JCPlays
*Review in progress
Sparks of Hope is one of my favorite games, not even counting all of its expansions. I might review the standalone game some other time, but for now, I want to talk about all of its DLC packs in the order that I've been playing them, starting with the Rayman expansion.
This was so, so, so good man. Incredible even, I would say. The base game set such a high standard of quality in every regard, and I can at least say that this DLC meets that standard. It's hard for me to say if it surpasses it, because the base game and this DLC are both extremely similar but also very different beasts that can be hard to compare. Even if I can't really make a definitive statement on that, this was still an awesome expansion that met my expectations nearly effortlessly, while also going in a direction that I didn't envision for it.
Gameplay wise, the base game already was one of the most mechanically rich games I've ever played, and I can say the same thing here. The battle system might just be the strongest that I've seen in any game to date, but talking about that in detail here would take me forever, so I'll leave that for another day. I will instead start by addressing what Rayman's inclusion does for the game on a mechanical level.
The base game provides insane customization options through 9 party members, all with distinct abilities and a bunch of sparks that any character can equip at any time. This DLC scales that back by limiting the player to using 3 party members at any time, those being Rayman, Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario. Rayman additionally can't equip any sparks, so that limits things further. The designers counterbalanced this by making Rayman the most versatile character in the game by a huge margin. This mainly comes through the inclusion of two costumes he can wear mid-battle: the Vortex and Rocket costumes.
These two costumes serve as brilliant mechanics that gives the player a million viable options through one single character, some of which are even analogue to what sparks allow. Each costume not only opens up a unique ability, but also alters the properties and parameters of Rayman's plunger gun and sentries. These can either pull enemies towards you, push them away from you, or deal AOE damage. All of them are very useful on their own, but even moreso while synergizing with other abilities. Part of the reason this entire game's combat system works so well is that even though every option you're given inside of battle is often still useful in a vacuum, you're always encouraged to see how each one can be used in conjunction with another one (or multiple other ones) to truly take advantage of them. Rayman's toolkit perfectly encapsulates this design philosophy, since every tool is versatile enough to synergize with Rayman's other tools, those of the other rabbids, or both at the same time. This here is a big element that makes this such a strategically rich and deep game, and it was well preserved in this DLC.
However, to address the main reason that I'm not sure if I prefer it to the main game, the fact that Rayman can't equip sparks is a bit of an problem. One small issue that I already had with the game was that you're given 30 sparks, all of which provide a huge array of buffs, debuffs, elemental properties and unique effects, but you can only equip 6 of them at most. To give credit, the game is well designed around the limitation and does do a good job of encouraging the player to equip different sparks through enemy weaknesses/resistances and the different map layouts. Despite this, there's times where this limitation can lead you to rely on a small amount of sparks that might seem more advantageous more often.
This maybe could've been remedied by allowing each character to equip 3 sparks instead of 2 around the endgame, but I'm not sure. That's the kind of design choice that could have serious repercussions on the game's design and throw all balance out of whack, so I can't really say. I'm not a professional game designer, so I'm sure there's something that would be ruined that I can't even conceive. It's not really a big deal, but it's something I always think about when playing this game.
Rayman in the Phantom Show unfortunately makes this a bigger problem. Since Rayman can't equip even a single one, and each of the rabbids still can only equip 2 of them, you can only use 4 sparks at once. It doesn't help that this expansion has 9 more sparks than the base game (though most of the new ones were added in previous DLC packs), which means you have even MORE options to choose from but less that you can actually pick. This made it so I relied on the some of the same sparks even more, and there's other ones that I picked way less, if ever. It still isn't a big issue in my opinion (and the fact that it's the worst thing I can say about it speaks volumes to how good it is), but it does give me pause for thought in regards to this being better than the main game.
To go back to talking about positives, this expansion's theming is awesome. The dev team came up with a very creative scenario here, even when they easily could've relied on Rayman to bring back areas from his series. It takes place in the Space Opera Network, which in other words is a TV studio. The story here is framed around the return of the Phantom, and how he wants the heroes to help his ratings go up. It's not only a funny premise, but also one that paves way for lots of other really cool things.
First off, exploring three movie sets that were built to actually look like sets is super cool. Everything you interact with is a prop or a piece of equipment, whether it's cardboard cutouts of creatures or background elements, cranes, stage lights or cameras. It's always fun in a meta sort of way when a piece of media replicates the production of a show or a movie to such an extent, and it requires very careful attention to detail to pull off well. It absolutely was pulled off well here. The game also takes advantage of the setting by making lots of jokes around the production pipeline of a series, some of which went deeper than I would've expected. They make jokes out of acting, scriptwriting, blocking, critics and even treatment of employees. It's funny stuff, even if it's also a bit depressing to think that some of the harsher jokes they make aren't even far off from reality. Still, it's a weirdly transparent look into this kind of environment that I never would've expected out of this game especially, but I appreciate it.
Sparks of Hope is one of my favorite games, not even counting all of its expansions. I might review the standalone game some other time, but for now, I want to talk about all of its DLC packs in the order that I've been playing them, starting with the Rayman expansion.
This was so, so, so good man. Incredible even, I would say. The base game set such a high standard of quality in every regard, and I can at least say that this DLC meets that standard. It's hard for me to say if it surpasses it, because the base game and this DLC are both extremely similar but also very different beasts that can be hard to compare. Even if I can't really make a definitive statement on that, this was still an awesome expansion that met my expectations nearly effortlessly, while also going in a direction that I didn't envision for it.
Gameplay wise, the base game already was one of the most mechanically rich games I've ever played, and I can say the same thing here. The battle system might just be the strongest that I've seen in any game to date, but talking about that in detail here would take me forever, so I'll leave that for another day. I will instead start by addressing what Rayman's inclusion does for the game on a mechanical level.
The base game provides insane customization options through 9 party members, all with distinct abilities and a bunch of sparks that any character can equip at any time. This DLC scales that back by limiting the player to using 3 party members at any time, those being Rayman, Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario. Rayman additionally can't equip any sparks, so that limits things further. The designers counterbalanced this by making Rayman the most versatile character in the game by a huge margin. This mainly comes through the inclusion of two costumes he can wear mid-battle: the Vortex and Rocket costumes.
These two costumes serve as brilliant mechanics that gives the player a million viable options through one single character, some of which are even analogue to what sparks allow. Each costume not only opens up a unique ability, but also alters the properties and parameters of Rayman's plunger gun and sentries. These can either pull enemies towards you, push them away from you, or deal AOE damage. All of them are very useful on their own, but even moreso while synergizing with other abilities. Part of the reason this entire game's combat system works so well is that even though every option you're given inside of battle is often still useful in a vacuum, you're always encouraged to see how each one can be used in conjunction with another one (or multiple other ones) to truly take advantage of them. Rayman's toolkit perfectly encapsulates this design philosophy, since every tool is versatile enough to synergize with Rayman's other tools, those of the other rabbids, or both at the same time. This here is a big element that makes this such a strategically rich and deep game, and it was well preserved in this DLC.
However, to address the main reason that I'm not sure if I prefer it to the main game, the fact that Rayman can't equip sparks is a bit of an problem. One small issue that I already had with the game was that you're given 30 sparks, all of which provide a huge array of buffs, debuffs, elemental properties and unique effects, but you can only equip 6 of them at most. To give credit, the game is well designed around the limitation and does do a good job of encouraging the player to equip different sparks through enemy weaknesses/resistances and the different map layouts. Despite this, there's times where this limitation can lead you to rely on a small amount of sparks that might seem more advantageous more often.
This maybe could've been remedied by allowing each character to equip 3 sparks instead of 2 around the endgame, but I'm not sure. That's the kind of design choice that could have serious repercussions on the game's design and throw all balance out of whack, so I can't really say. I'm not a professional game designer, so I'm sure there's something that would be ruined that I can't even conceive. It's not really a big deal, but it's something I always think about when playing this game.
Rayman in the Phantom Show unfortunately makes this a bigger problem. Since Rayman can't equip even a single one, and each of the rabbids still can only equip 2 of them, you can only use 4 sparks at once. It doesn't help that this expansion has 9 more sparks than the base game (though most of the new ones were added in previous DLC packs), which means you have even MORE options to choose from but less that you can actually pick. This made it so I relied on the some of the same sparks even more, and there's other ones that I picked way less, if ever. It still isn't a big issue in my opinion (and the fact that it's the worst thing I can say about it speaks volumes to how good it is), but it does give me pause for thought in regards to this being better than the main game.
To go back to talking about positives, this expansion's theming is awesome. The dev team came up with a very creative scenario here, even when they easily could've relied on Rayman to bring back areas from his series. It takes place in the Space Opera Network, which in other words is a TV studio. The story here is framed around the return of the Phantom, and how he wants the heroes to help his ratings go up. It's not only a funny premise, but also one that paves way for lots of other really cool things.
First off, exploring three movie sets that were built to actually look like sets is super cool. Everything you interact with is a prop or a piece of equipment, whether it's cardboard cutouts of creatures or background elements, cranes, stage lights or cameras. It's always fun in a meta sort of way when a piece of media replicates the production of a show or a movie to such an extent, and it requires very careful attention to detail to pull off well. It absolutely was pulled off well here. The game also takes advantage of the setting by making lots of jokes around the production pipeline of a series, some of which went deeper than I would've expected. They make jokes out of acting, scriptwriting, blocking, critics and even treatment of employees. It's funny stuff, even if it's also a bit depressing to think that some of the harsher jokes they make aren't even far off from reality. Still, it's a weirdly transparent look into this kind of environment that I never would've expected out of this game especially, but I appreciate it.
2023
This game is pretty good.
I played it for the first time through this remake, and it was very much worth my purchase. Before talking about the remake though, I want to talk about the game as is.
This game came to be because of the close relationship that Nintendo and Square Soft had in the late 80s and early 90s. It really shows in the final product, because it feels like Mario, early Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest and lots of wacky stuff mixed into a blender. More than any other game in the series, this is a very traditional RPG fused with the Mario IP, giving it its own flavor. This game still has an extremely unique identity because of it, one that still stands on its own (even with the many Mario RPGs that have come out after it). There really isn't anything else quite like it.
