HyperSonic1134
1992
Not much to say about this one compared to 4. I think a lot of praise I can give to 4 carries over to here. One thing I'd like to highlight is the weapons. The Mega Buster is EXTREMELY overpowered in this game, which I'm kind of okay with? Mainly because I think being overpowered is better than being severely underpowered and it makes playing through this game a lot easier. My issue comes from the fact that the Robot Masters, while having unique abilities, all feel really easy, more than the other games. Again, I don't really mind this too much, but I do kind of wish this game was a bit harder. I'll take having an overall easier Mega Man game than what 3 did by starting hard and becoming easier by the Wily Castle, because seriously that final boss was way too easy in that game. Other than that, the weapons in this game are probably my favourite so far. Of course there's still the niche one (Gravity Hold), but the other weapons I've utilized pretty well, and although I didn't end up like I did in 4 where I had everything used up by the end, I still made use of every weapon during my playthrough even though I relied on the Mega Buster the most (which I like to do anyway). This game gets a little bit of an edge over 4 only because I think I like the stages in this game a little better than in 4's due to really fun stages like Gyro Man, Wave Man, and my personal favourite: Star Man. Though, I can understand why people wouldn't like this one because this game unfortunately doesn't really do anything new, all it has is the collectables that give you Beat (which is really useful for a surprising about of Proto Man/Wily Castle bosses), but I found it to be a really good time. Overall, this game, while it's a lot easier and doesn't do anything to change the formula, still manages to be a lot of fun and is now one of my favourite Mega Man games so far.
1991
At first I wasn't sure if I was completely sold, but nah, this is actually really good, hell I like it more than 1 and 3. I think what makes this game stand out compared to its others (even 2) is its content. We have eight Robot Masters, four Cossack Citadel stages, and four Wily Castle stages for a grand total of sixteen levels. The best part is, none of these levels overstay their welcome, which is something I can't say for something like Mega Man 3 where they reuse four level maps and aesthetics for rematches of Mega Man 2 bosses that felt more annoying to play. The weapon catalogue also feels a lot better this time around, with most weapons feeling good to play while the niche ones are used well for when they're needed. By the final boss, I had most of the weapons completely depleted but was still able to finish the game. The only issues I had were with the final bosses, Wily Machine 4 and Wily Capsule. Wily Machine 4 has a horrid hitbox in the second phase that made fighting it so much worse than it really should've been. Wily Capsule is definitely not as bad but I just don't like that you can't hit it with the Mega Buster especially since the refills come before the boss rush and due to the Robot Master weaknesses, you really need a lot of ammo. Other than that though, pretty good level design, great weapon choices, solid bosses, and a larger amount of content that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Overall, I'd say this game has a lot of great qualities that prevent the series from getting boring to me playing these back to back, and I'll be looking forward to the next one.
1990
Honestly, this one doesn't live up to the first and second game, and I have three main reasons why. First of all, I don't really like a lot of the weapon options in this game. Almost all of the weapons don't feel that good to use and the ones that do feel good run out really quickly. Obviously there are some exceptions to this, but there's only two weapons that I actually like using and one of them I didn't have until near the end. Second, the Doc Robots ruin the pace of this game for me. Having to redo four levels, and the ones I didn't really like at that, was really annoying even if they have different layouts. Not only that, but each of those have two Robot Masters from Mega Man 2 but stronger, and if you die to the first one, you need to restart the whole level. The checkpoints just feel unfair in this one, specifically for the Doc Robot levels. Having to redo these levels doesn't really help either because the game has pretty repetitive level design at times, which normally wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't for the Doc Robots. Finally, the Wily Fortress is really underwhelming. The final boss didn't even take me a minute and I literally one shot his final phase. Like, that's it? And Gamma is such a cool design too which was really unfortunate. So yeah, so far this my least favourite Mega Man game, but it's Mega Man so I still enjoyed it enough to give it a decent rating despite its issues. I will give props to the OST because that's even better than the first and maybe the second (hard to beat something like Wily Fortress I in Mega Man 2). Overall, while this game has some issues I'm not a fan of, I think it's still pretty decent since it still follows the Mega Man formula I love.
