Hylianhero777
It's super rough around the edges, it's not as fleshed out as it could be, and the production value still leaves a lot to be desired (the fact that they still just fade the screen to black every time a cutscene would require something more than the default set of animations they've made is laughable). Yet... it's the most I've enjoyed a Pokemon game since the series went 3D with X & Y. Not a game I thought Game Freak was even capable of making, and I hope a lot of the shakeups to the formula they've done here carry over to Gen 9.
Game Freak, please hire some 3D dungeon designers every cave or temple just being like 3 hallways is getting embarrassing
Game Freak, please hire some 3D dungeon designers every cave or temple just being like 3 hallways is getting embarrassing
1998
Oh wow people weren't just overrating this due to nostalgia it's actually good what the heck
What aged well:
- The music. Grant Kirkhope is imo not nearly on the level of David Wise, but I do think this is some of his best work. Charming and catchy.
-The movement. Look, the movement options in Banjo are moreso a set of discrete states that you can switch between, rather than something fluid, dynamic, and momentum focused like Mario 64. That said each of those states does feel good on its own and the rate at which you unlock them is perfectly paced.
- The level design: It's by far the best part of the game and it's frankly astonishing that it's this good. As one of the first "collectathons" Banjo gets everything that makes that sort of game engaging. A wide variety of objectives, worlds that are big enough to explore but small enough to not feel like a slog, and secrets around every corner. For being Rare's very first 3D platformer they set a standard here that would not be matched for several years, from what I hear of DK64 and Tooie, especially not from their own games...
-The credits. Folks, games need to bring back credits sequences where they treat every enemy and boss as a "cast member" and have a big roll call where we get to see all their names and they do a little fun animation. What are we even doing out here in the modern era of the medium that we've forgotten this great joy of the video game platformer.
What didn't age well:
- The last two worlds: Ok I said the level design was great and on the whole it absolutely is but I think Rare's idea of ramping up the challenge for the end was "make one world have tons of opportunities for cheap deaths that make you collect every note in the level over again" and "make a world so huge that it's impossible to figure out where you missed something" and that's certainly not how I'd like to see it done.
-The final boss: Between this and the last two worlds Banjo's biggest problem is sticking the landing. This is just not a well designed fight and relies exclusively on your mastery of the two jankiest moves in the game.
-The camera: I can give a pass on this considering the time it came out but yeah of course the camera is bad lol
-The humor: Kazooie can be funny at times but man this just comes off as mean spirited (and straight up offensive to overweight people pretty much constantly). A bit of it's time as well in that respect unfortunately.
As someone who grew up just after this era and has never really known how much of the mythologizing of Rare (especially N64 Rare) was warranted, this game is the proof that Rare really did have something special going on that translated into 3D. Was nice to experience it for the first time and find it lived up to the hype.
What aged well:
- The music. Grant Kirkhope is imo not nearly on the level of David Wise, but I do think this is some of his best work. Charming and catchy.
-The movement. Look, the movement options in Banjo are moreso a set of discrete states that you can switch between, rather than something fluid, dynamic, and momentum focused like Mario 64. That said each of those states does feel good on its own and the rate at which you unlock them is perfectly paced.
- The level design: It's by far the best part of the game and it's frankly astonishing that it's this good. As one of the first "collectathons" Banjo gets everything that makes that sort of game engaging. A wide variety of objectives, worlds that are big enough to explore but small enough to not feel like a slog, and secrets around every corner. For being Rare's very first 3D platformer they set a standard here that would not be matched for several years, from what I hear of DK64 and Tooie, especially not from their own games...
-The credits. Folks, games need to bring back credits sequences where they treat every enemy and boss as a "cast member" and have a big roll call where we get to see all their names and they do a little fun animation. What are we even doing out here in the modern era of the medium that we've forgotten this great joy of the video game platformer.
What didn't age well:
- The last two worlds: Ok I said the level design was great and on the whole it absolutely is but I think Rare's idea of ramping up the challenge for the end was "make one world have tons of opportunities for cheap deaths that make you collect every note in the level over again" and "make a world so huge that it's impossible to figure out where you missed something" and that's certainly not how I'd like to see it done.
-The final boss: Between this and the last two worlds Banjo's biggest problem is sticking the landing. This is just not a well designed fight and relies exclusively on your mastery of the two jankiest moves in the game.
