If there's one thing I love about Wario Land 4, it's the meticulous level design. And the genius use of mechanics. And the incredible variety. And the thematically perfect subversion of traditional platformers. And-

Anyway, back to level design. It's a game where pretty much every little detail of the level is perfectly considered, and I think the game being slower paced than many other 2D platformers helps the level design feel truly compact. The slow pace was almost certainly due to the small screen size, but it also meant the designers had to engage the player in more thoughtful ways, where players had to consider their surroundings in ways that you're not really going to do in a game series like Sonic the Hedgehog.

What does this have to do with Pizza Tower? Well, after playing the demo, it felt kinda like a mix between Wario Land and Sonic the Hedgehog, which, as I have established, are on pretty much opposite sides of how you can design platformers. As fun as the demo was, I wasn't sure if the game could actually blend these two polar opposites together in a cohesive way. After playing the game though, I think it did a surprisingly fantastic job at it.

The way the game handles difficulty is one of its best aspects, and a great way that it blends these two series together into something completely new. Just like in Wario Land, Peppino can't die in most cases, and hits are penalized by losing points and, often, a waste of time. This works extremely well in a speed-based platformer for two reasons. One, it keeps makes the pacing feel great for any player, and two, you obviously don't want to go slower in a speed game, especially in the escape sections where actual death is often only a matter of time.

This could trivialize any sense of difficulty aside from a player's intrinsic desire to improve, but the game actually requires you to rescue nearly of the Toppins to fight the bosses, which are analogous to the Teensies from Rayman. So basically, players are gonna have to do pretty well at all the levels anyway.

This could hurt the pacing in another way; If a player only barely scrapes by with Toppin requirements, they may have to replay a lot of levels before the climax. I only had to replay one to reach the requirement though, and I have to say, I don't know if I would've minded replaying more levels, because the one I replayed actually enhanced my experience.

This is because the game is far more difficult when you try to achieve the elusive P Ranks, or just try to improve your ranking in general. On replays, you get the opportunity to do the escape sequences twice in a row, which are consistently some of the most exhilarating moments of any game I've played.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. What about the bosses? These are the other times Peppino can actually die, and can be pretty difficult. However, they're mostly pretty fun, although maybe a bit disconnected from the core game. It likely would've been possible for the game to have really challenging bosses while also keeping its core systems. If, for example, the game had a time limit for bosses and the bosses used transformation attacks that wasted your time. However, the bosses were still fun so I'm not too upset.

Speaking of transformations, the mechanics work a lot better than I would've expected. All of them are introduced well and are mostly simple enough to immediately understand. A few feel a bit disruptive, such as the bombs, but most promote the fast-paced nature of the game, and many have that true to Wario Land style of 'power-up or detriment based on context'. By far the best example of this is the level (Excuse my language) 'Oh Shit!', which may be the best level in the game. And while a few of these transformations are analogous to those of Wario Land, they're all pretty distinct and well done.

I could certainly see someone not liking the visuals, but I though they were excellent, and the 90s cartoon style greatly enhanced the energetic nature of the game. The animation and attention to detail is incredible, but I noticed that at least one stage has no parallax scrolling with the background, and I think this may be universal. It's not a big deal though, and is really only noticeable in stages with more expansive backgrounds.

Audiowise, the sound effects and soundtrack is great. However, I wish the soundtrack leaned more into either stereotypical Italian music or 90s Cartoon music instead of Funk and Rock. It would've added to the thematic unity a bit more.

Everything considered, I love this game. It's truly something special, and one of the few spiritual successors to truly stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the game it succeeded. Dare I say, it's a Masterpiece. 10/10.

...By the way, you unlock a costume if you keep Peppino in the dark for about a minute on the menu screen. Go do that right now. Actually, maybe wait until night to do it.

In my opinion, the value of a spiritual successor can often be measured by this question: "If the inspiration was made when a series/genre was alive, would this be considered plagiarism?" A lot of games I've played are trying to copy a series instead of being truly inspired. What's interesting about Fight'N Rage is that not long after its release, the beat em up genre recieved a bit of a renaissance with some modern revivals, with one of the releases being a Streets of Rage game, a series Fight'N Rage was certainly inspired by. So, can Fight'N Rage hold its own among these newer and bigger releases?

For the most part, yes. Although, Streets of Rage 4 is still the best.

Simply put, this game is fast-paced, short and sweet, and well made all around. By far, the best thing this game has above many modern beat em ups is the replayability. In my review of Streets of Rage 4, I said the game would've been a bit better if there were multiple shorter paths instead of one longer route. That's exactly what Fight'N Rage did, with multiple different paths and endings depending on your actions and where you decide to go, meaning this game has a ton of replay value.