2003
I came back to this game because of my pride. I hated having completed most of the games but not this one. After finishing The Final Horizon, I felt the want to go back to this game and finally finish it one day, and in mid November, I finally decided to do so. Last time I played, I beat Team Sonic and half of Team Rose and dropped it, so what about now? Well, I actually beat it for one, True Ending and all, but I actually found myself enjoying it this time? Quite the twist if you ask me. There's a lot more things I found myself appreciating this time around, mainly the character system. Once you get a mastery of the controls and what each character can do, the game becomes so much more fun and goes from tolerable to great! I still think this game has many issues that I highlighted in my previous review, but I found that some things, like the poor level design, become a lot easier to deal with once you've already experienced one of the stories. For the first time though? A lot of what to do or expect is really hard to understand so levels end up taking a lot longer than they normally would. That being said, I've come to appreciate some of the longer levels that I used to hate such as Egg Fleet and Bullet Station, but some levels still suck like Mystic Mansion (I'm sorry but the three paths part is so bad for Team Sonic). I also started with Team Rose this time around and got all the Chaos Emeralds instantly so I wouldn't have to deal with it later down the line and that helped me enjoy the second stages so much more since I didn't have to be extremely careful. Special stages still suck though, really badly. There's only a few levels I don't really like anymore, mainly the Casino levels because the pinball physics are so broken it's not even funny. Anyway, it's hard for me to really explain why I suddenly like this game, I think things just clicked for me this time around because I found myself actually enjoying it and I'm really glad I did. Overall, I think while this game still has many issues, it's become somewhat of a guilty pleasure and I actually enjoy it this time around and I'm glad I gave it a second chance.
1989
This is the literal definition of a retro game I can pick up and play and have fun with. It's easier than the first game but provides a lot more content and the level design is so much more fun. Honestly, this is my second time playing through the whole game and I already loved it before but replaying it was a blast. From the better level design to adding more Robot Masters and stages to the really fun Wily Castle segments. I think this game really has it all. The only complaint I could think of is the weapons again but even that isn't so bad because I found myself switching weapons pretty often. Honestly I think it's literally just the Time-Stopper but considering what it's meant to be for which is to make Quick Man easier, then it gets a pass in my book. Overall, I think this game is really well made and fun and easily became my favourite retro game I've played this year, if not ever.
1987
Started the Mega Man Legacy Collection since I saw it was on sale on Steam during the Fall sale. Remembered really liking this game and loving 2, but I didn't remember too much of this one, so how is it now replaying it? Well, I had a blast with this one! Sure some of the stages have really annoying segments (looking at you Ice Man), but the game has a difficulty level that I really like personally. It's still really difficult but it has enough simplicity to the point where I can think "yeah this is possible." The only issue I have is that most of the weapons here don't really feel too good to use. For instance, the Super Arm feels way too niche since it's only really used in the third Wily Fortress and against Cut Man. That or the weapons just don't feel too good to use like the Hyper Bomb or Fire Storm (I still like Fire Storm I just never felt like I needed to use it outside of a few moments). I mainly used the Mega Buster, Rolling Cutter, and Thunder Beam and only used the others when I needed to. Overall, I'd say for a starting point of an old series, this is actually really damn good even if it's not perfect.
This review contains spoilers
Every series has that one entry that just doesn't click with you as much as others do. Usually it's the first game in the series since they're trying something new and need to set the foundation for what's to come, but in the case of the Ace Attorney series, they started very strongly and consistently delivered with all of my scores being 4.5/5 (and Trials and Tribulations even reaching that perfect 5/5). However, this is where the series starts to tumble. Everything in this game feels like "one step forward, two steps back" and the culmination of everything leads to me say "yeah, this game is the exact definition of mediocre." Even saying that feels generous, but I debated between a 2/5 and a 2.5/5 and figured the latter was more fitting as I think I'd take this game over some of the others in the same tier. To quickly sum up my issues with this game before I go deep into it, this game has so many good ideas, but for some reason the game feels the need to preach about said ideas and themes throughout all of the cases, and it leads to such a souring experience because they have to slap my left cheek with "the dark age of the law" and my right cheek with "the ends justifies the means" for instance. I'll go deeper into each case and my issues with them:
Turnabout Countdown: This case suffers from trying to be a generic introduction case after the previous two games had great ideas for introduction cases in the form of a flashback for Trials and Tribulations and a first case with a new character that serves as a prologue for what's to come in the last case. Here, while this case takes place during the fourth case, there's nothing clever about this and the mystery is so barebones and basic and seeing Phoenix back to his Trilogy self after the development of the last game feels like whiplash. They even go as far as to reuse ideas from other first cases, such as the good ol' "victim wrote the killer's name in blood" which, by the way, felt like such a stretch this time around. Simpler fix, let this case be the first case chronologically and make this Athena's first case. Sure the chronological order thing would have some more issues that need fixing, but as Athena's first case, this is even more barebones than The Monstrous Turnabout, so why not let the new character get some spotlight? Phoenix really didn't need to have this one and it hurts his character if anything since we see this first without a proper transition between the events of Turnabout Succession in the previous game to where he is now.
