Starting off this year with a Zelda game, as I have been wanting to play one before Tears of the Kingdom comes out in May, and I thought why not go with the one that I haven't played through since it had came out in 2011. I remember liking the game for the most part and not really enjoying the backtracking that the game has you do. Having played through this game again, most of the same problems I had with the game back in 2011 are still present, backtracking, the sky being a big open area filled with nothing of note, and lack of being able to track side quests being some the major complaints that have. But I still had a great time overall with this game as it is the last traditional Zelda game developed and it was just what I was looking to play. I would give this game a shot if you are looking to try it out, as there are great qualities to this game, such as the combat, the multiple temples, and how lively the characters are in the game itself.

As a long time Sonic fan, the wait between this and Forces was dreadful. It's good to see that a lot of love and attention into making this game. The open world itself is a great base, but I definitely feel as if though it can be expanded upon (such as making the levels and open world area into one area, so that it is more seamless). While it may seem daunting at first with all of the collectables, players will eventually find out that they do not need to collect every single icon on the map. Combat in this game just feels like a natural evolution of the series and I'm honestly surprised that it took them this long to have this system in place. Control has been a big topic in my friend group, while I think that the controls in the over world are good enough (movement in the air still feels extremely stiff), the control in the levels are absolutely terrible. Trying to make the smallest movement, even when not boosting, is the hardest thing to do. Levels in this game are hit and miss, while they are re-treads of older levels, some are really fun to play in and some are either too short or just too bland. Music in this game is also, weirdly enough, a hit or miss as well. I am glad that they had brought back the lady that sang in some of the tracks in Sonic Forces, but where she isn't I think that other music for the levels are very forgettable. The over world music and the boss themes though, are an absolute joy to listen to. So calm to listen to for the over world, and the boss themes really get the blood pumping. They really help set the mood, and I love them for that. The writing in this game is phenomenal, I love all of the callbacks and references to the older games, it really just goes to show that whoever that they got to write the story this time knows what they are talking about. I am also happy to report that the games story while nothing crazy is very entertaining this time around, with everyone having well written dialogue and delivery. Other minor nitpicks are stuff like upgrading speed and ring capacity takes way too long, menus are a little too slow to navigate, and the pop-in on the overworld is VERY noticeable. Overall, I think that this game is a must play for Sonic fans. Even if you aren't a big Sonic fan and have been looking to try the series Frontiers is not a bad starting point.

This remake of Razion for the Neo-Geo, being a game that I have always wanted to try as I heard about how good of a shooter it was from its fans. Visually I can commend this game for its great use of colorful pixels, and the remake which adds really good scanlines to game which makes the pixels look like they would back in the day. Scanlines are something that I usually never give a game an up for especially when it is the default option, but the scanlines in this game are well implemented and when I originally saw screenshots for the game, I had thought that it was just part of how the game looked not something that could be turned on or off. In terms of the actual game, like some other shooters that I have played the progression is something to be desired. Instead of giving the player the option of turning on free play for the game, they instead have to unlock the credits for the game. Some people like it, as it allows them to spend more time with the game and learn the levels. Which is something that I did during my playthrough of the game, and very much enjoyed myself. I just would like the option to have a free play mode, as I actually find myself playing the game more with a freeplay option, which is why I do like other shooters such as the Psikyo collections and Shikhondo. But this is a small complaint overall, I just feel like it does slow the game down a bit for people who just want to experience the levels of this classic shooter. Don't let that dissuade you of how do this shooter actually is and give it a shot, as this game is very great visually and I didn't even touch the music (which is also great btw). The game is also very satisfying to play once you get the hang of how many shots it takes to kill an enemy, where to dodge and use your special shot. Great game for the price.

Being one of the, as of now, three PS5 exclusive games, I had wanted to give this game a shot since I haven't played a Ratchet game since Going Commando. While this game was a great experience overall, I had started to get bored with the game about half way through the game, as the game had started to repeat boss and enemy types. With the only factor that can change are the puzzles that the player can encounter and whether or not they are willing to experiment with different weapons. To this games strength though, the weapons and the platforming are the best part of the game. Although, the platforming did get to be a bit automated in some areas, and on top of that some major hand holding going on (even later in the game). it is very satisfying when the game does let the player test out and put into practice the mechanics that the game offers. Weapons are great to experiment with, almost everytime a new weapon had dropped in the store, I was already buying it and trying it out. Overall, a great game to get some good fun out of.