It's super interesting to me that despite it kind of feeling like a lite crossover of sorts, it doesn't overly rely on Mario or Square's franchises to form its identity. It obviously is a Mario game first and foremost, but a Mario game that doesn't rely on tropes or overly familiar scenarios. This fact is even spoofed at the very beginning of the game, where Bowser does kidnap Peach and Mario goes to save her like always. After leading us to believe that that's the story of the game, a bait and switch is enacted and the real plot of the game begins after Exor lands in Bowser's Keep. This kind of summarizes what the game is like in general. You constantly encounter the weirdest and most bizarre NPCs and enemies in this game (some of which border on being nonsensical) that don't resemble anything else seen in the Mario franchise, before or since. The scenarios that the party goes through are also extremely creative, strange and often funny. It's pretty astounding how creative of a game it is, especially keeping in mind that the Mario franchise still hadn't spread its wings that much when it came out. It easily could've relied on what Mario had already established with the NES and SNES platformers, but it went out of its way to not do that. At least for that, it's a game that I do admire.
Even with all of this, it still manages to feel enough like a Mario game. It obviously features lots of Mario characters (at least that had already been established), characteristics of Mario's world like mushrooms, stars, floating blocks and pipes, and more. Where the game evokes more of an early Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest vibe is in the game's overall design ethos. It features basic turn based combat where you juggle multiple party members, basic level up and progression systems, items that work like in those games, basic towns that feature shops and inns (that are also almost kind of themed like Medieval towns), etc. It's pretty much as basic as RPGs get in this regard, but it works. This game treads the line well between being derivative and unique.
The gameplay is fun, but I wouldn't really say that it's too great. After all, it's a late 90s RPG at heart, and it somewhat shows. The game did innovate with its battle system through the addition of action commands, which were a brilliant idea, but other than that, it's a very by the numbers RPG that is also super easy for the most part. I usually don't complain about difficulty when I play a game, because as long as a game demands enough from me to actually make me put in some effort, it can keep me engaged. That isn't really the case with this game, though. Most enemy encounters can be rushed through after like 1 or 2 turns with the most basic of attacks in your arsenal, particularly if you time action commands well. Even most bosses around the first half of the game demand very little from you, and can be defeated super easily by exploiting weaknesses and using buffs.
The remake doesn't help in this regard either, because some of its additions like triple moves, chain buffs, perfect attacks/blocks and switching party members make it even more of a breeze. The game wasn't rebalanced around these new mechanics, so it's objectively easier. I will talk more about these mechanics later, however. Still, even with how little this game demands from you, I still had fun with it because timing action commands is intrinsically very engaging. The story isn't really great either, and it times it barely even makes sense, but it also kept me engaged because of how weird, funny and charming it is.
I really don't have much more to say on the game itself, but I have more to say on the remake. ArtePiazza did about as good of a job as they could've while keeping the game as faithful as possible. I'll go out on a limb and say that it isn't quite among the best remakes that I've seen because of how faithful it is, but with the great legacy that it carries, I understand that they wanted to respect it as much as possible, with warts and all. In my ideal world, this remake would've reworked and redesigned the core game to improve on it while keeping its identity, but leaving the game as is probably was the best choice that ArtePiazza could've made. They still did really great work where they could.
The game looks gorgeous, for one. Videos and screenshots really don't do it justice, because I didnt realize how truly pretty it looks until I got my hands on it. Even though character models and environments are mostly kept very simple, texture work is really good in general. Also, the lightning engine here in particular looks stunning, and does a lot of heavy lifting to make it look as good as it does. The addition of the new battle mechanics, if a little unnecesarry, are also really cool to me. I want to give a special shoutout to the chain mechanic, because it does a good job of encouraging you to keep timing action commands and getting skilled enough to do multiple in a row. It doesn't really matter most of the time, but just seeing the chain number go higher and higher feels is intrinsically super satisfying. More than anything however, I would really like to see some of these mechanics make an appearance in a game that's actually designed around them. They all have awesome potential that could be realized if they synergized more with the battle system.
Here's also a rapidfire list of some quality of life changes and random extras that were included:
- The Scrapbook was added (essentially a journal for what happens in the game, mostly following the main story). Really cool addition that frames the events from Mallow's and Geno's perspectives, and also serves as a good refresher for the game's events if you stopped playing for a while.
- The Monster List was added. Having some form of bestiary in this game is awesome. Some monster descriptions are pretty random and don't really serve any worldbuilding purpose, but they're all really charming and funny (especially ones that blatantly break the fourth wall). Viewing all enemy stats is very convenient, too.
- A post game with super bosses was added, which has some of the most well designed encounters in the whole game. These actually do a great job encouraging you to use the new mechanics and taking advantage of all party members and their abilities.
- A music player was added, which unlocks after you beat the game. Really great feature to have in any game.
- An exclamation mark shows up to indicate the precise timing required for action commands, which is a great feature because not every timing is super well communicated without it.
- You can now fast travel anywhere from any location, which saves time from exiting and area and traversing the whole world map to get somewhere.
There's more that I didn't mention here, but these are the most notable ones to me. They all serve to make this the best version of the game by themselves. However, nothing compares to the single best thing that this remake brought to the table: the reorchestrated soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. Oh. My. God.
It seriously left me in awe multiple times. It's the one aspect of this game that I'm extremely passionate about. Yoko Shimomura is one of, if not my very favorite game composer of all time. Her works on the Mario RPGs, especially Mario & Luigi Dream Team, are among my favorites for any game I've played. After that series fell through the wayside because of AlphaDream's bankruptcy, I didn't think she would compose for any Mario RPGs anymore. This was heartbreaking to me. However, I'm now unbelievably ecstatic to say that she came back, composing for both Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and this game across the span of two years in a row. The goddess is actually back.
The original game's ost already was great, but Jesus Christ. Yoko's work here for nearly every single song is leagues better than in the original. I could shoutout the entire soundtrack here, and I kind of want to, but for the sake of some brevity, I will instead highlight some of my absolute favorites. Fight Against Bowser, Battle Against a Somewhat Stronger Monster, Hello Happy Kingdom, Danger Aplenty on the Journey, Let's take the Midas River, Beware the Forest's Mushrooms, Nimbus Land and Battling Culex are all absolutely incredible. They're all up there among some of my favorite songs across all of the Mario RPGs, even rivaling Dream Team's songs for me. They effortlessly preserve the game's original compositions and tone while adding whimsy and gravity to it through the reorchestration.
Even better, there's two other songs that I want to give an even more special highlight to. The world map theme seriously left me speechless when I first heard it. Yoko grabbed what was previously a super simple and repetitive melody, and literally added a whole new melody on top of the preexisting song. It wordlessly conveys the spirit of adventure that the game flaunts, as well as the idea that there's a long journey ahead. All through a super whimsical and cheery tone. The trademark Shimomura flutes and violins shine super bright here. It's so beautiful.
Even better than that one though, the Marrymore theme is unbelievable. My god. What I believe to be the single best and most underrated song in this game. It was already a beautiful composition in the original version, but here it's actually hard for me to describe how beautiful it is. A theme that effortlessly conveys supreme joy and delight. The violins here elevate the song to the extent that I really don't think it could've been better rearranged. Perfectly fitting for a town fully themed around marriage, perfectly capturing that vibe. Honestly, this is now high on my list of favorite songs out of any game I have ever played. I had high hopes for what Shimomura would accomplish here, and those hopes were blown out of the water. She really never dissapoints, man.
Yeah, this review just kind of gave me an excuse to gush over the soundtrack more than anything. That's the main reason I wanted to write it. Anyway, this probably amounts to being my least favorite Mario RPG overall, but it's still good. Props to ArtePiazza for their great work on the remake. Also, I'm really glad that Nintendo and Square's relationship got rekindled during the switch era. This remake likely would have never happened otherwise.
I played it for the first time through this remake, and it was very much worth my purchase. Before talking about the remake though, I want to talk about the game as is.
This game came to be because of the close relationship that Nintendo and Square Soft had in the late 80s and early 90s. It really shows in the final product, because it feels like Mario, early Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest and lots of wacky stuff mixed into a blender. More than any other game in the series, this is a very traditional RPG fused with the Mario IP, giving it its own flavor. This game still has an extremely unique identity because of it, one that still stands on its own (even with the many Mario RPGs that have come out after it). There really isn't anything else quite like it.
It's super interesting to me that despite it kind of feeling like a lite crossover of sorts, it doesn't overly rely on Mario or Square's franchises to form its identity. It obviously is a Mario game first and foremost, but a Mario game that doesn't rely on tropes or overly familiar scenarios. This fact is even spoofed at the very beginning of the game, where Bowser does kidnap Peach and Mario goes to save her like always. After leading us to believe that that's the story of the game, a bait and switch is enacted and the real plot of the game begins after Exor lands in Bowser's Keep. This kind of summarizes what the game is like in general. You constantly encounter the weirdest and most bizarre NPCs and enemies in this game (some of which border on being nonsensical) that don't resemble anything else seen in the Mario franchise, before or since. The scenarios that the party goes through are also extremely creative, strange and often funny. It's pretty astounding how creative of a game it is, especially keeping in mind that the Mario franchise still hadn't spread its wings that much when it came out. It easily could've relied on what Mario had already established with the NES and SNES platformers, but it went out of its way to not do that. At least for that, it's a game that I do admire.
Even with all of this, it still manages to feel enough like a Mario game. It obviously features lots of Mario characters (at least that had already been established), characteristics of Mario's world like mushrooms, stars, floating blocks and pipes, and more. Where the game evokes more of an early Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest vibe is in the game's overall design ethos. It features basic turn based combat where you juggle multiple party members, basic level up and progression systems, items that work like in those games, basic towns that feature shops and inns (that are also almost kind of themed like Medieval towns), etc. It's pretty much as basic as RPGs get in this regard, but it works. This game treads the line well between being derivative and unique.
The gameplay is fun, but I wouldn't really say that it's too great. After all, it's a late 90s RPG at heart, and it somewhat shows. The game did innovate with its battle system through the addition of action commands, which were a brilliant idea, but other than that, it's a very by the numbers RPG that is also super easy for the most part. I usually don't complain about difficulty when I play a game, because as long as a game demands enough from me to actually make me put in some effort, it can keep me engaged. That isn't really the case with this game, though. Most enemy encounters can be rushed through after like 1 or 2 turns with the most basic of attacks in your arsenal, particularly if you time action commands well. Even most bosses around the first half of the game demand very little from you, and can be defeated super easily by exploiting weaknesses and using buffs.