Of course, that would only matter if the game was worth replaying, and it absolutely is. You only have 3 playable characters, and they stick to their archetypes for sure, but they're distinct enough to make a difference, and each takes skill to use efficiently. However, the game generally makes you feel extremely powerful, in between the ease of crowd control, flashy moves and mobility, and how enemies who have been excessively combo'ed burst into a skeleton.

This doesn't stop the game from being difficult though; The difficulty goes up steadily, and you won't be able to mash your way through each encounter. For one, the special system is basically lifted from SoR 3 (One of the few ways the game does 'plagiarize' the series), and just like in that one, you need to pay attention to your meter, make sacrifices, and are allowed to take risks if you're confident in your skill. Many enemies will also counter and dodge in different ways, so you need to be mindful of which you're fighting.

There are a few issues. For some reason, you have to unlock the training mode. Sometimes enemies will go offscreen and you can't hit them. As short as any playthrough of this game is, the ability to save several different runs would've been nice. The game can also throw a bit too many enemies at you occasionally. However, when the visuals and music are on point and you're on your last sliver of health, fighting desperately to keep going against all odds, none of that matters. This one's a new classic, guys. It honestly may be a 9/10.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the first true 3D Kirby game, and it's all in all a pretty by-the-books adaptation of the 2D mechanics into the new dimension, which seems to irk many. Certainly, you can't control the camera, but the game often frames the landscapes itself in cool ways, and you have to remember that this game is also made for multiplayer (Although the fact that Bandana Dee is the only other playable character is really stupid). As such, I don't think the game "Not taking advantage of 3D" is a huge flaw.

The thing is though, most of the new copy abilities do take advantage of the new perspective. Drill simply couldn't work in 2D, and the implementation of Ranger is not only surprisingly effective, but adds a lot of variety. This applies to all of the evolutions to copy abilities as well. Just because you can't control the camera doesn't mean the game doesn't take advantage of being 3D at all.

Anyway, going back to copy abilities, there's only a dozen this time. However, a few things do kind of supplement this. First, the aforementioned evolutions. Most copy abilities have three variants, and after unlocking them all you really should never use the first one. The second and third do have their strengths and weaknesses, but are at heart the same abilities with just enough changes to make them feel distinct.

My biggest complaint with the copy abilities is that many don't have any interesting movement options. You can't do dash attacks here or falling attacks at all, and tornado and needle do have more interesting movement, but that's all there is to those abilities. You can press guard + jump to do a Kirby slide kick, so why other copy abilities besides sword didn't replace this slide kick and add an aerial function is beyond me.

The other thing that supplements the low copy ability count is the Mouthful Mode, which are basically situational copy abilities. "Carby", for example, is basically the wheel copy ability from previous games, except more restrictive in where you use it. This lack of freedom with many cool abilities does kind of suck, but it also means levels can be built around these abilities. However, some of these are also subpar or glorified QTEs, so don't expect these to replace all of your favorite copy abilities.

Even that aside, I have a few issues with the twelve we have here. Sleep? Really? Crash? Why not UFO as an OP move if we were going with quality over quantity? And more importantly, was sacrificing some potential copy abilities for gotcha machines and a bunch of glorified mobile games really worth it? Imagine how cool abilities like beam and whip would've been in 3D.

There's also the mission system, and I think a lot of people are missing the point with this issue. I think the way they reveal the missions after beating a level would've been fine, as you now have a good hint when you replay, but many missions themselves simply don't work with that system. I remember I completed every mission in one level except for "Sleep by the pool" or something like that. Even if I knew to do this going in, does it make completing the mission fun? All I would do is go to the pool, inhale the sleeping enemy, and that's it. This isn't a massive deal, as none of this is needed to finish the game, but it's indicative of the fact that the game wasn't entirely focused on what it should've been focused on, and cared too much about side content that's really just a distraction at the end of the day.

All of that aside, the game is still very good. Aside from the frame drops for far away enemies, the visuals are excellent in detail, animation, and interesting settings. The music is pretty good too. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a good game, but it could've been great with better priority.

Gameplay wise, it's not much different than any other Castleroid. There are islands multiple islands to explore, which are each their own separate maps. Each map is kind of structured like a section of a Zelda game: Explore the overworld, get access to the dungeon, gain a new ability, fight the boss, repeat. Just like Zelda, I'd say the dungeons are the highlight. Each one teaches you how to use your newly acquired ability well, and it blends platforming and action well. Many of the worlds can be completed without backtracking to another, although that's not always true, and backtracking is a good idea anyway because some areas can't be reached without a late game item. This, combined with a great balance between giving a general goal but not insulting the player's intelligence, gives the game a great sense of pacing for the most part.

