Super Mario Galaxy 2, you are full fair, 'tis true, but Super Mario Galaxy fairer is than you.

SMG2 is a betrayal of what was dared and greatly done in the masterpiece that is SMG. It is as shallow as it is deceitful. SMG2 takes the heartwarming plot of SMG, the relationships Mario has formed with Rosalina and the Lumas, the rebirth of the universe, tosses it in the toilet and flushes it, because Shigeru Miyamoto foolishly thinks Mario or Zelda games have no need for stories.

Granted, its refined gameplay is an improvement on what SMG created, but it also lacks the love of experimentation and it consequently went the safe way. Super Mario Galaxy 2 got rid off the hub world, levels that had a more explorative and atmospheric theme, Ice Mario and Flying Mario.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a very good game, but Super Mario Galaxy is a thousand times better.

Infinitely inferior to Rayman Legends in each and every aspect.

Rayman Origins convinced me with amazing level design, smooth controls, an inspiring score and charming visuals, but it failed to overwhelm me like Rayman Legends did. Whenever I thought “Rayman Legends reached a climax, it’s impossible to top that”, Rayman Legends proved me wrong. That wasn’t the case with Origins, however.

While its level design is almost god tier, Origins’ stages do not offer much variety and the from room to room thing heavily interrupted the flow. The mosquito levels are fun, though not as powerful as they are in Cuphead. They lack of escalation and climax. The Treasure Chest levels aren’t as spectacular as the music stages in Rayman Legends, but they are still entertaining, since the gameplay flow is incredibly smooth. The “bosses” were unbelievably disappointing. The letdown of this game.

Although I criticized this game more than I praised it, because comparison was unavoidable — it’s an amazing game. I’d recommend this game, but since 40 of its best stages are in Rayman Legends, I don’t see a reason to not recommend Legends first. And if you’ve played Legends already, I don’t see many reasons to pay 20 bucks for 20 new levels you haven’t experienced. Origins lost a lot of its value due to the existence of Legends.

I played this game / demo for an hour and I’m not convinced to play any further, let alone to buy the full version.

The controls are way too slow and basic and the jumps slow down your movement. It’s not fun. You can find different costumes to obtain different abilities, but you can’t interact with the world. There are many objects, but they’re only decorative. You can’t throw them, you can’t destroy them and you cant whirl them all over the place. The world is static.

I don’t expect a brilliant narrative in a game like this, but even for a collect-a-thon, it lacks some oomph.

The CGI cutscenes are very beautiful, the soundtrack is neat and I think this game has a strong sense of decoration, but that’s not enough to truly impress me.

I recommend playing the demo before you buy this game with your hard earned money.

Edit: I need to lower the score a smidge (from 1.5 to 1.0), because Balan Wonderworld producer Noriyoshi Fujimoto “addressed” the demo feedback and instead of delaying the game to fix all or at least most of the problems, he plans on giving us a day one patch. That’s not how feedback demos work. The only way to address this game is with a flamethrower and I hope Balan Wonderworld is his last game.

Final Fantasy XVI had potential, but not a single one of them was properly executed.

I really wanted to like this game, but it made it so hard for me. So, so hard. The pacing in this game is probably one of the worst things I have ever experienced. After the 5 year time skip, it gets SO formulaic. After each big event, everything gets downhill, because you have to talk to Otto and do a shitload of mandatory side quests, fetch quests disguised as main quests.

I played on action-focus and the game was easy from the very beginning to the very end. There was one little exception, that was an S rank hunt where I died once. Other than that, way too easy. And even dying once doesn’t mean it was hard, unexpectedly strong would be more fitting.

I don’t mind simple combat systems as long as they’re fun, but I used to get burnt out from FFXVI’s combat system after gaining either Ramuh or Titan, because it had no interesting mechanics whatsoever. For example, the materia system in FFVII made the combat and gameplay and VII so much more interesting. The quartz system in Trails, the Monado or Blade system in Xenoblade, all of them are interesting mechanics within the combat or gameplay, but there’s nothing like that in XVI. But I guess the Eikon battles are highlights, they’re fun.

The characters are as flat as they are boring, with Cid and Mid (how ironic) as the only exceptions. Clive is one of the most boring protagonists I’ve ever seen, Jill is FF’s most boring love interest, I hate how one-dimensional she is, she deserved so much more (at least her beautiful design makes up for it a smidge), Barnabas aka Fake Malos just wants to f his mother, Kupka just wants to f Benedikta, Ultima is just a very poor version of Zanza, Joshua seems to be a huge Kingdom Hearts fan, returning from the “dead”, running around with a hood and acting all mysteriously and all the other side characters in the hideout aren’t even worth mentioning. There are also no character dynamics. You always talk to the characters alone. For example, you go to Vivian, she explains you the current state of the world, then you go to the in-game loremaster to ask things, instead of gathering the characters in one place, so they all talk to you and with each other. No party, no dynamic. It feels so lifeless.