-The camera: I can give a pass on this considering the time it came out but yeah of course the camera is bad lol
-The humor: Kazooie can be funny at times but man this just comes off as mean spirited (and straight up offensive to overweight people pretty much constantly). A bit of it's time as well in that respect unfortunately.
As someone who grew up just after this era and has never really known how much of the mythologizing of Rare (especially N64 Rare) was warranted, this game is the proof that Rare really did have something special going on that translated into 3D. Was nice to experience it for the first time and find it lived up to the hype.
2022
I feel the hype around Windjammers 2 died down somewhat with it's long reveal to release period, and that's a shame because this ended up turning out great! Doesn't mess with perfection, just gives the original a fresh, very pleasant coat of paint, with new characters and stages that add some pretty fun extra wrinkles to things. The only new universal mechanic, the jump/smash, adds just enough extra complexity and feels great to pull off without overcomplicating the core game. Plus the online seems to work pretty dang well (though no spectator mode/lobbies is a big oversight and something I hope they may patch in later). Play this game!
1st match online: Beat my opponent using some cool synchro summons in a duel that at least somewhat resembled the anime I used to watch
2nd match online: Was utterly obliterated in 3 turns, each of which took about 10 full minutes, as every card my opponent played had about 2 paragraphs of text explaining its incredibly specific function that allowed it to combo with another specific card to allow them to draw more cards which allowed them to special summon a monster whose effect allowed them to special summon another monster whose effect allowed them to draw more cards whose effects allowed them to- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Possibly the most absurd card game ever created
2nd match online: Was utterly obliterated in 3 turns, each of which took about 10 full minutes, as every card my opponent played had about 2 paragraphs of text explaining its incredibly specific function that allowed it to combo with another specific card to allow them to draw more cards which allowed them to special summon a monster whose effect allowed them to special summon another monster whose effect allowed them to draw more cards whose effects allowed them to- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Possibly the most absurd card game ever created
A wonderfully charming adventure game. Bursting with humor, creativity, and heart (shoutout Yoshio Sakamoto for writing yet another good script back in these days, even though I can see just a bit of Other M poking through at the very end). This is a game that knows how games can be funny in a way a lot of modern games still don't understand. The combat system basically just being a pass/fail check for "did you explore everywhere and talk to everyone" for every big fight, with no player input during the battle actually affecting things, is super weird but also just hilarious. Nintendo did their own riff on Zelda before anyone else really even tried to. Would recommend this to anyone looking for some Game Boy deep cuts, the translation is easy to find and very well done.
An enjoyable time but ultimately feels very afraid to commit to any elements that might rub its target demo the wrong way, and as a result ends up feeling safe. After Life is Strange 2 struck out sales wise, we're back to hot bisexual girls in a picture perfect affluent but small town that loves alt music and art as much as it loves weed (to be fair, they did set this in Colorado, where it makes more sense than pretty much anywhere else in America). And you know what, at least for me, it does kind of work! A progressive hipster's self insert fantasy that I did genuinely enjoy my time in, even if there was that cynical voice in the back of my head telling me that I shouldn't be.
The issue is that the game's attempts to inject the fantasy with some drama often come off as hollow. There are scenes that genuinely did manage to hit me emotionally, and I'd say the moment to moment writing is pretty strong, at the level of an above average indie drama (which is I think the best mindset to approach the LiS games with). The big picture stuff just doesn't quite work. Alex is introduced as a foster kid, someone who has a lot of genuine trouble connecting with people due to her empath problems making her feel the emotions of others too strongly... which ends up pretty much being dropped by the end of the first episode. Mopey, angry Alex lashing out at everyone who tried to welcome her to this new town wouldn't let allow for as much fun wish fulfillment hanging out with your cool buds, so instead we get a mystery plot that makes some wishy washy critique of the mining industry and capitalism. In a way this just feels like feeding the fantasy even more, that all of these progressive people living in a miniature paradise also get a figurehead to feel directly affected by problems that, frankly, are way worse for the actual miners that this story mostly sidelines, not to mention the vast majority of people who don't live in such otherwise idyllic circumstances. The endings (or lack thereof) feed into the problem of the story not really feeling like it's saying anything or that there was some ultimate point to it all, though I do feel the mark of covid all over this game (any facial animation outside of the biggest moments... woof) so I can't judge them too harshly for reigning the scope back in that aspect.
