IsaacAdept123456
1958
The world was never the same after
(I played the browser version for two minutes and just felt like logging in one of the oldest games)
(I played the browser version for two minutes and just felt like logging in one of the oldest games)
2014
I genuinely respect what the original Resident Evil did for the industry and the horror genre but as a video game I didn't enjoy it much. This was way too much backtracking and vague guessing having to force me to keep relying on a guide to even know where tf to go out of the how many doors there and what specific things need to go where for my liking, and besides a few exceptions the puzzle sucked. The fixed camera angles were really annoying making me run in circles at times and making combat a slog. A lot of things are generally a tedious mess and I feel only die-hard fans would get a kick out of this one these days.
The game is gorgeous for it's time and I will admit it does have that satisfying dungeon feel at times when you figure something out, but overall I'm glad this game is over and I never want to slog through it again.
The game is gorgeous for it's time and I will admit it does have that satisfying dungeon feel at times when you figure something out, but overall I'm glad this game is over and I never want to slog through it again.
2003
My save file got corrupted around the third dungeon or so and I'm not really motivated to go back to it for the foreseeable future. Maybe one day =P
Overall I enjoyed what I played of it even though the combat didn't click with me as much as I would've liked. A bit too stiff and limited
Overall I enjoyed what I played of it even though the combat didn't click with me as much as I would've liked. A bit too stiff and limited
The core gameplay is fun but the second half of the game has so much unfair bullshit that it was pretty much impossible to beat without abusing rewinds.
I'd still like this IP to be revisited because there is potential there
I'd still like this IP to be revisited because there is potential there
2012
Hearing the praises for this game for so long, I'm glad I finally completed it. To start off, the presentation is absolutely gorgeous with an artstyle mimicking ancient Japanese paintings. Amaterasu is easily one of the stunning character designs for any video game protagonist brimming with elegance and just being adorable. The music utilizing ancient Japanese style really added so much to the mythical atmosphere of this adventure. The core characters are very charming and the quirky humor while not perfect, was implemented well enough to complement the story. Issun, your main companion, started out being this overly talkative Navi-like character who fell into some annoying tropes like being a weird little pervert and just being a douche for no reason. He does end up becoming much more well rounded and his friendship with Ammy really pulled through later on, his backstory is a little rushed but he's an endearing character when it comes full circle.
I enjoy the core gameplay on the basic structure it operates in, but the game can be wonky with it's execution. To start off with the basic movement and controls are at least really good and fun to control. Running around vast lands as this majestic wolf is pure bliss. In terms of core gameplay mechanics we have the celestial paintbrush which uses the environment as well as different brush strokes for different spells and environmental manipulation. It was a really fun mechanic to use but the annoying cooldown time during parts of the game where they force you to use it a lot (fuck the digging mini-games especially the second one) which luckily there was an item to negate that as well as it being weirdly irresponsive to me making the right input and then accepting something that resembles the intended design even less, it got inconsistent sometimes. Moving onto the combat, it basically puts Amaterasu in these little arenas where she has to eradicate all the demons to progress. I generally enjoyed the feel of combat and mixing different sub weapons and the celestial paintbrush which adds some flavor and versatility which I enjoyed. However the issue arises with the game being too damn easy, I didn't die a single time and eventually combat encounters became way too easy to cheese and it often just led to the mechanics not really being given the chance to be fleshed out to their fullest potential.
The game took me by surprise with being Zelda-like in some aspects especially with the dungeons you encounter throughout the game. Some of them felt either pretty decently well rounded and others could be way too short or way too long mostly stemming from frustrating excuses for puzzles or some brain-dead ones you barely need to think about. A bit of a mixed bag but they had some genuine stand-out moments I had a ton of fun with in the dungeons which I wish were fleshed out a bit more. Amongst non Zelda games though the dungeons do stand out a little better.
The structure of the game really threw me off guard, once you defeat the supposed big bad it just keeps going into two more semi-isolated stories with a half-assed way of connecting them all at the end. At the very least they do manage to still have an entertaining story and fun scenarios to keep it going beyond that but the game did feel like it got way too long and I was ready for it to be done at that point.
Another thing I'd like to mention is how this game is really weird when it comes to collecting things, it's generally fun to utilize your movesets to explore this gorgeous world and hunt for treasure but a lot of it is useless (plus the game being cryptic on how they can be used), plus some of them only help let you cheese and already easy game even further so I found them pointless. Some rewards you get for fully beating the game are locked to new game plus, and once you get into the final area of the game it doesn't allow you to exit and retrieve the final collectibles. So my desire to at least try finish some more side-quests and get some more collectibles were crushed.
