Kiwawa
269 reviews liked by Kiwawa
It feels kinda clunky to control to me but i really like it. Its free so there is literately no reason to not check it out, its super charming and fun.
Celeste
2018
Probably the best linear 2D platformer ever created. the movement and jumps all feel so incredibly fluid and amazing to control, the ost is amazing, the game looks awesome, the story is sweet, and everything about it is essentially perfect. this game will push your skills to their limits yet is sill somehow easily approachable and beatable. video games don't get much better than this.
I'm conflicted on what to think of this game. For Zelda standards the world building, story, areas, and action are all insanely good, and the game looks graphically great too in my opinion. However, and maybe I'm just not smart enough for Zelda dungeons, but i felt this game shared the same problems with ocarina of time and many other older Zelda games in that without a guide, youll get completely lost and stuck for hours because you missed a hint you can only see once or some chest hidden in a corner somewhere. It makes the game frustrating to play through and makes you feel useless as a player when you have to look the solution to something up. That being said, if you were unlike me somehow able to just always figure out the solutions to this games puzzles, this would be a near 10/10 game. All the dungeons are very grand and cool in design and have very fun boss fights, and the overworld is super cool to explore too. i felt the game got a little dungeon heavy and lacking in story progression in the last few hours, but overall I had a great time with it and will definitely be playing again someday.
BioShock
2008
BioShock is a good first person shooter that is made into something truly great by its incredibly unique atmosphere and story. The gameplay system would be a bit dull if it wasn’t for a mechanic called “plasmids.” These are a variety of customizable abilities that range from firing elements such as lighting and flame, to placing target dummies or hypnotizing your enemies. Plasmids are always mapped to your left triggers, while your gun controls are mapped to your right triggers. It makes an otherwise fairly standard shooter feel a lot more unique and personalized to each player. The one big gameplay issue this game has is its atrocious map. Even after beating the game I still don't really understand how I'm supposed to interpret it. For some reason different levels and floors are shown on the map beside each other rather than on top and underneath each other. Often they are placed with little rhyme or reason. This game also sometimes has a bit of a lighting problem. Many environments contain a lot of grey colors and are very darkly lit, making it often hard to tell where to go and what is going on. Even still, I still think the gameplay is decently good overall; not amazing, but not at all bad either.
Where BioShock really shines is in its story and atmosphere, though I did have some issues with it so I'll get those out of the way first. Despite liking the story a lot, I noticed it often felt a little disconnected from the levels you actually play in the game. Nearly all communication with other characters takes place through a radio, and you almost never see their faces unless they're already dead. While rapture is a very cool location and does have its fair share of environmental storytelling, this games equivalent to cutscenes often consists of a character talking to you on the radio, a bunch of enemies getting dumped in the level your on, you defeating the enemies, and then a character calling you on the radio again to either curse you or congratulate you. There are very few moments where you actually get to see another character face to face or have an event happen before your eyes, though I suppose this does make the moments such as this actually contained within the game even more impactful. I won’t spoil the story but I also found the ending and final boss to be fairly disappointing.
Moving on to the good, Rapture is an absolutely incredible setting and one of the coolest and most thought out places I’ve had the privilege of exploring in a game. It's filled with this dark, moody, and creepy atmosphere combined with this sort of 1940’s - 50’s styled music and looks. It makes for something truly different than anything else I’ve ever seen, and it's really incredible. The history of Rapture as well as the character diaries that can be found within it are very well made to showcase the failures of unregulated capitalism and how disastrous it is to depend on it. The city has a complete lack of regulations under the guise of freedom (sound familiar?). This leads to record breaking progress, but decisions are made without morals or conscience. Everything in the city, dangerous or not, comes to exist for the sole purpose of driving profit, which leads rapture to its eventual downfall. I did just complain about how you are almost never face to face with any characters, but even with just their voices the game does an amazing job teaching you each and every one of their politics and ideals, and why it either brought them success or (In most cases) failed them. Among these characters is the game's main villain Andrew Ryan. Even alongside the many interesting characters this game already contains he stands out and is extremely compelling to root against. I particularly enjoyed how despite him being such a terrible person, you can tell how principled he is, and how he truly believes what he says to be the truth. It makes him feel much more threatening and is a large part of what compelled me to continue playing the game and push past some of its more creepy moments. I suppose I should mention that the game does have a sort of morality system to it, with you being able to harvest or save genetically modified children known as “little sisters.” As far as I can tell however it doesn't affect much of the game aside from the ending which is one of its weaker aspects anyways.
