While Pikmin 3 Deluxe is outdone by other Pikmin games in specific areas, like 1's narrative, 2's sense of humor, or 4's level design, it remains my favorite in the series. There are a few reasons why, but more than anything I think it's easily the most fun to master.

Pikmin 3 is, in my opinion, the fully realized version of Pikmin 1's design ethos. It's an exercise in learning the mechanics, learning the levels, and finding out how to do everything as quickly and efficiently as possible. Every Pikmin type remains useful both when completing the main objectives and when revisiting areas for cleanup. The increased size of levels and variety of objectives gives the player plenty of room to figure out what to tackle and when (Tropical Wilds especially is really fun to optimize).

And of course, the introduction of the "Go Here" command is quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to the series, opening up a world of possibilities for multitasking. It allows for simultaneous completion of multiple objectives and management of special objectives requiring multiple captains. All this, on top of managing Pikmin counts and Spicy Spray, gives Pikmin 3 a feeling of "Dandori" its prequels couldn't match and its sequel ironically refused to. It's not perfect; the timer's very lax, the balance scale puzzle in Garden of Hope is a little annoying to speed through, and placing exactly two fruits underwater in Twilight River is a bit of a dick move. But I think it comes closer than any other game in the series.

On top of all that, it has some absolutely phenomenal extras. Mission Mode is a fantastic addition that pushes your time management skills to their absolute limits. Bingo Battle is a really fun multiplayer mode, though I haven't played much of it. The option to take photos is a neat extra, especially with a game this beautiful. And the stuff Deluxe adds is no slouch either. The Piklopedia's back, complete with Louie's cooking logs. Co-op in the main campaign is a blast to play with a buddy (and is such an obvious addition I question why it hasn't been a thing since Pikmin 2). And there are so many charming Easter Eggs and little bits of dialogue that add so much to the experience. It's really good! I don't know what else to say.

Sonic generations was a big part of my childhood which is great because I finally finished it! This game is amazing, the music, level design, and all the other extra goodies make this pure fan service.

Every level was great and felt different enough between the two sonics to make it feel warranted to play them twice. One level I didn't like however was the sonic 06 one (shocking I know), I will say it was funny seeing classic sonic in a dark and gritty world though.

The last boss in my opinion was a tad lazy but it's not the biggest issue. In my opinion, the biggest issue with generations are the challenge levels you have to complete to get the boss keys. They are just sooooo boring, its like right after you play a level twice you then have to play it again with an annoying gimmick a third time to progress the story. Whilst this isnt game ruining by any means, its just annoying as it takes away from the great by adding tedious tasks to do.

In conclusion, Sonic generations is a great game and it's great to have finally revised this gem from my childhood.

So far for the duration of time that I have been on this website, I have talked about a handful of the good Sonic games, some of them that many consider to be some of the greatest of all time not just in the series, but of all time. Even if I haven’t been extremely positive about a particular game in this series so far, it hasn’t really been too negative either, just more so indifferent about the kind of game that it was (cough, Spinball, cough). But you know what, I think it is about time that I stop being nice to this spikey cracked-out rat, and it’s finally time I start being mean to him and his series. It was only inevitable, because as many Sonic fans know, for all of the good Sonic games that were available from this series, there are five more shitty ones just around the corner. However, I don’t feel like picking on one of the obvious targets like Sonic Drift or Sonic Labyrinth… not right now, anyway. Instead, I wanna go after another forgotten title in the series that most Sonic fans aren’t aware of: SegaSonic the Hedgehog.

This was a Sonic game that was released pretty early in the series’ lifespan exclusively in Japan for the arcades, and one that I have been wanting to try out for a very long time. I do remember playing on the actual machine of the game at one point whenever I went to the Galloping Ghost Arcade (which by the way, if you haven’t been there, do yourself a favor and go there ASAP, because it is the best modern arcade I have ever been to. Tell them that Mega sent ya), and from what I remembered, I liked it enough, even if I was annoyed by some certain aspects about the game. It has been a long time since I played it there, so I decided to check it out on the Mame emulator, and once I did play it, I came to a very stunning revelation… it fucking sucks! Granted, there are plenty of admirable qualities that the game has, and I do like a lot of the things it is trying out, but it manages to trip and fall right on its face when it comes to its execution, and becomes an annoying chore to sit through.