Even though I've ragged on it's issues, I overall had a great time with Okami, the foundations are here for an even stronger follow-up that irons out the kinks for something truly special. I hope Kamiya gets to it soon.
I enjoy the core gameplay on the basic structure it operates in, but the game can be wonky with it's execution. To start off with the basic movement and controls are at least really good and fun to control. Running around vast lands as this majestic wolf is pure bliss. In terms of core gameplay mechanics we have the celestial paintbrush which uses the environment as well as different brush strokes for different spells and environmental manipulation. It was a really fun mechanic to use but the annoying cooldown time during parts of the game where they force you to use it a lot (fuck the digging mini-games especially the second one) which luckily there was an item to negate that as well as it being weirdly irresponsive to me making the right input and then accepting something that resembles the intended design even less, it got inconsistent sometimes. Moving onto the combat, it basically puts Amaterasu in these little arenas where she has to eradicate all the demons to progress. I generally enjoyed the feel of combat and mixing different sub weapons and the celestial paintbrush which adds some flavor and versatility which I enjoyed. However the issue arises with the game being too damn easy, I didn't die a single time and eventually combat encounters became way too easy to cheese and it often just led to the mechanics not really being given the chance to be fleshed out to their fullest potential.
The game took me by surprise with being Zelda-like in some aspects especially with the dungeons you encounter throughout the game. Some of them felt either pretty decently well rounded and others could be way too short or way too long mostly stemming from frustrating excuses for puzzles or some brain-dead ones you barely need to think about. A bit of a mixed bag but they had some genuine stand-out moments I had a ton of fun with in the dungeons which I wish were fleshed out a bit more. Amongst non Zelda games though the dungeons do stand out a little better.
The structure of the game really threw me off guard, once you defeat the supposed big bad it just keeps going into two more semi-isolated stories with a half-assed way of connecting them all at the end. At the very least they do manage to still have an entertaining story and fun scenarios to keep it going beyond that but the game did feel like it got way too long and I was ready for it to be done at that point.
Another thing I'd like to mention is how this game is really weird when it comes to collecting things, it's generally fun to utilize your movesets to explore this gorgeous world and hunt for treasure but a lot of it is useless (plus the game being cryptic on how they can be used), plus some of them only help let you cheese and already easy game even further so I found them pointless. Some rewards you get for fully beating the game are locked to new game plus, and once you get into the final area of the game it doesn't allow you to exit and retrieve the final collectibles. So my desire to at least try finish some more side-quests and get some more collectibles were crushed.
Even though I've ragged on it's issues, I overall had a great time with Okami, the foundations are here for an even stronger follow-up that irons out the kinks for something truly special. I hope Kamiya gets to it soon.
This review contains spoilers
I really loved the first game and had a lot of fun with the standalone Miles Morales game so this game was easily one of my most anticipated titles of the year.
I'm glad to say Spider-Man 2 is generally an excellent game. Brimming with fantastic spectacle, web swinging being even more fun than the previous games (web wings are cool too but sometimes make things feel too automated) and generally just being really fun to breeze through as these amazing characters. Aside from some minor visual glitches I encountered, the game is a technical triumph boasting super fast load times and giant visual treats which really add to the immersion and excitement.
However it did let me down in some aspects compared to the first game. For one, the combat is a little less fun for me with the gadget overhaul taking the strategy out of them completely just feeling like spammy cooldown moves you'd see out of a mobile game. The original powers Peter and Miles have are a little better but still fall victim to that cooldown thing to a lesser extent. However later in the game with Peter's symbiote powers and Miles upgraded venom attacks, they do get a lot more fun to use. The parry mechanic was really weirdly implemented to me, the red alert alerting you to time it right felt inconsistent at the beginning and it's annoying to manage when you have a dozen enemies swarming you. However when I did get a little better at the timing it was more tolerable but the annoyances still crept up. Beside that combat is still really enjoyable and racking up combos is still satisfying. That animation where you back enemies to a wall and rapid kick them is so cool, I wish they did more environmental centric attacks like that since it's so dope.
A quick word about the stealth, while the web-line was a great way to expand moblity, the stealth sections however weren't as interesting as the last game. There isn't any gadgets to use to freshen it up so they generally didn't offer much variety. The two Kraven bases were one of the few spots that used it decently but still the Sable bases from the first game were much more better designed for it.