The remake doesn't help in this regard either, because some of its additions like triple moves, chain buffs, perfect attacks/blocks and switching party members make it even more of a breeze. The game wasn't rebalanced around these new mechanics, so it's objectively easier. I will talk more about these mechanics later, however. Still, even with how little this game demands from you, I still had fun with it because timing action commands is intrinsically very engaging. The story isn't really great either, and it times it barely even makes sense, but it also kept me engaged because of how weird, funny and charming it is.
I really don't have much more to say on the game itself, but I have more to say on the remake. ArtePiazza did about as good of a job as they could've while keeping the game as faithful as possible. I'll go out on a limb and say that it isn't quite among the best remakes that I've seen because of how faithful it is, but with the great legacy that it carries, I understand that they wanted to respect it as much as possible, with warts and all. In my ideal world, this remake would've reworked and redesigned the core game to improve on it while keeping its identity, but leaving the game as is probably was the best choice that ArtePiazza could've made. They still did really great work where they could.
The game looks gorgeous, for one. Videos and screenshots really don't do it justice, because I didnt realize how truly pretty it looks until I got my hands on it. Even though character models and environments are mostly kept very simple, texture work is really good in general. Also, the lightning engine here in particular looks stunning, and does a lot of heavy lifting to make it look as good as it does. The addition of the new battle mechanics, if a little unnecesarry, are also really cool to me. I want to give a special shoutout to the chain mechanic, because it does a good job of encouraging you to keep timing action commands and getting skilled enough to do multiple in a row. It doesn't really matter most of the time, but just seeing the chain number go higher and higher feels is intrinsically super satisfying. More than anything however, I would really like to see some of these mechanics make an appearance in a game that's actually designed around them. They all have awesome potential that could be realized if they synergized more with the battle system.
Here's also a rapidfire list of some quality of life changes and random extras that were included:
- The Scrapbook was added (essentially a journal for what happens in the game, mostly following the main story). Really cool addition that frames the events from Mallow's and Geno's perspectives, and also serves as a good refresher for the game's events if you stopped playing for a while.
- The Monster List was added. Having some form of bestiary in this game is awesome. Some monster descriptions are pretty random and don't really serve any worldbuilding purpose, but they're all really charming and funny (especially ones that blatantly break the fourth wall). Viewing all enemy stats is very convenient, too.
- A post game with super bosses was added, which has some of the most well designed encounters in the whole game. These actually do a great job encouraging you to use the new mechanics and taking advantage of all party members and their abilities.
- A music player was added, which unlocks after you beat the game. Really great feature to have in any game.
- An exclamation mark shows up to indicate the precise timing required for action commands, which is a great feature because not every timing is super well communicated without it.
- You can now fast travel anywhere from any location, which saves time from exiting and area and traversing the whole world map to get somewhere.
There's more that I didn't mention here, but these are the most notable ones to me. They all serve to make this the best version of the game by themselves. However, nothing compares to the single best thing that this remake brought to the table: the reorchestrated soundtrack by Yoko Shimomura. Oh. My. God.
It seriously left me in awe multiple times. It's the one aspect of this game that I'm extremely passionate about. Yoko Shimomura is one of, if not my very favorite game composer of all time. Her works on the Mario RPGs, especially Mario & Luigi Dream Team, are among my favorites for any game I've played. After that series fell through the wayside because of AlphaDream's bankruptcy, I didn't think she would compose for any Mario RPGs anymore. This was heartbreaking to me. However, I'm now unbelievably ecstatic to say that she came back, composing for both Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and this game across the span of two years in a row. The goddess is actually back.
The original game's ost already was great, but Jesus Christ. Yoko's work here for nearly every single song is leagues better than in the original. I could shoutout the entire soundtrack here, and I kind of want to, but for the sake of some brevity, I will instead highlight some of my absolute favorites. Fight Against Bowser, Battle Against a Somewhat Stronger Monster, Hello Happy Kingdom, Danger Aplenty on the Journey, Let's take the Midas River, Beware the Forest's Mushrooms, Nimbus Land and Battling Culex are all absolutely incredible. They're all up there among some of my favorite songs across all of the Mario RPGs, even rivaling Dream Team's songs for me. They effortlessly preserve the game's original compositions and tone while adding whimsy and gravity to it through the reorchestration.
Even better, there's two other songs that I want to give an even more special highlight to. The world map theme seriously left me speechless when I first heard it. Yoko grabbed what was previously a super simple and repetitive melody, and literally added a whole new melody on top of the preexisting song. It wordlessly conveys the spirit of adventure that the game flaunts, as well as the idea that there's a long journey ahead. All through a super whimsical and cheery tone. The trademark Shimomura flutes and violins shine super bright here. It's so beautiful.
Even better than that one though, the Marrymore theme is unbelievable. My god. What I believe to be the single best and most underrated song in this game. It was already a beautiful composition in the original version, but here it's actually hard for me to describe how beautiful it is. A theme that effortlessly conveys supreme joy and delight. The violins here elevate the song to the extent that I really don't think it could've been better rearranged. Perfectly fitting for a town fully themed around marriage, perfectly capturing that vibe. Honestly, this is now high on my list of favorite songs out of any game I have ever played. I had high hopes for what Shimomura would accomplish here, and those hopes were blown out of the water. She really never dissapoints, man.
Yeah, this review just kind of gave me an excuse to gush over the soundtrack more than anything. That's the main reason I wanted to write it. Anyway, this probably amounts to being my least favorite Mario RPG overall, but it's still good. Props to ArtePiazza for their great work on the remake. Also, I'm really glad that Nintendo and Square's relationship got rekindled during the switch era. This remake likely would have never happened otherwise.
2023
This review contains spoilers
It still feels unreal to me that this game exists. I can barely believe that I'm here writing a review about it, let alone that I played it.
Ever since I played Pikmin 3 Deluxe in 2020 and loved it to pieces, I've been craving more Pikmin in my life so, so bad. I wanted to get my hands on as many of these games as I could. However, things weren't looking great for the series at that point. Series sales were always underwhelming for Nintendo, and even the Switch port for 3 wasn't a big success (it sold pretty well from what I gather, but not super well). Pikmin's future was still not certain. Miyamoto's infamous Pikmin 4 interview all the way back in 2015 poured salt in the wound of said future. That's a really big rabbid hole that I would rather not get into, but safe to say, no one had any idea if the game was still in development, had been cancelled, or if anything in between had happened. This was the case for about 8 years. As much as I deeply wanted it, I never really expected to play a new Pikmin game in my life.
But then, the September 2022 Nintendo Direct aired. That was one of the best days of my life. Pikmin 4 was actually real, and it was coming out soon. The joy I felt after receiving those news is honestly hard to describe. I probably looked like a maniac to anyone that witnessed my reaction to the reveal while we were in high school, but I didn't care. One of my favorite games ever made was finally receiving a follow up, and I thought I couldn't be happier.
Fast forward to 2023, and not only was the series finally getting a new mainline entry, but the first two games were also getting ports for the Switch. At that moment, I realized that Pikmin was undergoing a comeback the likes of which I haven't seen often. The series was truly coming back, and with a bang. As I said, I thought before that I couldn't be happier, but at that moment, I was. Later on, seeing that Pikmin 4 became the best selling game in the series by a good margin after just a few months was immensely relieving. This series that I love so much, that I feared was close to extinction, actually had a future now. Good time to be alive.
To actually talk about the game though: surprise, surprise, I adored it. However, what was surprising was that the game didn't come out how I expected it to. What I thought I wanted more than anything was a faithful sequel to Pikmin 3 that possibly expanded on some of its ideas, and maybe also expanded on that game's multitasking potential. Instead of controlling 3 Captains all at once, maybe we could be in charge of 4. This is absolutely not what happenned. In fact, Pikmin 4 really doesn't play it safe, and instead is arguably the most experimental game in the whole series. This could've turned out bad, but it didn't. What this game accomplished is incredible, actually. It somehow managed to combine ideas from ALL previous Pikmin games, maintain what was so good about many ideas and improved on those that were more flawed. It did all of this while ALSO adding a bunch of new and exciting ideas onto the mix. Somehow, a cohesive game came out of that. It blows me away.
I'll start by addressing Oatchi, my boy. Not only is he adorable, but he alone completely changes the dymanic that existed between Captains and Pikmin in previous games. He is like a Captain and a really powerful Pikmin at the same time. He can either command Pikmin by himself, or act like a Pikmin by fighting enemies, interacting with obstacles or carrying treasure. He sounds broken in theory, and some people have said that he is, but I don't think so. The fact that Oatchi is this versatile works because even if he can do a lot, he can only perform one task at a time. The game's strategic potential rears its head when you have to choose if you want Oatchi to dig a patch of dirt, work towards breaking a wall, carry a really heavy treasure or command a group of Pikmin on his own while you do other stuff. This all synergizes with the usual Pikmin dynamic, because not only do you have to manage regular Pikmin like always, but Oatchi too. In theory, you can overcome most obstacles with Oatchi by himself, but that would be a colossal waste of time. You need to take advantage of both to play as efficiently as possible.
This becomes even more interesting through the fact that the main captain can ride Oatchi, or jump out of him. This is also really smart because while riding Oatchi, your whole army is with you and you're more versatile. However, this limits your multitasking options, so if you want to keep being more efficient, it's often ideal to split them up. This brings a cool risk vs. reward system to the mix, because the game can be more of a breeze when you're together, but playing better also makes things tougher.
It becomes even better when we take into account the fact that Oatchi can jump. This is crazy. Not only does this add more light platforming elements, and levels that can be designed with more verticality in mind, but it also serves to differentiate Oatchi from the regular Captain more. Since only Oatchi has this ability, you also have to keep track of which Captain has to take which path to maximize efficiency. Levels are well designed around the ability, so it's something that often has to be considered. Even where there's level elements that might not have been explicitly designed around the jump, if there's a tiny bump in the road or a small wall blocking the way, he can jump over it. It seriously elevates the depth of pathfinding to new heights for the series. It's genius.