The story is pretty damn average, where Dr. Robotnik kidnaps not only Sonic, but also newcomers Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, and entraps them on an island, so it is up to the three of them to escape before Robotnik can take them out, which is a fine enough premise that I can get behind, because from everything else the game has, the story would be the least of my concern. The graphics are really damn good, having plenty of cartoony and wonderful animations for all of the characters, accompanied by wonderful environments, which make the game much more fun to look at then play, the music is pretty good, having plenty of great tracks for all of the levels, which also made the game much more fun to listen to then to play, the control is… well, I’ll get into that later, and the gameplay is somewhat inventive for the series, and I do like what they try with it, but not only could it have been done a lot better, but… sigh, goddammit…

The game is a 3D platformer of some kind, where you take control of either Sonic, Mighty, or Ray, go through a set of seven treacherous, yet very short levels, run through at the speed of sound while avoiding certain death at every turn from gaps, obstacles, or otherwise, jump around and break things when you need to so you can proceed forward and avoid death, and stop playing the game, go find a cabinet of Sonic the Fighters, and play that instead so that you can enjoy life. For what we got here, again, a lot of it is very interesting on paper, and I do like a lot of the things that are going on here, but the way that it was presented makes it way more frustrating to play then anything else, and by the end of the game, I was giving Sonic and co. the middle finger in response to their collective thumbs up.

I wouldn’t even necessarily call this game a “platformer” per se, even if there are platforming elements seen throughout, because it is more so a long, multi-segmented obstacle course. For every single level, you will primarily just be running down a bunch of long paths, avoiding whatever obstacles come your way, grab whatever rings you can, and hoping to reach the end. There are no enemies to fight, no bosses to take on, no additional collectables or power-ups to get, nothing. It is just one straight shot from the start to the end, and hey, that can be pretty fun at times. The constant energy the game gives off really does make going through some of these much more enjoyable, which is also helped by the colorful graphics, animations, and the new characters Mighty and Ray, who were pretty neat to finally see in action…. you know, before they would be thrown into the vault for the foreseeable future, only being let back out on a few occasions.

However, then you actually try playing the game for yourself, and you find it is an aggravating trainwreck for most of the journey. For most of the game, you are constantly being chased or hounded by something, whether it be falling spikes from the ceiling, a wave of lava, a falling bridge or whatever, so you have to constantly keep running forward at all times, which is pretty hard to do considering all the different traps and obstacles that you only have a split-second to avoid, and needless to say, you won’t be avoiding most of them. A lot of the problems with the obstacles can be attributed to the game itself most of the time, but then this gets into the one thing that is probably the game’s biggest setback… the control.

Unlike most Sonic games, this game uses a trackball controller, where you will be constantly spinning the ball around to make Sonic and co. go in a specific direction, while also having a separate button to use to jump, and once again, in theory, this COULD work… but then you think about it more and see it in action, and you find out that isn’t necessarily the case. Given how fast Sonic is, you will be zipping around the areas you go through so goddamn much, and given how most of these areas have pits everywhere, you will have a hard time keeping track of yourself most of the time without falling off a ledge, especially in some of the later levels with very precarious bits. Of course, a lot of that is attributed to me using the arrow keys to control this game, but even back when I was playing this in the arcade, I remember struggling with it, since Sonic himself is a little too fast, and also, may I remind you, you have to CONSTANTLY be moving because something will always be hounding your ass!

Overall, despite the wonderful presentation and charm that is oozing out of every corner of this game, when you go to play it yourself, it then proves that under that lovely coat of paint is something that is just unbearably annoying, having very little variety in what you do throughout all the stages, being unforgiving with many of its obstacles, and having a control scheme that just doesn’t work out in the player’s favor. I would only recommend this for those of you who are huge Sonic fans, and you haven’t had the chance to play it for yourself, because if you haven’t, then by all means, give it a shot. You may just end up loving it, but as for me, I would much rather watch it then play it ever again. Also, what kind of name is SegaSonic the Hedgehog, anyway? We all know that Sega made Sonic, you don’t need to remind us of that. What’s next, are they gonna make SegaShinobi, or SegaChuChu Rocket, or SegaHouse of the Dead?......... also, rip Mighty and Ray, because they are probably never gonna be coming back after Sonic Mania Plus.