The MJ sections are an improvement over the first game but in universe, MJ being able to take out these hunters and not getting one-shotted by their weapons was such a bruh moment that broke my immersion.
The story is generally really exciting and has some fantastic moments but it didn't hold itself the whole way through as well as the first game did. It has to juggle so many storylines and characters which at time it does really well and other times it leaves some parts feeling undercooked. The black suit arc for Peter was a little rushed and they overdid it with the symbiote just making him outright evil when it's just supposed to make him more of a douche. I will give props to Yuri Lowenthal being genuinely menacing when he's in the black suit, he did a fantastic job with this game generally. I like Miles personal story but his role in the story can get pretty half-baked sometimes in the grand scheme of the story (especially using him to cap off the final boss which held less emotional weight).
Speaking of, Kraven and Venom were really entertaining. After being robbed of Kraven in the films for so long, I'm glad I got to see him depicted as this, a little bit too overpowered compared to other villains but a genuinely menacing threat who pushes Peter to his limits. His presence in the story is a little more limited than I'd like but generally an awesome villain. It is weird that he has this many goons at his side helping him but I can let it slide from a gameplay perspective
With Venom, he's a little rushed into the story but otherwise an awesome iteration of the character imo. The one level where you play as him was dumb fun I wanted more of, i pray Insomniac gives us an expansion or stand alone game that expands on more Venom gameplay. His voice is fucking awesome, Tony Todd nailed it. Harry Osborn being Venom this time ended up working for the specific story they're telling. Harry's hate for Peter tiptoed a little into TASM2 Harry which worried me a little but his later confrontation with Peter redeemed it, especially some dope moments in their final boss together.
The side quests in this game is very hit and miss. The enemy The Flame missions stood up to the mainline content and even has an exciting reveal at the end. The EMF mission for Peter weren't terrible but they were pretty forgettable. Meanwhile the side missions for Miles did get boring and really mundane. I do like how they're focused on the friendly neighborhood aspect for Miles but these missions really do begin to meander and overstay their welcome becoming total pace breakers. Though some of the other app missions were sweet, especially the Howard one😭
Even with all these problems I really enjoyed this game and until the DLC expansions I can still get a kick out of just having a ton of time.
I'm glad to say Spider-Man 2 is generally an excellent game. Brimming with fantastic spectacle, web swinging being even more fun than the previous games (web wings are cool too but sometimes make things feel too automated) and generally just being really fun to breeze through as these amazing characters. Aside from some minor visual glitches I encountered, the game is a technical triumph boasting super fast load times and giant visual treats which really add to the immersion and excitement.
However it did let me down in some aspects compared to the first game. For one, the combat is a little less fun for me with the gadget overhaul taking the strategy out of them completely just feeling like spammy cooldown moves you'd see out of a mobile game. The original powers Peter and Miles have are a little better but still fall victim to that cooldown thing to a lesser extent. However later in the game with Peter's symbiote powers and Miles upgraded venom attacks, they do get a lot more fun to use. The parry mechanic was really weirdly implemented to me, the red alert alerting you to time it right felt inconsistent at the beginning and it's annoying to manage when you have a dozen enemies swarming you. However when I did get a little better at the timing it was more tolerable but the annoyances still crept up. Beside that combat is still really enjoyable and racking up combos is still satisfying. That animation where you back enemies to a wall and rapid kick them is so cool, I wish they did more environmental centric attacks like that since it's so dope.
A quick word about the stealth, while the web-line was a great way to expand moblity, the stealth sections however weren't as interesting as the last game. There isn't any gadgets to use to freshen it up so they generally didn't offer much variety. The two Kraven bases were one of the few spots that used it decently but still the Sable bases from the first game were much more better designed for it.
The MJ sections are an improvement over the first game but in universe, MJ being able to take out these hunters and not getting one-shotted by their weapons was such a bruh moment that broke my immersion.
The story is generally really exciting and has some fantastic moments but it didn't hold itself the whole way through as well as the first game did. It has to juggle so many storylines and characters which at time it does really well and other times it leaves some parts feeling undercooked. The black suit arc for Peter was a little rushed and they overdid it with the symbiote just making him outright evil when it's just supposed to make him more of a douche. I will give props to Yuri Lowenthal being genuinely menacing when he's in the black suit, he did a fantastic job with this game generally. I like Miles personal story but his role in the story can get pretty half-baked sometimes in the grand scheme of the story (especially using him to cap off the final boss which held less emotional weight).