I think BioShock really does earn its status as such an iconic and influential game, and is something I won’t be soon forgetting. I usually don't even like first person shooters that much but I think against all odds this game has somehow broken into my top 20 list. Definitely check this game out if you’ve ever got the chance.
Where BioShock really shines is in its story and atmosphere, though I did have some issues with it so I'll get those out of the way first. Despite liking the story a lot, I noticed it often felt a little disconnected from the levels you actually play in the game. Nearly all communication with other characters takes place through a radio, and you almost never see their faces unless they're already dead. While rapture is a very cool location and does have its fair share of environmental storytelling, this games equivalent to cutscenes often consists of a character talking to you on the radio, a bunch of enemies getting dumped in the level your on, you defeating the enemies, and then a character calling you on the radio again to either curse you or congratulate you. There are very few moments where you actually get to see another character face to face or have an event happen before your eyes, though I suppose this does make the moments such as this actually contained within the game even more impactful. I won’t spoil the story but I also found the ending and final boss to be fairly disappointing.
Moving on to the good, Rapture is an absolutely incredible setting and one of the coolest and most thought out places I’ve had the privilege of exploring in a game. It's filled with this dark, moody, and creepy atmosphere combined with this sort of 1940’s - 50’s styled music and looks. It makes for something truly different than anything else I’ve ever seen, and it's really incredible. The history of Rapture as well as the character diaries that can be found within it are very well made to showcase the failures of unregulated capitalism and how disastrous it is to depend on it. The city has a complete lack of regulations under the guise of freedom (sound familiar?). This leads to record breaking progress, but decisions are made without morals or conscience. Everything in the city, dangerous or not, comes to exist for the sole purpose of driving profit, which leads rapture to its eventual downfall. I did just complain about how you are almost never face to face with any characters, but even with just their voices the game does an amazing job teaching you each and every one of their politics and ideals, and why it either brought them success or (In most cases) failed them. Among these characters is the game's main villain Andrew Ryan. Even alongside the many interesting characters this game already contains he stands out and is extremely compelling to root against. I particularly enjoyed how despite him being such a terrible person, you can tell how principled he is, and how he truly believes what he says to be the truth. It makes him feel much more threatening and is a large part of what compelled me to continue playing the game and push past some of its more creepy moments. I suppose I should mention that the game does have a sort of morality system to it, with you being able to harvest or save genetically modified children known as “little sisters.” As far as I can tell however it doesn't affect much of the game aside from the ending which is one of its weaker aspects anyways.
I think BioShock really does earn its status as such an iconic and influential game, and is something I won’t be soon forgetting. I usually don't even like first person shooters that much but I think against all odds this game has somehow broken into my top 20 list. Definitely check this game out if you’ve ever got the chance.
Halo: Combat Evolved
2001
Halo: Combat Evolved is a fun but flawed game that unfortunately shows its age in quite a few ways. This game shines brightest when it shows off its unique and incredible locations, each with their own incredible atmospheres, and ties it all together with its very interesting story. Unfortunately however this game is not always at its best. A good portion of the game is spent navigating tight corridors, often seeing the same rooms copy and pasted over and over again, and fighting the same bunch of enemies. Master chief is fun to control in combat, however a few controls feel a bit outdated or awkward, such as the vehicle controls and lack of a zoom button while shooting. This game also suffers from not really having a proper waypoint system. Despite all of the levels being pretty linear it's still very easy to get lost due to the often confusing and repetitive map design. Overall Halo's biggest problem is its repetitiveness. Whether it be enemies, weapons, or maps, after a certain point you'll start to feel like you're just doing the same thing over and over again. The story is definitely still interesting however and though repetitive it is fun. Despite its rough patches I'm very glad I completed this game and would still recommend checking it out.
