parts, and I do think it has a couple of flaws that bring it down.

The game's controls have aged like fine wine, Mario feels more responsive tha many main characters to this day, it's snapy, its moveset its just what you need to think outside the box and figure out how to work around the levels, it's genueily the best part of the game. The level design it's also pretty good... until it it isn't.

Halfway through some levels took a more linear approach, in contrast to the sandbox feeling that most in the beggining give off, and it just doesn't feel right, repeating the same part over and over for different stars just feels tiresome and repetitive. In some places it feels crammed, there are some genuely difficult parts and not in a fun way. The camera has also really showed its age, its servicable at best but a its worst is really... not good, exactly.

But the fact that the game holds up as well as it does it's a testiment to its legacy, at is best is fun as hell, and it's by far the most unique out of the main Mario's and a perfect transition to the 3D formula. However, at it's worst is really frustating to a more casual audience, I could put up with a lot of this if I was a kid, but now-a-days it can be REALLY painful at it's worst areas.

Still, I do not have nothing but respect to it, it changed the industry forever I still had a TON, and I mean a TON of with it, with its gameplay, its design, its ambience and music and how it really wants you to have fun with its mechanics. It's like a box of toys, some really excepcional, some clunky but endearing, but all really charming and full of love.