It sounds like I'm being super hard on the game here, and I am, because I think that conceptually they had a lot of things here that they just couldn't properly manage to capitalize on without sacrificing their somewhat safe tone. With that said... yeah as a wish fulfillment indie teen fantasy, it's pretty fucking good! What the bigger strokes of the plot don't do for me the characters do manage to make up for in a lot of ways. The townsfolk are all wonderfully realized (despite sliding right into the small town indie fantasy archetypes) and their small personal stories are often the thing that works most about the game. I criticized how the writers brush aside any of the elements that could have made Alex unlikable... but damn, they did make her really likeable. As in I don't see how you come out of this game not falling in love with her a little bit.
Bit of a rambly review here but to sum up, if you want a story with some real genuine catharsis or deep meaning, this doesn't really land. If you're looking for some teenage escapism, I've got the game for you.
...But how are you gonna make your lead character a hot acoustic indie musican with feelings powers and only have her play two songs what the hell Deck Nine that festival scene should have lasted a full 45 minutes I want a full set of Alex and Steph covering folk punk music
The issue is that the game's attempts to inject the fantasy with some drama often come off as hollow. There are scenes that genuinely did manage to hit me emotionally, and I'd say the moment to moment writing is pretty strong, at the level of an above average indie drama (which is I think the best mindset to approach the LiS games with). The big picture stuff just doesn't quite work. Alex is introduced as a foster kid, someone who has a lot of genuine trouble connecting with people due to her empath problems making her feel the emotions of others too strongly... which ends up pretty much being dropped by the end of the first episode. Mopey, angry Alex lashing out at everyone who tried to welcome her to this new town wouldn't let allow for as much fun wish fulfillment hanging out with your cool buds, so instead we get a mystery plot that makes some wishy washy critique of the mining industry and capitalism. In a way this just feels like feeding the fantasy even more, that all of these progressive people living in a miniature paradise also get a figurehead to feel directly affected by problems that, frankly, are way worse for the actual miners that this story mostly sidelines, not to mention the vast majority of people who don't live in such otherwise idyllic circumstances. The endings (or lack thereof) feed into the problem of the story not really feeling like it's saying anything or that there was some ultimate point to it all, though I do feel the mark of covid all over this game (any facial animation outside of the biggest moments... woof) so I can't judge them too harshly for reigning the scope back in that aspect.
It sounds like I'm being super hard on the game here, and I am, because I think that conceptually they had a lot of things here that they just couldn't properly manage to capitalize on without sacrificing their somewhat safe tone. With that said... yeah as a wish fulfillment indie teen fantasy, it's pretty fucking good! What the bigger strokes of the plot don't do for me the characters do manage to make up for in a lot of ways. The townsfolk are all wonderfully realized (despite sliding right into the small town indie fantasy archetypes) and their small personal stories are often the thing that works most about the game. I criticized how the writers brush aside any of the elements that could have made Alex unlikable... but damn, they did make her really likeable. As in I don't see how you come out of this game not falling in love with her a little bit.
Bit of a rambly review here but to sum up, if you want a story with some real genuine catharsis or deep meaning, this doesn't really land. If you're looking for some teenage escapism, I've got the game for you.
...But how are you gonna make your lead character a hot acoustic indie musican with feelings powers and only have her play two songs what the hell Deck Nine that festival scene should have lasted a full 45 minutes I want a full set of Alex and Steph covering folk punk music
2001
Don't know if I will ever beat this without infinite continues but wow, absolutely nutty game.
This review contains spoilers
Chicory is a game that is so sincere and direct in its message, so completely free of cynicism, that I've got to respect it for that reason alone. With that said, the execution of its narrative fell pretty flat for me, its bright eyed optimism often crossing the line over to being somewhat patronizing and naive. If you're one of the hard ass capital G gamers who gets disproportionately furious at the idea of "wholesome games," this one is definitely not for you. Hell, I'm someone who likes Steven Universe and it ended up too much even for me at times.
When it comes to just being a fun and engaging video game to play, I found a lot to love about Chicory, which is the main reason my view on it leans quite positive overall. It's a 2D Zelda like that reserves combat exclusively for bosses, instead focusing on puzzle solving and overworld navigation that revolves around the core brush gimmick. Figuring out new ways to paint in the world and applying your knowledge of the various twists they throw your way to progress was on the whole pretty satisfying. When the optional challenges that lead to collectibles mainly interested me for the intrinsic reward of solving the puzzles themselves, I'd say you're a well designed puzzle game! It's also paced well, which I've come to really value in games recently, and the chapter based structure works to ensure both story progression and new gameplay ideas are introduced frequently enough to not get boring on either end of things. Lena Raine also brings her A game here and continues to be one of my favorite composers working right now, perfectly setting the tone for the game's cozy mood as well as making the climactic moments feel genuinely exciting.