LittleBigPlanet
2008
DISCLAIMER: This review is not a review, it's a bumbling, messy rant I wrote at 2 AM. I apologize in advance for any grammar and spelling errors, as well as the occasional nonsensical sentence.
It has truly been some time since a game has so fully captured me to the degree that Little Big Planet has. There is something truly special about this game that is only shared with some of the best I’ve ever played, in fact, the last time a game was able to make me feel anything like this would have been my first playthrough of Super Mario Galaxy. I don’t Think I can ever truly, properly put it into words, but I'll certainly give it a try.
Before the actual review I’ll start by saying that I don’t have any nostalgia for this game, In fact, my first time ever playing would’ve been the day before writing this review. All of my opinions stem from very freshly playing through the game and experiencing everything it had to offer for myself.
This may be a fairly generic statement, but I think everyone can agree that today’s world has more than its fair share of misery. These past few months for me it's felt like on a global level there have been historical levels of suffering and wrongdoing happening all at once, and there is nothing I can do about it. When combined with the smaller stresses of simply living your life, it can be easy to accidentally start to live with a dark cloud over your head. This is not to say that I’m a miserable person or anything, It's just that I feel we sometimes forget how important it is to smile. I am of the opinion that we need more ways to spread positivity and happiness in the world, and that is exactly what Little Big Planet is. Little Big Planet completely counteracts everything negative I just mentioned on a personal level in nearly every way. It feels so purely created with the sole intention of bringing childlike joy and wonder to the faces of all who play it. From the animation to the music to the gameplay, everything feels so lovingly, passionately created to be the absolute best it can be. One of my favourite things about all forms of media, be it traditional books, comics, movies, tv, or games, is that they can give you such intense emotions that you would normally be unable to experience in ordinary life. Through Seething anger or incredible sadness, I’ve been affected by many of the things that I have watched, read, and played, but there is one thing even the best of movies and games are often not capable of, something that makes them truly stand out above the rest if they can accomplish it, and that's them being capable of transmitting pure, unfiltered joy to the same degree that they can other emotions. Throughout my whole playthrough, Little Big Planet had me grinning ear to ear. It's the first time in so long that I’ve been so completely invested in a game, that I’ve spent so much time in a game all at once, that I’ve been willing to give up doing anything else to actually find time to play, and since I’ve had my love for video games so overwhelmingly re-ignited like this. For all that alone, I will likely forever remember Little Big Planet and consider it one of the all time greats that I’ve played, But there is still so much more to discuss here.
Before even discussing the gameplay, there is so much to appreciate about Little Big Planet. Everything feels meticulously handcrafted, because it literally is. This game at its core is a level editor that all players have the ability to use, and the developers truly mastered everything about that level editor and managed to produce levels for the story mode that wouldn't feel out of place if they were found within a real, purely 2D triple A platformer. Within these levels there are representations of cultures from all over the world that are so obviously lovingly represented, and they have great humor to go along with them. This game genuinely made me laugh a few more times than I would have expected. The sackboy that you explore the Levels with is also an incredible addition to this game. Each sackboy exhibits so much personality and is so excellently animated. Something about their expressions just makes their emotions feel so real. The Developers really went above and beyond when it came to allowing players to fully express themselves without even speaking.
Speaking of player expression, the one part of this game that I’m really devastated I’ll never get to experience is the online. Exploring an infinite amount of community made levels with my friends and other people while being able to fully express myself and have fun at the same time seems like it would have been an absolute dream. I get hit by a little wave of sadness everytime see the crossed out online buttons on my screen, but even without them I had plenty to love about the game.
The campaign mode is spent helping numerous troubled characters throughout the earth in any way you can. Often just seeing how the developers had crafted characters and made them feel so alive through the crude level editor was enough to make me laugh, but it was also very charming. Every step of the way you are offered encouragement and witness so much creativity it's hard to not just constantly smile. Alongside just being fun to play through, these levels feel like they would be excellent inspiration for anyone who would have tried to truly dedicate themselves to the level creator as well.
