HyperSonic1134
Both 3D World and Bowser's Fury were pretty great games that surprised me in unexpected ways. 3D World felt like a great progression from 3D Land and fixed some issues I had with the former. Granted, it's not perfect because the movement, while great, does feel a bit awkward at times. I randomized the character for every level and I really liked playing as Mario and especially Peach, I was neutral towards Blue Toad as some levels felt great with him and others didn't, and sadly I wasn't a fan of Luigi's movement this time around, a shame because he's one of my favourites. However, speaking of favourites, for some reason they made Bowser extremely cool in this game, with a banger theme and awesome boss fights. He really stole the show and I wish there were more fights with him, that or more replacements for Boom Boom and Pom Pom because the other bosses were so much better. The level design and music were both really good and the game is amazing visually. It's not my favourite Mario game, but it once again goes to show that 3D Mario is a pretty enjoyable experience for the most part. My only complaint really is that the locked collectibles thing is back, and while I was more prepared for it than in 3D Land, I still had to replay some levels to get enough Green Stars. Luckily the Captain Toad and Mystery House levels give a ton, but it's still annoying to have to go back. As for Bowser's Fury, I love the open world aspect here, it feels like a mini Odyssey in a way. I hope they continue with this blueprint because this experience felt pretty fresh and I love the open aspect of it. I love how it's just one big map and I can pick whichever area I can get Cat Shines from. It's a very solid experience and I hope they do more with it in the future. Overall, both 3D World and Bowser's Fury are very great experiences and another fun entry to the 3D Mario games.
2024
This review contains spoilers
After rushing through the original Persona 3 to prepare myself for Reload, I decided to take my time with the remake, though sometimes it wasn't by choice since I was sort of busy and could only fit time for shorter games. I have to say, it was worth it. Persona 3 Reload is the first and only game to ever make me cry. I've come close, tearing up to a few other games, like Persona 4 Golden and Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, but it was never full on crying. Here, the ending really got to me since the presentation of the final cutscene itself is just perfect. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I don't think this game is ENTIRELY perfect as there are a few nitpicks I have with it compared to the original, but for each nitpick, there's something else that's ten times better to make up for it. I'll go over my main nitpicks and then go into how this game makes up for it. I found that the direction for certain cutscenes was... weaker at times. For instance, the opening cutscene with the protagonist heading to the dorm lacks the tension that the original had with the music blaring from his headphones, the sound of rushing water, Yukari in complete distress, and not knowing what Evokers are. In Reload, that cutscene lacks all of that and Yukari's added dialogue feels unnecessary. There's a couple of other cutscenes that don't really do it for me, but to make up for it, two of the best cutscenes in the game were significantly improved, and the in-engine cutscenes look fantastic (though the protagonist's awakening was on the weaker side, not because of the visuals but because it was lacking elements that made the original so good). The two cutscenes I'm referring to are the 10/4 incident and the ending scene. The build-up to the former especially is amazing, the game makes great use of camera angles to really add to the cinematic elements of the cutscenes. The voice acting is also top-notch in these scenes, hell, in the whole game. The only voice I wasn't too fond of was Yukari's as I feel like she lost the sassiness that made her one of my favourites in Vanilla, but she still does what she does just fine so I don't hate it either. Anyway, the only other nitpick I really have is with some of the remixes. Honestly, it's mainly the battle music (though Mass Destruction is fine). Unavoidable Battle and Master of Tartarus have very harsh sounding drums that are overbearing in Vanilla, which really adds to the atmosphere. Yet here in Reload, they're significantly weaker and they lack that intensity, which is such a shame. Meanwhile, other songs lack the hip-hop beats (or whatever it's called) that give off the same effect, like with Living With Determination - Iwatodai Dorm Arrangement. I don't dislike any of the remixes (with the exception of Unavoidable Battle) but there are some that are just weaker overall. However, the game makes up for it with not only great remixes, but fantastic original songs. Great remixes include When The Moon's Reaching Out Stars, Want To Be Close, and of course, Changing Seasons. To be honest, I wish there was more original songs because they're some of the best in the series, such as Full Moon Full Life, The Meaning of Armbands, It's Going Down Now, and Color Your Night, ESPECIALLY the last two because those genuinely might be the top spot for me (minus Vanilla's The Battle for Everyone's Souls and Memories of You). Anyway, that's enough with the nitpicks, so music and cutscene direction aside, what more does Reload do to make Persona 3 a better experience? Well first of all, there's more to do in the game. At night, there wasn't too much to do in