The Monstrous Turnabout: Easily my least favourite case in the series. The first half starts promising and has a really good first trial day, but as soon as the second half hits the quality drops by so much it puts Big Top to shame (I don't hate Big Top anymore but it's still on the lower end compared to other cases in the series). The worst part is, for some god forsaken reason they decided to ONCE AGAIN show WHO THE CULPRIT IS IN THE OPENING CUTSCENE (just like The First Turnabout and Turnabout Sisters). I already didn't really like that trope, but it gets a pass for being a part of the first game, but on the fifth? Considering the lack of relevant NPC's in this case, there's no way you don't guess who it is early anyway. The villain himself is kind of funny, but also really annoying, and I would know, I voice acted him when I was playing with my friend. The one good thing I can say is it introduced Bobby Fulbright, but that's where my compliments end as the investigations are a drag and the trial becomes so boring because the villain is so hard to take down for literally no reason.
Turnabout Academy: For the first time ever, the third case is actually the best one? Seriously, the issues I have here are quite minimal actually. Really good setting, great characters, and establishes a foil to Athena really well early on the give the player motivation to absolutely destroy your opponent in court. Only problem is, this case goes on and on about the theme of "the ends justify the means" to the point where it'll be in every third line and even Athena says "I'm sick and tired of hearing that stupid phrase" or something along those lines. If Athena's sick and tired of hearing it, didn't the developers think that the players would be too? I genuinely think this could've been the best non-final case had it been more subtle with its themes and maybe even had a different villain. Having a character with an opposing ideology to the main character AND the victim isn't exact subtle, however I'll give the game credit because if I didn't already know who the culprit beforehand, I would have actually thought it was one of the three main characters of the case.
The Cosmic Turnabout: This case is better than Countdown and Monstrous, but doesn't come close to Academy for me. It just feels like a really standard case, and I get that it's supposed to be a "Part One" to Turnabout for Tomorrow, but that in itself is a problem. Let's go back to Turnabout Beginnings and Bridge to the Turnabout. The former is a flashback case that Phoenix reads upon during the first day of Bridge to the Turnabout. We see the villain of Turnabout Memories return and get the second of the two cases Mia had against them. Using the information Phoenix learns, then he's ready to solve the current mystery set up now. The setting, while the same location, changes drastically with the area going from an empty area to somewhere that people live at and train in that are related to the Fey Clan. Here though, we get the same exact setting in both cases, to which this one is sort of underwhelming compared to other settings we've seen in the past, and "Part Two" immediately follows "Part One" with no room to breathe. The ironic thing is, due to the amount of trial and investigation days in both, it could've just been one long case. Granted, me and my friend would've been on it forever since we were voice acting and I went on a lot of tangents because of how much this game disappoints me, but I digress. I also just don't find the NPC's to be that interesting, with the show stealer not even being cross-examinable (technically?). The entire first case has two halves of the trial and the second half only has one person you cross examine who, once again, is so hard to take down for literally no reason as his attempts to lie his way out of it make zero sense whatsoever. It's not a terrible case, but just underwhelming.
Turnabout for Tomorrow: This one actually hurts. Not only is this the one final case I wouldn't put in S-tier, but I was excited to play this game and get to this case only for it to be kind of good at best. This is just such an underwhelming finale and things just happen for no reason. The main issue stems from the main villain, which is also the worst main villain in the series so far. The other villains leave such an impact, whether it's von Karma for raising the stakes and being the most ruthless prosecutor so far, Matt Engarde for his genius scheme and getting the characters and the player to really think about what a lawyer really is supposed to do, Dahlia for being the catalyst for many events in the series, and Kristoph for being the catalyst for the Dark Age of the Law (which I'll get back to that topic later). This last villain is so ridiculously boring because due to the concept being a spy that feels no emotion and doesn't know his true identity, there's not much to really connect to. Yes, Bobby Fulbright was great and one of my favourite characters in the game, but the Phantom has nothing to him and all he does is wear the face of a character I like. I get that Bobby Fulbright was dead since before the events of the game and this was just a disguise, but as a result they feel like (and are) two different characters to which I care for one and don't for the other. Worst part is, he is, yet again, way too hard to take down for no apparent reason. He makes a remark about "the dark age of the law" and how "people don't trust the court" a few minutes after Athena pulls up the Mood Matrix and finds out he has no emotion and the Phantom PULLING OUT WEAPONS AND GADGETS MID TRIAL. You can't honestly expect me to believe that ANYONE in the gallery would believe he's not the Phantom or that they would side with him. Taking down the Phantom was so needlessly long that by the end I let out a long sigh and said "finally I'm free" to my friend near 1 AM. Almost forgot, but in this case they say "seven years ago" so many times, which is completely ruined by the fact that the previous final case literally did the whole "seven years ago" thing but better because they didn't shove it down my throat and let the players see what happened themselves rather than investigating a few areas. I get that the in-universe rule is that after seven years a case is closed, but they won't shut up about that or the Dark Age of the Law to the point where it gets exhausting.