Game #549

Sonic the hedgehog 2 improves upon the first game to the point where this is a perfect game. All of levels are fun and memorable, the music is even better in this game than the first somehow, and the bosses are absolutely perfect.

On top of this, the level design is much better than sonic 1, there so many more routes to take and the world's just feel SO much bigger. Also, every boss in sonic 2 was very fun to beat, especially the death egg robot. I was stuck on this boss for an hour at least, you need to fight two very hard bosses back to back with ZERO rings, so it's a little hard.

Although despite it being extremely challenging I would be lying if I said that this boss wasn't one of the best in all of gaming history. I highly recommend this game to anyone and everyone, I hope sonic 3 continues this trend of being better than your predecessor but after playing this I highly doubt anything can top this.

The original Crash Team Racing is about as close to perfection in the genre as you can get. A surprisingly comprehensive single-player campaign with hub worlds, boss fights and extra challenges, a soundtrack consistently better than the original platformer trilogy it's based on (listen to Dragon Mines, N Gin Labs or Cortex Castle and challenge me on that) and deep intricate mechanics like Reserves and Sacred Fire that can be used to blitz through tracks without ever encroaching on the enjoyment of a casual player.

As good as the best Mario Kart games are, (and they're very good!) they simply can't compete with CTR in my opinion. Nintendo would never allow the kind of deep gameplay provided by the aforementioned Sacred Fire mechanics for irrational fear of alienating casual players - as a matter of fact they'd fight against it. (And already have by toning down powersliding mechanics in recent games.) They also wouldn't design tracks with so many shortcuts, intentional and not baked into their layouts. Watch a speedrun of this game and watch runners absolutely take apart tracks like Papu's Pyramid or Hot Air Skyway, it's immense, and almost entirely down to the player's own skill.

If Crash Team Racing is an almost flawless kart racer, then CTR: Nitro-Fueled is similarly an almost flawless remake. Literally all it does is visually update the games and add tons more content, as any decent remake should do. Almost everything mechanically is left pristinely preserved, even if a few of the original's cooler glitches are sadly and understandably smoothed over. It's insane the lengths they went to to add new characters to this game, the villains from Crash Nitro Kart are here, Spyro is here, the fucking dancing girls from the win screen are here??? The game was supported for a surprisingly long time after its release with free new characters, tracks and cosmetics, it has about as much content as you could possibly ask for from a game of its kind.

Really the only thing holding it back from being perfect was its lackluster online matchmaking/systems at launch and Activision's general bullshittery - adding what were basically lootboxes to the game after previously promising they wouldn't before launch.

The game's a bit dead now, and I think that's a bit sad - because I don't think it ever got the recognition it deserves. As far as remakes go, I think it deserves to be held up alongside the Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy 7 Remakes as one of the best ever. Online may be barren now, but it will still and forever be worth a purchase for the sheer amount of single-player content it has to offer. Huge recommend.

Completed as part of the Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the Nintendo GameCube.

Boss order: Magnet Man, Hard Man, Top Man, Shadow the Hedgehog Man, Spark Man, Snake Man, Gemini Man, Needle Man.

Oh boy, it's more Mega Man! Some would even say it's the most Mega Man since Mega Man 2. Although the formula is very much the same as it was for the last two games, Mega Man 3 does introduce a few new elements to keep things fresh: the slide, Proto Man, and Rush. You know what that means? I finally get to talk about a good Mega Man game.

Although the levels, Robot Masters, and weapon powers are overall less memorable than those of the previous two games, I think Mega Man 3 makes significant improvements to stage design and difficulty balancing. There's much fewer cheap shots taken against the player, some (generally) better checkpointing, and the slide is fun to use both in the context of level design and as a utility move to gain extra momentum on jumps and slip under projectiles. Speaking of things that are just more fun, Rush is a perfect replacement for Mega Man's tools. First of all, he's a big goofy dog, so that's already a mark in his favor. Second, jumping on his back and launching yourself with a spring or riding Rush around like a hoverboard feels better than fussing around with the magnet beam or Mega's stupid little platforms from 2.