In terms of actual gameplay, this is definitely the weakest part of the game, but still fun. It controls like a standard 2D platformer, with the sole issue being that sometimes sackboy feels a little bit slippery to control, putting you in the occasional situation that will feel a little unfair. Otherwise though the level design is so clever that the game never gets old. There are so many gameplay concepts and ideas featured within them I almost wish there were more levels so I could have seen them more fully explored. The game does get more difficult towards the end, but even with the slightly awkward controls I never felt it was too unfair, despite having to redo some levels a fair few times. What it really shows is that this game's potential for level design is more or less unlimited, something that would have made it all the more amazing when the servers were still up and running.
The music (partially composed by the guy who did spiderverse btw) was also a key factor to my enjoyment of this game. Almost every track is so uplifting and happy it felt like it was directly planting energy into my soul. Somehow these songs make me feel nostalgic despite having literally never heard them before yesterday. There are just so many different instruments and styles of music that all collide together in this game, making it one of my favourite gaming soundtracks of all time. Maybe I’m just weird but there were even 1 or 2 very oddly nice tracks that even made me tear up a bit.
In conclusion, Little Big Planet is just kind of a perfect video game to me. The combination of its endless creativity, interactive community, fun gameplay, and amazing music gives me the impression that it was lovingly created with the sole purpose of spreading Joy throughout the world, something we can always use more of. It's very rare that something is able to make me feel the childlike wonder I experienced while playing this game, and I'm so grateful I just randomly happened to check it out. Everything about it feels so human; you can clearly see the overwhelming passion behind the game poured into every nook and cranny within it, something I’ve only really been able to notice in a very small few of the best games I’ve played. In my opinion, more games should strive to be as joyous and as pleasant an experience as Little Big Planet. I definitely feel like this is a game everyone should try playing at least once in their lives, because if for some reason it strikes the same chord with you as it did with me, you’ll never regret it.
It has truly been some time since a game has so fully captured me to the degree that Little Big Planet has. There is something truly special about this game that is only shared with some of the best I’ve ever played, in fact, the last time a game was able to make me feel anything like this would have been my first playthrough of Super Mario Galaxy. I don’t Think I can ever truly, properly put it into words, but I'll certainly give it a try.
Before the actual review I’ll start by saying that I don’t have any nostalgia for this game, In fact, my first time ever playing would’ve been the day before writing this review. All of my opinions stem from very freshly playing through the game and experiencing everything it had to offer for myself.
This may be a fairly generic statement, but I think everyone can agree that today’s world has more than its fair share of misery. These past few months for me it's felt like on a global level there have been historical levels of suffering and wrongdoing happening all at once, and there is nothing I can do about it. When combined with the smaller stresses of simply living your life, it can be easy to accidentally start to live with a dark cloud over your head. This is not to say that I’m a miserable person or anything, It's just that I feel we sometimes forget how important it is to smile. I am of the opinion that we need more ways to spread positivity and happiness in the world, and that is exactly what Little Big Planet is. Little Big Planet completely counteracts everything negative I just mentioned on a personal level in nearly every way. It feels so purely created with the sole intention of bringing childlike joy and wonder to the faces of all who play it. From the animation to the music to the gameplay, everything feels so lovingly, passionately created to be the absolute best it can be. One of my favourite things about all forms of media, be it traditional books, comics, movies, tv, or games, is that they can give you such intense emotions that you would normally be unable to experience in ordinary life. Through Seething anger or incredible sadness, I’ve been affected by many of the things that I have watched, read, and played, but there is one thing even the best of movies and games are often not capable of, something that makes them truly stand out above the rest if they can accomplish it, and that's them being capable of transmitting pure, unfiltered joy to the same degree that they can other emotions. Throughout my whole playthrough, Little Big Planet had me grinning ear to ear. It's the first time in so long that I’ve been so completely invested in a game, that I’ve spent so much time in a game all at once, that I’ve been willing to give up doing anything else to actually find time to play, and since I’ve had my love for video games so overwhelmingly re-ignited like this. For all that alone, I will likely forever remember Little Big Planet and consider it one of the all time greats that I’ve played, But there is still so much more to discuss here.
