Yeah, I don't know... Not feeling this one. I thought it looked cool in video reviews, but I was doubtful from minute one, and about two hours later, I think I feel like there are other things I'd rather spend my time on than this game. It's decent, but not exceptional, and too linear and too focused on anemic and dull combat for me.

The first cool bit that you both notice when playing and that I should start this review with is that this game is not one interconnected world, but a splintered one made up of floating islands that you fly between freely in your airship, in sections that really remind me of SNES games (or Afterimage since it did something similar). That part is really cool, but it's also what makes this game not really a metroidvania, as the sections you fly to are primarily linear with a collectable or two that you need to come back for with a double jump or whatever. First, and only, ability I found was a kind of cumbersome wall jump, but I presume a double jump or similar is coming as it always does.

I don't hate this game, but there isn't much I love either. It looks fine, but at the same time, the color scheme is drab and the enemy design is quite dull. Blobby looking humanoid (or other animals) grey rock creatures was all I really saw, except a few almost equally as grey hostile plants. The music is just kind of there and the PS5 version is very oddly mixed in that I had to almost double the volume, both in the game and on my TV, to hear anything. Not a huge complaint, but it was weird.

The huge complaint is the overabundance of boring combat, as well as the linearity. This game uses those rooms that lock you in when you enter them and until you've killed everything, and it does it a lot, and on top of that, the game does attempt to have a more advanced combat system, but nothing comes together for me. From the moves to the enemy graphics and animations to the sounds, none of the combat feels like it hits or feels exciting. Plus every enemy is a major damage sponge and spamming all of your basic attacks, special attacks and magic attacks feel like they add very little and like I'm mostly powerless in combat. Not in the sense that it's hard, because it isn't as one of your built-in special attacks also has healing properties, but in the sense that there's no sense of enjoyable power. You know how Symphony of the Night has 1HP enemies in the first corridor, immediately showing that Alucard is strong? Yeah, this game doesn't do that at all and it's just dull.

It doesn't help that this seemingly is the kind of game that allows you access to the map towards the end of an area, and that it's a mapping system that doesn't show you what corner you've actually visited, it only reveals the rooms and doors. I do like that it shows exactly what the room looks like instead of a square, though.

Again, I don't hate this game, but I don't really enjoy it either. There is some quality here for someone who vibes with what this game is, but that person isn't me and I'll pass on these drab aesthetics, boring combat and linear levels and move on to something else.

This game served as my introduction to aerial combat games, and in all likelihood, fighter jets themselves. As such, it’s no surprise that I hold this game in fairly high regard.

I never played through the campaign when I was younger, as most of my time was spent either watching my dad play through it or playing against him in VS mode. He’s never alluded to this, but I suspect that me beating him consistently in VS mode is what made him realize that he was past his gaming prime (that, and me hogging the PS2).

Anyways, I wanted to see if the game was as cool as I remembered it, so I decided to play through the campaign. I was pleased to discover that the game is still in fact, very cool, for the following reasons:
-The menu music and the banger of a soundtrack in general.
-The voice acting and sound effects (shoutout to whoever voiced AWACS).
-The variety of jets and weapons at your disposal (A-10 supremacy).
-The ability of the game to tell a compelling story without traditional cutscenes.

In short, it was a worthwhile trip down memory lane.

Hotshot Racing pulls no punches in solidifying itself as one of the best arcade racers ever made, but combining all of this content with a price tag at $19.99, with more content coming in a free post-launch update soon, is even more ridiculous. With blistering speed complimented by genius design choices, an absolutely absurd amount of customization, and the beautifully crafted love letters to the four wheels of racing and its arcade predecessors, Hotshot Racing places itself valiantly alongside the best games of 2020.

A charming and unexpected dungeon crawler. There's a flow state you enter by the third town where you spend your time diving into the dungeon slowing accruing power and town pieces and coming back to the town building. It's ahead of its time for a PS2 launch title.

It's a very punishing game if you do not prepare yourself accordingly. Dark Cloud rewards you for experimentation and diversifying your power between your party members. Though there's a spike in difficulty towards the later half, making grinding annoying to do, I enjoyed my play through enough.

I picked this game up randomly as a little kid and you know I honestly wonder if my love for games that are about creating/rebuilding the world from treasures you find out in dungeons and the like came from here. It's...pretty rare.

But it's something I adore about this game. Going dungeon crawling feels so rewarding because when you find buildings and characters you tangibly see them in the world and then they interact with the other characters in their lives etc etc. The fact that you can be creative with how towns look as well just makes the whole prospect of going into dungeons exciting.

Dungeon combat is pretty rudimentary and kinda tough at times (it loves its risk and reward) but it's also pretty comfy. Going back to it, I'd forgotten that it had survival elements as well, which I guess were pretty commonplace in dungeon crawlers at the time but either way that added lair of preparation and carefulness it asked for was kind of interesting considering it was never too heavy handed with it.

Miss this series a lot.