Wily's castle is also better than it was in the last two games. Each stage is fairly concise, and the gimmicks therein range from enjoyable to inoffensive. My only real gripe is that getting a game over during the boss rush sent me all the way back to the start of the castle. To be fair, in some bizarre recognition of how shitty that is, Capcom rains extra lives down upon you during these levels, which... I mean, I guess that's one way to address it? My second run went very smoothly, however, and I had so many lives and E-tanks by the end that I was able to brute force my way to the credits. Mega Man 3 also subverts the player's expectation by not sending them to Wily's castle immediately after defeating the eight Robot Masters. Instead, you have to run through four previously completed levels first and take out Robot Masters from the last two games along the way. While this initially caused me to groan, I actually found these remixed levels to be some of the strongest out of the entire game, but maybe I'm just a sucker for "hard mode" versions of levels I'm familiar with. I did buy the hard mode DLC for Sonic 2006, after all. I'm a sick freak.

If I had one thing to hold against Mega Man 3, it's that the rock-paper-scissors design of the weapon powers and Robot Masters is even more baffling than it's ever been. Magnet missiles are useful against Hard Man. Ok, I get that. He's a big guy who is visibly made out of dense metal, so magnets would stick to him. Snake Man is weak to Shadow Blades, though? Is the implication that you could just like, cut a snake in half if you had something sharp? Hey, what do you think shadows would be weak to? Probably the Spark Shot, because electricity can be used to create light and illuminate a room. IT'S SPINNING TOPS!? ARE YOU KIDDING, AM I BEING PRANKED!? WHY ARE TOPS WEAK TO FISTS, THIS DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS TO ME I DONT UNDERSTAND

Anyway, I'm just kinda mad that I had to start the game over because I could not make heads or tails of any of this. That's why my boss order is straight up what the first Google result is for "best Mega Man 3 boss order." The Proto Man fights are also pretty weak, he just runs back and forth taking shots at you with his buster, so a lot of his presence here gets by on how cool his character design is and that dope whistle theme.

Anyway, it's been a long week. If any of you need me, I'm going to be hanging out at Top Man's grow-op.

The star of the Wii U. A shame it won't be supported forever because it deserves to be. Inarguably a series that was best experienced with the gamepad.
Wonderfully varied maps, a fun sense of movement and creativity, amazingly memorable aesthetics.
If they hadn't figured out modes like Salmon Run for the sequels there really wouldn't be much reason to play them over this one since this one was already so perfect.

Best idols too!

I played this game specifically to spite people in a Discord server who were saying it's bad in one sitting to 100% because I will not take slander towards this absolute gem of a game. Mario 64 isn't perfect. Rainbow Ride is mid, the bosses aren't anything special, some of the stars are tedious as hell and exiting a stage every time you get a star gets monotonous after a while. But despite those issues everything from the controls, to (most of) the levels, to the music, to even the visual style for being one of the first N64 games is absolutely stellar. There's a reason why this game is the golden standart for 3D platformers, and why it's remained that for so long.

prior to playing pikmin 2, i had only heard undying praise for it. i knew that it was a fan favorite--not a single peep about it being known as hit or miss. i absolutely adored pikmin 1, so needless to say i was overjoyed to continue experiencing these wonderfully unique games, unaware of the fact that this is the most divisive title in the series

initially, i was intrigued by the lack of the time limit that shaped the first entry's gameplay loop, but i soon realized that the absence of this feature gave me no motivation to keep moving forward--something i found to be an essential part of the first game. however, i don't think that adding a time limit to any or all parts of the game would magically improve it, as the lack of one goes hand in hand with the problems i have with its core design

where pikmin 1 chose to combine micromanagement with skillfully crafted level design, pikmin 2 takes a bold 180 and introduces dungeon-crawling. the caves are an interesting addition and quite exciting at first, having some structure but being largely characterized by random elements. nevertheless, their soulless nature quickly shows itself.