Those abilities, however, are pretty basic. This may be due to the game being release right before the renaissance of the Castleroid genre, but still. Melee attacks, Ranged attacks, dashes, glides, and midair jumps, while fun, do make this game blend into the crowd in that regard. Axiom Verge, which released a year after this, had way more unique abilities (That game has its own issues, but that's a discussion for another time).

The only other gameplay note is how the items work, which I'm kind of mixed on. I like that each item maxes out at 9, so you can't spam healing items... too much. You also can't use items if you're prone or in the air. However, as long as you don't constantly spam items, you can easily steamroll bosses with monster milk and pike balls. I never took more than two attempts at a boss. Most other sections of the game don't have this problem either, because platforming sections start you over at the beginning of a room, so you can't really cheese them.

The biggest thing I was dreading going into this one was the story. However... I kind of liked it? I don't think it's great or anything, but it contextualizes the events well, and all of the ways in which the story lets you progress is really funny. I also like some of the characters. But yeah, this is still far from the peak of gaming storytelling, even for a game like this.

Visually, the game is great. Even if they're not all particularly unique (Bog island is really cool, but the others are mostly basic), all the locations look excellent, and so do the animations. The soundtrack is also really good, and each theme fits the area well.

Overall, a very good game. I don't know if I'll check out other games in this series, since I've heard this is the best one, but still. It could maybe become an 8, but a 7/10 for now.

Alright, I'll start with the good stuff. Obviously, the audiovisuals are great. In particular, the way that chunks of meat fall off of demons as you hurt them is genius. The controls are good, all the guns are fun and varied too.

Okay, now I get to talk about why this game doesn't really work for me. First is that there is an excess of moves, weapons, and progression systems. By the end of the game, you have seven normal weapons. Each of these weapons also has two mods, which can in themselves be upgraded and switched between mid-battle, and many of these mods completely change the function of the gun. You also have glory kills, the chainsaw, and the flame belch. Each of these can be used against enemies to gain health, ammo, and shield respectively. Next is the grenade. There's a normal one and an ice one. Next is the dash, which gives you a quick burst of speed. Don't forget the two superweapons. One is obviously the BFG, a massive damaging attack. The next is a sword which has tamer animations than the glory kill despite being built up massively throughout the story. There's also the blood punch, which is built up through glorykills. Aside from your moves and weapons there's also multiple progression systems, each of which uses a different currency. There's one for your guns, one for your suit, one for new abilities, and one for stats. Look, I get wanting to add new stuff, but isn't this a little too much?

Of course, excess isn't always a killer. In fact, it often feels like Doom is trying to be a Spectacle Action game similar to Devil May Cry. However, one thing that separates Devil May Cry and DOOM Eternal is that DMC often gives the player much more freedom in what it lets the player use. However, DOOM Eternal feels so deadset on forcing the player to play the way the developer intended. The cacodemons is a good example. You could fight it the normal way, or you could just throw a grenade at it and glory kill. The latter is extremely easy and efficient, so obviously it's what you want to do. A lot of enemies have similar weaknesses, some of which I do think work. The pinkies are vulnerable on the tail, so freezing them with the ice bomb is the logical course of action. Hitting a group of enemies with the flame belch is also very intuitive and logical. Honestly, looking at some of these weaknesses separately, it all seems good. However, when you put them all together, the entire game is just "Use the specific weapon or hit the specific part". It's also annoying that the game points all of these weaknesses out, so there's really never a need to experiment using different weapons or anything. As such, there's a clear lack of expression in using your weapons.

All of this is brought to a head with the marauder. With these guys, you have to stand at a specific range, wait for them to lower their guard, hit them with a burst weapon, and repeat until it dies. And my gosh, the discussion around this enemy is so stupid. I've seen so many people be like, "This enemy isn't that hard to beat." This is true. As long as it's one-on-one, these encounters aren't that difficult. However, they just aren't fun to fight.

As such, gameplay wise, DOOM Eternal is less than the sum of its parts. Many ideas seem good, but when put together, they just don't fit, even if the weapons are cool and satisfying to use.

Alright, now the story. I've made it known that with these kinds of games, I don't expect much storywise. DOOM Eternal mostly does the job. It contextualizes everything well enough, and I'm glad that most of it is kept to datalogs that I don't have to read. Still I do have complaints. First, the game really wants you to know how cool the Doomslayer is. This is strange, because Doomslayer/Doomguy is usually just... well, a guy in most games, including the game preceding Eternal. Aside from this tonal shift, it just annoys me in general. I probably would've enjoyed this angle more if the infamy of the Slayer grew as you played, but it seems all of that took place in between 2016 and Eternal. The other thing is that the cultists' dialogue, which appears occasionally all throughout the game, is really dumb and not funny. Once again, none of this is a big deal and it doesn't change my opinion that much at all, but I thought I might as well discuss it.