Having this many interesting options to multitask wouldn't serve much of a purpose if the game didn't encourage you to multitask, but it does. There isn't a day limit like in Pikmin 1 or 3, so I feared that the game would run into the same problem that Pikmin 2 did, being that time management just really isn't important. However, this issue is circumvented through lots of smart design choices and additions.
To start somewhere, I will first address Dandori challenges and battles. These are beyond genius. They manage to integrate a mode akin to Pikmin 3's incredible mission mode into the main campaign by adding caves with missions. I could go on for hours about how both 3's mission mode and 4's Dandori challenges are incredible, but I will have to summarize. In essence, they instill the mere essence of Pikmin multitasking into more bite-sized challenges that do a great job of encouraging you to be more efficient through a ranking system. Having to put the work in to manage so much under a time limit to obtain a high rank is unbelievably engaging and addicting.
Also helping to encourage time management is the huge improvement the caves received from Pikmin 2. It's tough to know where to even begin here. I really didn't like Pikmin 2's caves because they completely stopped the time limit, had randomized level design, and you couldn't regrow Pikmin if you lost them. I understand that the time limit was stopped to allow players to take their time, but I frankly think that kind of misses the point. Pikmin is at its most engaging to me when I have to manage my time, and discarding that whole aspect makes things kind of boring. To be honest, I do think people give the randomization elements a bit of a hard time. Sometimes people say there just isn't any level design at play, when there is. Specific units of a cave were hand-crafted and the enemies that occupate each cave were also picked by hand. It's just that these elements are randomly placed and rearranged. I still don't like this or think that it works, but I have to be fair. Lastly, I also understand that you can't regrow Pikmin because the game wants to instill tension, and it at least kind of succeeds at doing that, but it also kind of sucks. This can lead you to get softlocked out of collecting treasure if you don't have enough Pikmin for it, leading you to exit a cave and come back in, backtracking floor by floor to retrieve the treasure. It sucks.
I'm super happy to say that literally every single one of these issues was fixed in 4. For one, even though time still doesn't progress in caves at the same speed than it does in the surface, it does move very slowly. Every single cave is also 100% designed by hand now, and every enemy and obstacle is deliberately placed. These two changes by themselves save caves for me. Even if time moves at a snails pace, just knowing that it moves at all re-engages my brain and continues to encourage me to play quickly. This is also helped because caves are designed with shortcuts in mind, unlike in Pikmin 2, which makes it satisfying by itself to go through them quickly. However, they become even better because of the addition of Glow Pikmin. After obtaining glow seeds from night expeditions, you can take them out inside of caves to grow your squad. This means you essentially have a reserve squad of Pikmin, which nullifies the softlock issue. It's great.
I already spent most of this essay talking about like, three things, so I'll summarize whatever is left with bullet points. This is both for your sake and mine.
- Night expeditions were an awesome new tower defense-like mode, which did a great job of spinning the usual Pikmin day timer on its head and encouraging you to split Oatchi from the Captain to defend bases.
- Raw materials are a great form of currency that can be obtained through lots of means. They're really fun to obtain, and having to choose whether you want to spend them on building a bridge or buying items/upgrades added another extra layer of depth to the game.
- NPC sidequests are a brilliant recontextualization of the achievements introduced in Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Instead of being separate achievements, they're integrated into the main campaign by rewarding raw materials when you complete one. This really drives you to complete as many of them as possible.
- The fact that they decided to add a mini campaign with Olimar that serves as a reimagining to Pikmin 1, which does have a day limit, blew my mind. This really didn't need to be in the game, but I'm still ecstatic that it is. It's also a really great side mode.
- Character customization was another really cool innovation on the Pikmin formula, even if customization options are pretty limited.
I'm sure there's even more that I could've said here, but I need to draw the line somewhere. All in all, Pikmin 4 is a tremendous game. It managed to meet my extremely high expectations while being very different than what I was expecting. It didn't exactly give me what I wanted, but what it gave me satisfied me just as much. Also one of my favorite games ever made. Please play Pikmin 4.
Ever since I played Pikmin 3 Deluxe in 2020 and loved it to pieces, I've been craving more Pikmin in my life so, so bad. I wanted to get my hands on as many of these games as I could. However, things weren't looking great for the series at that point. Series sales were always underwhelming for Nintendo, and even the Switch port for 3 wasn't a big success (it sold pretty well from what I gather, but not super well). Pikmin's future was still not certain. Miyamoto's infamous Pikmin 4 interview all the way back in 2015 poured salt in the wound of said future. That's a really big rabbid hole that I would rather not get into, but safe to say, no one had any idea if the game was still in development, had been cancelled, or if anything in between had happened. This was the case for about 8 years. As much as I deeply wanted it, I never really expected to play a new Pikmin game in my life.
But then, the September 2022 Nintendo Direct aired. That was one of the best days of my life. Pikmin 4 was actually real, and it was coming out soon. The joy I felt after receiving those news is honestly hard to describe. I probably looked like a maniac to anyone that witnessed my reaction to the reveal while we were in high school, but I didn't care. One of my favorite games ever made was finally receiving a follow up, and I thought I couldn't be happier.
Fast forward to 2023, and not only was the series finally getting a new mainline entry, but the first two games were also getting ports for the Switch. At that moment, I realized that Pikmin was undergoing a comeback the likes of which I haven't seen often. The series was truly coming back, and with a bang. As I said, I thought before that I couldn't be happier, but at that moment, I was. Later on, seeing that Pikmin 4 became the best selling game in the series by a good margin after just a few months was immensely relieving. This series that I love so much, that I feared was close to extinction, actually had a future now. Good time to be alive.
To actually talk about the game though: surprise, surprise, I adored it. However, what was surprising was that the game didn't come out how I expected it to. What I thought I wanted more than anything was a faithful sequel to Pikmin 3 that possibly expanded on some of its ideas, and maybe also expanded on that game's multitasking potential. Instead of controlling 3 Captains all at once, maybe we could be in charge of 4. This is absolutely not what happenned. In fact, Pikmin 4 really doesn't play it safe, and instead is arguably the most experimental game in the whole series. This could've turned out bad, but it didn't. What this game accomplished is incredible, actually. It somehow managed to combine ideas from ALL previous Pikmin games, maintain what was so good about many ideas and improved on those that were more flawed. It did all of this while ALSO adding a bunch of new and exciting ideas onto the mix. Somehow, a cohesive game came out of that. It blows me away.
I'll start by addressing Oatchi, my boy. Not only is he adorable, but he alone completely changes the dymanic that existed between Captains and Pikmin in previous games. He is like a Captain and a really powerful Pikmin at the same time. He can either command Pikmin by himself, or act like a Pikmin by fighting enemies, interacting with obstacles or carrying treasure. He sounds broken in theory, and some people have said that he is, but I don't think so. The fact that Oatchi is this versatile works because even if he can do a lot, he can only perform one task at a time. The game's strategic potential rears its head when you have to choose if you want Oatchi to dig a patch of dirt, work towards breaking a wall, carry a really heavy treasure or command a group of Pikmin on his own while you do other stuff. This all synergizes with the usual Pikmin dynamic, because not only do you have to manage regular Pikmin like always, but Oatchi too. In theory, you can overcome most obstacles with Oatchi by himself, but that would be a colossal waste of time. You need to take advantage of both to play as efficiently as possible.
This becomes even more interesting through the fact that the main captain can ride Oatchi, or jump out of him. This is also really smart because while riding Oatchi, your whole army is with you and you're more versatile. However, this limits your multitasking options, so if you want to keep being more efficient, it's often ideal to split them up. This brings a cool risk vs. reward system to the mix, because the game can be more of a breeze when you're together, but playing better also makes things tougher.
It becomes even better when we take into account the fact that Oatchi can jump. This is crazy. Not only does this add more light platforming elements, and levels that can be designed with more verticality in mind, but it also serves to differentiate Oatchi from the regular Captain more. Since only Oatchi has this ability, you also have to keep track of which Captain has to take which path to maximize efficiency. Levels are well designed around the ability, so it's something that often has to be considered. Even where there's level elements that might not have been explicitly designed around the jump, if there's a tiny bump in the road or a small wall blocking the way, he can jump over it. It seriously elevates the depth of pathfinding to new heights for the series. It's genius.
Having this many interesting options to multitask wouldn't serve much of a purpose if the game didn't encourage you to multitask, but it does. There isn't a day limit like in Pikmin 1 or 3, so I feared that the game would run into the same problem that Pikmin 2 did, being that time management just really isn't important. However, this issue is circumvented through lots of smart design choices and additions.
To start somewhere, I will first address Dandori challenges and battles. These are beyond genius. They manage to integrate a mode akin to Pikmin 3's incredible mission mode into the main campaign by adding caves with missions. I could go on for hours about how both 3's mission mode and 4's Dandori challenges are incredible, but I will have to summarize. In essence, they instill the mere essence of Pikmin multitasking into more bite-sized challenges that do a great job of encouraging you to be more efficient through a ranking system. Having to put the work in to manage so much under a time limit to obtain a high rank is unbelievably engaging and addicting.
Also helping to encourage time management is the huge improvement the caves received from Pikmin 2. It's tough to know where to even begin here. I really didn't like Pikmin 2's caves because they completely stopped the time limit, had randomized level design, and you couldn't regrow Pikmin if you lost them. I understand that the time limit was stopped to allow players to take their time, but I frankly think that kind of misses the point. Pikmin is at its most engaging to me when I have to manage my time, and discarding that whole aspect makes things kind of boring. To be honest, I do think people give the randomization elements a bit of a hard time. Sometimes people say there just isn't any level design at play, when there is. Specific units of a cave were hand-crafted and the enemies that occupate each cave were also picked by hand. It's just that these elements are randomly placed and rearranged. I still don't like this or think that it works, but I have to be fair. Lastly, I also understand that you can't regrow Pikmin because the game wants to instill tension, and it at least kind of succeeds at doing that, but it also kind of sucks. This can lead you to get softlocked out of collecting treasure if you don't have enough Pikmin for it, leading you to exit a cave and come back in, backtracking floor by floor to retrieve the treasure. It sucks.