Before even discussing the gameplay, there is so much to appreciate about Little Big Planet. Everything feels meticulously handcrafted, because it literally is. This game at its core is a level editor that all players have the ability to use, and the developers truly mastered everything about that level editor and managed to produce levels for the story mode that wouldn't feel out of place if they were found within a real, purely 2D triple A platformer. Within these levels there are representations of cultures from all over the world that are so obviously lovingly represented, and they have great humor to go along with them. This game genuinely made me laugh a few more times than I would have expected. The sackboy that you explore the Levels with is also an incredible addition to this game. Each sackboy exhibits so much personality and is so excellently animated. Something about their expressions just makes their emotions feel so real. The Developers really went above and beyond when it came to allowing players to fully express themselves without even speaking.
Speaking of player expression, the one part of this game that I’m really devastated I’ll never get to experience is the online. Exploring an infinite amount of community made levels with my friends and other people while being able to fully express myself and have fun at the same time seems like it would have been an absolute dream. I get hit by a little wave of sadness everytime see the crossed out online buttons on my screen, but even without them I had plenty to love about the game.
The campaign mode is spent helping numerous troubled characters throughout the earth in any way you can. Often just seeing how the developers had crafted characters and made them feel so alive through the crude level editor was enough to make me laugh, but it was also very charming. Every step of the way you are offered encouragement and witness so much creativity it's hard to not just constantly smile. Alongside just being fun to play through, these levels feel like they would be excellent inspiration for anyone who would have tried to truly dedicate themselves to the level creator as well.
In terms of actual gameplay, this is definitely the weakest part of the game, but still fun. It controls like a standard 2D platformer, with the sole issue being that sometimes sackboy feels a little bit slippery to control, putting you in the occasional situation that will feel a little unfair. Otherwise though the level design is so clever that the game never gets old. There are so many gameplay concepts and ideas featured within them I almost wish there were more levels so I could have seen them more fully explored. The game does get more difficult towards the end, but even with the slightly awkward controls I never felt it was too unfair, despite having to redo some levels a fair few times. What it really shows is that this game's potential for level design is more or less unlimited, something that would have made it all the more amazing when the servers were still up and running.
The music (partially composed by the guy who did spiderverse btw) was also a key factor to my enjoyment of this game. Almost every track is so uplifting and happy it felt like it was directly planting energy into my soul. Somehow these songs make me feel nostalgic despite having literally never heard them before yesterday. There are just so many different instruments and styles of music that all collide together in this game, making it one of my favourite gaming soundtracks of all time. Maybe I’m just weird but there were even 1 or 2 very oddly nice tracks that even made me tear up a bit.
In conclusion, Little Big Planet is just kind of a perfect video game to me. The combination of its endless creativity, interactive community, fun gameplay, and amazing music gives me the impression that it was lovingly created with the sole purpose of spreading Joy throughout the world, something we can always use more of. It's very rare that something is able to make me feel the childlike wonder I experienced while playing this game, and I'm so grateful I just randomly happened to check it out. Everything about it feels so human; you can clearly see the overwhelming passion behind the game poured into every nook and cranny within it, something I’ve only really been able to notice in a very small few of the best games I’ve played. In my opinion, more games should strive to be as joyous and as pleasant an experience as Little Big Planet. I definitely feel like this is a game everyone should try playing at least once in their lives, because if for some reason it strikes the same chord with you as it did with me, you’ll never regret it.
This review contains spoilers
After learning that 2017’s Dark Witch Episode: Rudymical was a spinoff of the second game in INSIDE_SYSTEM’s The Legend of Dark Witch series, I decided to take a little gander at that. But before I begin, I do want to give a small notice: You may have seen me revisit this series a lot recently, but it was mostly just to update the reviews that I’ve made on them since joining this place, to add my new way of reviewing games into account. I apologise if you have consistently seen just this game’s reviews (along with the Gradius Gaiden one coming up), but this will stop very, very soon. I’m working on that review along with the CQ one but on top of all of that, I’m also revising these for the reasons above, and for myself to keep my points about each entry the same, to not touch them again for a while. With that out of the way…
I remember having a little bit of money on me within the 3DS e-Shop when it was still active and stuff. Looking back at my New 2DS XL, the 3ds that I actively use to this day, I remember all the titles I’ve bought from there: Chain Blaster, Fairune, Drancia Saga, some Virtual console games, Magical Whip—a lot of great games that are a splendid blend of obscure and popular. I got Shantae when I was still in the mood for playing the series! But, with me finding out that Rudymical was a spinoff of a game that carried Gradius ana platforming elements, I had no choice but to purchase the game for myself. And I was greeted with the story of the game, just like every other game I know.