I'll give credit to this game where it's due. Athena and Blackquill are great characters, hell I like the former more than Phoenix and Apollo in this game. I honestly think this game would've benefitted more if Athena was the protagonist rather than Phoenix, especially since it would've given time to let Phoenix develop while still giving enough attention to Athena and Apollo. The music is also pretty good at times, but even then there's still some songs that really don't fit the mood, such as the song that plays during the plot twist at the end of The Cosmic Turnabout or the Phantom's theme to which both sound ridiculous especially for what they're supposed to be used for. That's about all the general stuff I can say that's good. I still have a lot of issues with this game outside of case specific things, such as the characterization of Phoenix and especially Apollo. I wish Phoenix was a mix of his Trilogy and Apollo Justice self instead of just reverting to the former. It's odd because it this game just completely throws away all of the character development Phoenix had in the previous game, which sucks because, if I'm being honest, Apollo Justice's version of Phoenix was probably my favourite of them all. Meanwhile, Apollo is so needlessly edgy and annoying in this game, especially in Turnabout for Tomorrow. He gets attacked in Turnabout Countdown and suddenly he's donning a coat, an eyepatch, and has bandages on his arm. See, I get the coat part because of the context, but the other two make zero sense as he doesn't even get injured in the areas that are covered up. Also my friend brought this up but instead of ditching the coat completely, he should've just put it on instead of just hanging it on his back or whatever. This is literally the one case where it would've made sense for an outfit change so if you're going to make Apollo edgy for a bit why not just go the full way and give him a special design for the last part of the trial? That's not a big complaint for me just a minor nitpick. Finally, the Dark Age of the Law plotline makes absolutely no sense. They claim that two major incidents alone sparked it and by resolving those two incidents, they can fix the system and remove the Dark Age of the Law. The problem is, you can't expect me to believe that fixing the two incidents will get the people's trust in the court system back. Yes both incidents are because of a larger culprit, but that doesn't mean the general public can be swayed so quickly. Think about it, when a YouTube gets falsely accused for a crime, they'll lose credibility even if they make a seven hour video debunking those allegations. With how society is, something like a court system can't be fixed by Phoenix and Blackquill shaking hands and believing in the power of friendship. Apollo Justice used this theme better because they only mentioned the Dark Age of the Law once or twice and showed us how crimes and the legal system have developed, such as Turnabout Succession and even Turnabout Serenade. The only case to really show us about the Dark Age of the Law in full swing is Turnabout Academy, and even then those themes don't feel as strong as they did in Apollo Justice because they scream "Dark Age of the Law" and "the ends justify the means" into my ear every two seconds. If you've made it this far, I thank you for your time. I come off as cynical towards this game because I've always wanted to play it, it was the game that made me start playing Ace Attorney and it ended up being so much lower than my expectations. I still need to complete the DLC case, but that's separate enough and I wanted to talk about that there so I can let out my thoughts now. Anyway, I don't want to nitpick for hours because this review is already getting really long and it's definitely my longest review so far, so now that I've got my main points across, I'll end with a general statement like I always do. Overall, I think this game is a massive step down from the standard Ace Attorney experience due to it's poor writing and execution of ideas that could have been really good, but fall flat due to how it's presented, so I will only hope that the DLC case and Spirit of Justice can bring back that Ace Attorney experience I still love today.
Turnabout Countdown: This case suffers from trying to be a generic introduction case after the previous two games had great ideas for introduction cases in the form of a flashback for Trials and Tribulations and a first case with a new character that serves as a prologue for what's to come in the last case. Here, while this case takes place during the fourth case, there's nothing clever about this and the mystery is so barebones and basic and seeing Phoenix back to his Trilogy self after the development of the last game feels like whiplash. They even go as far as to reuse ideas from other first cases, such as the good ol' "victim wrote the killer's name in blood" which, by the way, felt like such a stretch this time around. Simpler fix, let this case be the first case chronologically and make this Athena's first case. Sure the chronological order thing would have some more issues that need fixing, but as Athena's first case, this is even more barebones than The Monstrous Turnabout, so why not let the new character get some spotlight? Phoenix really didn't need to have this one and it hurts his character if anything since we see this first without a proper transition between the events of Turnabout Succession in the previous game to where he is now.
The Monstrous Turnabout: Easily my least favourite case in the series. The first half starts promising and has a really good first trial day, but as soon as the second half hits the quality drops by so much it puts Big Top to shame (I don't hate Big Top anymore but it's still on the lower end compared to other cases in the series). The worst part is, for some god forsaken reason they decided to ONCE AGAIN show WHO THE CULPRIT IS IN THE OPENING CUTSCENE (just like The First Turnabout and Turnabout Sisters). I already didn't really like that trope, but it gets a pass for being a part of the first game, but on the fifth? Considering the lack of relevant NPC's in this case, there's no way you don't guess who it is early anyway. The villain himself is kind of funny, but also really annoying, and I would know, I voice acted him when I was playing with my friend. The one good thing I can say is it introduced Bobby Fulbright, but that's where my compliments end as the investigations are a drag and the trial becomes so boring because the villain is so hard to take down for literally no reason.