Speaking of, Kraven and Venom were really entertaining. After being robbed of Kraven in the films for so long, I'm glad I got to see him depicted as this, a little bit too overpowered compared to other villains but a genuinely menacing threat who pushes Peter to his limits. His presence in the story is a little more limited than I'd like but generally an awesome villain. It is weird that he has this many goons at his side helping him but I can let it slide from a gameplay perspective
With Venom, he's a little rushed into the story but otherwise an awesome iteration of the character imo. The one level where you play as him was dumb fun I wanted more of, i pray Insomniac gives us an expansion or stand alone game that expands on more Venom gameplay. His voice is fucking awesome, Tony Todd nailed it. Harry Osborn being Venom this time ended up working for the specific story they're telling. Harry's hate for Peter tiptoed a little into TASM2 Harry which worried me a little but his later confrontation with Peter redeemed it, especially some dope moments in their final boss together.
The side quests in this game is very hit and miss. The enemy The Flame missions stood up to the mainline content and even has an exciting reveal at the end. The EMF mission for Peter weren't terrible but they were pretty forgettable. Meanwhile the side missions for Miles did get boring and really mundane. I do like how they're focused on the friendly neighborhood aspect for Miles but these missions really do begin to meander and overstay their welcome becoming total pace breakers. Though some of the other app missions were sweet, especially the Howard one😭
Even with all these problems I really enjoyed this game and until the DLC expansions I can still get a kick out of just having a ton of time.
This update partly saves itself by being completely free, I got a lot of time out of it although I'm mixed on the package as a whole. While it still is a lot of fun it suffers from a myriad of issues that I hope Sonic Team takes seriously for their next big project.
The biggest thing that harms this update is the difficulty spike. It's really odd when you have a difficulty spike that makes it's easy mode harder than the base game's hard mode. There is no regular enemies in the open-zones and instead you have suped-up mini bosses which take forever to kill if you don't max out your characters to 99. I wish the game notified me about this before I began with a Sonic that only had 47 damage. The emphasis on perfect parry in the final trial was really annoying seeing as how the titan bosses weren't designed to support that split second timing needed for finishing it with the bullshit 400 rings time limit for the three. Some of the tower climbing feels like it goes into kaizo territory where it's just haphazardly made difficult making you fall and start over, I did learn to use Sonic's mid-air dodging and parry to position myself to avoid falling to the bottom. I appreciate a challenge and while there was aspects of it that were fun, it generally was such an odd way of doing it.
The biggest part of it is the new playable characters and I'm kind of split on them. Running around as Tails, Knuckles and Amy in this massive 3D space and having dedicated trials for them which utilize their movesets was pretty fun. Tails and Knuckles especially though leave a bit to be desired, they have these unneeded wind-up animations for their aerial movement which kills the momentum and pacing. I did like some of their challenges but they did eventually get very samey and kind of clunkily designed. Also the mini-bosses aren't best designed for the move-sets these characters have and take way too long to kill. Amy was a really fun character to play with but the de-emphasis of her hammer for her cards was really odd. I loved having them here and it was fun exploring and doing their challenges but I hope Sonic Team learns from the issues they have and gives us the best version of these characters in the next game.
After you complete their individual chapter, it pulls a DK 64 where you have to awkwardly go back to the main tower to switch between them which is a terrible pace-breaker. I went out of my way to apply a mod which allowed you to swap between each character on the spot and it really saves the pacing and made the exploration of the island a lot more fun.
Some of the cyberspace levels were the biggest highlight of this update. I died a lot and it took me forever to get through some of the bonus challenges they set up for each level (it bumped by playtime to almost 60 hours😬) but it was really rewarding learning the levels and continually improving and increasing my speed in doing the required challenge for that run. The levels are built with the spin-dash in mind allowing you to fly through entire areas and as you master it and learn where to best land it becomes such a rewarding thrill.
The revised final boss was a vast improvement over the base game, the new Super Sonic form had so many awesome animations in battle. It genuinely was one of the most hype inducing Sonic spectacle sequences in the franchise. Next time try not to place your final boss where you big ass trees blocking the projectiles he throws at you, Sonic Team.