Overall, DOOM Eternal is fine. It's occasionally fun, but too many systems simultaneously overwhelm and restrict the player. It could change to a 6 later, but I'm giving it a 5/10 for now.

After playing the Streets of Rage series, I decided I needed to try more beat em ups. And whaddya know, Nintendo's crappy online subscription had this for free for a week! A buddy and I played through the game in two sittings, and despite some problems, I rather enjoyed it.

First off, this game is actually non-linear and has a lot of RPG-style elements, which I thought was pretty neat. While the moveset felt a little restrictive at first, it doesn't take long to unlock a wider moveset that keeps things fresh. At the same time, I also had an overabundance of moves near the end of the game. Early on you unlock moves by leveling, but eventually you just have to pay for them at a dojo. This is fine, but dang, there's a lot of them. At the very least, I'm glad that the game eases you into the movesets of the characters as you progress, but I'm still not really sure if half the moves I had are even that different. There's also the fact that due to long stagger times for enemies, the game is extremely easy unless you're swarmed by several opponents, which is most of the time after a certain point, but still. Regardless, comboing enemies was fun, and as I said, I played the game with a friend, which always makes a game a little more fun.

The story is pretty hit and miss, as well as the humour. Either way, the story is a bit repetitive. It's just...

Main characters: 'Uh-oh, our boyfriends have been kidnapped! This boss must know where they are!' beat the boss up

Boss: 'Dang, you're strong. I don't know where your boyfriends are, but maybe the next boss does!'

Main Characters: 'Cool, let's go find said next boss!' leaves

It's fine. I don't expect much out of these games storywise, and this game did the job I guess. Humourwise... I dunno, I didn't hate it as much as many seemed to. Anime-isms annoy me just as much as the next guy, but some of the dialogue is still mildly entertaining. Also, every cutscene can be skipped, which is appreciated in general.

The biggest story complaint I, and seemingly everyone else has is the ending. I used to be fairly tolerant of the whole 'true ending' trend that's been popping up recently, but it's been grating me more and more, and River City Girls is no exception. I shouldn't have to do a whole side quest to get an ending that doesn't suck. Honestly, I would've even been fine with the bad ending if it was developed throughout the story. In this sense, we kind of got the worst of both worlds.

Audiovisually, the game is quite good. My main complaint is that the visual presentation can feel weirdly inconsistent. Some cutscenes are animated while others are manga-styled. Considering this is a gender-bender retro revival, I probably would've preferred to just have the manga cutscenes with either a 90s shounen or shoujo artstyle. Still, the game looks and sounds great either way.

The point is, despite some issues, I did rather enjoy this game. I'll give it a 6/10, but I may make it a 7. If there are other games with a similar structure to this, please tell me. In the meantime, I'm definitely gonna check out the other River City games.

Devil May Cry is considered the grandfather of the... 'character action' genre (If anyone has a better genre name, please tell me), but it's certainly different from many of the other games in the genre. There is some over-the-top action, but the game is also permeated with atmosphere on many occasions. Oftentimes, you have to collect items and solve puzzles in a medieval castle. There's also fixed camera angles. In case you didn't know, Devil May Cry was originally going to be a game from the Star Fox series. Just kidding, it was actually going to be a Resident Evil game, and you can certainly tell. Even the menus are reminiscent of Resident Evil.

Anyway, this game is much simpler than other... '''character action''' games, which is understandable. You can switch between weapons, but it takes time and doesn't allow for cool combos like in later DMC games. Either way, it's still really fun learning all of the moves and using them to demolish your enemies. However, one thing I noticed is that even when I was steamrolling enemies, that didn't necessarily mean I was getting a good ranking. And when I did get a good ranking, I often wasn't sure what I did differently this time than other times. I have to guess it's based mostly on just getting in a bunch of hits instead of a variety, but I'm not sure. Combine this with bosses and many enemies where using the guns is the best option, and it seems to me that the developers weren't aware of what makes games in this genre fun. Honestly, I'm really disappointed that Kamiya didn't have a firm grasp on what people liked in the genre he was pretty much creating. Jokes aside, this is the only part that I'd say the 'this game hasn't aged well' argument fits at all, unless someone's really gonna argue that underwater levels and repeating boss fights three times were beloved in 2001.

Also, I know I was making a joke with the whole Starfox thing approximately 11 sentences ago, but the last two levels do have on-rails shooter sections. I just played Rayman 3, and it did the same thing. Apparently the new Sonic game did something similar. Why do games feel the need to completely change their genre in the last minute? Once again, was this something people liked in 2001? I don't think it is.

