I've played a bunch of other tetris titles before and I always loved the game in its different forms. But I think this is the tetris game I've always dreamed of. I'm someone who just likes to play marathon tetris without anything too crazy and this game delivers on that. It's really fast, I just turn on the gba and I'm in a game within seconds. But what really puts this over the edge as a masterpiece is the customization. You can kinda make the game look and feel exactly the way you want if you put the time into all the various settings and features. Changing colors, rotation, screen shake, etc. I can see this giving the game a ton of longevity. For once I really like the other modes as well. I very much appreciate the game mode with classic tetris rules, I often just play that to really shake it up. But the other various modes really test your skills in different and valid ways that are fun. This has been my definitive bed time game for a week now and I love it very much.

I played this using the Yakuza Restored Patch on my jailbroken ps2, you can find that patch here and I'd highly recommend it. Ive heard this game has some obnoxious loading issues, but considering I was playing this off of my HDD I won't really factor that into my review as it never was really a problem. https://youtu.be/YXsiu9PUbxM?si=AebYm1WSkwDOm7NV

This game definitely gets a bad rap nowadays. People will just say to play the remake or skip it entirely. I've heard people say it's unplayable and that the combat is so bad. I really wanted to challenge that perception and start at beggining. Playing them from the two remakes, back to the older three games, then back to the new stuff just sounds a bit unappealing to me. I'd much rather see it's roots and how it grew mechanically. I'm glad I did because I found a lot to love about this despite its issues.

The star of the show here is Kamurocho. It's such a well realized setting, it's densely packed with unique interactions, big crowds, beautiful fixed camera shots, and fun stuff to do. I don't think I've felt an open city setting feel quite as alive as this. It's also just drenched in atmosphere. Thick fog, appropriate use of motion blur, very unique lighting are all indicative of the strengths of the ps2 aesthetic.

I think the story is quite good here and it helped me truck through the game. I really love all the characters. There were some really neat twists that actually got me, and it all comes together by the end. Kiryu's relationship with Haruka is the heart of this game and I really like how despite losing so much he finds a new family in her. I do have a hard time following these dense kind of noir stories, so I'm glad the broad strokes of the story satisfied me.

I think the combat isn't great, but it's definitely not unplayable. I think an issue with it is that it makes a bad first impression. Your dodge sucks, the lock on has a strange learning curve to it and your move set is very limited. But as you upgrade stuff and do more side missions that give you new moves, it does start to open up and become more functional. This is one of those where you just get stunlocked and knocked on your ass a lot which can be annoying. And also the game is just a bit too easy? Other than some weird bosses that kicked my ass it never really presents a challenge. And when it does get more intense the game showers you with restorative items. So you kinda just get into a lull of repetition with it. But I'd argue the game isn't really trying to give you the deepest combat system, what makes the game special is the experience of it and all the things you can do in the city, and that aspect of it really worked for me. It gets dangerously close to being boring but the game always picks itself up.

This series is definitely prohibitive to new players to catch up, I totally understand if someone wants to start with one of the more recent ones. But I think Yakuza 1 has a lot going for it and shouldn't be forgotten. If you really appreciate the ps2 era then you really should try it and see if you like it. It's a very unique experience and it was fun to experience the humble begginings of this giant series.

As a fan of the DKC series, this game ended up being disappointing. I've always heard this was some underlooked gem. It's some people's favorite which I can kinda understand. It has an interesting setting with its lakeside resort setting. While I don't like the overworld map all that much it is interesting and I don't really see a lot of 2D platformers trying to do what it does. There are even a couple of good levels! Where the gimmicks were actually cool and made me smile in the way the developers intended.

I just find so much of this game dull. The first two DKC games just have this excellent momentum to them. Short but dense levels with rhythmic and challenging platforming. They also feel grander than a lot of 2D platformers I've played. There is a sense of sincerety to its general themeing and music that makes them special. DKC3 just has none of these aspects, and while I didn't regret playing it, I felt the experience was that of a really bog standard nintendo platformer.

This game has a limited assortment of level themes they recycle through every world, so it's kind of like dkc1. I personally think dkc1 utilizes that better, there is a real sense of place to dk island and they pace out the stages better. DKC3s level themes get repetitive very quickly. I got to the point where I nearly wanted to shut the game off when I saw yet another boring treetop level. The music doesn't help either. Eveline Fischer is a great composer, but I just didn't feel most of her compositions here. Everything just feels too subdued. I understand it's going for like a laxidazical mood what with the Kongs being on vacation. But it's just a little too much in my opinion. It's storytelling is also lacking. It just has no sense of direction to it, and both of the games endings just left me scratching my head. Again it's missing the clear and sincere storytelling of the first two.

Maybe this is a little bit unfair, but the gameplay just feels entirely worse than DKC2. I think they were going for an overall slower pace, so they made things less fast and more heavy (even for Dixie). There's just nothing that feels cool to do. It's functional, but it doesnt have that crunchy feeling from dkc2 like when you jump and roll into enemies. There is technically no levels in this game that have the same gimmick. I think that in itself has merit but the length of the levels are too long, and the gimmicks themselves were largely pretentious. The bonus rooms are easier but more frustrating than dkc2(?) I found a lot of them easy to find and retry but they keep on recycling the same three game types and they all just got repetitive.

Boring is the operative word for this. I wish I can see what others do in DKC3 but it just felt like busy work by the end of it. DKC is full of games that had some kind of lasting effect on me. This one didn't, in fact it felt like it was trying everything in its power to not have an effect on me, which sucks.