Dunkarooni
Bio
Designer/Creative Director. Grew up playing video games obsessively, haven't stopped.
Review scores have been inflated over the years so I rate as follows:
10 - Masterpiece
9 - Phenomenal
8 - Amazing
7 - Great
6 - Good
5 - Average
4 - Not Good
3 - Bad
2 - Awful
1 - Abysmal
Designer/Creative Director. Grew up playing video games obsessively, haven't stopped.
Review scores have been inflated over the years so I rate as follows:
10 - Masterpiece
9 - Phenomenal
8 - Amazing
7 - Great
6 - Good
5 - Average
4 - Not Good
3 - Bad
2 - Awful
1 - Abysmal
Badges
1 Years of Service
Being part of the Backloggd community for 1 year
GOTY '23
Participated in the 2023 Game of the Year Event
Gamer
Played 250+ games
N00b
Played 100+ games
Favorite Games
407
Total Games Played
000
Played in 2024
036
Games Backloggd
Recently Reviewed See More
I'm well aware that I'm in the minority when I say this game did not click with me.
The story and characters were very engaging. The environments were breathtaking. But the gameplay felt so dull to me. All I remember of my several hours of trying to stick with this game is running through areas with very little freedom, hacking away at some enemies, to be rewarded with loot that felt minuscule in it's impact. The interesting parts of the gameplay were so sparse between each other, that I had to purposefully decide to keep playing it, which I ultimately failed on.
I understand why people love this game as the recipe for a masterpiece is in there, but it's hampered by gameplay that brought little satisfaction or did anything to set itself apart from countless action games before it.
5/10
The story and characters were very engaging. The environments were breathtaking. But the gameplay felt so dull to me. All I remember of my several hours of trying to stick with this game is running through areas with very little freedom, hacking away at some enemies, to be rewarded with loot that felt minuscule in it's impact. The interesting parts of the gameplay were so sparse between each other, that I had to purposefully decide to keep playing it, which I ultimately failed on.
I understand why people love this game as the recipe for a masterpiece is in there, but it's hampered by gameplay that brought little satisfaction or did anything to set itself apart from countless action games before it.
5/10
Breath of the Wild does one thing better than every other game before it - creating a sense of adventure in the player. I can only count on one hand the number of games that have made me feel pure child-like adventure and discovery like this game has.
Above all, that is the one feeling I constantly chase in video games. A feeling of adventure. BOTW is able to deliver that in every moment. Simply being in Hyrule gives a sense of freedom and peace that I can't quite describe. On my way to one destination, I find five more that I want to go explore. Like a kid in a candy store.
I could dive into more specifics. I could talk about whether the weapon durability is good or not, or if the lack of dungeons is a bad thing or not. But I don't have anything to say that hasn't been beat to death already.
This game makes me feel emotions that no other piece of art from any medium ever has. It's hard to boil that down to words or numbers.
This is my favorite world to be in. This is my favorite game I've ever played.
10/10
Above all, that is the one feeling I constantly chase in video games. A feeling of adventure. BOTW is able to deliver that in every moment. Simply being in Hyrule gives a sense of freedom and peace that I can't quite describe. On my way to one destination, I find five more that I want to go explore. Like a kid in a candy store.
I could dive into more specifics. I could talk about whether the weapon durability is good or not, or if the lack of dungeons is a bad thing or not. But I don't have anything to say that hasn't been beat to death already.
This game makes me feel emotions that no other piece of art from any medium ever has. It's hard to boil that down to words or numbers.
This is my favorite world to be in. This is my favorite game I've ever played.
10/10
Sonic Frontiers doubled down on what always resonated with me the most about the Sonic franchise - fast, fluid, expressive movement.
By segmenting the open world areas into bite-size obstacle courses rather than locking players into longer, linear levels, that expression in movement shines. There are only a handful of games that feel as good to move around in as this one does.
Although this game succeeds in the movement department, it severely lacks in the other area that made me love Sonic - style. The environments in this game are very uninspired and feel like some generic mix of Breathe of the Wild and Nier: Automata. It's hard to believe that a series known for some of its unique and recognizable locales, could be confused for any other generic adventure title if you just looked at some screenshots.
The music is fantastic as always. The boss fights are really fun and give a great sense of power. And the story is unusually good and nuanced for a Sonic title.
Overall, this is definitely a good step in the right direction for Sonic moving forward. I just hope they learn to bring back some of the style and attitude that made Sonic so fun to begin with.
7.5/10
By segmenting the open world areas into bite-size obstacle courses rather than locking players into longer, linear levels, that expression in movement shines. There are only a handful of games that feel as good to move around in as this one does.
Although this game succeeds in the movement department, it severely lacks in the other area that made me love Sonic - style. The environments in this game are very uninspired and feel like some generic mix of Breathe of the Wild and Nier: Automata. It's hard to believe that a series known for some of its unique and recognizable locales, could be confused for any other generic adventure title if you just looked at some screenshots.
The music is fantastic as always. The boss fights are really fun and give a great sense of power. And the story is unusually good and nuanced for a Sonic title.
Overall, this is definitely a good step in the right direction for Sonic moving forward. I just hope they learn to bring back some of the style and attitude that made Sonic so fun to begin with.
7.5/10