That aside, onto the story. Spoilers, I guess. Uh... Some girl named Trish tries to kill main character Dante and subsequently asks him to help her kill an evil demon guy, and Dante's like, 'yeah sure'. Then they don't interact for like two thirds of the game. Then it turns out Trish is evil, but then she saves Dante, and now she and Dante and buddies so they beat up the bad guy and leave the island. The biggest problem is that Trish just disappears midway through, so we don't see her and Dante grow close. They're still basically strangers by the end of the game, but they act like best friends. Also, the main villain, Mundus, is just some guy. He's boring. I'm not asking for much from these games' stories, I just want the cutscenes to be entertaining and motivating, and Devil May Cry's story was only entertaining sometimes, mainly when it was Dante just swinging weapons around and making fun of bosses.

Visually, the game is an early PS2 game. It looks fine. I like many of the enemy designs, but the castle is pretty basic in terms of visuals. The audio seemed pretty unmemorable to me to be honest.

I was considering giving this game a 7/10, but there were a few too many flaws, so 6/10 it is. Either way, I'd definitely recommend this to fans of the... '''''Character Action''''' genre.

Alright, these next two paragraphs are going to be me talking about my personal experiences leading up to purchasing the game, so skip those if you just want my analysis of the game.

A while back, I had played the other Rayman games sans the first, so I decided to ask Reddit (I was young and foolish), and I quote, "Is Rayman 3 worth the buy?" Now, some friends of mine followed me on Reddit and thought this question was peak comedy, so it became an inside joke.

However, Rayman 3 wasn't a game I was particularly in a rush to get. I did eventually buy a copy on Gamecube, but it messed up after the first world, so I couldn't really answer the question. After that, I asked my father to get it for me for Christmas, but we soon after had a falling out and I haven't talked to him since, so no good there either. Finally, I got the GBA version of Rayman 3, but that game is worth its own review. Eventually, I realized the game was available digitally on the XBox 360, and bought it for $9.99 USD. It took me three years to get this game. But hey, I am typing this on a website named Backloggd.

Let's start the biggest improvement from Rayman 2: The combat. Rayman 3 has some of the best combat in a 3D Platformer I've played. That's a pretty low standard, but the combat can be fun. It simply feels better than in Rayman 2, but aside from that, the powerups and level design add much more to many encounters. Many of the bosses are really good too. Some can be annoying, but they often use the powerups in cool ways. I'd even call the final boss great if it didn't end with a turret section. Other than that, there's not much to say about the combat, but it does its job as a diversion from the platforming

...Is what I'd say if the combat wasn't so prevalent. As mediocre as the combat was in Rayman 2, it was usually done and over extremely quickly. In Rayman 3, It's half the game. If the combat was combined with platforming more often, I probably would've been fine with this, but the combat can still be pretty repetitive.

Honestly, the platforming lacks variety as well, despite the solid controls and movement. The powerups add a bit of variety, but the only platforming-focused ones are the flight and hookshot ones, which are pretty one-note in their use. You occasionally shrink down and race in a shoe, but these sections are pretty boring. All you do is ram into the other shoe a few times. In between worlds, you do race through this funky wormhole, which is fun, but if you were expecting sliding, plum-riding, or any other fun mechanic from Rayman 2, you'll be disappointed. Instead, the game starts with an on-rails flying section and ends with a turret section. Awesome...

Another gameplay note is that Rayman 3 is really easy. Most Rayman games are really easy, but 3 might be the easiest to beat. Throughout the game, I only died twice, and I'm not that good at these games. However, the scoring system kept me engaged (Even if it needed some work in terms of what it prioritized), so it's not that big of an issue overall.

Storywise, the game is far from great. Globox accidentally vores the main villain Andre, so he and Rayman go to a bunch of national stereotype doctors to try and un-vore Andre. Each doctor is just like, 'uh... I can't do anything. Now go to this guy.' It's a bit repetitive, but whatever. The Rayman series has never been known for its brilliant narratives or character studies (I mean, Legends didn't even have a story), but Rayman 3 was trying to be funny. Sometimes it is, but its often just annoying. Either way, I'm glad excess dialogue is often held during gameplay. Not just because I don't want a bunch of cutscenes, but because the VA dubbing is weirdly bad here. I'd imagine the animation sync is better in France or other Countries, but as a citizen of The United States of America, I am truly disappointed in the dubbing of Rayman 3.

Audiovisually, the game is quite good. The animations are mostly nice, there's a great variety of locations, Rayman's new design is great, and the artstyle is overall very good. While I can't say every track in the game is a bop, I can remember two that stick out, which were the snowboarding theme and the final boss theme.

So it's time to answer the question: Is Rayman 3 worth the buy? Honestly, I've been mulling this over for a while. I'm kinda between a 5/10 and 6/10. I suppose either way, Rayman 3 is only worth the buy if you're a fan of the series or 3D Platformers in general. Otherwise, Rayman 2 is a much better outing.