speaking as a big fan of roguelikes and games with roguelike elements, the randomness of pikmin 2's caves feels more like a shallow attempt to change the gameplay loop for the sake of change rather than a well-thought-out, meaningful shift that (better) suits the gameplay. pikmin 1 resonated with me because it has such elegantly crafted level design. both games allow for multiple solutions to the same problem but random enemy placement and level layouts feel at odds with the groundwork that the first game laid out.

the caves, especially the later ones (namely the dream den), drag on for far too long and are a great example of why i think that quantity hardly equates to quality within games.

the strong focus on caves robbed the overworld of its charm, and the lack of a time limit took away my incentive to collect (albeit cool) treasure, at least past the milestone of repaying the entirety of the debt.

towards the end of my playthrough, i was constantly audibly frustrated and desperate to move onto 3, a sharp contrast to my experience with the latter half of 1. the final boss was especially exhausting, as i beat it on my first try but it dragged on for what felt like hours

i think that the dynamic music, addition of boss music, and improvements to quality of life are all great. i love purple and white pikmin they are so soooo silly but pikmin 2 is probably the most disappointing game i've ever played because i had such high hopes for it after becoming completely enamored with 1. it polishes up some jank and adds some neat new stuff but it also strips away what makes the first game so engaging to me

i respect this game's attempts to innovate on the pikmin formula, especially when so many game series prefer to play it safe and fear taking risks, but new doesn't always equal good/better. i can kinda see the appeal of this game's design and its chaotic nature but i guess they thought it was new year's eve because they totally dropped the baaaaaaaaall

Written September 17, 2011

For the past 9 months I have been playing Borderlands. After acquainting myself with its niches and quirks, playing through all of the Downloadable content, searching for the best guns, grenade mods, shields, abilities, fighting through every boss, and doing the best I can to defeat the single most difficult enemy in the entire game (it's impossible to do it on your own), I can now comfortably review Borderlands in its entirety. Though it can be played as a single-player game, Borderlands is best enjoyed with at least one other person. Playing by yourself is the least interesting way to play Borderlands and is not recommended at all. Part of the fun of the game comes with dicking around with teammates and making wise cracks at your friends about how much they suck at the game. I'm serious.

Gameplay
I have been known to describe Borderlands as the inverse of Fallout. While Fallout is mostly an RPG with Shooter elements, Borderlands and mostly a Shooter with RPG elements. And that's where the comparisons to Fallout end. Borderlands is quite unique in its execution of gameplay. It's a fast paced Shooter with a fair share of explosions, vehicles, alien creature things, Challenges for killing X alien creature things or killing X enemies with X type of guns, class-specific skills, leveling, and Critical Hits. The game controls much like a Call of Duty title, in terms of button layout on the XBOX 360 controller (and yes, I only reviewed the XBOX 360 version. Owning multiple copies of the same exact game on different systems is for people who hate having fun), and needless to say it works. The only thing that would be new to a CoD player would be the Action Skill, which is Class-specific and bound to the Left Bumper, and the D-Pad used for weapon swapping between (up to) 4 equipped weapons.

Each class has his or her own Action Skill. The Soldier deploys a turret that, with upgrades can shoot a barrage of bullets, shoot rockets, heal players, regenerate ammo, and help up a downed ally. The Siren's Action Skill turns her invisible, allowing her to move at an incredible speed through enemies. She can also use the skill to attack an enemy with a Force Push-like melee attack. The Hunter summons a Bloodwing (which is a very deadly bird) that attacks an enemy by basically mauling their face off. The Berserker's Action Skill will not only heal him, but cause him to -- you know, go berserk. In Berserk mode, you can run up to people and punch them in the face repeatedly until they go plop. Each action skill can also be upgraded to have elemental effects from Artifacts.

Guns can also have elemental damage. Every gun you find in the game is randomly generated on the spot (except for a few key weapons, but even then those have variations). In addition to the random chance for certain guns to have scopes, or large magazines, or low recoil, they also have a chance of doing elemental damage. Every gun has their own manufacturer and each manufacturer has their own special rules to their guns. For example, Maliwan only manufactures elemental guns, while Jakobs never manufactures elemental weapons. Certain manufacturers will have certain styles, like white guns from Atlas, or red guns from Hyperion. Often times I simply can't find the a gun with the specs I'm looking for, but once I do, I never let go... Until of course I find a better one.