The side quests are absolutely horrendous, optional or mandatory. There are about three side quests with an interesting or a surprising plot, but all the others are just MMO fetch quests, which is not surprising with Yoshi-P as the supervising producer. Please don’t let him touch another FF game ever again (except for MMOs).

The soundtrack… is a bit more complicated. The songs are fantastic. They’re of high production value, they sound great. But they also sound so similar. You will never recognize a song by the first tunes like you do with One-Winged Angel, Cosmo Canyon, Prelude, Aerith’s or Tifa’s theme, Zanarkand, Otherworld, Auron’s theme, Waltz for the Moon and so on. They’re all just loud and pompous orchestrated songs with choirs.

I also hate how there’s no run button. Give us a dedicated run button for this slow fuck, god fucking damnit. This is absolute hell with all these fetch quests (and yes, I completed all quests and hunts). And there are way too few quick travel spots as well! It made me furious.

There’s lots of world building and lore in this game, which is appreciated, but also worthless if you’re doing nothing with it in the game. The world has nothing to offer. You can’t even VISIT the capital cities of each country, they only let you visit some uninteresting and unimportant rural village near the capital with more uninteresting but influential characters that give you a seal every time, so the locals know that these characters trust you. It happens in each of these rural villages. Formulaic, I told you. Imagine being able to visit the capitals, exploring specific districts, finding secrets, some shops, some cool quests, mini games like Chocobo racings, arenas, card games and whatnot, nice places with beautiful views. But nope. Nothing. The world of Valisthea has nothing to offer at all. At best some treasures with new accessories that give you half a second less cooldown for one specific skill (what the actual fuck).

The story is alright. It’s not a disaster, it’s between mediocre and good, I can live with that. Haven’t expected much more anyway. The ending kinda sucked, but I didn’t care anymore at that point anyway.

The visuals are great most of the time, but the animations in side quests, mandatory or optional, are pretty stiff, but oh well.

This rating is a bit generous, but I can’t say I regret playing this game, so I will stick with this rating. Thanks to Mid, she’s awesome and one of the better Final Fantasy characters overall, although not an S tier character, maybe A tier. Cid is an S tier character and probably one of the best Cids this series has to offer. So this game does have some redeeming qualities that justify my generous rating. I’m glad I’m done with this game, though, so I won’t be getting the platinum.

Transistor was quite an undercooked experience to me. I loved the stunning visuals and the serene soundtrack, but the story lacked depth and the gameplay wasn’t engaging enough.

What was this game trying to say? It promised a lot, but it couldn’t live up to it since mid-game.

I still had my fun with this game and only had to pay four bucks, so that was a steal anyway.

This is probably one of the most insulting games I have ever experienced. David Cage deliriously compares the situation of damn robots with the situation of black people; the slavery and the apartheid policy of the US, even the Holocaust.

Funnily enough, it doesn’t even make sense to combine slavery and apartheid policy. When slavery was a thing, black people weren’t separated from white people, because they had to work for white people. Separating them would’ve been counterproductive. The apartheid policy was a result of the end of the slavery. David Cage obviously didn’t pay attention in history lessons, nor did he care to look that up or to come to logical conclusions.

This game plays down all the horrible acts Europeans and white Americans have committed over time. It’s straight up an insult.

How can you mess up that hard?

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game for content creators, stars and influencers.

It lacks of content and many updates just add stuff that should’ve been in the game from the start and that was already in New Leaf.

The NPCs have much less text lines and personalities than in prior titles and thus, feel absolutely soulless.

It is very polished and beautiful, though.

This is going to be a dishonest review.

The story is a snoozefest throughout 2/3 of the game and the finale and the final boss are severely forgettable, but Yuri carries. The combat system is a clunky and boring mess, but Yuri carries. Except a handful tracks, the soundtrack is extremely nondescript, but Yuri carries. The dungeons are streamlined corridors without any ambitious puzzles, but Yuri carries. Estelle is a stereotypically naive princess, but Yuri carries. This game bores me to death, but Yuri carries.

In the end, it was good enough to keep me going and to try other Tales games, so it was fairly and convincingly good. Yuri carries and he’s the reason all the other characters work so well in this story, due to his supportive nature. His vigilantism is the reason the dynamic between Yuri and Flynn is so strong. I mean it when I say that, because Yuri really does carry the entire game — in a good way.

AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative is the perfect example of why not every game forcibly needs a sequel just because the first one did good.

I absolutely loved the first title. It’s very close to be a masterpiece to me. I rated that game a 5/5 (=10/10).

Its sequel, though? No thanks. I originally shelved it a few days ago, because it failed to thrill me, although the introduction was really good! But the case ended up being way less personal than the Cyclops Killings and it ignored a bit too much from the first game. At the beginning, the game asks you if you’re familiar with the first game and even if you say “yes”, Date appears as Saito Sejima, so he does not have his original body. The explanation for that is omega stupid. As I said, the story did not captivate me even a little.

I also hate how linear Nirvana Initiative is. When I shelved it, I just thought it is only like that with Ryuki’s past six years ago (because you can’t change his past like that, it already happened). But after taking it from the shelve and playing Mizuki’s path, I was just shocked. It’s still linear. The somniums are still linear and god, I hate how overloaded the somniums are now, even with the AI balls. No, I don’t want to explore every corner after every lock, just to make sure I don’t miss an AI ball. This is not Assassin’s Creed Unity.

Also, The likeable characters from the first game do not play a big role this time… which wouldn’t be a bad thing if the new characters were likeable, but Jesus Christ, fvck, they’re the most unlikeable characters I’ve encountered in a very long time. Kizuna and Lien especially. First one is a classist piece of trash and Lien is nothing but a damn groomer. What are the writers trying to tell me? Also, I don’t particularly hate Ryuki, but the trailers promised Mizuki and I didn’t get nearly as much Mizuki as I wanted. I didn’t really need Ryuki.

And while the first game was on constant horny mode, the sequel carries the horny to the extreme and I think it was unnecessary and way too unsubtle. Playing (not even just touching) with a statue’s wiener? Really? Tama being basically a dominatrix? It went from unsubtle horny mode to ugh.

And honestly, they could’ve SPARED me with the tamagotchi thing. I know it’s optional and I can turn it off, but as someone who is a completionist, it’s just annoying popping up every 20 minutes. The options between “complete the game and get annoyed or enjoy the game, but don’t complete it” is just bad design at this point.

To me, this is just a bad game. And I’m glad I’m able to ultimately drop games!

Steins;Gate 0 is a brilliantly written sequel to the original Steins;Gate without breaking any rules of its predecessor and tells the story of the future Okabe that sent the video message to his past self to reach the Steins;Gate world line. Therefore, in terms of the events, it’s a prequel to Steins;Gate and according to the calendar, a sequel to it. That is Steins;Gate 0’s premise.

Steins;Gate 0 takes place in the Beta Attractor Field and everything will lead to World War III. While being in this depressing dilemma, you’ll encounter a bunch of new charming characters and characters you already know. This visual novel has a lot of powerful and touching character moments. It’s filled with interesting plot twists and its endings are more than just picking your favorite girl or boy; they are much more essential to the actual plot and the true ending. Speaking of endings, Steins;Gate 0’s flow chart is shaped like a zero!

I absolutely love 0’s soundtrack. Re-Awake might be my favorite Steins;Gate soundtrack of all time, including openings and endings from all the visual novels and anime. On top of all that, the beautiful artworks, the detailed backgrounds and the astonishing CGs are out of this world. The Steins;Gate VNs never disappoint me when it comes to visuals.

Apart from a few unnecessary and controversial changes in the remaster, Majora’s Mask 3D got blessed with tons of improvements and quality of life upgrades that made me finally love and appreciate the game to the fullest.

Having free control over the camera makes the game feel infinitely better than ever before. Thanks to the gyroscope, the first-person view gets enhanced and you’re able to aim with your weapons more accurately — which works even better with Deku Link’s bubble reticle. The time runs faster and you’re able to manipulate it more specifically. Majora’s Mask 3D also adds the fishing mini game, a new side quest that gives the Troupe Leader’s mask a purpose and an upgraded and more streamlined notebook, so you can actually complete this game without using a guide.

Saving the game is more convenient and more accessible, which is great when you’re playing on a device with a battery, if you’re outside or just short in time. The original saving system is archaic and inaccessible game design that should never ever return — not in Majora’s Mask and not somewhere else.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D runs at 30 FPS instead of 20 FPS, has upgraded graphics and a better interface.

As someone who played Majora’s Mask on the N64, NGC and Wii U, I genuinely believe that Majora’s Mask 3D is the best way to experience this masterpiece.