Well, I've played every Rayman game now, except for the first. I've heard it's rather hard. I'll have to see for myself.

Since this is a Gameboy launch title, it's not like I could expect that much, but I still think this game could've been better. It's fairly linear and extremely short, so there's not much replay value. There's a top score counter on the title screen, but that resets when you turn the game off, so it's pretty useless.

For the most part, the game is similar to SMB1, but it also has some spaceship/submarine levels (Including the final boss). I get annoyed by this kind of variety in general, but especially so for a game like this, which is extremely short.

Probably the best part of the game is the soundtrack, which is pretty good. Nintendo should pull more songs from the Mario Land series. Visually, the game sure is a Gameboy launch title. Each level does have a little bit of background and decoration, but not that much.

I really don't know what else to say. Maybe if the game was a little more unique, more replayable, or better thought out I would give it a higher score, but I can't really go higher than a 5/10 for this one. Still, this can be beaten in under an hour, so I'd recommend it to those who like 2D Mario.

NOTE: I did not finish this game. However, I played about half of it, so I think I've played enough to form an opinion.

Bioshock starts out incredibly strong: An interesting world, Solid gunplay, Unique abilities, and great atmosphere. Solid stuff. However, the problems become apparent fairly early on. Namely, upon one's first death. There is no punishment for dying. Sorry, there is a punishment: The inconvenience of walking back from a spawn point to wherever you died. However, the enemy is still as damaged as before, and all progress is saved. This means first aid kits are pretty much just for convenience, and any encounter can be trivialized.

I just want to stress that this is already a massive potential turnoff for me. Games at their core are about making meaningful choices, and choices can't be meaningful if there's no consequences. Now, games can be easy and have meaningful choices. The good Kirby games are fun because of all the copy abilities, and the fun comes from trying all of them. Same with Pokemon (Both of these series do have punishments for losing, but I digress). While Bioshock does have many fun uses of progression, many choices are entirely arbitrary and, as cliche as it is to say, the illusion of free choice. The best example of this is the hacking system.

The idea is simple: You can hack robots and several kinds of shops/stations for different benefits. The robots are a solid mechanic, because the player has to make the risk of getting close before hacking. There's also safes that are super hard to hack, which have much more risk in doing so. However, hacking first aid dispensors, ammo stations, and crafting stations for discounts is entirely arbitrary, because there's no reason to not hack any of them. The worst case scenario is that you trigger security which summons drones, but this is extremely easy to avoid. You may get hurt by a short circuit, but once again, this is usually very easily avoidable. The point is, you should absolutely hack every station you see, meaning you'll have to play the same minigame over and over again.

Even a few cool progression abilities feel pretty underdeveloped. There's an ability very similar to the Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2, but it's utilization is even more basic than it was in HL2, and it mostly just boils down to tossing trash cans at enemies. However, most of the abilities are at least alright, and add to that whole meaningful decision thing I was talking about.

I do have to give the game credit though, fighting the Big Daddies is pretty fun. There's much more tension because in the time it takes to walk back to a Big Daddy, the sisters could've already escaped, meaning you really want to take them out in one go. Planning all of that out is pretty fun, although it still doesn't entirely escape that difficulty problem I discussed.

Anyway, I may come back to this game, but I haven't had fun the last few times I've started it up. The story is kind of interesting, but nothing special, really (Although I heard there's a big twist near the end, so maybe that's really cool). Either way, 4/10, close to a 5.

Ori and the Blind Forest is a Platforming-Focused Castleroid, and it's pretty darn good at being that. The movement is extremely smooth and the level design is great, with each new ability being taught to the player naturally and expanded upon in cool ways. While the moveset isn't the most unique in any platformer, there are some really cool abilities, such as catapulting yourself off of enemies and projectiles. Most of the puzzles are pretty good too. Also, compared to most Castleroids, Ori's difficulty curve is pretty consistent even with it's experience and adventure based progression system. Honestly, this game is excellent when it comes to being a Platforming Castleroid.

However, I do have two major complaints: First, the combat. At best, Ori's combat is a fine change of pace. At worst, it's passive to the point of arbitration. Oftentimes it consists of mashing Y (I played on Switch) while running past enemies. This is because the game auto-aims the attacks for you. Sometimes you may have to use the ground pound or aforementioned projectile catapult, but even then it's pretty basic: Ground pound to get ride of the enemy's armor, THEN mash Y. Shoot the projectile back continuously until the enemy dies. I see an attempt to tie platforming and combat together, and it can work, but 50% of the time the combat is unengaging.

I do, however, have to praise that the game actually had no real bosses, and each section of the game is instead topped off with a great chase sequence. Many games would've inserted a boss just because that's an expectation at this point, so I have to respect the decision to cap off each area with a bit of the main focus: platforming.