Being the sequel to the excellent Raiden IV, I had expected it to be more of the same. Great levels, weapons and music. While Raiden V is a great game in its own right, it does fail in some areas that make it pail in comparison to its predecessor. To get the positives out of the way, the levels are all great, they have great set pieces and enemies are also toned down while also still feeling like they put up a challenge. The weapon selection this time around is actually amazing. Tripling the amount of weapons that the player has access at the start of the game, is great. I had tried at least 5 of 9 different weapons across my two playthroughs of the game. There is also health for the ships shields in this game, as oppose to being one-hit in the previous games. Along with the bombs, to help do major damage and destroy bullets, there is also the cheer system (which is a meter that fills up over time, and allows the player to call in a partner ship for a limited time to boost fire power). As for the two major flaws that this game suffers, one is the way to progress through the stages and the second is the dialogue. To progress through the stages, the player has to have to have a high enough accuracy to get high enough ranks to progress to the right stages. While that doesn't really seem all that bad, it really forces the use of the lock-on laser so the accuracy doesn't go down all that much during stages (unless players get good with another weapon). Now for the bigger problem, the dialogue that happens in between each stage. As I mentioned at the beginning, music is usually a big plus for the games in the series, and I am fairly certain that of the small bits that I had heard from the breaks between dialogue that the praise for its would have been carried over from the other games as well. Unfortunately, due to the constant talking between characters they completely talk over the music and make it hard to hear it. On top of that the dialogue itself is extremely hard to hear due to how it is mixed with the rest of the audio. The obvious solution would be to go into the audio options and turn down the voices either really low or just turn them off but there is no option to do that, so players are just meant to play with the dialogue on. Having an option to have minimal dialogue option or just have the ability to turn them off, would go a long way, as it is really hindering of the experience. Overall though, the game is more Raiden action, and has the best gameplay of the series. If only there was an easier or more understandable way to know how to progress to specific stages and have the ability to shorten or be rid of the dialogue.

This entry of the series I was very skeptical about since this looked to be a huge departure from the original Pokemon formula, and the ambition from what the first trailer had shown had me cautiously excited for this title. I skipped out on Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, due to growing very tired of the Pokemon formula after Sword and Shield and its expansions, and had thought about skipping out on Legends also but previews of the game had started to appear about two weeks before the game came out and it had looked amazing from what I could see. It was something that I was hoping that would happen to the Pokemon series for a while. Have something that is single-player focused while also remaining true to the original series. The Let's Go games were going in the right direction for me, but fell for me in the controls, lack of battling outside of trainer battles and it's post game with all of the master trainers. Legends Arceus makes major changes to the Pokemon games that I do wish won't go away and that Game Freak would take a look at what they had created and refine what they made for the inevitable follow-ups. Major changes that I had immediately noticed (other than the open world, I'll get to that later) was the changes to battles/flow of battle. Random encounters are entirely gone from this entry, the player is now able to select what fights they would like to take on which I think is a major plus. Battles are now also instantaneous as they are both initiated and take place within the level the player is in. Commands are selected very quickly and attack animations are both nice looking and fast to boot, speeding up the flow of battles overall. That is not even mentioning the way the turn order works now as it is now not who has the higher speed stat, but instead who strikes first and the use of moves/alterations to moves that can change the turn order. Moves in previous games that, for example, only buffed special attack, have now been modified to boost both attack and special attack the same goes for defense and special defense, status effects have been changed across the board, Pokemon no longer have abilities (at least visibly in game, Seribi still lists abilities but not sure), moves can be changed from the inventory menu, evolving a pokemon has been changed to better suit people who want to keep their un-evolved pokemon till the end of the game, and the move pool has been shortened to take into account the new way the game is played. Speaking of which, the game is now open-level, allowing the player to select a level and either battle, catch, or explore the five different areas that they game has to offer. Each area has differing climate, terrain and pokemon, so that it does not get stale. Not once during my nearly 55 hour adventure did I once get bored while playing the game. While it is not the prettiest game out there, just walking around the looking at the environments, and what the wild pokemon are doing was a fun thing to do for me. The characters and story in this game are also very good this time around too, I saw myself actually getting to know and liking the cast of characters, possibly due to the story not being the same as it as is has always been in the mainline pokemon games. Minor complaints that I have about the game are some of the weird ways that some of the new forms of Pokemon evolve, such as Stantler, who needs to do a certain move 20 times in order to evolve. Some of the sidequests do leave something to be desired, as most of them are glorified fetch quests, which is something that the player should be doing anyway. The main village I feel is a little to big as navigating it could be a little annoying at times due to how fast the player character moves. Those minor nitpicks aside, this game was a fun little surprise at the start of the 2022, hopefully this will launch another game series of Pokemon games that can co-exist along with the main series of RPGs, because I would like to see more.