Grenades and shields also have their own traits based on the manufacturer. There are various grenade types, though Transfusions are very helpful in stealing enemy health to replenish your own. Additionally, healing shields are good, but often times have low amounts of actual shielding. There are also class mods that can add to your Class' skills depending on the type of Class Mod.

Story
The story is nothing special and isn't really necessary to enjoy the game, but I could never feel like I was actually part of the Borderlands universe. Missions are given and you can accept them, but any backstory is written in text, and this being a fast paced shooter and all, I simply couldn't be bothered to do that. All I ever really did was go to where the checkpoint told me to go, finish the checklist, return to the quest giver, and collect my rewards. I never even knew why I was doing the missions or for what reason they needed to be done, I just did them. No, I will not go so far as to say that it's a social commentary on how people will take any job so long as there is a reward. I will not excuse Gearbox for not including a "Read This Text To Me Because I'm a Lazy Bum" option.

Downloadable Content
There are 4 pieces of DLC for Borderlands. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, and Claptrap's New Robot Revolution. A main issue I have with the DLCs is the pure lack of a Fast Travel system I had grown accustomed to using throughout the main game. Monotony is an understatement here. There is nothing I enjoy less than traveling for 15 minutes in a video game to pick up a quest, only so I can travel 15 minutes back to do the quest, and then another 15 minutes to hand it in. Then there's Mad Moxxi's lack of a save feature, forcing you to either complete the round, or be forced to restart that entire Colosseum. Not to mention that an entire Colosseum play through of just 5 rounds can last a good 3-4 hours. And the "It Stopped Being Cool 50 minutes ago" Moxxi theme song doesn't help. To be entirely honest, the only reason I bought Moxxi was because of the Bank feature which lets you store some of your items. Oh, and you get no experience for killing enemies either, so if you thought Moxxi would be a good, easy way of leveling up, you were wrong.

Verdict
As long as you have someone else to play with and go 50-50 on the DLC (unless you're not like me and waited for the Game of the Year Edition, and in that case I hate you), I recommend Borderlands and most of its DLC. The game can be fun if played with others and is satisfying when your weapons don't suck.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 feels bad, looks bad, sounds bad too (uh-huh, that's right).

About the only positive thing Episode 1 did was trigger a mass discussion about Sonic's physicality in the Genesis games, and this deeper analysis of what made them feel so good to play is (I believe) part of what made Sonic Mania so marketable years later. It also resulted in the phrase "momentum based gameplay" getting played out to the point of derision. I've seen people make the argument in the years since Episode 1's release that a 2D Sonic game doesn't need to replicate the physics of the Genesis era, and they're not wrong even if I think it should be part and parcel with a game billing itself as the fourth entry in that specific series. However, Sonic 4's physics are so bad that the lack of momentum directly interferes with the level design and platforming. Muscle memory makes me release my thumb from the d-pad, but Sonic drops like a rock into a pit of spikes. That feels bad no matter what the game is called.

Like, yes, the expectation is there and Sonic 4 is certainly worse for it, but even if you called it by another name, it just isn't good. The reuse of old level themes, badniks, and bosses felt cheap at the time, clearly playing to an audience Sonic Team didn't really know how to cater to beyond surface-level nods. The in-game explanation for Bubbles and other badniks being around is essentially "Dr. Robotnik ran out of fuckin' money," an almost perfect allegory for Sonic Team and Dimps hitting their creative bottom, destitute of ideas.

This desperate pandering went on to define the series for such a long time after, best exemplified by the incessant trotting out of Green Hill game after game. Though I hate to evoke Mania again, it is the game to get this right, and that was the result of bringing in outside blood that actually knew what pieces Sonic Team was missing. Perhaps the comparison is a cheap way to further denigrate a game and developer that has been thoroughly run through the mud, but it's also taken them 13 years to stop reusing old Zones, so I don't really care.

And you all know that already, because Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is nearly as infamous as Sonic 2006 and Sonic Boom. It's a well-covered laughing stock, wrung so dry of content that it is as brittle as the bones I'm now sucking marrow from. Sonic standing perfectly parallel to the ground with his feet glued to a wall is an image that will outlive me.