Vanilla, only really raising social stats and Mutatsu's Social Link (though I know Tanaka's a night Social Link in FES). Here, not only did Tanaka become a night Social Link, but now they let you hang out with the SEES members for perks, both for them in battle and for yourself like raising a social stat. I'm really happy with this change because unlike in Vanilla, I barely had to go to bed. I only really did so around the last week of January, but that's because I realized I couldn't max every Link in time so I gave up and wanted to finish. Speaking of, they added Linked Episodes for certain characters, which are basically smaller Social Links that are only five episodes long and for party members that didn't have one in Vanilla, which were Junpei, Akihiko, Ken, Koromaru, and Shinjiro. Ryoji and Takaya also had some scenes or days dedicated to them as well, which was great to see as this and the Linked Episodes allowed for the writers to go into untapped territory about their backstories or motives. Simply adding a Linked Episode made Shinjiro go from a character I was neutral on to one of my favourite characters in the entire series, his Linked Episode especially was so powerful. Aigis also gets her Link from FES here (unless it's different but I can't imagine it would be), and I was able to max her out as well (which made me happy, she was my favourite in Vanilla and still is my favourite). A wild thing to point out is the menus, they are STUNNING. Just opening the menu and seeing the animations in each tab never gets old, it's very stylistic and beautiful and I appreciate how it looks. Last but not least, the Tartarus changes. I didn't really like Tartarus much in Vanilla, but I did really like the atmosphere of it. I'm happy to say Reload really did deliver with the changes. I will admit that this game definitely was easier than Vanilla and it wasn't really hard until the end, but at the same time, I feel like the changes they made really helped make the experience better. I never really got bored of Tartarus since it was much less grindy than in the original. I think they should've kept fatigue since it was a bit TOO easy if you ask me, but I don't really mind. It was also nice that you could do Monad doors to get experience faster but with more of a risk since enemies are much stronger. I almost always did them and I got to level 80 before the final boss, which was great because I wanted to at least reach 76. So, with that said and done, what do I think of Persona 3 Reload? Well, there's definitely some elements I liked more in the original, but I think the new additions and changes from the base game make for a better overall experience, so I'll take the smaller losses there for a large scale win. Overall, Persona 3 Reload does a great job remaking an already wonderful game and fixes a lot of my issues with the base game, making this one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.
A very simple but fun platformer. It was pretty nostalgic coming back to this game since I played it at a friend's house, but never finished it. I recognized early level design but it started to get foggy midway and new near the end. Through each part, the game was mostly really fun. There's a couple sections I'm not a big fan of, but most of those are mainly for collectibles and secrets so it's not a huge loss. I guess the only thing I would've liked to see more of would be the Super Abilities. I kind of wish they were used more or that were was more of them because they were pretty fun to use, though they were only used near the end of a level for a brief segment that led to a secret containing a platforming challenge and collectible. This isn't bad by any means, but I kind of wish there was more use for them. I do liked how some of them appeared for the Grand Doomer and Magolor bosses though, since that made those fights very fun and more dynamic. Other than that, the game is really well polished and the music and visuals are great. Overall, very fun and a great game to play while winding down.
2019
Pokémon Sword is probably the weirdest game in the series for me so far. For a little more context, I've played the remakes of Gens 1-3, played 4-7. and also 9. I decided to replay them and try out the ones I never got around to in order to see how my opinion changes from my first time playing them years ago. Generation 8 was the only one I haven't touched, and after a conversation with one of my friends, I decided I'd finally try it out for the first time. I kept my expectations low because I heard this one is one of the worsts in the series. So what's my verdict? Well, it leans close to being mediocre unfortunately. Now in all honesty, my problem with this game isn't really much, but it's such a big factor that I can't ignore it, though I'll get to that later. First, the good. I think the new Pokémon are pretty damn cool. For these reviews (minus Kalos), I'm only using Pokémon that debuted in that Gen (or regional forms). All of the Pokémon I used on my team were pretty great in both the strength and design departments, so no complaints there. The gameplay itself is fine, it's kind of easy at times but the level scaling felt pretty tight in a good way, where I never really felt over or underleveled (though I did skip some battles near the end). I will say though, most of the Gym Challenges were pretty fun, even if they were really simple in concept. The ones that stood out the most to me were Bea's with that weird rotating disk you have to guide yourself in or Gordie's with the dowsing machine where you need