The wait for this game was agonizing. After being slightly disappointed with Pikmin 3 (Campaign was ok, Challenge mode is where the meat and bones of that were), I was expecting more of that game as that was the game that most people ended up liking. When I played the demo for the first time, I was a bit skeptical of the game and its heavy use of story and dialogue. I just wanted to get into playing Pikmin. When release day hit, all of those worries went away as they had taken everything that made the last three games great and stuffed it into one amazing experience. The game itself is split into multiple gameplay styles that all service the game very well. Ranging from the normal area and cave exploration, there are also dandori battles and challenges which pit the player up against another captain or the clock to complete objectives. Then there are the night missions, which are a hit or miss, as the tension with this, just aren't really there until the end of the game. Nevertheless, this game is amazing, I can't go on writing about this because I have so much praise for this game. Please, play this game.

Not being a very big fan of the original Dark Souls, I was given this game from a friend and was told to try it as I might like the combat in this one more than in Dark Souls. They were most definitely right, there is so much to the combat, ranging from different moves, to having an attack with a certain effect and so much more. But it is still simple enough to not have the player feel so overwhelmed by the many options that they are given. It is also quick and snappy, something that I didn't like the combat that was present in the original Dark Souls. The weapon variety in this game is amazing, players are sure to find the one or multiple weapons that they feel comfortable with and changing them is not so punishing on the players part as well so experimenting about mid-way through the game is something that is possible. Open-levels are something that I very much appreciate, and these ones in particular are very well made and rewards exploration. I don't like that they reuse those areas for the side missions, as it does get a little repetitive going through the same levels multiple times even though there are different objectives. Either having less side missions or making smaller levels for these missions would be the solution to this problem. The story is forgettable, as I didn't really get the whole conflict that was going on in the first place. It's a shame really because while the characters aren't anything spectacular, they are a nice addition to the levels and cut-scenes. The music and graphics is where the game shines in the presentation, especially the music. It is a very epic score that made every boss fight in the 2nd half of the game feel like that it could have been the final boss. Overall, great game to get sunk into, as I was stuck on this one for about a week due to its brutal difficulty.

Had a fantastic time with this game overall. Coming from Generations Ultimate, the improvements made in this game is astounding. Wirebugs and maps being more vertical, change the game a fair bit giving players the ability to play each of the five maps very differently each time. This also goes without saying but the many quality of life features that was added to the game, such as having the choice of eating before a hunt or if a player had forgotten to eat before a hunt they can do from the tent at the main base. The music and presentation are fantastic in this game, especially the music I never got tired of listening to the music during my time playing this game with the hub and the desert area being some of my favorites in the game. There are a couple of small things that did bother me, such as the boring grind from HR 50 to HR 100. I felt as if though the final hunt should have been the HR 50 hunt, but it wasn't and the last fight was another 50 ranks down the line. The HR 100 isn't bad, it is an interesting fight but I feel as if the build up from HR 50 to 100 wasn't as exciting as it could be. I would suggest to have some of the apex monsters be some of the urgent quests on the way to HR 100 to keep players engaged. As I had started to lose my interest in the game a bit around the HR 90 mark. But that grind for HR levels aside, this iteration of Monster Hunter is an absolutely amazing experience, as for me, it improves in many areas where I felt Generations Ultimate could deal without. Great time sink if you have friends to play through the game or a fan of boss fights.