It started off with introducing this little Crystal named Syega, and how it’s a tool for humans to use magical powers, using it for many applications, to even then use it for daily use! Its origins remain obscure, but hey, humans finally got a way to compete with the other races at the end. This plot then shows a nation on the west side of The Old Islands (which is surprisingly the setting of the first game!) named Germa. This Germa has been shown to have good research in Seyga, and they have a researching group feared upon many known as the Ich, consisting of the top researchers of the nation. Icke, Kuito, Klinsy, Herbert (the leader of the Ich), Mari, Urken, Litty, and Rudy. Germa decided to cause some naughty activity by sending that said group to Liana, another nation although it’s in the west, to continue their research in private. Why? Cause Franzer is the usual power hungry freak that is defined in most video games. This move immediately Alarms Zizou to go check up on this. She meets up with the 8 members of the Ich to put an end to whatever they were cooking, with some intercations being civil, kind, or just straight up rude. Like, Icke being the little uh…. Tsundere that she is (she got the pony tails!!!!), why is she rude to you??? She just wants to start beef with everyone she visits. I don’t know how and why Herbert would have an indivutial to be within the group if she will be aggressive to anyone that comes in her lab. But then again, Herbet is another one that just wants for you to scram, so that says something to say the least. Mari is also another questionable one, as she’s into the drunky business! Honestly, I assume she’s just there cause the dev wanted to make the Ich not as intimidating as what what the prologue showed them for. Kuito is chill, and so is Urken (but in some way, Urken is also a little mean, just like the others!) Man, if I wanted to work for the Ich, I would just shut down the idea in the first place. Other than Rudy or Klinsy, the others got no sense of respect for the player. Even when playing as Sola (explained later). But other than talking to the eight as Zizou, she then devises a plan to speak to certain indivutials (Codino, Stoj, Blad, and Ri- I mean Pelusa) go inside of Germa and to stop whoever is behind all the research. shes manages to go to the castle and then she counters the one behind everything: Franzer V.
Afte kicking down her first phase, we learn a bit from her that she’s all doing this not only for her own personal benefit, but how Germa’s in fear of Rasil (the country Riva’s a princess in from the first game) becoming strong? I don’t remember much. But then again, like I said, she’s power-hungry because after dealing with Rasil, she wants to be “on the top” amongst everybody else just for Germa to be #1. Kinda her fault. Hell, compared to most of the characters, she looks the palest of them all! This is because she has been using herself to test the limits of Syega just for her and her nation to be the best. What a narcissist. Anyways, you get through her second phase, and then you finish the game as Zizou. What else is next? Sola!
While Sola isn’t as deep as Zizou’s, she still got a well done side of the plot, which I believe this happens either during or right after the events of Zizou’s story. But in short, Sola is looking for her parents, and it’s up for the player to find them! I know that I don’t really care much about this series on a community perspective anymore, but as an indie dev, I think that Sola could’ve done a bit more justice, and I just wanted to share some of the thoughts that I had for her: Instead of meeting the same people you meet in Zizou’s route, how about having a completely new set of characters to choose and fight with unique technical skills to go along with them! Imo, just making them speak to the Ich when their relevance isn’t as strong as it was with Zizou kinda makes them just fit in for Gameplay purposes. Although I don’t want to completely get rid of all of them, I thought about keeping Klinsy, Blad, Codino, and Urken into the mix. Why her? Just because. Out of all the Ich, she gets barely any attention from not only NAN-A but the fans aswell, so why not. It’s good to have not so forgettable characters sometimes. After looking around the world for her parents, she even eventually meets Zizou and due to how she was in the first game, she immediately accuses Zizou of doing something in relation to Germa’s leader and lashes out for it, even without context of what happened. So I guess that this did take place during the story of Zizou’s route. I guess. But other than that, she returns home, and her parents finally arrive for them to be remembered and kept forever. This story perfects the prequel's story in every way possible. To just be a simple story, to something that’s simple but yet more complex than its predessor. A true sequel to what other people say.