to watch out for the pits. Not all of these are great though, and some of them are literally just... regular battles. I would've preferred the puzzles they'd do in the older games but I don't completely mind these. The Gym Leaders themselves were a pretty good difficulty, not being as easy as I expected but not hard where I'd need more than one attempt, with the exception of Nessa since my team wasn't exactly suited for her battle at that point (I didn't know Applin only learns two moves before evolving into Flapple or Appletun). The aesthetic of the game is also really nice, the region barely feels stale visually (graphics aside), such as with Ballonlea and Circhester. Last but not least, the OST is seriously great. The battle themes especially shine, mainly the Gym Leader's, Hop's, Pier's and especially Bede's which is probably my favourite song in the game. The unfortunate thing is, some of those amazing songs are strapped onto certain characters, and the main things I don't like about this game are the story and characters. The story has very little substance to it until the final act, and that final act is... horrible. Let's start with the elephant in the room, Chairman Rosé is probably the WORST character not only in the game, but dare I say the series. His plan is so crazy that I genuinely can't wrap my head around his line of thinking and I don't think I want to understand anyway. So let me get this straight: He wants to stop the energy crisis in Galar. Got it. So when does this energy crisis occur? A THOUSAND YEARS IN THE FUTURE??? It baffles me because not even ten generations could pass for that crisis to occur. So he's paranoid about something that won't happen for many, many, MANY years. Okay, so what's his plan? He talks to Leon about it, Leon says he wants to help after the final match with the player. For some reason this upsets Rosé so much he decides to bring about the Darkest Day early by waking up Eternatus right before the match started? Why? For what purpose? I don't even care if I got some of the details wrong because frankly, Rosé sucks and I hate him. Unfortunately, most of the other characters aren't much better. Hop, Leon, Marnie, and Bede especially are either extremely annoying or extremely bland. Hop and Leon don't shut up about the latter being THE unbeatable champion, Marnie is literally the least interesting important character I've seen in the series, and Bede is trying so hard to be a good asshole rival but is too busy talking about how he got endorsed by the Chairman to be a good rival (I consistently one-shot his team each time). I saw someone say Marnie was a "walking character design" and that honestly feels true because she barely shows up and she isn't really as interesting as she looks. I bring this up because that feels like the game in general. The game has a lot of stuff that looks interesting, but it falls flat. Luckily, the Gym Leaders were all pretty cool and are pretty memorable to me at least, such as Nessa, Raihan, Bea, and the highlights are Gordie and Piers. I just love how expressive Gordie is and Piers was the highlight, him having a banger theme and a unique stadium, plus no Dynamaxing in his Gym. I forgot to mention, I think Dynamax as a gimmick is... not bad. I'll admit, out of the main gimmicks, Mega Evolution is definitely the coolest one. However, my issue with Megas comes from how there's no limitations on them, unlike the others where they're more limited in use. Dynamax feels like the compromise between Mega Evolution and Z-Moves. You have three turns to have this powered up gigantic version of your Pokémon and all your moves change to certain Dynamax versions. It's not a bad gimmick at all, and Gigantimaxing has basically what I wanted with the design changes, and some of them are pretty cool like Gengar and Alcremie's. I do understand why some people don't like it though, really my only issue with it comes from the Dynamax raids which just really aren't fun if I'm being blunt. I liked the Tera Raids in Scarlet and Violet much better since they feel a lot quicker and as a result these are just painful since they feel super long. Anyway, I don't plan on doing the DLC for a while because I just wanted to do a base game playthrough to get my opinion on it. Overall, this game is pretty good in a lot of qualities, but the story and characters really drag it down.
To give credit where credit's due, this game has a lot of great qualities like the art style and its unique gameplay, but it just isn't for me. I finished World 3 but just didn't feel like continuing. Simply put, I just don't really find the game to be that fun. I'm not particularly fond of the level design or gimmicks and I feel like I could just find more fun in different platformers. It's a shame because I wanted this to be a great 2D Mario game (since my opinion on most 2D Mario's is pretty negative) and a great first impression for the Yoshi games, but this didn't do either for me. Instead, this game was more tedious to me and annoyed me more than anything. Overall, I'm disappointed this game didn't click for me but I didn't really find it fun as unfortunate as it is.
Very solid collection of games with only one I didn't really like while the others ranged from very good to one of my favourite co-op experiences. While I only really played the campaigns for these reviews, it also comes with the multiplayers for each game, so all in all, definitely worth your money and it goes on sale pretty often from what I've seen. Overall, great collection that's definitely worth checking out.