Turnabout Academy: For the first time ever, the third case is actually the best one? Seriously, the issues I have here are quite minimal actually. Really good setting, great characters, and establishes a foil to Athena really well early on the give the player motivation to absolutely destroy your opponent in court. Only problem is, this case goes on and on about the theme of "the ends justify the means" to the point where it'll be in every third line and even Athena says "I'm sick and tired of hearing that stupid phrase" or something along those lines. If Athena's sick and tired of hearing it, didn't the developers think that the players would be too? I genuinely think this could've been the best non-final case had it been more subtle with its themes and maybe even had a different villain. Having a character with an opposing ideology to the main character AND the victim isn't exact subtle, however I'll give the game credit because if I didn't already know who the culprit beforehand, I would have actually thought it was one of the three main characters of the case.
The Cosmic Turnabout: This case is better than Countdown and Monstrous, but doesn't come close to Academy for me. It just feels like a really standard case, and I get that it's supposed to be a "Part One" to Turnabout for Tomorrow, but that in itself is a problem. Let's go back to Turnabout Beginnings and Bridge to the Turnabout. The former is a flashback case that Phoenix reads upon during the first day of Bridge to the Turnabout. We see the villain of Turnabout Memories return and get the second of the two cases Mia had against them. Using the information Phoenix learns, then he's ready to solve the current mystery set up now. The setting, while the same location, changes drastically with the area going from an empty area to somewhere that people live at and train in that are related to the Fey Clan. Here though, we get the same exact setting in both cases, to which this one is sort of underwhelming compared to other settings we've seen in the past, and "Part Two" immediately follows "Part One" with no room to breathe. The ironic thing is, due to the amount of trial and investigation days in both, it could've just been one long case. Granted, me and my friend would've been on it forever since we were voice acting and I went on a lot of tangents because of how much this game disappoints me, but I digress. I also just don't find the NPC's to be that interesting, with the show stealer not even being cross-examinable (technically?). The entire first case has two halves of the trial and the second half only has one person you cross examine who, once again, is so hard to take down for literally no reason as his attempts to lie his way out of it make zero sense whatsoever. It's not a terrible case, but just underwhelming.
Turnabout for Tomorrow: This one actually hurts. Not only is this the one final case I wouldn't put in S-tier, but I was excited to play this game and get to this case only for it to be kind of good at best. This is just such an underwhelming finale and things just happen for no reason. The main issue stems from the main villain, which is also the worst main villain in the series so far. The other villains leave such an impact, whether it's von Karma for raising the stakes and being the most ruthless prosecutor so far, Matt Engarde for his genius scheme and getting the characters and the player to really think about what a lawyer really is supposed to do, Dahlia for being the catalyst for many events in the series, and Kristoph for being the catalyst for the Dark Age of the Law (which I'll get back to that topic later). This last villain is so ridiculously boring because due to the concept being a spy that feels no emotion and doesn't know his true identity, there's not much to really connect to. Yes, Bobby Fulbright was great and one of my favourite characters in the game, but the Phantom has nothing to him and all he does is wear the face of a character I like. I get that Bobby Fulbright was dead since before the events of the game and this was just a disguise, but as a result they feel like (and are) two different characters to which I care for one and don't for the other. Worst part is, he is, yet again, way too hard to take down for no apparent reason. He makes a remark about "the dark age of the law" and how "people don't trust the court" a few minutes after Athena pulls up the Mood Matrix and finds out he has no emotion and the Phantom PULLING OUT WEAPONS AND GADGETS MID TRIAL. You can't honestly expect me to believe that ANYONE in the gallery would believe he's not the Phantom or that they would side with him. Taking down the Phantom was so needlessly long that by the end I let out a long sigh and said "finally I'm free" to my friend near 1 AM. Almost forgot, but in this case they say "seven years ago" so many times, which is completely ruined by the fact that the previous final case literally did the whole "seven years ago" thing but better because they didn't shove it down my throat and let the players see what happened themselves rather than investigating a few areas. I get that the in-universe rule is that after seven years a case is closed, but they won't shut up about that or the Dark Age of the Law to the point where it gets exhausting.
