Helldivers is without a doubt one of the most fun, frantic, and chaotic multiplayer games I've ever played. To successfully pull off your missions, total cooperation and communication is required between your teammates. Unfortunately, me and my friends do not have these abilities and so we usually end up screaming at each other, shooting each other, and barely making it out alive of every single level.

The game-play is seen at a birds eye view POV, however feels just as good and often even more frantic than many first person shooters I've played. Enemies are near constantly trailing close behind you, giving you no time to cool off ever. You need to constantly manage when to shoot and especially when to reload while also keeping track of your objectives as well as pulling them off. You'll also need to find time to call down one of this games core combat mechanics: stratagems. With these you can call in extra ammo, guns, bombs, and any gear you might need along your mission, however it is very easy to kill your team mates with these stratagems, which leads me into another amazing part of this game.

FRIENDLY FIRE IS ACTIVE ON EVERYTHING. everything you do WILL kill you AND your teammates. you will probably die an equal number of times to your own teammates as you do to your enemies, and its absolutely awesome. it contributes so much to the hectic feel of the game and really makes every match play out in mass panic as you try to not instantly die to everything that happens.

Unfortunately There is not really a proper campaign or story to this game, but the multiplayer is infinitely re-playable and seems to never really get old. Though Helldivers 2 is out now, there is still a decently active community online, and I'd still strongly recommend giving this game a shot if you ever find it on sale.

Pep's Detective Deep Dive - Game 6
This was... something different. Rather than the usual "investigating a murder after the fact" murder mystery, Case Of The Golden Idol presents a static scene to you, and it's up to you to point-and-click your way to the truth of what exactly is going on in the story.

Clicking highlighted areas of interest presents you with a series of words, and you use these words to fill in the gaps of an incomplete "scroll", giving you the story. Seems simple at first, but as the game progresses it can get fiendishly difficult as the story spirals and some parts left me genuinely stumped. If you're really struggling there's a hint system available, but I never used it.

The only real thing stopping me from giving this a higher mark is that the story kind of fizzles out by the end, and I was left slightly let down by it. However, there's a 1970s-set sequel on the way so I'll be looking into that.

An interesting concept done very well, I definitely recommend this if you're looking for a different kind of mystery game.

worth noting that I'm replaying this for the first time in, like, 6 years and experiencing this as the definitive series version on steam deck, so any thoughts relating to experiencing the game beyond story and writing will be saved for that one big log. also gonna be spoiling!!

but man, despite remembering every single beat of this I'm kinda taken aback by how good it holds up. characterisation is insanely good; Lee, Larry, Carley, Kenny, Lily, all feel like such strong, deep characters already -- all performed incredibly well and carry a lot of weight. I like just about everybody anyways, but there's some genuinely impressive stuff between these guys.
the decision to deal with a suicidal woman does feel like it has a real emotional impact to it -- one of the dialogue options being "God bless you"? it's just sad. really easy to empathise with Lee and his family situation too, I dunno, that kinda thing just has gravity now that I'm not a dumb teenager.

it's still a little labourious, I do dislike how anti-streamlined this is to get through for someone replaying it, with the pre-pharmacy stuff really feeling like an introductory running on a tad too long, but it's definitely worth it overall. excited to see how I find the rest of season one now.

When i started playing this game i was not expecting it to be anything great to the nature of other rabbids games. I certainly was not expecting it to be an awesome 2D platformer with tons of charm and awesome gameplay. the game uses the touch screen controls a lot yet it uses them well and remains fun, despite the clunkyness at times. The games humour is actually great and made me laugh out loud a few times, and it more than makes up for the lack of any real story. My favourite thing about this game though would have to be the earburstingly loud parody music that's constantly being sung by rabbids. Overall its just a really fun, great game and i think on of the DS's best.

So uh, I think this might end up being the year of Mario Kart for me. Idk why but I feel like playing and reviewing them all. Besides Double Dash as I don't own it and can't run it on my craptop. Either way, 64 was one of the big Mario Kart games I missed alongside Double Dash. I really don't know why I never picked this up years ago, cuz after finally playing it, I just know I would have had a blast playing it with friends.

In terms of controls and how your kart feels, this is miles better than Super I think. The drifting doesn't feel like ass anymore and is pretty solid here. Though, it can be a little tricky to pull off and you can spin out if you don't constantly move the control stick, however it feels pretty nice. Honestly a lot of the time you don't even need to drift as you can turn really well without it, and the courses for the most part don't require drifting. This is a huge plus from Super I think.

Another big improvement is the track design. The courses are now fully 3D and they're just so much more fun to play through. There's a couple I'm not the biggest fan of (I'm looking at you Toad's Turnpike and Yoshi Valley) but in general, this is a very solid selection. Also every stage is distinct and doesn't share the same 5 or 6 level themes like Super did so that's a massive improvement.

The items are also improved tho they can be sort of weird. The red shells are actually super effective in this game, as long as they don't hit a wall. Banana bunches come in 5's now, which I found interesting as this is the only Mario Kart game I've played so far which does that. Shells now rotate around you. The addition of other items like the gold mushroom or blue shell are also very nice. But getting these items can be kinda weird. There were a handful of instances where I was in 2nd place and I was just handed stars and lightning bolts which is just really OP. It's weird but I wasn't complaining because the AI in this game can be brutal

I played on every CC (except for Mirror Mode) and got every gold cup, and the CPU's on 150cc can be brutal. In general, the rubber-banding in this game is nuts but on 150cc, a couple wrong moves can completely screw you over unless you get lucky. This combined with the fact you can spin out way easier, made 100cc the ideal engine class to play on. With friends tho, I'm sure 150 is a blast.

That's another thing, I played this alone. I wasn't able to play battle mode but from what I've seen, it looks like an absolute blast. I'm only judging it from videos, but I can say it's definitely a solid battle mode when compared to other Mario Kart games. That plus the actual racing, and I'm sure if I played this when I was younger I'd love it more. I think a big part in me giving it a 7 and not anything lower despite some gripes is my nostalgia for the N64. Even despite not playing it until this year, it does bring me back to the 2013/2014 days where the N64 was my favorite console. I just love the aesthetic what can I say.

So yeah I'm pretty happy I ended up enjoying this game as I thought the controls would be way worse tbh. Back then, I played Diddy Kong Racing and didn't vibe with it much so I figured this would have the same fate. Or maybe I just need to play Diddy Kong Racing again cuz I was probably wrong back then lol. Either way, solid Mario Kart and a big improvement from Super for sure!

a little quaint but very much a beautiful work of art that i adore. i had a conversation with a friend about how brain rotting fortnite is and it deeply depresses me that hardly anyone touches this masterpiece. the puzzles are challenging but never impossible, even an idiot like me was able to complete it without a single use of any guide. playing it made me realize this must be an amazing game to experience as a kid; puzzle solving, keeping track and caring for another that helps your patience and to completely immerse yourself in a mostly quiet ambience. some moments of silence that is elevated with a rush of ocean wind should not only be much appreciated in video games but also in todays world especially with how chaotic everything has been (i sound dumb as hell but i hope my point comes across).

It's Star Wars-flavoured Dark Souls, essentially.

A pretty simple "go here to get this thing" story, with a cast of interesting characters and fun set-pieces. Weirdly, even as someone who has played all of the Soulsborne games I really struggled with the combat at points. Still, it's a fun ride, Merrin is a cutie and the final chapter is a blast.

I've heard that Survivor improves on this in every way so I'm looking forward to playing that (now that they've fixed the bugs).