2012
Honestly, I was fine with it at the start, but the further I went the more I just didn't really feel like playing. Granted, it's not BAD or anything, but it just doesn't really capture my interest like the rest of the Halo games did. The Forerunner mission in particular just reeked of issues such as enemies blending in with the background, really annoying enemy gimmicks, and the missions felt a lot longer than in the other games. I know the game is only eight missions meaning longer missions make sense, but nothing was really impressive of the first three we did. My partner for the game wanted to quit during the third and after playing a bit of the fourth, I agreed. A lot of stuff is also pretty jarring, mainly the sound design. Some of the guns are fine but the newer ones just didn't really feel all that good to use. I don't hate the game, it's far from the worst thing I've ever played clearly, but it's not enticing enough for me to want to continue. Overall, pretty disappointing Halo game that isn't terrible but but interesting enough either.
Once again the Zelda series doesn't disappoint. The Minish Cap is a solid entry in the series that falls behind just a little bit due to one main complaint: Getting to the dungeons. I found that some of the things before the dungeons were sort of tedious compared to in the other games I've played so far where at times I could even just go there. But here it feels like there's a lot of stuff to do before those dungeons, and it's even made worse when there's the Golden Kinstones to deal with as well. However, while getting to some of those dungeons, I found a majority of dungeons to be extremely good, with the only exception being the Temple of Droplets. I didn't really like the puzzles in that dungeon or the navigation, and what I said earlier about getting to dungeons being tedious? The Temple of Droplets is a great example as you need to find the three library books in town and bring them back which takes MUCH longer than I feel like it should've. Other than that though, the rest of this game is so good that it's sort of a crime that I can't in good faith give this a perfect score. There's so many great qualities in this game such as the dungeon layout and puzzles, the shrinking gimmick works so well with 2D Zelda, the characters are enjoyable on screen, the art style looks great, the bosses are insanely fun, and more. Sure getting to the dungeons is annoying in my opinion, but man those dungeons are high quality in exchange. Definitely give this one a shot, I didn't think I'd like this as much as I thought I would. Overall, another quality 2D Zelda title I enjoyed that's very close to being the best so far.
Man it feels good when a game you've always wanted to play turns out to be not only really fun but the best game in the series. I loved nearly every second of this game (minus the World 4 boss but that's to be expected with an underwater boss). The game is still difficult like the other DKC games, but this one felt the most fair, though I will admit it is a little easier than the others. That isn't to say that there aren't any hard moments in this game, but it just felt like smoother sailing compared to the other games. It also is a bit shorter, but I'm glad it didn't overstay its welcome. I also thought the ice physics would be really annoying, though I guess I shouldn't have expected that from a game called Tropical Freeze because they nailed the platforming this time. The game doesn't feel slippery like Returns sort of did somehow. I also think the level themes are really strong here, as it feels like there's more, such as Juicy Jungle or Autumn Heights. The bosses were all pretty fun (minus the World 4 boss, that one was annoying because its underwater) and the OST is incredible, especially the boss themes like Big Top Bop, Punch Bowl, and Volcano Dome. Overall, Tropical Freeze was another great Donkey Kong Country experience and I'm glad I'm ending it off with my new favourite.
2011
Surprisingly, this one was a lot better than I expected. This one isn't really talked about much, and while I understand why, I think it's a shame because it plays pretty well. It feels like more of a level pack rather than having cohesive themed worlds, and while that doesn't bother me much, it makes sense as to why it's more forgettable over titles that have level themes or full worlds. Now, I don't mind this because it means less desert levels or water levels, and instead each level usually revolves around a gimmick,. However, because of this, these levels are typically pretty short, and the only way they could pad out the game is by making you collect a certain amount of Star Coins to unlock certain levels. I don't mind this for extra content, but I don't like when this is used for main content. Luckily though, levels are usually like two minutes long on average so it's not that much of a hassle, but it is a little annoying not having enough. Still though, the gimmicks are pretty fun to work with and I would say it's a great casual game to wind down to. Overall, solid game with great gimmicks but has a couple things that I'm not too keen on.
2010
Halo: Reach is probably the game I'm most conflicted on in this series. I feel like there are elements that are absolutely amazing, but elements that just make the game feel weaker compared to other entries thus far. To sum up my thoughts in the simplest way possible, I thought the story was REALLY good, but the actual gameplay was just alright. The levels in the first half ranged from okay to meh while the second half had pretty solid levels, but nothing too crazy. I get that the game has a more dreadful feel and it was definitely more atmospheric than the others, but the others just had more interesting set pieces. I would like to clarify though, I don't think the level design is bad per say, I just think compared to the majority of other Halo games, this one was weaker for me. Overall, still another really solid Halo game that has some great qualities, but is weaker for me compared to most of the other games in the series.