Moving on to everyone's favorite aspect: the gameplay. The game takes what the first installment offered, addressing both its strengths and weaknesses, and immediately corrects the errors. What was once an infinite use of spamming Linear Shot/Comet/Punishment/any other of those weapons now is limited with the slot that goes above the Gradius Slot. This applies to the skills you get from bosses, too although they take up a lot more than the Gradius Slot. The only thing that I ctirisize about this game in terms of it’s gameplay is HOW EASY THE GAME IS!!!!!!!!!!!!! This game has got to be the easiest game that I have ever played in my entire life. There’s a review on this site written by @LordIce5 that does a good and simple job explaining the issues with this game. They say and I quote:
“Level design is extremely bland. You can become overpowered very quickly. Bosses are forgettable.”
While they were a significant upgrade from what the first game had with troll moments and weird enemy designs at the wrong moments of the level, this game turns that down a notch to the point that even on Expert can make the game feel too easy. Extremely bland is the right word for it, just look at Kuito’s stage! You can complete that stage without pressing left. Which I absolutely loathe. Back during my 3.0 scratch days, they would feature quick platformers people would make that I would roast them hard due to them having almost every stage being completable without pressing right, and the only thing that gives them the featured treatment is just because of how great (but bland to my eyes) the game looks. Someone made a near complete port of Asteroids, and that hasn’t gotten featured. Simple stages don’t make the game fun, even if there’s a bunch of replay value to it. I want the stages to be balanced, along with the boss fights. Not to mention, Papelne Trade allows access to Express, an upgraded speed feature that makes you extremely fast, further reducing the game's difficulty.
With LordIce’s second point being that you get extremely overpowered too quickly, both as Zizou, AND has Sola. Zizou has Punishment, which is already too powerful on it’s own. With careful planning, you can cheese the bosses faster than you can say… anything. Pair that with the ability to use a Revenge Attack (Hyper Dark Arm (Zizou)/ Churros Scramble (Sola)/ or Princess Strike (Riva, Steam only), AND have the boss technical skill weakness and you’re all set, the Ich and the folks at Liana are no more. Sola is a bit different, but there’s one word to describe how OP she is: Mastery. With this, she unlocks everything within the Gradius slots, for free. Everything. Game breaking…. I mean it isn’t bad when you’re playing Lunatic but STILL!!! This goes with his last point: The boss fights are forgettable. Due to the game being so easy , the bosses attack patterns don’t mean much to you cause all you want is to just kill them to advance through the story. If they had a bit more elbo grease (or you’re playing on Lunatic), then the bosses won’t be forgettable as such. A
While DW2 definitely has it’s flaws, this game is not really bad when you put it into the perspective that it managed to do everything that the first game failed to do, and the game is pretty solid on it’s own. Thanks for tuning into this review! :D
I remember having a little bit of money on me within the 3DS e-Shop when it was still active and stuff. Looking back at my New 2DS XL, the 3ds that I actively use to this day, I remember all the titles I’ve bought from there: Chain Blaster, Fairune, Drancia Saga, some Virtual console games, Magical Whip—a lot of great games that are a splendid blend of obscure and popular. I got Shantae when I was still in the mood for playing the series! But, with me finding out that Rudymical was a spinoff of a game that carried Gradius ana platforming elements, I had no choice but to purchase the game for myself. And I was greeted with the story of the game, just like every other game I know.