The biggest thing that harms this update is the difficulty spike. It's really odd when you have a difficulty spike that makes it's easy mode harder than the base game's hard mode. There is no regular enemies in the open-zones and instead you have suped-up mini bosses which take forever to kill if you don't max out your characters to 99. I wish the game notified me about this before I began with a Sonic that only had 47 damage. The emphasis on perfect parry in the final trial was really annoying seeing as how the titan bosses weren't designed to support that split second timing needed for finishing it with the bullshit 400 rings time limit for the three. Some of the tower climbing feels like it goes into kaizo territory where it's just haphazardly made difficult making you fall and start over, I did learn to use Sonic's mid-air dodging and parry to position myself to avoid falling to the bottom. I appreciate a challenge and while there was aspects of it that were fun, it generally was such an odd way of doing it.
The biggest part of it is the new playable characters and I'm kind of split on them. Running around as Tails, Knuckles and Amy in this massive 3D space and having dedicated trials for them which utilize their movesets was pretty fun. Tails and Knuckles especially though leave a bit to be desired, they have these unneeded wind-up animations for their aerial movement which kills the momentum and pacing. I did like some of their challenges but they did eventually get very samey and kind of clunkily designed. Also the mini-bosses aren't best designed for the move-sets these characters have and take way too long to kill. Amy was a really fun character to play with but the de-emphasis of her hammer for her cards was really odd. I loved having them here and it was fun exploring and doing their challenges but I hope Sonic Team learns from the issues they have and gives us the best version of these characters in the next game.
After you complete their individual chapter, it pulls a DK 64 where you have to awkwardly go back to the main tower to switch between them which is a terrible pace-breaker. I went out of my way to apply a mod which allowed you to swap between each character on the spot and it really saves the pacing and made the exploration of the island a lot more fun.
Some of the cyberspace levels were the biggest highlight of this update. I died a lot and it took me forever to get through some of the bonus challenges they set up for each level (it bumped by playtime to almost 60 hours😬) but it was really rewarding learning the levels and continually improving and increasing my speed in doing the required challenge for that run. The levels are built with the spin-dash in mind allowing you to fly through entire areas and as you master it and learn where to best land it becomes such a rewarding thrill.
The revised final boss was a vast improvement over the base game, the new Super Sonic form had so many awesome animations in battle. It genuinely was one of the most hype inducing Sonic spectacle sequences in the franchise. Next time try not to place your final boss where you big ass trees blocking the projectiles he throws at you, Sonic Team.
2022
Sonic Frontiers is an interesting game, it annoyed me in a lot areas and it feels half baked in some aspects too. Which is wild how it still is one of my favorite Sonic games period because the things it does get right just had me grinning the whole way and made me finally excited for the future of this series again.
The open zone format is exactly the breath of fresh air this franchise needed, yes the pop-in can be distracting, the obstacles can sometimes get frustrating to go through, and some of the map challenges are really brain-dead and dumb. However the feeling of blitzing through these massive areas at super-speed is something I've always wanted to experience in a game and Frontiers satisfies that itch. Some of the little mini obstacle courses, while visually can become ugly and too cluttered, is really fun to have so many of that are decently designed. It's like a sandbox for mini Sonic stages which was a genuine joy to sink hours into.
The combat system is fun while leaving a lot to be desired at the same time, the ingredients are there with flashy moves, a parry and an emphasis on speed. It can eventually become too spammy and clunky. Fine-tuning this for future games would be very welcome, ofc also adding a bigger variety of regular enemies to fight since the over-emphasis on bosses (while the bosses themselves are really cool) are too numerous compared to regular enemies which can become very repetitive the more you get through it. This also goes to the levelling system, if Sonic Team is going to go with the ARPG mechanics, they need to commit to it more, at least have different enemies with different levels otherwise
Another thing I want to address is the collectibles, some of it felt genuinely pointless as the game gives you all these shortcuts for collecting them too fast and distracting you from engaging with the actual world. It's a mess as they eventually become pointless way too quick killing that aspect of the game that would've given the open zones some much needed identity for individual segments of its world.
Some of the cyber space levels are really short and pointless and the very limited use of level themes really didn't allow them to stand-out as much, alot of the 2D levels felt like unneeded schlock. However there were quite a number of gems in here harkening back to Generation and Sonic Adventure level design. After being bored by the way too linear levels of Forces, I had a blast going through these levels that had actual branching paths and shortcuts which I missed in the 3D games.
Finally when it comes to the story, I am glad to see Sonic's cast be treated with more respect and have heavy stakes actually given the weight it needs. It does meander with expostion and flashbacks but it comes together nicely. Ian Flynn did a fantastic job. Sage is a fun new addition to the ever growing cast and while her development with Eggman can feel rushed with a lot of key moments needing optional memory logs to fill in, it genuinely does lead to heartwarming moments. And finally I'm glad we can have legitmate badassery in Sonic again, I was taking screenshots like crazy with all the dope shit that can happen especially in the boss fights.
