This game has got the classic charm from classic Puyo games and a bright almost sickening neon artstyle which I absolutely adore. However it practically boasting how it is now in 3D with gross 3D puyos and its abysmally short length in story mode hold it down a bit. However, this did introduce Fever mode, which for my money is easily the most fun Puyo mode. By carefully balancing your chains and garbage you can enter a "fever pitch" which lets you rapid fire chaining and really lay the hurt in. Also, this OST is like injecting a pixie stick into you're blood veins.

Legends is an absolute joy to experience as a fan of this series for practically my entire life. And while it isn't the perfect direction for the series, it lands the leaps it takes far more than it misses.

Legends takes place in ancient Sinnoh, then called Hisui region, and tasks the player to hunt every species of Pokemon. A simple premise but one that it executes incredibly effectively. Removing the battle progression and focusing on the Gym and Elite Four plot line means the game is entirely centered on the Pokemon themselves, how they interact, how they sleep, where they choose to live, etc. As a result, Pokemon display more personality than ever before, really selling these funny guys as living things better than any game prior.

As for said Pokemon, it's a fairly mixed bag in my opinion. The new Hisuian Rock Fire Arcanine for example, has quickly become one of my favorite Pokemon of all time. As well as the dopey yet powerful Ursaluna. Pokemon this game can feel incredibly inspired and unique, such as a rocky Kleavor or new Electrode, which completely redefines the Pokemon. But others, like Sneasler and the new force of nature Enamours just feel awkward and I can't say I am a fan.

The game's story is aight. It's nothing spectacular and the truly great stuff is saved towards the very tail end of the story, unless you're a Pokemon lore nut. In that case it's a joy throughout naturally.

The gameplay itself is fluid and promotes a great cycle of grabbing materials on the fly, to craft on the fly, to keep catching Pokémon without having to stop. I do take issues with combat however. Simply put, it's heavily flawed and imbalanced. It's based on speed, and the faster you are the more times a Pokémon can attack in a row. This means the fast Pokemon basically just outclass any Pokemon that's slower than average. Some pokemon, like Electrode can get up to 4 attacks in a row while Golem will never get more than 1. It's a good thing this is a single player game. This game completely reworked every move, status, and mechanic in the series and while it works for this game I don't love every change and cutting hundreds of moves certainly became noticeable overtime.

As for visuals, plain and simple it is very very ugly. The music is wonderful however, and every gen 4 lit motif and call back had me smiling like an idiot.

Overall, this game really does everything the hype says it does. It's a fantastic game that took 70 hours to fly by. It's just, pure fun man! And I cannot wait to see where this series goes in the future.

18.5 is easily one of the most fun touhou games I have had the pleasure to play through. This one is far different than most, focusing on randomly generated stages and a random boss at the end of each. In these stages you earn two types of currency, which are used for ability cards, each granting a special buff, passive, or move to use in that run. There is also the addition of the Magic Circle, which will freeze bullets for a period of time, allowing you to attack patterns in special ways.
18.5 is an absolute blast, its super fun to just hop on and play a few rounds, hop off, and then come back a bit later. I do think it suffers from being a bit bare in content, there could def be a few more enemy patterns and bosses, but other than that super fun.