The bosses are mostly engaging, but they do function as a segue into some of the things I ended up disliking here. The boss design itself is fine, outside of the insane decision to make the final boss rely on an AI partner who consistently misses it's target, which kind of destroys the whole teamwork thing that it's supposed to actually be enforcing. However, the way that damage works in this game feels... very compromised. Your character takes two hits to defeat by default, and this can be adjusted through an accessibility option. Only thing is... even if you do get knocked over after two hits, you just get back up and continue the fight with no penalty??? There is no fail state??? There is even another accessibility feature that lets you skip bosses entirely! While I think both of these options are nice as just that, accessibility options, there is no point in even designing the game to have bosses that you fight, with patterns you can dodge, if not dodging or learning the fight at all results in the same outcome even without accessibility options enabled. The whole thing makes the game feel patronizing and undermines some of its own themes.
Which gets to my last issue here, the story. Chicory has a number of likable characters, amusing scenarios, and its heart is absolutely in the right place. The issue is it presents its themes in such a safe and easy way that it had me feeling completely detached. Messages can be made more powerful through ambiguity, through what is not said, through expression that feels decidedly personal, and this... just feels so surface level. Most dialogue exchanges quite literally boil down to:
"I'm really sad and depressed because I have impostor syndrome. I don't think I'm living up to what is expected of me."
"Hey don't worry! I totally understand the feeling and know words alone won't fix it, but I want you to know that personally I think you're doing great and am 100% supportive of you!"
When characters just state all of their internal feelings like this and all other characters basically just serve to emotionally support them, it makes the conflict feel weak and, to use that word again, really patronizing! For those more involved in artistic pursuits this may land closer to home, but I think even then the read on everything here just feels so saccharine as to not feel real or emotionally resonant. Contrast to something like Celeste, a game that has had criticism leveled against it for being too earnest/sappy. Celeste manages to work way, way better for me because it leaves certain things ambiguous/understated in its writing and knows when to actually have characters lash out at each other. Above all, Celeste is actually extremely difficult, so the theme of how overcoming your mental hangups can be brutal and feel like hitting a brick wall is bolstered by the game forcing you to overcome its own challenges.
Even the ending, where I felt the game was setting up for a bittersweet "In order to create art we must also accept the negative emotions and inner turmoil that comes with it" message, swerves into more safe "anyone can create art! We shouldn't rely on old hierarchal systems!" territory. Of course that's true, it also is an opinion that just about anyone would agree with and isn't really explored very meaningfully here!
Despite all my misgivings, I have to say I had a good time with this game, and it was mostly enjoyable to briefly escape to a world so free from the sort of cynicism that I'm putting out in the world with this very review. I was just left with that nagging feeling that it could have been so much more if it was willing to push back a little harder, both in its game design and narratively.
When it comes to just being a fun and engaging video game to play, I found a lot to love about Chicory, which is the main reason my view on it leans quite positive overall. It's a 2D Zelda like that reserves combat exclusively for bosses, instead focusing on puzzle solving and overworld navigation that revolves around the core brush gimmick. Figuring out new ways to paint in the world and applying your knowledge of the various twists they throw your way to progress was on the whole pretty satisfying. When the optional challenges that lead to collectibles mainly interested me for the intrinsic reward of solving the puzzles themselves, I'd say you're a well designed puzzle game! It's also paced well, which I've come to really value in games recently, and the chapter based structure works to ensure both story progression and new gameplay ideas are introduced frequently enough to not get boring on either end of things. Lena Raine also brings her A game here and continues to be one of my favorite composers working right now, perfectly setting the tone for the game's cozy mood as well as making the climactic moments feel genuinely exciting.