I'm super happy to say that literally every single one of these issues was fixed in 4. For one, even though time still doesn't progress in caves at the same speed than it does in the surface, it does move very slowly. Every single cave is also 100% designed by hand now, and every enemy and obstacle is deliberately placed. These two changes by themselves save caves for me. Even if time moves at a snails pace, just knowing that it moves at all re-engages my brain and continues to encourage me to play quickly. This is also helped because caves are designed with shortcuts in mind, unlike in Pikmin 2, which makes it satisfying by itself to go through them quickly. However, they become even better because of the addition of Glow Pikmin. After obtaining glow seeds from night expeditions, you can take them out inside of caves to grow your squad. This means you essentially have a reserve squad of Pikmin, which nullifies the softlock issue. It's great.
I already spent most of this essay talking about like, three things, so I'll summarize whatever is left with bullet points. This is both for your sake and mine.
- Night expeditions were an awesome new tower defense-like mode, which did a great job of spinning the usual Pikmin day timer on its head and encouraging you to split Oatchi from the Captain to defend bases.
- Raw materials are a great form of currency that can be obtained through lots of means. They're really fun to obtain, and having to choose whether you want to spend them on building a bridge or buying items/upgrades added another extra layer of depth to the game.
- NPC sidequests are a brilliant recontextualization of the achievements introduced in Pikmin 3 Deluxe. Instead of being separate achievements, they're integrated into the main campaign by rewarding raw materials when you complete one. This really drives you to complete as many of them as possible.
- The fact that they decided to add a mini campaign with Olimar that serves as a reimagining to Pikmin 1, which does have a day limit, blew my mind. This really didn't need to be in the game, but I'm still ecstatic that it is. It's also a really great side mode.
- Character customization was another really cool innovation on the Pikmin formula, even if customization options are pretty limited.
I'm sure there's even more that I could've said here, but I need to draw the line somewhere. All in all, Pikmin 4 is a tremendous game. It managed to meet my extremely high expectations while being very different than what I was expecting. It didn't exactly give me what I wanted, but what it gave me satisfied me just as much. Also one of my favorite games ever made. Please play Pikmin 4.
2023
All of my reviews are extremely long, and I really have to exercise some restraint for this one especially.
Now that I have played Pikmin 1, I can say with confidence that is easily one of my favorite games ever made, and when I say that I mean very, very favorites. I adore it to bits. It is one of the most mechanically engaging games I have ever played, and also has a super simple but engaging narrative (that of which I think is the best out of any Pikmin game).
To start off, I will talk about the port job this game recieved. I don't really have much to say on it because it's a pretty barebones port of the game. All it really does to improve on it is spruce up the quality of UI assets (which do look a bit nicer) and add some small quality of life improvements that the Wii version already included. It probably is one of the better versions of the game, but not by much. I would normally complain more about it keeping in mind that this port is being sold at $30, but dude, it's Pikmin. This is as much as I personally ever needed for this game. Just having the original game be accessible is great.
The game itself is kind of a masterpiece in my eyes, especially considering that it is more than 20 years old. The premise of the game revolves around Captain Olimar and his first unfortunate crash on PNF-404. When he encounters the Pikmin, they willingly choose to help him collect all the ship parts he lost before he dies. Very simple on paper, but the story is so effective because of how personal it is and how high the stakes are for Olimar. The game characterizes him really well through logs that he writes at the end of each day, and you really do get endeared to him. Since you know that he will die if you fail, his fate lies on how well you perform at the game. This applies pressure onto you. It works amazingly to motivate you to to actually finish it.
The gameplay formula that this game established is one of the most unique and weird that I've ever seen to this day. Even now, there's nothing else that plays quite like Pikmin. Beyond simply establishing such a creative formula, it astounds me how much this game got right on its first attempt. I could write all day about every single design choice the designers made to create something this wonderful, but I have to draw the line somewhere, so I will try to not get to deep into the weeds.
The game is most comparable to an RTS (Real Time Strategy game), but it's unique to the extent that I don't quite want to call it that. You control Captain Olimar and the whole group of Pikmin that he leads (which can go up to 100) all at once. To avoid making the game too convoluted, you really only control the captain to move around and then use specific actions to command the Pikmin, like throwing, swarming and dismissing them. They managed to make a control scheme that could've been really hard to grasp into a very simple one that's easy to understand. In fact, they made it so simple that they ran into the risk of making the game boring. They avoided this mistake by focusing on one of the game's most important elements: time management.
The game's individual mechanics are seemingly not complex, but things change when you're under pressure. Because this game has a set day limit (which means you can just lose if you take too long), you're constantly encouraged to hurry up and manage your time appropriately. Performing individual tasks isn't always hard or super engaging, but they do become moreso when you have to juggle multiple of them at once. In fact, because you're trying to complete every task efficiently, the game's mechanics reveal just how deep they are in the process. Throwing Pikmin is a very simple action in theory, but throwing accurately towards your target can be more challenging (especially when said target is moving). If you manage to do so, you often save more time than you would after throwing poorly. Swarming is a little more complicated because it allows you to maneuver your entire squad with precision, either to ambush a creature, dodge a hazard or grab a collectible. Doing so very accurately while you're moving your Captain also saves you time. This philosophy applies to the entire game.
One argument I've heard against the time limit is that it's really forgiving, and it's true. You can beat the game in a very small number of days if you're skilled enough. I've managed to do so in 9 days, and people that have truly mastered the game to its core have done so in 6. When the maximum leeway that the game gives you is 30 days, it can seem like it gives way too much time and ends up not really mattering. However, I will make an opposing argument as to why it still works. I think it's a brilliant system.
Unlike me (someone that plays games more than he honestly should), not everyone playing this game will have an immediate understanding of how it works. Particularly with the Switch port, lots of people are playing Pikmin for the first time and have no prior experience with these games. Losing during a playthrough and having to start all over to win can be a huge blow to anyone, and especially these types of players. Because of this, I think the 30 day limit hits the perfect balance. It's very forgiving to accomodate for people that might struggle with the game, but its presence is constantly looming over you. It's lenient to the extent that it's not likely that you will lose if you play well enough, but just the fact that it's there creates anxiety and dread that prevails throughout the playthrough and goes hand in hand with the game's design. You can't stay still doing nothing in this game, so some amount of time management is heavily encouraged from you.
Additionally, this system also meshes perfectly with how replayable the game is. An average playthrough can take you anywhere from 3 to 5 hours, if less. This by itself makes it really easy to play multiple times, but it helps that the game also keeps track of your scores (the amount of ship parts you collected, days it took you to beat the game and how many Pikmin you propagated/lost). At its core, Pikmin is a score-chasing game, and it works perfectly as one when the game constantly nudges you to improve if you want to. It doesn't reward you with anything outright, but it's innately fun to lower your day count and lose less Pikmin the more skilled you become.
I have my issues with the game, sure.
- Like pretty much everyone has already said, Pikmin AI is pretty janky and the worst out of any of these games.
- Some Pikmin behaviors, like slower movement speeds when not flowered and tripping, are just annoying and only serve to waste your time.
- Level design is mostly really good, but enemy placement isn't always very well thought out.
- Blue Pikmin don't always take advantage of their main trait by taking shortcuts through water.
All of these negatives are worth mentioning, but I frankly don't really care about them. These are all tiny blemishes in the experience for me and are heavily outweighed by all the positives.
All in all, Pikmin 1 is seriously incredible. Whenever the argument of videogames as an art form shows up, Pikmin is now one of the first games I think of. It is what I believe to be a perfect example of the advantages this medium has over other ones. A story this simple wouldn't work as well if you weren't placed in the protagonist's shoes, literally. Because you want Olimar to be safe and you're in control of his fate, you're driven to play efficiently. Since you're driven to play efficiently, you're constantly seeking higher scores and improved performance. It's one of those special experiencies where nearly all of its elements were designed to mesh with each other and even improve each other. So much depth hidden behind a cartoony and seemingly childish facade. Astounding game.
I could've written even more about it, but I honestly agree with most of what Arlo said in his Big Fat Review of this game, so go watch that instead if you want more. I highly recommend it.
Now that I have played Pikmin 1, I can say with confidence that is easily one of my favorite games ever made, and when I say that I mean very, very favorites. I adore it to bits. It is one of the most mechanically engaging games I have ever played, and also has a super simple but engaging narrative (that of which I think is the best out of any Pikmin game).
To start off, I will talk about the port job this game recieved. I don't really have much to say on it because it's a pretty barebones port of the game. All it really does to improve on it is spruce up the quality of UI assets (which do look a bit nicer) and add some small quality of life improvements that the Wii version already included. It probably is one of the better versions of the game, but not by much. I would normally complain more about it keeping in mind that this port is being sold at $30, but dude, it's Pikmin. This is as much as I personally ever needed for this game. Just having the original game be accessible is great.
The game itself is kind of a masterpiece in my eyes, especially considering that it is more than 20 years old. The premise of the game revolves around Captain Olimar and his first unfortunate crash on PNF-404. When he encounters the Pikmin, they willingly choose to help him collect all the ship parts he lost before he dies. Very simple on paper, but the story is so effective because of how personal it is and how high the stakes are for Olimar. The game characterizes him really well through logs that he writes at the end of each day, and you really do get endeared to him. Since you know that he will die if you fail, his fate lies on how well you perform at the game. This applies pressure onto you. It works amazingly to motivate you to to actually finish it.
The gameplay formula that this game established is one of the most unique and weird that I've ever seen to this day. Even now, there's nothing else that plays quite like Pikmin. Beyond simply establishing such a creative formula, it astounds me how much this game got right on its first attempt. I could write all day about every single design choice the designers made to create something this wonderful, but I have to draw the line somewhere, so I will try to not get to deep into the weeds.
The game is most comparable to an RTS (Real Time Strategy game), but it's unique to the extent that I don't quite want to call it that. You control Captain Olimar and the whole group of Pikmin that he leads (which can go up to 100) all at once. To avoid making the game too convoluted, you really only control the captain to move around and then use specific actions to command the Pikmin, like throwing, swarming and dismissing them. They managed to make a control scheme that could've been really hard to grasp into a very simple one that's easy to understand. In fact, they made it so simple that they ran into the risk of making the game boring. They avoided this mistake by focusing on one of the game's most important elements: time management.
