AW2 is without a doubt of the best games of 2023 and to be honest I can only describe it with one word: love.

The love Remedy has put into this game is astounding, the level of details and care for certain things can only be achieved when the people who work on a game are really passionate about it and do believe in the project.

Ilkka Villi, Melanie Liburd and our boy Sam Lake have put on an AMAZING perfomance.

In-engine cutscenes and real life ones are mixed to perfection, the switch between one and the other are always smooth and fit the mood so well.

The game is creepy and in some cases really spooky, especially during Initiation.

I will not discuss anything further because even the smallest sentence could spoil some scenes so I'll keep my mouth shut.

AW2 still has some things that could be improved like perfomances and a lack of a NG+ which, on a survival horror, is quite essential; the first is probably going to be fixed in future patches, the latter has already been confirmed so I really don't have anything negative to say about it.

I encountered quite a few bugs with some items i couldn't pick up if I didn't set the camera in a very specific way, mostly during the last 5 chapters.

I would really love to discuss the finale but I want to keep this review short, straight to the point and spoiler free: I'll just say I can't wait to know what the DLCs will bring to the table.

Overall my vote is a 9.85 out of 10, it really is "a work of art" :)

Edit: a friend of mine has made me notice how I didn't credit both Matthew Porretta and James McCaffrey for their performances as VAs. He is right. To make amend I will bump this game from a 9.8/10 to a 9.85/10

At first I was a tad bit worried about this game, because I've played all the 2D Mario games and a few quite recently. The one thing that bugs me is not liking the NEW Super Mario Bros series of games due to how they feel the same and some even reuse nearly ever asset of the prior games. This was my fear when they announced the game and that fear kinda stayed due to me never watching things past the first trailer. Pretty much 10 mins into the game, I knew my worries were unfounded.

This game is absolutely beautiful. I can't even think of another game that uses this art style exactly, but the closest may just be the Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe game. The graphics are spot on and feel like they have a sort of clay or toy look to it, and the game is absolutely riddled with VFX all over it to create stunning transitions and whimsical effects. As I kept playing, I found myself reminded of Super Mario World (based on the game's structure and gameplay) and Super Mario Land 2 (based on the character/enemy models and creativity) Enemies, characters, background, foreground and the world itself has vivid animations and the game feels lively from start to end.

Speaking of lively, the music is pretty unique in spots. some of the music is remixed with a deeper or extended feel, while some levels have their own songs not related to the past games, which is impressive considering how much music the whole series has. If I had to compare the music, I found myself comparing it to the music Camelot used to produce for Golden Sun as well as the Mario sports games. Something I had a slight worry for was the voice acting...not that Mario as a series ever had a lot if barely any voice acting, but this was Nintendo's first game in YEARS not using Charles Martinet (the G.O.A.T.) for Mario and Luigi, so I worried a bit of how it was gonna sound...aaaaand? The new voice actors did an amazing job, everyone sounds just like they should and in some cases a bit better. Apparently almost everyone got a voice change, but to be honest it's barely noticeable and it's not, because they tried to be sound-alikes, but most of the cast haven't had new voice clips since the Gamecube era and some even longer, yet they did an amazing job with everyone.

Usually I would explain the story, but that's one spot that didn't really improve much. The story isn't bad, but it's what it is usually for Mario...Bowser does something that Mario and group has to fix and this time no Peach kidnapping, otherwise standard affair and done as well as in the past.

While the story didn't change, the gameplay kinda did in certain ways. You're given 12 characters: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy (my girl), Blue Toad, Yellow Toad, and Toadette are all the normal characters you can choose that honestly don't play any different from each other, so it's just cosmetic. Green Yoshi, Red Yoshi, Yellow Yoshi, Blue Yoshi and Nabbit all act as a sort of Easy Mode and don't take damage when hit and the Yoshi's play much like they do in Yoshi's Island while Nabbit is just faster than most the characters. Easy Mode characters can't transform or use an of the power ups. The new transformations and power ups are actually pretty fun, but the main event of the game is the Wonder Flower which warps the stages and different ways and adds a dreamy effect to everything. The amount of effects are waaay too verified to list. You also collect Wonder Seeds that let you progress through the different levels akin to the Power Stars in Super Mario 64. Overall the gameplay is fun and the controls are as tight as a Mario game can get and the feeling is enhanced by the Badge system which let's you equip a badge and gives you different effects such as flutter jump, parachute, and more. This is pretty much the answer to not giving each "Normal" characters abilities so you can use whoever you like and let the badges adjust how you play. Also the game has an Online Mode where you can play with a group of friends in a room or just play online with other people in "ghost" mode where you see them playing too and have very minimal interactions, but can still help each other in way such as recovering from death or dropping items and pointing out secrets to help each other. It's a very underrated system they should keep, as it has the same kind of community feel as Dark Souls or Elden Ring.

So yeah, that was a lot of praise, but does it have any issues in my eyes?

- I feel like Nintendo could have made Green Yoshi a "Normal" character, and give use the default Toad as a "Normal" character and move the Blue and Yellow Toad over to the "Easy Mode" characters. As I said before Yoshi plays much like he does in Yoshi's Island so he could have used all the power ups and transformations in alternative ways, so there was no reason to not have one normally playable.

- 100% completion does nothing really. I know there's no rule that it HAS TO, but with how well everything was done and how fun it was, seems like a reward would have been nice.

Other than those very few nitpicks, I absolutely loved this game and had a smile the whole way through it, be it the game world, the music, or the community feel the online part has, this was an amazing game and I hope Nintendo keeps up this fun but weirdness.