I'll give credit to this game where it's due. Athena and Blackquill are great characters, hell I like the former more than Phoenix and Apollo in this game. I honestly think this game would've benefitted more if Athena was the protagonist rather than Phoenix, especially since it would've given time to let Phoenix develop while still giving enough attention to Athena and Apollo. The music is also pretty good at times, but even then there's still some songs that really don't fit the mood, such as the song that plays during the plot twist at the end of The Cosmic Turnabout or the Phantom's theme to which both sound ridiculous especially for what they're supposed to be used for. That's about all the general stuff I can say that's good. I still have a lot of issues with this game outside of case specific things, such as the characterization of Phoenix and especially Apollo. I wish Phoenix was a mix of his Trilogy and Apollo Justice self instead of just reverting to the former. It's odd because it this game just completely throws away all of the character development Phoenix had in the previous game, which sucks because, if I'm being honest, Apollo Justice's version of Phoenix was probably my favourite of them all. Meanwhile, Apollo is so needlessly edgy and annoying in this game, especially in Turnabout for Tomorrow. He gets attacked in Turnabout Countdown and suddenly he's donning a coat, an eyepatch, and has bandages on his arm. See, I get the coat part because of the context, but the other two make zero sense as he doesn't even get injured in the areas that are covered up. Also my friend brought this up but instead of ditching the coat completely, he should've just put it on instead of just hanging it on his back or whatever. This is literally the one case where it would've made sense for an outfit change so if you're going to make Apollo edgy for a bit why not just go the full way and give him a special design for the last part of the trial? That's not a big complaint for me just a minor nitpick. Finally, the Dark Age of the Law plotline makes absolutely no sense. They claim that two major incidents alone sparked it and by resolving those two incidents, they can fix the system and remove the Dark Age of the Law. The problem is, you can't expect me to believe that fixing the two incidents will get the people's trust in the court system back. Yes both incidents are because of a larger culprit, but that doesn't mean the general public can be swayed so quickly. Think about it, when a YouTube gets falsely accused for a crime, they'll lose credibility even if they make a seven hour video debunking those allegations. With how society is, something like a court system can't be fixed by Phoenix and Blackquill shaking hands and believing in the power of friendship. Apollo Justice used this theme better because they only mentioned the Dark Age of the Law once or twice and showed us how crimes and the legal system have developed, such as Turnabout Succession and even Turnabout Serenade. The only case to really show us about the Dark Age of the Law in full swing is Turnabout Academy, and even then those themes don't feel as strong as they did in Apollo Justice because they scream "Dark Age of the Law" and "the ends justify the means" into my ear every two seconds. If you've made it this far, I thank you for your time. I come off as cynical towards this game because I've always wanted to play it, it was the game that made me start playing Ace Attorney and it ended up being so much lower than my expectations. I still need to complete the DLC case, but that's separate enough and I wanted to talk about that there so I can let out my thoughts now. Anyway, I don't want to nitpick for hours because this review is already getting really long and it's definitely my longest review so far, so now that I've got my main points across, I'll end with a general statement like I always do. Overall, I think this game is a massive step down from the standard Ace Attorney experience due to it's poor writing and execution of ideas that could have been really good, but fall flat due to how it's presented, so I will only hope that the DLC case and Spirit of Justice can bring back that Ace Attorney experience I still love today.
2006
I don't have too much to say about this game except, "yeah, it was good." I had a lot of fun playing it, but the main gimmick to me isn't really anything too special and as such I don't think it really merits adding lots of points to it. However, the level design is pretty good and the new copy abilities are pretty fun to use like Animal and Bubble are pretty interesting, though I don't really like Metal. I also didn't realize there was mixed copy abilities until verifying those copy abilities came from this game, but there's not really many. That's still a pretty cool idea though, shame I never figured I could do that. Anyway, the touch screen holding items is pretty neat, though I don't find myself using it too often. There was always the mixing of items to make newer stuff but I honestly forgot about it except for 1-ups. The other gimmick is the Squeaks and the treasure chests. Due to how many items you can carry in the bottom screen, the treasure chests become sort of a hinderance for me. The Squeaks are pretty interesting though and there's times where I like fighting them for the treasure, though some instances felt a little unfair for me as I'm playing for the first time. The collectables are pretty cool too, I like being able to have extra things like the jukebox and changing Kirby's colour. Overall, I would say this is a pretty decent and fun game that I was able to quickly beat and try out for the first time.