I played the Final Horizons update alongside this but since it has it's own page I'll share my full thoughts there later.
The open zone format is exactly the breath of fresh air this franchise needed, yes the pop-in can be distracting, the obstacles can sometimes get frustrating to go through, and some of the map challenges are really brain-dead and dumb. However the feeling of blitzing through these massive areas at super-speed is something I've always wanted to experience in a game and Frontiers satisfies that itch. Some of the little mini obstacle courses, while visually can become ugly and too cluttered, is really fun to have so many of that are decently designed. It's like a sandbox for mini Sonic stages which was a genuine joy to sink hours into.
The combat system is fun while leaving a lot to be desired at the same time, the ingredients are there with flashy moves, a parry and an emphasis on speed. It can eventually become too spammy and clunky. Fine-tuning this for future games would be very welcome, ofc also adding a bigger variety of regular enemies to fight since the over-emphasis on bosses (while the bosses themselves are really cool) are too numerous compared to regular enemies which can become very repetitive the more you get through it. This also goes to the levelling system, if Sonic Team is going to go with the ARPG mechanics, they need to commit to it more, at least have different enemies with different levels otherwise
Another thing I want to address is the collectibles, some of it felt genuinely pointless as the game gives you all these shortcuts for collecting them too fast and distracting you from engaging with the actual world. It's a mess as they eventually become pointless way too quick killing that aspect of the game that would've given the open zones some much needed identity for individual segments of its world.
Some of the cyber space levels are really short and pointless and the very limited use of level themes really didn't allow them to stand-out as much, alot of the 2D levels felt like unneeded schlock. However there were quite a number of gems in here harkening back to Generation and Sonic Adventure level design. After being bored by the way too linear levels of Forces, I had a blast going through these levels that had actual branching paths and shortcuts which I missed in the 3D games.
Finally when it comes to the story, I am glad to see Sonic's cast be treated with more respect and have heavy stakes actually given the weight it needs. It does meander with expostion and flashbacks but it comes together nicely. Ian Flynn did a fantastic job. Sage is a fun new addition to the ever growing cast and while her development with Eggman can feel rushed with a lot of key moments needing optional memory logs to fill in, it genuinely does lead to heartwarming moments. And finally I'm glad we can have legitmate badassery in Sonic again, I was taking screenshots like crazy with all the dope shit that can happen especially in the boss fights.
I played the Final Horizons update alongside this but since it has it's own page I'll share my full thoughts there later.
The central visual and gameplay centric theme about technology and machinery helps it stand out from being a generic Kirby adventure. It was fun having that consistency built on in fairly fun stages that create fun variety in its levels.
Otherwise the new copy abilities can be a mixed bag and while the robobot is a cool way to expand Kirby's arsenal, it does get pretty repetitive especially with some frustrating puzzles that force you to repeat entire levels if you mess them up.
Otherwise the new copy abilities can be a mixed bag and while the robobot is a cool way to expand Kirby's arsenal, it does get pretty repetitive especially with some frustrating puzzles that force you to repeat entire levels if you mess them up.
2022
It's an enjoyable game with a charming artstyle and a twisted sense of humor that blends together a rogue-like dungeon crawler and a town management sim.
It's cool how the game intersects the two gameplay style as taking care of your town is crucial to leveling up the lamb to perform even better in dungeons and during the dungeon crawling you can pick up resources to decorate and upgrade your town further. The combat is quick and snappy but by the end of the game it doesn't really evolve much and it does start to feel samey.
This leads to it's biggest issue is how it lacks in longevity, while it's fun to interact with the town and it's cultists, eventually it just gets boring to manage once the story is concluded and I just lost the will to continue. It lacks some elements in really making it worth investing into long term as it gets very repetitive at that point. Maintaining the faith of the followers just gets too easy at a point and it just runs out of steam by then.
Even the crusades (what they call dungeon runs) begins to run out of ideas quickly so you're just doing the same basic hack and slashing and it gets boring. I had no motivation to do it all again for the post game objectives.
Still a fun little game which you can enjoy for the initial story but as a rogue lite is does eventually run out of steam.
Another thing to note is the Switch version has some weird hiccups sometimes with frame drops and freezing during intense combat encounters sometimes which was really frustrating. Also it did crash on me one time but not during anything important thankfully.