If you've read my review of Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered then you'd know I originally wasn't a fan of Spider-Man as a character growing up all the way until playing that game, so I can only imagine how I would have felt knowing they would have another Spider-Man who isn't Peter Parker. I can't seem to remember how I felt about this game back when it was announced...I'm guessing indifferent since I had no intention on playing the original game. So on to Miles Morales!

I can't really add too much about this game that I hadn't said about Spider-Man Remastered. They use the same engine, combat is about the same, the world is about the same, Miles Morales plays as a sort of DLC/expansion to the first game, so the formula is about the same, but the parts that are different are the story, music and Miles' combat.

I'll go into combat first, when I did the review of Spider-Man Remastered, I had said that Miles Morales did do combat better, not that the formula for combat change, but while Pete was more of an acrobat and quick, Miles comes off as a bit more of a brawler and uses a bit more unique abilities to spice up combat in ways that kinda makes Spider-Man Remastered feel a little shallow. Miles' definitely gets the edge of being great to use in combat and during stealth sections of the game.

The story of the game at first feels like a truncated version of Spider-Man Remastered as in you'll see kinda familiar beats and things unfold in ways that feel kinda deja vu, but as time passes you'll see the two games have a very strong story but they hit intensity at different sections of their game, and Miles' Morales is just as fun and emotional driven, but I do feel like since Spider-Man Remastered is a longer game by far, it does allow growth of multiple characters, while Miles Morales focuses on a select few, but does it very well.

Lastly the music...this section won't be long, but it has a more hip-hop sound to the music as you play mixed in with a bit of Electronic/House music, so it stands out much more and I think fits better on those long swings from place to place.

So now the weakness...honestly like Spider-Man Remastered it has very few, the one that comes to mind is the game is a bit short, even if you get everything you're looking at between 10 to 15 hours at best, which I can't really say is bad since I played Spider-Man Remastered directly before this, but to other people that may be short and because of the shorter length, the story is tightly focused on it's select characters so there's that.

Otherwise this game is just as AMAZING and I feel flow together and shouldn't really be judged apart since they pretty much tell one story combined. Fantastic game.

Here's a series that I've been pretty back and forth about. I started with the original Mortal Kombat on Genesis then skipped all the way to Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance on GBA then to Mortal Kombat Armageddon on the Wii then played every Mortal Kombat game after that in order, which lead up to my favorite Mortal Kombat 11 and me loving it and wonder just how the series would continue after such a heavy reboot...ya know...after they just rebooted it a few games ago. I was SUPER hyped waiting for the next game and here it is.

Okay whew...that was a lot of explaining, but it had to be done because I hadn't reviewed one prior. Speaking of prior games, I don't think it would be much of a shock to say, this is the best looking Mortal Kombat game to date. I know the aim of most Triple A studios is to have the graphics or at least the cutscenes look as true to life as possible and I think MK1 nearly nails it. The more I played the game...or moreso watched it, the more I kept feeling like I was watching a real movie, and the game feels like at times it's like one coat of polish away from looking 100% real. The stages, the characters, the effects, everything looks really amazing and runs very smooth. Mortal Kombat has come a VERY long way since the first reboot.

I'm not gonna lie, Mortal Kombat to me has never really had memorable music to it save for the Genesis version of the first game, the rest always felt like background noise to me, and MK1 seems to be a good step up of mixing music well with the cinematics and the battles.
Although the best part of the game is the voice acting. Except for one character, all the others gave an extremely well done performance and it was great to see and hear characters who didn't play as big a role in the past, now stand in the forefront.

I'm not sure if I played or watched someone play Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, but I remember it having a chain command combo system, which seems to be the heavy importance of how this game plays. It kinda feels simplified for the most part but with subtle hints of a higher skill ceiling. I'm not great at fighting games, but this one felt semi comfortable and never felt stale. As someone who hates the "tag system" the Vs Capcom series uses, I believe MK1's Kameo system is probably the best version of that idea and keeps the gameplay fresh without becoming overwhelming. Like I said I'm far from an expert, so this is from a VERY casual player.

The story...the best part of the game by far. After the end of MK11 Aftermath I was already super ready for the new world of Mortal Kombat and in no way did this really disappoint at all. I feel it's a reboot done right. this story is filled to the brim with references to the past games and media of the franchise and spins some of the things on it's head to make something brand new, or makes things once non canon now canon. It must be played to be appreciated...I say "played" but really it must be watched, because, yeah this is a game, but story mode plays out like a movie with enough fights scenes so you don't forget it's a game. I can't count that as a negative, because I was so drawn into the story it was telling, I didn't realize I had been watching more than I was playing until about the halfway point. That says a lot for someone who played all the Metal Gear Solid games.

So does it have an issues?

- While it offers the best story ever, it lacks any of the extra stuff past MK games gave you to do outside the story. (Example: The Krypt in Armageddon.)

- It's not surprising to me, but the Fatalities feel like they were trying too hard to be shocking to the point they look kinda ridiculous at times and partially recycle past characters motions or actions.

Very few issues I have there and they weren't really issues as much as my own opinions. Ultimately I really enjoyed the story to this game and eagerly wait for the DLC story expansion as well as what MK2 has in store.

I loved so much of this game: the art design, music, level layouts, and combat all worked for me.

However. The heart of all RPGs, for me personally, lies in its cast, and the core three in Sea of Stars were not well characterized. I cannot think of a single thing that really distinguishes Zale and Valere from one another, and Garl is a saint. Friendships made of threes are often awkward and complex. Doubly so for childhood friendships where two are pre-selected to play a special role in their society. But they are all so unfailingly perfect and kind that it took me out of the high stakes of the story. The side characters were wonderful, but made how flat the core three were really stand out.

On the other hand, this was the perfect game to play when I came down with a bad cold! So I can definitely recommend it for that!