Didn't know what to expect as this was my first ever Legend of Zelda game, but I was pleasantly surprised. I had only one issue with this game and it was that certain dungeons or bosses had items required that I didn't know of prior, like needing a certain item for the boss of Turtle Rock, the penultimate dungeon. If I didn't have the item when I got to the dungeon or boss, I'd have to do a lot of backtracking and often I would need to use a guide, which got a little annoying at times, but other than that, the rest of the game is just fantastic. The sprite work is just beautiful and the animations are all so good, and the world is so colourful which I wasn't expecting. The story is pretty basic but it works for a game that focuses more on the exploration, which is just amazing by the way. I love the way the map works, especially in the dungeons as you just move screens, and while that's basic, it really helps to make the game feel alive (again, this is my first Zelda game and really first game of this kind). The OST isn't anything crazy but it's pretty good to listen to for the game it's in. Nothing I'd listen to outside of the game but I think it works for what it's trying to do. Out of all the dungeons, I think there was only one or maybe even two I didn't like, the rest all being really good even if there is an annoying gimmick or two in them. The items you can get along the way are pretty interesting, especially the Hookshot which is definitely my favourite of the bunch. Overall, I would say for a first impression into the Legend of Zelda series, I think this did an amazing job at hooking me into this series.
2008
OFF is a strange game. I don't think at any point I understood what was going on, but I had a lot of fun regardless. I plan to look more into the lore later but I wanted to write my review as soon as I finished. The story, while it makes no sense to me, is really good. I think the presentation of everything is good, I'm just too stupid to understand it personally. Also, it's weird playing this after OMORI because that game gives me similar vibes to this, especially the endgame of both. Going around and solving puzzles is fine, though a lot of the puzzles are really annoying as they involve lots of memorization and backtracking. I had to use a guide for most of this game because it felt cryptic at times and I rarely knew what to do. Granted, that's not a bad thing, but it can get a little annoying at times. The combat is sort of mixed for me because it's not bad, but I wish there was a little more to it. I still think it's pretty fun, especially in boss fights where you need to be on your toes constantly, but the shorter battles can be a little boring at times since you don't need to think as much as you do for bosses. One thing I will heavily praise this game for is how incredible the soundtrack is. I said it before and I'll say it again, but indie games manage to make the most irritating sounds and make them into masterpieces of music and it's more impressive for this game as it's an old game meant to convey a creepy and disturbing vibe, and it does it perfectly. The OST manages to be catchy, relaxing, and creepy all at the same time and I'll love it for that. Overall, I think for as old as this game is, it has a lot of good elements even if there are some things that could be improved on as it's really cryptic, even if that is to the game's advantage.
Forgot to log this but I played this back in April and it was really good for a free game made for an April Fool's joke. The visuals are really nice and I love the aesthetic whether it's the design of the rooms in the train or the character's costumes for the party. It's really charming and a very short game, only taking me about two and a half hours to play. The characters all have really good characterization and it's great to see some of them return after getting minimal content of them for so long. The mini games in between when you try and think are not bad, but near the end some of them can be a little annoying as it's kind of hard to see where you land when jumping due to the angle the mini game plays at. Getting the "ah-ha!" moments solving the mystery are really satisfying and give me my mystery fill because that's one of my favourite genres. Overall, I would say this is a pretty good game to check out if you're a fan of Sonic and it's characters since it's a short and free game that really has a lot of love poured into it.
2017
Got this game the day before my birthday, played it a lot that day and even more the day of, and finished it the day after. This is easily one of the most fun games I've ever played. I already knew some things about the game but actually playing it for myself is a whole different experience and it's great to be able to play a good collectathon like this again. As much as I love Galaxy's spin, I think the movement in this game is probably the best of the 3D Mario games (granted, I haven't played them all but of the ones I have played, I would say so. Note that I haven't logged all the 3D Mario games I've played as of writing this but I did complete the 3D All Stars games and will do so again for their own individual reviews another time). I think the structure of this game is the best yet because it has an open area that you can do anything in sort of like in 64, but has the linear objectives like in Galaxy. The brief 2D sections where the platforming becomes like the first Super Mario Bros. game are great call backs and fit the game super well while having the movement of the old games come back for this. The Kingdoms (for the most part) follow pretty generic level themes, but these have so much more going for them because they don't use the formal conventions of other levels. For instance, the Sand Kingdom was almost frozen over when you first get there, or the Snow Kingdom's main city being underground the snowstorm. Little things like that make the world feel more alive and create newer possibilities for gimmicks, and I'd even go as far to say that this game is more unique than Mario Wonder was (I still love Wonder, I just find that this does what I wanted from that game better). Also, the graphics and aesthetic of this game is absolutely gorgeous. Some of my favourite Kingdoms are Bowser's Kingdom, Lake Kingdom, and the Sand Kingdom, with other smaller Kingdoms going higher on my list due to how beautiful they look such as the Ruined Kingdom and Luncheon Kingdom (Metro Kingdom is also up there but I like it for different reasons). I finished the game with 147 Moons and I'll definitely be getting the remaining 852 over time. Overall, I would say this is easily my favourite 3D Mario game and I look forward to collecting the remaining Moons while visiting the other 3D Mario games after.