My next big issue is with the story. I wasn't expecting that much, and I feel like the story here simultaneously was pleasantly surprising and kind of annoying. The best moments are the opening an ending. Both are wordless scenes that display the emotions of the characters well. However, the rest of the story has a bit too much narration, despite the fact that it's easily discernable what's happening at any moment. It just makes the game feel a bit patronizing.

In terms of audiovisuals, Ori is actually very poor. That was a lie, the audiovisuals are really good. My only complaint is that while the locations are stunning visually, they're not interesting conceptually. The most interesting was the Misty Woods, where your map is pretty much useless and the layout of the world changes seemingly randomly, but even "Confusing Forest" has been a trope since Super Mario World. Not a huge issue, but worth mentioning.

I thought about giving this game an 8/10, but since I usually lower the rating later anyway, I'm pre-emptively rating the game a 7/10. That's kind of arbitrary though. If you enjoy either 2D Platformers or Castleroids, you'll probably enjoy this.

If one was to ask me my favorite genre of games, I'd likely say the 3D Platformer. As such, I watch Nitro Rad a lot, and generally respect his opinions. I've certainly disagreed with him, but he's introduced me to games like Hypnospace Outlaw, Anodyne 2, and of course, Glover, the magnum opus of humanity. Anyway, when he made a video about Super Sam Raimi Roll, I decided to wishlist and eventually stimulate the economy by purchasing it.

And uh... This game is surprisingly great. Most indie 3D Platformers are fairly underwhelming, but this one nails almost everything gameplay wise. Your core moveset is fairly simple: You can roll around, jump, do a ground pound bounce akin to SA2's, and the tongue whip that Sam Raimi can be seen doing on the game icon thingy. You have to use these moves to run through some sixty odd linear stages. Be quick though, because each stage has a time limit, and oftentimes these can be pretty strict. Or not if you play easy mode. I actually played the hard mode, which had no checkpoints, so the game was fairly difficult for me overall, but you can change difficulty at any time with no penalty, which I'm sure many will appreciate.

There's two main collectibles: These yellow gems that give you a bit more time to complete the stage and one raspberry in each stage. They can be difficult to get on occasion, but if you collect it and die you'll retain it. Both of these can be used to unlock some new looks, modes, items, and stage secrets. Anyway, I really like the way they health, or rather, the lack of it. Getting hit by an enemy/obstacle will just send you flying up a little for around two seconds. That may not seem like a big deal, but two seconds could be the difference between completing the stage and not. It also puts you at risk to fall off the stage, the only other way to die besides a timeout. It's just a cool simplification of the idea of health in a 3D Platformer.

In general, everything is pretty streamlined. There's no boring combat sections, a very simple level select screen, and a classically phoned in story. Way too many 3D Platformers are insecure and shove in a lot of annoying minigames, so I gotta appreciate that. However, there are bosses, and they're pretty underwhelming. For the most part, it's the same 3-Hit system Platformers have been using for decades, and they don't really use the moveset in any interesting ways. This is probably the only notable gameplay stumble aside from a few level design nitpicks I have.

The other thing holding this game back is a lack of theme or unity. I said the story was 'classically phoned in', and yeah, it is. An ape kidnaps Sam Raimi's friend, so he goes after him. The presentation switches between 8-Bit still image cutscenes/level selects and the 3D levels. The worlds are kind of themed, but aside from said themes being very basic, sometimes the backgrounds and level assets clash. The gameplay is really the only cohesive element. A game like Streets of Rage 4 also has a pretty basic and miminalized story, but its presentation really sells the idea of it being a 90s revival with its comic book artstyle. Considering this game seems to be a spiritual successor to the obscure N64 series Chamelion Twist, they could've attempted something involving that? At the very least, better presentation would've helped, although I'm sure the team did the best they could.

But yeah, this is actually one of the best 3D platformers I've played. 8/10.

First off, thanks to 'lpslucasps' for his recommendation for this game. He recommended it to me because I liked Wario Land 3, so maybe fellow Wario Land fans will enjoy this one, idk.

Anyway, the only other time I'd ever seen this game was once in a Dunkey video where he brushed over it. It also has a pretty low rating here, which sucks, because this is actually a really good game, dare I say a great one. It's a pretty odd idea: You can only jump in straight lines from ceiling to wall to floor and however else. And yeah, it felt weird initially, but the more you play it the more fun it is. You can tell they really worked on the jumping here, with several small details that make each jump feel right.

The combat is also really good. It's very deliberate due to needing to charge your short-range gun, but extra weapons unlocked along the way change things up really well. I got a decent amount of use out of all of the extra weapons here. No complaints in terms of combat.