The bosses are mostly engaging, but they do function as a segue into some of the things I ended up disliking here. The boss design itself is fine, outside of the insane decision to make the final boss rely on an AI partner who consistently misses it's target, which kind of destroys the whole teamwork thing that it's supposed to actually be enforcing. However, the way that damage works in this game feels... very compromised. Your character takes two hits to defeat by default, and this can be adjusted through an accessibility option. Only thing is... even if you do get knocked over after two hits, you just get back up and continue the fight with no penalty??? There is no fail state??? There is even another accessibility feature that lets you skip bosses entirely! While I think both of these options are nice as just that, accessibility options, there is no point in even designing the game to have bosses that you fight, with patterns you can dodge, if not dodging or learning the fight at all results in the same outcome even without accessibility options enabled. The whole thing makes the game feel patronizing and undermines some of its own themes.
Which gets to my last issue here, the story. Chicory has a number of likable characters, amusing scenarios, and its heart is absolutely in the right place. The issue is it presents its themes in such a safe and easy way that it had me feeling completely detached. Messages can be made more powerful through ambiguity, through what is not said, through expression that feels decidedly personal, and this... just feels so surface level. Most dialogue exchanges quite literally boil down to:
"I'm really sad and depressed because I have impostor syndrome. I don't think I'm living up to what is expected of me."
"Hey don't worry! I totally understand the feeling and know words alone won't fix it, but I want you to know that personally I think you're doing great and am 100% supportive of you!"
When characters just state all of their internal feelings like this and all other characters basically just serve to emotionally support them, it makes the conflict feel weak and, to use that word again, really patronizing! For those more involved in artistic pursuits this may land closer to home, but I think even then the read on everything here just feels so saccharine as to not feel real or emotionally resonant. Contrast to something like Celeste, a game that has had criticism leveled against it for being too earnest/sappy. Celeste manages to work way, way better for me because it leaves certain things ambiguous/understated in its writing and knows when to actually have characters lash out at each other. Above all, Celeste is actually extremely difficult, so the theme of how overcoming your mental hangups can be brutal and feel like hitting a brick wall is bolstered by the game forcing you to overcome its own challenges.
Even the ending, where I felt the game was setting up for a bittersweet "In order to create art we must also accept the negative emotions and inner turmoil that comes with it" message, swerves into more safe "anyone can create art! We shouldn't rely on old hierarchal systems!" territory. Of course that's true, it also is an opinion that just about anyone would agree with and isn't really explored very meaningfully here!
Despite all my misgivings, I have to say I had a good time with this game, and it was mostly enjoyable to briefly escape to a world so free from the sort of cynicism that I'm putting out in the world with this very review. I was just left with that nagging feeling that it could have been so much more if it was willing to push back a little harder, both in its game design and narratively.
2016
Very baffling game
2021
Damn, I don't know... Love the anything goes aesthetics and wacky vibe of this game, love how wild the unlockables get, but the actual racing is just so... boring. Drifting doesn't feel good, the trick system basically just encourages mashing at all times, just a rough one all around for me. Might feel better about it once the online mode rolls around but this ended up being pretty disappointing for me.
2000
"I mean, it's no Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door" - me with every Mario RPG that is not Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
2000
Love the fact that when you get a game over, it's an actual game over. Just straight back to the beginning. It took me 3 tries to beat the game on normal and each time I went back through those earlier levels and realized that the skill and knowledge I got from my last run was genuinely helping me I loved this even more. I could see myself just running this whenever I have an hour to kill, the perfect pacing and feels so great to play. Killer.
1993
Whoever decided to add Streets of Rage style proximity based throwing to a run and gun was a god damn genius
1990
Fun and relatively easy shmup! Pro tip: stack powerups of the same color.
NEO TWEWY is, like it's predecessor, a game that is supremely confident in its own vision. For that alone I give it massive props. I don't have a whole lot to say about it in a formal review sense but this ended up being one of my favorites of the year. I do think its pacing is substantially worse than the original TWEWY, and this does hurt it quite a bit, but improvements in other areas such as the better presentation and in my opinion an even stronger cast of characters (I also think the combat, while still flawed, manages to carry over a lot of the original's strengths while bringing new ones of its own) make up for that. I will say that the soundtrack is absolutely killer as well but I do think the game being so much longer than the original stretches the songs that are there pretty thin and it does grate on you after a while. A situation where I think some more quantity would have really helped things in that regard.
Ultimately though this is just some real good shonen anime shit with actual stakes, themes that the story actually manages to maintain a strong focus on, and characters that I ended up being really attached to. Great game!
Ultimately though this is just some real good shonen anime shit with actual stakes, themes that the story actually manages to maintain a strong focus on, and characters that I ended up being really attached to. Great game!