1989
As expected, I didn't really like this one. I mean it's really short so it wasn't like I was in for a long haul, but the 38 minutes I played of this didn't really leave me with much positive things to say. I guess the music was pretty good? That's where the positives end for me. The main gripe I have with this game is the physics, which are absolutely horrid even if this is a Game Boy game. I mean granted I haven't played other Game Boy platformers, but this makes me not want to try others due to how terrible the platforming felt in this game. Level design started to feel really repetitive near the end and the levels with the submarine and plane were really weird but honestly the best the game really had to offer. A lot of the deaths I had in this game didn't really feel like my fault so while I may be harsh on this game I just found that it wasn't fun at all for me. I wouldn't put this at the very lowest tier though because those games have very particular reasons for being at the bottom, so I'll leave it at this score for now. Overall, just a game I didn't really have fun with due to its poor physics and level design.
2013
I decided to play this game again for the 10th anniversary, and I feel I have a lot of nostalgia with this game, so my review might be a little softer than normal, but I feel like that can't really be helped with how many times I've replayed this. I don't think I have it in my heart to call this game mid, but I wouldn't exactly say it's anything crazy even in it's own series. I think this game is just serviceable, I do agree that a third version (Pokémon Z) would've made this game so much better because the main problem is that the potential for something great is there, but it isn't used properly. The game is one of, if not the easiest in the series, the new Pokémon are minimal and not many are interesting, the story is very underwhelming, and has what I believe to be the worst rivals yet. Despite all of that, I don't really dislike this game. I find that playing this now years later that it's not as entertaining as it was as a kid, but it's a solid, polished game that still brings back good memories and provides enough for me so still enjoy it now. The aesthetic of the region is what I love most about it, from the unique route themes to the character customization, which is still one of the best so far. I played it as a randomizer in this run because I wanted to spice things up as I've played this at least more than seven times, and I managed to get some pretty good Pokémon from it. My final team was:
- Mothership (Magnezone)
- Dumbledurr (Conkledurr)
- Sonic (Sandslash)
- Gumdrop (Goodra)
- Barack Obama (Abomasnow)
- Gigabyte (Gigalith)
Overall, I would say while this game is very simplistic and lacking in areas, I think it's still a pretty fun game to revisit every once in a while.
- Mothership (Magnezone)
- Dumbledurr (Conkledurr)
- Sonic (Sandslash)
- Gumdrop (Goodra)
- Barack Obama (Abomasnow)
- Gigabyte (Gigalith)
Overall, I would say while this game is very simplistic and lacking in areas, I think it's still a pretty fun game to revisit every once in a while.
2020
This review contains spoilers
Took me a while to finish this game but man was it worth it. The unfortunate reason why it took me so long to finish was mainly because I already knew lots of the story of the game, I was just filling the gaps in by playing through from start to finish, which was the same experience I had with Persona 5 Royal. Luckily that didn't take away too much from my experience because while I may have known major plot points, the quirky dialogue made up for it and got quite a few laughs out of me while playing. The story and dialogue are definitely the highlights of this game, as that was the part that kept me invested the most and my main want to play. I love the Real World segments of the game a lot, I just found it a little sad that those were much shorter than the Headspace segments as I prefer the Real World much more. I do like Headspace, but I feel like there could've been some better execution in terms of gameplay, mainly Pyrefly Forest and Humphrey. The only sad thing was that as Headspace segments got longer and longer, the more I wanted to go back to the Real World as I just preferred that style more. I didn't dislike the Sweetheart and Underwater Highway parts, but I just didn't care much about finding Basil in Headspace as much as seeing Sunny's friends and how they changed over the years. However, I acknowledge that those segments are important due to OMORI repressing the truth, so I'll let it slide but add that I wish some of the gameplay was more engaging and not as cryptic as I felt lost at times. The OST is REALLY good for this game and I want to give extra credit to this because while it's not the absolute BEST OST out there, it manages to make sounds that would be really annoying on their own into a banger track (mainly the King Crawler theme). I also adore OMOCAT's art style, I got merch from them before finding out about them from my friend playing this game and I love their style so much as it feels so unique and comfortable while also making the game feel more unnerving when it gets to the horror parts. The combat is also a lot better than I expected, not Persona level of good but very enjoyable. The emotion system spices things up and makes combat really enjoyable for me as I constantly plan my next moves with what emotions are on the field and what skills I have available. There were a few annoying enemies, but nothing to make me want to smash my keyboard so combat would be challenging but not rage inducing for me. Anyway, really the only things I would've liked improved were the Three Days Left and Two Days Left Headspace segments (minus Black Space, that slapped hard and was definitely my favourite Headspace segment). I'm planning on doing the OMORI route another time as there are some other games I want to get to, but I'm very satisfied with what was given to me. Overall, I would say that this game is definitely worth checking out for the story alone, but there are many other elements of this game that make it a really enjoyable game and one that I would definitely recommend to almost anyone.