The game's individual mechanics are seemingly not complex, but things change when you're under pressure. Because this game has a set day limit (which means you can just lose if you take too long), you're constantly encouraged to hurry up and manage your time appropriately. Performing individual tasks isn't always hard or super engaging, but they do become moreso when you have to juggle multiple of them at once. In fact, because you're trying to complete every task efficiently, the game's mechanics reveal just how deep they are in the process. Throwing Pikmin is a very simple action in theory, but throwing accurately towards your target can be more challenging (especially when said target is moving). If you manage to do so, you often save more time than you would after throwing poorly. Swarming is a little more complicated because it allows you to maneuver your entire squad with precision, either to ambush a creature, dodge a hazard or grab a collectible. Doing so very accurately while you're moving your Captain also saves you time. This philosophy applies to the entire game.
One argument I've heard against the time limit is that it's really forgiving, and it's true. You can beat the game in a very small number of days if you're skilled enough. I've managed to do so in 9 days, and people that have truly mastered the game to its core have done so in 6. When the maximum leeway that the game gives you is 30 days, it can seem like it gives way too much time and ends up not really mattering. However, I will make an opposing argument as to why it still works. I think it's a brilliant system.
Unlike me (someone that plays games more than he honestly should), not everyone playing this game will have an immediate understanding of how it works. Particularly with the Switch port, lots of people are playing Pikmin for the first time and have no prior experience with these games. Losing during a playthrough and having to start all over to win can be a huge blow to anyone, and especially these types of players. Because of this, I think the 30 day limit hits the perfect balance. It's very forgiving to accomodate for people that might struggle with the game, but its presence is constantly looming over you. It's lenient to the extent that it's not likely that you will lose if you play well enough, but just the fact that it's there creates anxiety and dread that prevails throughout the playthrough and goes hand in hand with the game's design. You can't stay still doing nothing in this game, so some amount of time management is heavily encouraged from you.
Additionally, this system also meshes perfectly with how replayable the game is. An average playthrough can take you anywhere from 3 to 5 hours, if less. This by itself makes it really easy to play multiple times, but it helps that the game also keeps track of your scores (the amount of ship parts you collected, days it took you to beat the game and how many Pikmin you propagated/lost). At its core, Pikmin is a score-chasing game, and it works perfectly as one when the game constantly nudges you to improve if you want to. It doesn't reward you with anything outright, but it's innately fun to lower your day count and lose less Pikmin the more skilled you become.
I have my issues with the game, sure.
- Like pretty much everyone has already said, Pikmin AI is pretty janky and the worst out of any of these games.
- Some Pikmin behaviors, like slower movement speeds when not flowered and tripping, are just annoying and only serve to waste your time.
- Level design is mostly really good, but enemy placement isn't always very well thought out.
- Blue Pikmin don't always take advantage of their main trait by taking shortcuts through water.
All of these negatives are worth mentioning, but I frankly don't really care about them. These are all tiny blemishes in the experience for me and are heavily outweighed by all the positives.
All in all, Pikmin 1 is seriously incredible. Whenever the argument of videogames as an art form shows up, Pikmin is now one of the first games I think of. It is what I believe to be a perfect example of the advantages this medium has over other ones. A story this simple wouldn't work as well if you weren't placed in the protagonist's shoes, literally. Because you want Olimar to be safe and you're in control of his fate, you're driven to play efficiently. Since you're driven to play efficiently, you're constantly seeking higher scores and improved performance. It's one of those special experiencies where nearly all of its elements were designed to mesh with each other and even improve each other. So much depth hidden behind a cartoony and seemingly childish facade. Astounding game.
I could've written even more about it, but I honestly agree with most of what Arlo said in his Big Fat Review of this game, so go watch that instead if you want more. I highly recommend it.
This remaster gave me the chance to play Metroid Prime for the first time, and it was awesome.
Retro Studios and Iron Galaxy did a great job remastering the game within the budgetary and developmental constraints I imagine they were under. While it unfortunately didn't fix many issues that were present in the original (which I will talk more about later), the scope of the project was probably not big enough to account for them, and that's fine honestly. Their job was to graphically update the game from the ground up while adding a few bells and whistles, and from that perspective they knocked it out of the park. Having the game's definitive version, which this is, available on Switch now is all I really needed.
Graphically, the game looks excellent and runs flawlessly. I don't quite agree with people that say it's the best looking game on the console, but it is very much up there for me too. The reworked models, textures, lightning, particle effects all come together to make a game that already looked great on Gamecube look way better, which is high praise. The game also runs at 60 fps and consistently runs at that, which is kind of mindblowing when the graphical quality of the game is also so good.
However, what I think is the remaster's greatest feature is the variety of control customization that the game provides. All control schemes from previous versions of the game came back, as well as two new ones in the form of dual stick and hybrid controls. I played through the game twice, and chose classic controls on my first playthrough. I found them super weird at first and had a really tough time getting used to performing even the simplest of actions because it played like nothing I had ever played before. Despite this, it didn't really take too long for me to get used to them, and I found them very effective when I did. Moving with tank controls and then having to hold another button to stay still for more accurate aim sounds annoying, but they struck a very good middle ground with it. They pretty much had to when designing the game with the Gamecube controller's limitations in mind back then. They work great, even now, as much as they threw me off at first.
I then tried the hybrid controls on my second playthrough, and I found them to be even better. I love them, honestly. They work nearly the same as the classic controls, but have gyro integrated into them. When you press the same button as you did with the classic controls to stay still and aim, you instead use gyro to do so. Beyond just being more precise, this change also frees up the left analog stick. Since this stick isn't needed to aim anymore, you can freely move around with it and aim without coming to a stop. The degree of control this provides feels amazing, and improves the pace of the game because if you're skilled enough, you can keep moving while shooting precisely a lot of the time.
This control scheme alone makes this the definitive version of the game in my book. I can't go back now after trying it (though I do want to try the remaining control schemes on future replays of the game to experiment with them). The fact that not only did they bring back both control options that people have different preferences on, but also added two new ones (one of which I think is the best) speaks volumes to how good of a remaster it is. It's not something we often see with Nintendo games in general, but having this degree of options should be standard.
Lastly, the remaster adds concept art and character models, both from the original version and the remaster, as well as a music player. These can be viewed in the extras section in the main menu. I always love seeing extras like these in games, because in the case of concept art especially, it's as close as we get to learning about the inner workings of game development. As much as it frustrates me that we get so little on that front, I take as much as I can get and it serves as a great feature in this game.
As for the game itself, I don't quite believe it's the peak of what Metroid can offer, but it comes very close. While Super and Dread are tied for my favorite Metroid games, Prime comes in third place for now (though there's many in the series that I still have yet to play). It is still a really great game that provides the same kind of satisfaction and engagement that Metroid games always do for me.
The game is structured much the same as most other Metroid games, kind of like a huge labyrinth. The game funnels you down a specific path at the start and removes most of your abilities after introducing them to you in the Frigate Orpheon. The possibilities then begin expanding when you keep getting upgrades and earn new ones, little by little. The name of the game is exploring the whole world with the appropriate abilities to open the way forward and to earn collectibles that make you stronger. It's a gameplay loop that has always been effective in these games and continues to be here.
Where this game differs from previous Metroid games (beyond the obvious dimensional shift) mainly involves combat and storytelling. To address the combat system first, I honestly think it's the strongest in the series. An issue I have with combat systems in other games comes from the inclusion of the screw attack. I understand that getting empowered to the extent that you can obliterate everything is supposed to be satisfaying, and it is, but it also breaks the combat into pieces.
In the case of Super and Samus Returns it's not too bad because either the rest of the combat is very simple (like in Super) or the Screw Attack is better balanced around your other options (like in Samus Returns). Hot take: I believe the combat in Dread suffers the most from this and becomes very uninteresting the more you progress. The game initially gives you many different combat options that are well balanced, but as soon as the Screw Attack shows up, none of that matters anymore.
Prime doesn't suffer from this at all because it doesn't have a Screw Attack. No combat option really overshadows another one because they each have strengths and weaknesses, and different enemies encourage or force you to use different tools. The way missiles were handled is also great. In other games, your overall missile count can become irrelevant when you get stronger tools, but this game sidesteps that issue by providing upgrades that deal more damage but drain the hell out of your missile count, adding more depth to your options. In essence, the combat is all about fighting enemies one-on-one and dodging their attacks while choosing the best weapon for the job. It's awesome.
As for it's storytelling, Metroid Prime has some of the best that I've ever seen in a game. The game doesn't explicitly tell you anything that happens, and you have to figure it all out on your own by using your Scan Visor and picking up on context clues. This game tells you it's story implicitly, and does so from two different perspectives (those of the Chozo and the Space Pirates). Reading logs provides great characterization for both. They convey the Chozo's simultaneous care of nature and serious dedication to their role in the universe, as well as their humongous pride in themselves. They also highlight how awful and depraved the Space Pirates are and the degree to which they cross the line with their experiments. None of this is done through cutscenes or dialogue. The extent to which this game crafts it's story and worldbuilding this way is top of the line.
As much as I love this game, a few big issues weigh down the experience for me to the extent that it's not quite one of my favorites. For one, the structure in which mandatory upgrades are placed can be extremely annoying. The game at times makes you travel a long way to get an item, and then makes you backtrack all the way back to where you were to open up a path without much in the way of change. Backtracking is an essential element of these games, but Prime unfortunately handles it poorly and can be a slog because of it.
It doesn't help that the map flat out sucks. Even though it signals which doors can be openned with which beams, that's about it. Absolutely no information is conveyed regarding which items or upgrades you have and haven't picked up. This becomes an absolute pain when you attempt to go for 100%. I tried to do so but couldn't because I was missing a single missile expansion without a clue of where it was, and the game provides no signifiers to indicate this. I hate it.
Even with that said, Metroid Prime is a great achievement of a game, especially for the time in which it came out, but it's still well designed even when compared to today's standards. It says a lot that I had no prior experience with it and I still think this. Metroid good.