Donkey Kong Country once again proves to be a difficult platformer and just like the reboot of Punch-Out!! on the Wii, this game doesn't pull its punches despite being a more modern game. There are parts of this game that are just as, if not more difficult than in some of the other games, though this game feels a bit weird with its difficulty. Since each area is based off of a theme, some gimmicks are a lot more annoying than others, such as the Cave levels having a lot more Minecart levels or the Volcano levels having the insta-kill lava, which is to be expected but it's a platforming thing I never really liked. The level design itself is pretty fair, though I feel like the movement could've been improved on. I don't think the game feels bad to play by any means, hell I could say they even improved it a bit due to Diddy Kong having a jetpack for a short hover rather than switching between the two. At the same time, the movement just feels sort of awkward at times in a way that's not horrible, but it does make things feel a little more difficult than normal. Overall, pretty solid game with tough level design but very unique gimmicks that enhance the game but also make it harder.
2009
Halo 3: ODST manages to impress me in many ways. There's a lot of great qualities about this one and at one point I even thought about putting it above Halo 2 (though I think in the end 2 still wins due to things like certain missions alone). I really like how the story is set up, with the Rookie being knocked out for six hours and having to piece together everything that happened during that time. It leaves a lot of mystery which is an element I really like in stories. The actual missions themselves were also really fun, with great level design that doesn't have the faults of the earlier games (not really 3, mainly CE and 2). The OST is also incredible, seriously there are so many earworms in this game that I'll definitely be looping when I keep adding to my VGM playlist. There's also quite a few details I really appreciate since we're playing as an ODST, like how the recoil on guns is more harsh or that you don't have shields like Master Chief. The game feels harder than normal, but still fair and it's all due to lore reasons which is really neat to see. All the characters are great too, it's fun to see them all interact and you really feel like rooting for them as it goes on. Also, the references/inspiration from the Divine Comedy (specifically The Inferno) is REALLY cool and I loved seeing the nods to it. Overall, this game has a ton of creativity and unique qualities that make it really stand out for me a lot more and make it another enjoyable Halo campaign.
2018
Kirby Star Allies is one of the weirdest games I've ever played because I genuinely don't know what my thoughts are for the most part. It just felt... very bland compared to most other Kirby gimmicks. At the very least some other games have a gimmick that interests me or excites me for my inevitable playthrough or replay like the Super Abilities in Return to Dream Land or the Robobot Armor in Planet Robobot. This game's gimmick just being Friends is just... not really that interesting when you consider that it's just something that already existed in Super Star. Which by the way, seems like this game took a lot of inspiration from that game because the last area before the final boss felt like Milky Way Wishes but... worse. I guess my two biggest complaints are that the level design is so easy that it can get boring at times and the pacing just seemed to be really off. Dream Land, Planet Popstar, and Jambastion were all really short while Far-Flung Starlight Heroes was significantly longer than the rest. The rematches with previous boss fights were also just, not interesting. The bosses in this game are relatively easy, actually scratch that, the whole GAME is relatively easy, so there's no challenge until Hyness Unhooded AT MOST. The game is also VERY generous with lives so even if I did lose some, I'd never run out. I guess I just would've liked the last area to be shorter because this game just really wasn't doing it for me and it felt like it was starting to overstay its welcome. It is very flawed but I wouldn't say it's the worst Kirby game, mainly because there's still some great qualities like the visuals, music, and new Copy Abilities, which are easily the best part of the game. I really like Spider and Paint, and the Power Effects (the Copy Abilities that are fused with an element) are pretty cool too. I liked running Sword a lot with any of the elements, though as a standalone, I really like Beetle a lot (though I know it wasn't introduced here). Overall, this one was just a lot more disappointing than other Kirby games, but as a whole I wouldn't say it's bad or mid, just underwhelming.
2009
Once again the Punch-Out!! series continues to improve more each title. This really is the best one, all the attacks are visually clear and the sprites from the first two games are perfectly translated onto this one. It feels new while also keeping the spirit of what came before and as a result it's a delight to play. I guess really the only thing I can say as a complaint is that I feel like the difficulty curve is a little weird sometimes, like Aran Ryan and Soda Popinski being harder than Bald Bull and Super Macho Man, at least in my experience where I was able to knock out the latter two much easier than the former two despite the former coming first. Though, I wouldn't say the difficulty curve is bad, each Circuit feels like most or all fighters are the same difficulty, but that was one thing I felt like pointing out. Once again, what you see is what you get, so go play this game if you're interested. Overall, another very solid entry in the Punch-Out!! series and definitely the one I'd recommend the most.