Now, this game is indeed a Castleroid, so you may be wondering how it holds up in that regard. Well, let's start with the structure. The game is actually pretty linear. There is inter-area backtracking, but there's few moments where you're asked to travel further than just back out of an area you just explored. You can get get all of the stuff in every area first time through as well. The thing is, this is all probably for the best, considering you couldn't just rush through previous areas the same way you could in a Metroid or Castlevania game.

In terms of upgrades, this is one of my biggest issues with the game. Upgrades either consist of health or special ammo refills, aforementioned extra weapons, items that change the level design or how you interact with it, or experience points that can be used to increase max health, ammo, and how much the refills of each respectively fills. All of these are fine, really. My main issue is that very rarely do these actually mix up the gameplay or add to a feeling of progression. The items that change level design are an interesting idea, but many are just like, 'this platform moves now.' Many of the interesting mechanics don't really extend outside one area either, which was disappointing.

The game also uses the 'oops, you died! Now go to where you died and get your experience back or lose it forever!' system. If this game was less linear this would bother me, but it's fine here since usually I'd be going to the same area anyway. As it was, this only annoyed me a few times.

There's also the story, which was... I dunno, apparently this game was made by Brazilians and is inspired by Brazilian imagery (Which does look really nice, as does the rest of the game), but I don't really know if this actually informed the story in any way. Maybe there's a bunch of cool lore, but most of what I got was a pretty basic anti-establishment story with a few underwhelming 'Ooh, the characters know you respawn!' moments. Thankfully, the story is pretty easily ignored either way, so I can't hold it against the game too much.

It's in between a 7 and 8 out of 10, but I'll give it the benefit for now. It's really good overall and I recommend it to anyone who feels like Castleroids have become a bit too homogenized in nature.

Yeah yeah, I was brought here by Nitro Rad too. Is the game good though?

Yeah, I guess, but that comes with a lot of asterisks.

The movement and moveset in general are excellent. I could nitpick a few details, like the side somersaults' uselessness due to the triple jump not being space-sensative like in Super Mario 64. Also, the grapple hook and timestop are pretty situational in use/ Regardless, this is a very good moveset that makes the player plan each jump in advance, unlike A Hat in Time.

The level design isn't the best, but I think it's mostly fine. The game beckons players to master the moveset and perform skips in pretty much every level. Combine this with a genius checkpoint system that allows the player to control their respawn position, and those seemingly ludicrous skips are much more achievable and fun to try. I also appreciate that you can get every collectible on the first run and you don't have to come back with the turf abilities (which you earn in each boss fight) or something. Point is, the level design is pretty basic, but the game does a really good job of distracting that fact.

But now its time to talk about the highlight of every 3D platformer! Combat! Oh boy! I dunno though, this really wasn't that bad. Probably like half the levels have required combat sections, and they're over really quick. Still, that's far from a compliment. What really pisses me off is that the final boss is kind of purely combat, which I think is dumb for a 3D Platformer.

Uhh... There's a story. Is there? Yeah, but it's pretty nothing. There's an attempt at some kind of arc with the protagonist Beebz's friend, but this leads to nothing. I like the concept of beating these bosses up and gaining clout overtime, but the game doesn't really expand on this in an interesting way.

Also, this game definitely lacks the level of polish of a game like A Hat in Time. The movement feels great, but the way Beebz interacts with the environment feels spotty at times. Most of the minor NPCs look really bad too. Lastly, I ran into a few glitches.

There's also the structure of the game. Now, there's 28 Levels, and each level has a post-boss version that changes things up a bit and utilizes the newly acquired turf ability. So, there's like 56 levels in total, and beating a level gets you a battery, right? Well, for the most part, the structure is simple. Beat all 7 levels in the world in whatever order you please, fight the boss, go to the next world.

However, to fight the final boss, you need 50 Batteries, so you have to beat 50 out of the 56 levels (Or maybe there's other ways to get batteries. I haven't delved that much into the side content). Keep in mind, half of these levels are reskins. As heavily altered as a reskin can be, they're still reskins. Imagine if to fight Bowser you needed 110/120 stars. Like, why not make me just get all at that point? I guess I'll take it though, because I only had 40 batteries after beating the 4th boss, so I had to play 10 more levels, which kind of ruined the pacing.

Despite all of those problems, Demon Turf can be really fun. It has some great ideas, but I think the devs were just a bit too ambitious. Maybe if the game was a bit better paced, the combat was gone, the story was minimized, the moveset tweaked a little, all the fluff was removed, and the visuals were more consistent I'd like this game more. Oh wait, the standalone expansion Demon Turf: Neon Splash did this and it costs $20 less than this game (Not a sponsor). The lesson is, you should probably get that instead. Still, if you like 3D platformers, this is a fine time.