It's cool how the game intersects the two gameplay style as taking care of your town is crucial to leveling up the lamb to perform even better in dungeons and during the dungeon crawling you can pick up resources to decorate and upgrade your town further. The combat is quick and snappy but by the end of the game it doesn't really evolve much and it does start to feel samey.
This leads to it's biggest issue is how it lacks in longevity, while it's fun to interact with the town and it's cultists, eventually it just gets boring to manage once the story is concluded and I just lost the will to continue. It lacks some elements in really making it worth investing into long term as it gets very repetitive at that point. Maintaining the faith of the followers just gets too easy at a point and it just runs out of steam by then.
Even the crusades (what they call dungeon runs) begins to run out of ideas quickly so you're just doing the same basic hack and slashing and it gets boring. I had no motivation to do it all again for the post game objectives.
Still a fun little game which you can enjoy for the initial story but as a rogue lite is does eventually run out of steam.
Another thing to note is the Switch version has some weird hiccups sometimes with frame drops and freezing during intense combat encounters sometimes which was really frustrating. Also it did crash on me one time but not during anything important thankfully.
It reiterates on a lot of the things that made BoTW such an impressive milestone and it also addresses in even surprising ways the very few gripes I had with it. At the same time while ToTK is mostly a triumph and a gorgeous game that you'll sink hours into without realising, it does create a new set of issues which do detract from it being the masterpiece it could've been.
While it was jarring having a lot of the rune abilities from BoTW outright gone, I did quickly warm up to their replacements as the new mechanics gives ToTK a fresh identity of its own. The Ultra Hand ability is a delight and I sunk so many hours just toying around with it and seeing what was possible. Fusing is also a fun way to mix up combat and adds a degree of customisation and strategy. However I wish there was a much more intuitive way to sort through your inventory to pick out the materials you wanted, like setting desired materials as favorites could've made it much more seamless during combat instead of awkwardly cycling through menus for a good minute to use the materials I want.
The sky islands gave me a fantastic first impression but overtime they start to feel very samey and limited which I would have minded less if the game's marketing didn't try to sell them as being more exciting than they ended up being. There were some cool islands that were a blast to explore but they are few and far between. The depths on the otherhand are a lot more exciting offering a lot of fun treasures and a breathtaking sense of wonder and an eerie vibe coming with exploring a dark vast land. However at times it can get exhausting to navigate with the abundance of content and the darkness making it tricky to navigate sometimes. However I will praise how seamless it is traversing between the sky islands to the surface and to the depths without a loading screen. It gives the world this awesome feeling of scale and immersion which sucks you in even more. Moving onto the dungeons, they are a vast improvement over the divine beasts using more specific theming and actual puzzle solving. However they do fall flat compared to the 3D dungeons for Ocarina to Skyward Sword as they lack the rising tension and clever use of specific item puzzle solving that those games used much more effectively.
The story has some absolutely breathtaking moments especially in the final act but man it can get repetitive. After each dungeon you're forced to watch a retelling of a major event in the pass and it makes for some sloppy storytelling. The story is a lot more exciting than BoTW's but that game offered a lot more variety and intrigue in uncovering the events of the past more than Tears does.
Finally the side quests in this game are actually really well done. There's a lot more layered and structured sequential scenarios going on, making me look forward to a lot more content to complete now that I finished the main campaign.
Overall while it does seem I'm listing a lot of gripes, the overall playthrough of this game was some of the most fun I've had playing any open world game. This is a case of the good eclipsing the bad but the bad still becoming an annoyance occasionally.
While it was jarring having a lot of the rune abilities from BoTW outright gone, I did quickly warm up to their replacements as the new mechanics gives ToTK a fresh identity of its own. The Ultra Hand ability is a delight and I sunk so many hours just toying around with it and seeing what was possible. Fusing is also a fun way to mix up combat and adds a degree of customisation and strategy. However I wish there was a much more intuitive way to sort through your inventory to pick out the materials you wanted, like setting desired materials as favorites could've made it much more seamless during combat instead of awkwardly cycling through menus for a good minute to use the materials I want.