Retro Studios and Iron Galaxy did a great job remastering the game within the budgetary and developmental constraints I imagine they were under. While it unfortunately didn't fix many issues that were present in the original (which I will talk more about later), the scope of the project was probably not big enough to account for them, and that's fine honestly. Their job was to graphically update the game from the ground up while adding a few bells and whistles, and from that perspective they knocked it out of the park. Having the game's definitive version, which this is, available on Switch now is all I really needed.
Graphically, the game looks excellent and runs flawlessly. I don't quite agree with people that say it's the best looking game on the console, but it is very much up there for me too. The reworked models, textures, lightning, particle effects all come together to make a game that already looked great on Gamecube look way better, which is high praise. The game also runs at 60 fps and consistently runs at that, which is kind of mindblowing when the graphical quality of the game is also so good.
However, what I think is the remaster's greatest feature is the variety of control customization that the game provides. All control schemes from previous versions of the game came back, as well as two new ones in the form of dual stick and hybrid controls. I played through the game twice, and chose classic controls on my first playthrough. I found them super weird at first and had a really tough time getting used to performing even the simplest of actions because it played like nothing I had ever played before. Despite this, it didn't really take too long for me to get used to them, and I found them very effective when I did. Moving with tank controls and then having to hold another button to stay still for more accurate aim sounds annoying, but they struck a very good middle ground with it. They pretty much had to when designing the game with the Gamecube controller's limitations in mind back then. They work great, even now, as much as they threw me off at first.
I then tried the hybrid controls on my second playthrough, and I found them to be even better. I love them, honestly. They work nearly the same as the classic controls, but have gyro integrated into them. When you press the same button as you did with the classic controls to stay still and aim, you instead use gyro to do so. Beyond just being more precise, this change also frees up the left analog stick. Since this stick isn't needed to aim anymore, you can freely move around with it and aim without coming to a stop. The degree of control this provides feels amazing, and improves the pace of the game because if you're skilled enough, you can keep moving while shooting precisely a lot of the time.
This control scheme alone makes this the definitive version of the game in my book. I can't go back now after trying it (though I do want to try the remaining control schemes on future replays of the game to experiment with them). The fact that not only did they bring back both control options that people have different preferences on, but also added two new ones (one of which I think is the best) speaks volumes to how good of a remaster it is. It's not something we often see with Nintendo games in general, but having this degree of options should be standard.
Lastly, the remaster adds concept art and character models, both from the original version and the remaster, as well as a music player. These can be viewed in the extras section in the main menu. I always love seeing extras like these in games, because in the case of concept art especially, it's as close as we get to learning about the inner workings of game development. As much as it frustrates me that we get so little on that front, I take as much as I can get and it serves as a great feature in this game.
As for the game itself, I don't quite believe it's the peak of what Metroid can offer, but it comes very close. While Super and Dread are tied for my favorite Metroid games, Prime comes in third place for now (though there's many in the series that I still have yet to play). It is still a really great game that provides the same kind of satisfaction and engagement that Metroid games always do for me.
The game is structured much the same as most other Metroid games, kind of like a huge labyrinth. The game funnels you down a specific path at the start and removes most of your abilities after introducing them to you in the Frigate Orpheon. The possibilities then begin expanding when you keep getting upgrades and earn new ones, little by little. The name of the game is exploring the whole world with the appropriate abilities to open the way forward and to earn collectibles that make you stronger. It's a gameplay loop that has always been effective in these games and continues to be here.
Where this game differs from previous Metroid games (beyond the obvious dimensional shift) mainly involves combat and storytelling. To address the combat system first, I honestly think it's the strongest in the series. An issue I have with combat systems in other games comes from the inclusion of the screw attack. I understand that getting empowered to the extent that you can obliterate everything is supposed to be satisfaying, and it is, but it also breaks the combat into pieces.
In the case of Super and Samus Returns it's not too bad because either the rest of the combat is very simple (like in Super) or the Screw Attack is better balanced around your other options (like in Samus Returns). Hot take: I believe the combat in Dread suffers the most from this and becomes very uninteresting the more you progress. The game initially gives you many different combat options that are well balanced, but as soon as the Screw Attack shows up, none of that matters anymore.
Prime doesn't suffer from this at all because it doesn't have a Screw Attack. No combat option really overshadows another one because they each have strengths and weaknesses, and different enemies encourage or force you to use different tools. The way missiles were handled is also great. In other games, your overall missile count can become irrelevant when you get stronger tools, but this game sidesteps that issue by providing upgrades that deal more damage but drain the hell out of your missile count, adding more depth to your options. In essence, the combat is all about fighting enemies one-on-one and dodging their attacks while choosing the best weapon for the job. It's awesome.
As for it's storytelling, Metroid Prime has some of the best that I've ever seen in a game. The game doesn't explicitly tell you anything that happens, and you have to figure it all out on your own by using your Scan Visor and picking up on context clues. This game tells you it's story implicitly, and does so from two different perspectives (those of the Chozo and the Space Pirates). Reading logs provides great characterization for both. They convey the Chozo's simultaneous care of nature and serious dedication to their role in the universe, as well as their humongous pride in themselves. They also highlight how awful and depraved the Space Pirates are and the degree to which they cross the line with their experiments. None of this is done through cutscenes or dialogue. The extent to which this game crafts it's story and worldbuilding this way is top of the line.
As much as I love this game, a few big issues weigh down the experience for me to the extent that it's not quite one of my favorites. For one, the structure in which mandatory upgrades are placed can be extremely annoying. The game at times makes you travel a long way to get an item, and then makes you backtrack all the way back to where you were to open up a path without much in the way of change. Backtracking is an essential element of these games, but Prime unfortunately handles it poorly and can be a slog because of it.
It doesn't help that the map flat out sucks. Even though it signals which doors can be openned with which beams, that's about it. Absolutely no information is conveyed regarding which items or upgrades you have and haven't picked up. This becomes an absolute pain when you attempt to go for 100%. I tried to do so but couldn't because I was missing a single missile expansion without a clue of where it was, and the game provides no signifiers to indicate this. I hate it.
Even with that said, Metroid Prime is a great achievement of a game, especially for the time in which it came out, but it's still well designed even when compared to today's standards. It says a lot that I had no prior experience with it and I still think this. Metroid good.
The experience I had during my first playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom was very special. Almost magical.
A lot of that can be traced back to my real life and how the game shared some parallels with it. When Breath of the Wild came out in 2017, I was getting out of sixth grade and moving onto middle school. Many years later, when Tears of the Kingdom came out in May, I was a month away from graduating high school. Six years passed between the releases of both titles. I was 12 years old then, and now I'm 18. A lot in my life changed throughout those six years, both good and bad.
I kept trudging through middle school and then high school over those years, which was not made easy when a global pandemic decided to just show up. I made and lost friends the more time kept passing. Between 2020 and 2022 especially, I had a really tough time. I was on the verge of being depressed, frankly. However, 2023 gave me a shining light that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was truly one of the best years of my life up until now, for so many reasons that I can't even begin to explain here. I normally wouldn't make such a big deal between two distant game releases and how my life changed in between them, but in the case of TOTK, I think it's extremely relevant.
TOTK takes place a few years after BOTW, and the world reflects it. The world you explore is the same, but it has changed in numerous ways. The Sky Islands now stare at you from above, and the Depths from below. Towns you once were very familiar with have faced new developments and new struggles, some of which are harsher than what you faced before. In many ways, the kingdom of Hyrule is more broken than how you left it, but it's also developed more than it ever has. Just like in my life, the passage of time brought many changes, both good and bad.
The game took a long time to come out. I can't know if this was purely coincidental or if the devs did this on purpose, but the fact that the characters and the world in-game aged at the same time as we did was genius. People often complain about game delays, and in general I don't agree with the sentiment because giving game devs as much time as they need to make games should be standard and celebrated more. However, this game showed me a benefit to a game being delayed that I had never seen before. Because the game took so long, we grew. And so did its world and its characters.
Seeing a fictional world, especially one from a franchise that I love so much, reflect my current reality so well in the exact moment that it came out was incredible. It hasn't really happened to me before, and I don't know if it will ever happen again the same way. Even disregarding that, the novelty of re-exploring a world I was so familiar and seeing how much it has changed was invigorating. It almost felt like coming back to your childhood neighborhood years after moving, taking in how similar and different it is simultaneously. The joy of exploring became tenfold when I was constantly on the lookout for what was different in all these places I know so well. For that alone I love it.
As far as what I think of the game as is, It's amazing but also very flawed. When the sheer novelty of playing a new Zelda game started wearing off, more issues and dissapointing elements started creeping up. To talk about positives first though: I was worried before the game's release that exploring the same world again wouldn't be interesting, but it is. The game's whole design philosophy declares that you really can do pretty much anything, and it's true. Much, much more so than in BOTW. That game already presented you with problems and gave you lots of tools to approach them from many different angles, but TOTK looks at that game and multiplies the possibilities by 100. Each of the Zonai abilities by themselves are insanely robust and allow you to do endless amounts of things, and your options only grow after you chain two or three of the abilities at once. The runes from BOTW are seemingly gone, but not really. Because each of the mechanics is so open ended, you can replicate the functions of Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis and the bombs through many different means. Going into more detail on how they work would make this review longer than it already is.
The addition of the Zonai devices, and how they synergize with the Ultrahand mechanic in particular, are also incredible. Each individual device has a unique function with many different applications, and each device can be attached to other devices to combine their functions. This can be used to build vehicles, weapons, mechs, or whatever the hell you want. I'm really just scratching the surface of what you can do here. It's nuts. Building stuff became very intrinsically rewarding for me the more I did it. It would be one thing if the game just gave you vehicles that work in one intended way (not inherently a bad approach, by the way). Instead, the fact that I always had the tools to make what I wanted, could build what I wanted in an infinite number of ways and I was rewarded for my efforts with useful contraptions that worked how I wanted them too felt like nothing else. Even building stuff that didn't work like I expected (or that flat out failed) was really funny and wasn't very punishing because the game showers you with devices.
The overall changes that were made to the world were also a success. The Sky Islands provide effective breaks by making you explore more linear and condensed areas, and incentivice you well to explore them with strong ingredients littered around and Zonai capsules that give you devices. The first time I found a chasm that takes you to the Depths also kind of blew me away, particularly after seeing how huge they are. They also incentivice you well to explore them through Zonaite, Forges, Mines, Yiga Clan camps and more. The many ways in which the overworld that you already know also changed are great, but are honestly too many to even list here. and are helped further by the Zonai devices. Because you can build vehicles now, traversing the world is more fun and is that much more open ended.
That's the jist of what I love about the game without elaborating to a ridiculous extent. I really have just been giving it glowing praise so far, and while I really do love it, I also have lots of criticisms to go through. It's easy to see why the game took so long to come out, but it's also dissapointing to see missed opportunities that weren't taken and issues with BOTW that weren't fixed after so much time.
As cool as the Sky Islands are, a lot of them are nearly copy pasted around the world. I don't take issue with how small they are like other people have (I think they serve as great pace breakers because of how small they are). However, the amount of times they flat out repeat the same content when they already are small is excessive. Also, I think the Depths in general are kind of dissapointing in retrospect. I do still like exploring them, but the same copy paste problem shows up and is much worse here. Because they're so enormous, they had to plaster all the same kinds of things you find over and over and over again down there. Additionally, I didn't think finding lightroots was as engaging as finding shrines or towers because they don't give you anything substantial besides providing light and filling out the map. The matter isn't helped by the fact that the Depths have no biomes, so every region you go to looks the exact same. Exploring them for extended periods of time gets boring to me now.
The combat system was already kind of flawed in BOTW, and absolutely nothing was done to improve it. The flurry rush timing is still kind of janky, and the mechanic really overshadows the shield parry because it's objectively a better combat option in every scenario. Healing is also still completely broken because you can always open the menu mid-fight to pause and heal as much as you can without any sort of cooldown or limit. I still think the combat is fun, but there are many other better combat systems out there.
I also have a bunch of other small issues that kind of pile up.
- Cooking in general is still kind of an undercooked system (very ironic) because you're discouraged from experimenting too much when throwing lots of meat on a pot can heal a bunch of hearts. I still also don't like that status effects have a set timer that can go to waste if you don't use them properly.
- The game being so open ended brings the unfortunate side-effect that puzzles and challenges can be very easily cheesed at times.
- Dungeon Design isn't much better in this game than in BOTW (which already wasn't great), though unique themes do make them sort of more interesting.
- UI design isn't great either, and constantly having to fuse to arrows is especially baffling.
- Some side quests are better than in BOTW, but most are just as mediocre.
- While I think the story is good overall, it doesn't come close to being as great as those of Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword (and probably other Zelda games I have yet to play). Also, finding memories out of order can spoil you by accident.
Most of these don't really matter that much to me as a whole, but I still think they're worth adressing because I find them dissapointing. Combined with my bigger issues with it, the experience really does become worse and prevents the game from reaching it's full potential. Especially dissapointing when sequels in particular are given the opportunity to polish what their prequels established and this one often just doesn't. Bummer.
With all that said though, I still love TOTK and it's become one of my favorite games ever. It's nowhere near my game of the year for 2023, but I still think it's a great game and the experience I had with it is one I will forever cherish. That really just puts in perspective how insane this year was for game releases.
A lot of that can be traced back to my real life and how the game shared some parallels with it. When Breath of the Wild came out in 2017, I was getting out of sixth grade and moving onto middle school. Many years later, when Tears of the Kingdom came out in May, I was a month away from graduating high school. Six years passed between the releases of both titles. I was 12 years old then, and now I'm 18. A lot in my life changed throughout those six years, both good and bad.
I kept trudging through middle school and then high school over those years, which was not made easy when a global pandemic decided to just show up. I made and lost friends the more time kept passing. Between 2020 and 2022 especially, I had a really tough time. I was on the verge of being depressed, frankly. However, 2023 gave me a shining light that I hadn't seen in a long time. It was truly one of the best years of my life up until now, for so many reasons that I can't even begin to explain here. I normally wouldn't make such a big deal between two distant game releases and how my life changed in between them, but in the case of TOTK, I think it's extremely relevant.
TOTK takes place a few years after BOTW, and the world reflects it. The world you explore is the same, but it has changed in numerous ways. The Sky Islands now stare at you from above, and the Depths from below. Towns you once were very familiar with have faced new developments and new struggles, some of which are harsher than what you faced before. In many ways, the kingdom of Hyrule is more broken than how you left it, but it's also developed more than it ever has. Just like in my life, the passage of time brought many changes, both good and bad.
The game took a long time to come out. I can't know if this was purely coincidental or if the devs did this on purpose, but the fact that the characters and the world in-game aged at the same time as we did was genius. People often complain about game delays, and in general I don't agree with the sentiment because giving game devs as much time as they need to make games should be standard and celebrated more. However, this game showed me a benefit to a game being delayed that I had never seen before. Because the game took so long, we grew. And so did its world and its characters.
Seeing a fictional world, especially one from a franchise that I love so much, reflect my current reality so well in the exact moment that it came out was incredible. It hasn't really happened to me before, and I don't know if it will ever happen again the same way. Even disregarding that, the novelty of re-exploring a world I was so familiar and seeing how much it has changed was invigorating. It almost felt like coming back to your childhood neighborhood years after moving, taking in how similar and different it is simultaneously. The joy of exploring became tenfold when I was constantly on the lookout for what was different in all these places I know so well. For that alone I love it.
As far as what I think of the game as is, It's amazing but also very flawed. When the sheer novelty of playing a new Zelda game started wearing off, more issues and dissapointing elements started creeping up. To talk about positives first though: I was worried before the game's release that exploring the same world again wouldn't be interesting, but it is. The game's whole design philosophy declares that you really can do pretty much anything, and it's true. Much, much more so than in BOTW. That game already presented you with problems and gave you lots of tools to approach them from many different angles, but TOTK looks at that game and multiplies the possibilities by 100. Each of the Zonai abilities by themselves are insanely robust and allow you to do endless amounts of things, and your options only grow after you chain two or three of the abilities at once. The runes from BOTW are seemingly gone, but not really. Because each of the mechanics is so open ended, you can replicate the functions of Magnesis, Stasis, Cryonis and the bombs through many different means. Going into more detail on how they work would make this review longer than it already is.
The addition of the Zonai devices, and how they synergize with the Ultrahand mechanic in particular, are also incredible. Each individual device has a unique function with many different applications, and each device can be attached to other devices to combine their functions. This can be used to build vehicles, weapons, mechs, or whatever the hell you want. I'm really just scratching the surface of what you can do here. It's nuts. Building stuff became very intrinsically rewarding for me the more I did it. It would be one thing if the game just gave you vehicles that work in one intended way (not inherently a bad approach, by the way). Instead, the fact that I always had the tools to make what I wanted, could build what I wanted in an infinite number of ways and I was rewarded for my efforts with useful contraptions that worked how I wanted them too felt like nothing else. Even building stuff that didn't work like I expected (or that flat out failed) was really funny and wasn't very punishing because the game showers you with devices.
The overall changes that were made to the world were also a success. The Sky Islands provide effective breaks by making you explore more linear and condensed areas, and incentivice you well to explore them with strong ingredients littered around and Zonai capsules that give you devices. The first time I found a chasm that takes you to the Depths also kind of blew me away, particularly after seeing how huge they are. They also incentivice you well to explore them through Zonaite, Forges, Mines, Yiga Clan camps and more. The many ways in which the overworld that you already know also changed are great, but are honestly too many to even list here. and are helped further by the Zonai devices. Because you can build vehicles now, traversing the world is more fun and is that much more open ended.
That's the jist of what I love about the game without elaborating to a ridiculous extent. I really have just been giving it glowing praise so far, and while I really do love it, I also have lots of criticisms to go through. It's easy to see why the game took so long to come out, but it's also dissapointing to see missed opportunities that weren't taken and issues with BOTW that weren't fixed after so much time.
As cool as the Sky Islands are, a lot of them are nearly copy pasted around the world. I don't take issue with how small they are like other people have (I think they serve as great pace breakers because of how small they are). However, the amount of times they flat out repeat the same content when they already are small is excessive. Also, I think the Depths in general are kind of dissapointing in retrospect. I do still like exploring them, but the same copy paste problem shows up and is much worse here. Because they're so enormous, they had to plaster all the same kinds of things you find over and over and over again down there. Additionally, I didn't think finding lightroots was as engaging as finding shrines or towers because they don't give you anything substantial besides providing light and filling out the map. The matter isn't helped by the fact that the Depths have no biomes, so every region you go to looks the exact same. Exploring them for extended periods of time gets boring to me now.
The combat system was already kind of flawed in BOTW, and absolutely nothing was done to improve it. The flurry rush timing is still kind of janky, and the mechanic really overshadows the shield parry because it's objectively a better combat option in every scenario. Healing is also still completely broken because you can always open the menu mid-fight to pause and heal as much as you can without any sort of cooldown or limit. I still think the combat is fun, but there are many other better combat systems out there.
I also have a bunch of other small issues that kind of pile up.
- Cooking in general is still kind of an undercooked system (very ironic) because you're discouraged from experimenting too much when throwing lots of meat on a pot can heal a bunch of hearts. I still also don't like that status effects have a set timer that can go to waste if you don't use them properly.
- The game being so open ended brings the unfortunate side-effect that puzzles and challenges can be very easily cheesed at times.
- Dungeon Design isn't much better in this game than in BOTW (which already wasn't great), though unique themes do make them sort of more interesting.
- UI design isn't great either, and constantly having to fuse to arrows is especially baffling.
- Some side quests are better than in BOTW, but most are just as mediocre.
- While I think the story is good overall, it doesn't come close to being as great as those of Majora's Mask and Skyward Sword (and probably other Zelda games I have yet to play). Also, finding memories out of order can spoil you by accident.
Most of these don't really matter that much to me as a whole, but I still think they're worth adressing because I find them dissapointing. Combined with my bigger issues with it, the experience really does become worse and prevents the game from reaching it's full potential. Especially dissapointing when sequels in particular are given the opportunity to polish what their prequels established and this one often just doesn't. Bummer.
With all that said though, I still love TOTK and it's become one of my favorite games ever. It's nowhere near my game of the year for 2023, but I still think it's a great game and the experience I had with it is one I will forever cherish. That really just puts in perspective how insane this year was for game releases.