The sky islands gave me a fantastic first impression but overtime they start to feel very samey and limited which I would have minded less if the game's marketing didn't try to sell them as being more exciting than they ended up being. There were some cool islands that were a blast to explore but they are few and far between. The depths on the otherhand are a lot more exciting offering a lot of fun treasures and a breathtaking sense of wonder and an eerie vibe coming with exploring a dark vast land. However at times it can get exhausting to navigate with the abundance of content and the darkness making it tricky to navigate sometimes. However I will praise how seamless it is traversing between the sky islands to the surface and to the depths without a loading screen. It gives the world this awesome feeling of scale and immersion which sucks you in even more. Moving onto the dungeons, they are a vast improvement over the divine beasts using more specific theming and actual puzzle solving. However they do fall flat compared to the 3D dungeons for Ocarina to Skyward Sword as they lack the rising tension and clever use of specific item puzzle solving that those games used much more effectively.
The story has some absolutely breathtaking moments especially in the final act but man it can get repetitive. After each dungeon you're forced to watch a retelling of a major event in the pass and it makes for some sloppy storytelling. The story is a lot more exciting than BoTW's but that game offered a lot more variety and intrigue in uncovering the events of the past more than Tears does.
Finally the side quests in this game are actually really well done. There's a lot more layered and structured sequential scenarios going on, making me look forward to a lot more content to complete now that I finished the main campaign.
Overall while it does seem I'm listing a lot of gripes, the overall playthrough of this game was some of the most fun I've had playing any open world game. This is a case of the good eclipsing the bad but the bad still becoming an annoyance occasionally.
2017
Very boring and short levels, storyline botches the potential for a much more engaging storyline and the avatar levels/wispon mechanic is very cheesy and not really designed well. The general Sonic gameplay isn't inherently bad but it takes away the innovations that made boost gameplay so cool in Generations and just feels like a more generic shell of it's former self.
It does have quick moments of good ideas in some of it's levels which I did admittedly have fun with but it's few in a game that's already too short. There was one moment where I was enjoying taking alternate paths in the levels for a bit before the camera randomly flipped and made me lose track of where I was going.
Overall it's mostly aggressively average than anything but the way it botches something that could have been something really special for the Sonic series takes it down even further a tad.
It does have quick moments of good ideas in some of it's levels which I did admittedly have fun with but it's few in a game that's already too short. There was one moment where I was enjoying taking alternate paths in the levels for a bit before the camera randomly flipped and made me lose track of where I was going.
Overall it's mostly aggressively average than anything but the way it botches something that could have been something really special for the Sonic series takes it down even further a tad.
2023
Feels very satisfying to play. Special moves are pretty easy to get a grasp of and the kameos thankfully add more depth to the kombat than being a cheap gimmick.
I really enjoyed the story mode in this. It did a good job putting fun twists on klassic kombatants as well as fleshing out some that served as one dimensional henchmen in previous games. It does suffer from losing its focus on having a well structured storyline for the core characters it establishes at the beginning for a wild multiverse finale at the end. Which while was a ton of fun, did detract from that core cast getting good well rounded arcs at the end.
The few matches I did online played well enough but I did notice a few hiccups. Plus the Invasions mode is alright nothing spectacular, does get repetitive and tiring on a long playthrough similar to World of Light in Smash Ultimate.
I really enjoyed the story mode in this. It did a good job putting fun twists on klassic kombatants as well as fleshing out some that served as one dimensional henchmen in previous games. It does suffer from losing its focus on having a well structured storyline for the core characters it establishes at the beginning for a wild multiverse finale at the end. Which while was a ton of fun, did detract from that core cast getting good well rounded arcs at the end.
The few matches I did online played well enough but I did notice a few hiccups. Plus the Invasions mode is alright nothing spectacular, does get repetitive and tiring on a long playthrough similar to World of Light in Smash Ultimate.
2017
A really fun time. It's so full of charming environments and characters as well as fun gameplay scenarios that it consistently keeps you entertained the whole way through.
It does feel way too short feeling that it doesn't embrace its full potential and some of the side collectibles aren't all that fun to do. There was even some times when the camera did get wonky and some levels did get annoying to navigate through for the post game activities.
Regardless A Hat in Time is excellent and a must play for anybody that loves 3D platformers.
It does feel way too short feeling that it doesn't embrace its full potential and some of the side collectibles aren't all that fun to do. There was even some times when the camera did get wonky and some levels did get annoying to navigate through for the post game activities.
Regardless A Hat in Time is excellent and a must play for anybody that loves 3D platformers.
2009
In the later game, sometimes the enemy patterns does begin to slightly tiptoe to being BS but otherwise a very awesome pattern focused boxing game.
Easily has some of the best animation and character designs out of any game of this kind period which really helps it pop even more amongst other combat sports game on the market.
Easily has some of the best animation and character designs out of any game of this kind period which really helps it pop even more amongst other combat sports game on the market.