It started off with introducing this little Crystal named Syega, and how it’s a tool for humans to use magical powers, using it for many applications, to even then use it for daily use! Its origins remain obscure, but hey, humans finally got a way to compete with the other races at the end. This plot then shows a nation on the west side of The Old Islands (which is surprisingly the setting of the first game!) named Germa. This Germa has been shown to have good research in Seyga, and they have a researching group feared upon many known as the Ich, consisting of the top researchers of the nation. Icke, Kuito, Klinsy, Herbert (the leader of the Ich), Mari, Urken, Litty, and Rudy. Germa decided to cause some naughty activity by sending that said group to Liana, another nation although it’s in the west, to continue their research in private. Why? Cause Franzer is the usual power hungry freak that is defined in most video games. This move immediately Alarms Zizou to go check up on this. She meets up with the 8 members of the Ich to put an end to whatever they were cooking, with some intercations being civil, kind, or just straight up rude. Like, Icke being the little uh…. Tsundere that she is (she got the pony tails!!!!), why is she rude to you??? She just wants to start beef with everyone she visits. I don’t know how and why Herbert would have an indivutial to be within the group if she will be aggressive to anyone that comes in her lab. But then again, Herbet is another one that just wants for you to scram, so that says something to say the least. Mari is also another questionable one, as she’s into the drunky business! Honestly, I assume she’s just there cause the dev wanted to make the Ich not as intimidating as what what the prologue showed them for. Kuito is chill, and so is Urken (but in some way, Urken is also a little mean, just like the others!) Man, if I wanted to work for the Ich, I would just shut down the idea in the first place. Other than Rudy or Klinsy, the others got no sense of respect for the player. Even when playing as Sola (explained later). But other than talking to the eight as Zizou, she then devises a plan to speak to certain indivutials (Codino, Stoj, Blad, and Ri- I mean Pelusa) go inside of Germa and to stop whoever is behind all the research. shes manages to go to the castle and then she counters the one behind everything: Franzer V.
Afte kicking down her first phase, we learn a bit from her that she’s all doing this not only for her own personal benefit, but how Germa’s in fear of Rasil (the country Riva’s a princess in from the first game) becoming strong? I don’t remember much. But then again, like I said, she’s power-hungry because after dealing with Rasil, she wants to be “on the top” amongst everybody else just for Germa to be #1. Kinda her fault. Hell, compared to most of the characters, she looks the palest of them all! This is because she has been using herself to test the limits of Syega just for her and her nation to be the best. What a narcissist. Anyways, you get through her second phase, and then you finish the game as Zizou. What else is next? Sola!
While Sola isn’t as deep as Zizou’s, she still got a well done side of the plot, which I believe this happens either during or right after the events of Zizou’s story. But in short, Sola is looking for her parents, and it’s up for the player to find them! I know that I don’t really care much about this series on a community perspective anymore, but as an indie dev, I think that Sola could’ve done a bit more justice, and I just wanted to share some of the thoughts that I had for her: Instead of meeting the same people you meet in Zizou’s route, how about having a completely new set of characters to choose and fight with unique technical skills to go along with them! Imo, just making them speak to the Ich when their relevance isn’t as strong as it was with Zizou kinda makes them just fit in for Gameplay purposes. Although I don’t want to completely get rid of all of them, I thought about keeping Klinsy, Blad, Codino, and Urken into the mix. Why her? Just because. Out of all the Ich, she gets barely any attention from not only NAN-A but the fans aswell, so why not. It’s good to have not so forgettable characters sometimes. After looking around the world for her parents, she even eventually meets Zizou and due to how she was in the first game, she immediately accuses Zizou of doing something in relation to Germa’s leader and lashes out for it, even without context of what happened. So I guess that this did take place during the story of Zizou’s route. I guess. But other than that, she returns home, and her parents finally arrive for them to be remembered and kept forever. This story perfects the prequel's story in every way possible. To just be a simple story, to something that’s simple but yet more complex than its predessor. A true sequel to what other people say.
Moving on to everyone's favorite aspect: the gameplay. The game takes what the first installment offered, addressing both its strengths and weaknesses, and immediately corrects the errors. What was once an infinite use of spamming Linear Shot/Comet/Punishment/any other of those weapons now is limited with the slot that goes above the Gradius Slot. This applies to the skills you get from bosses, too although they take up a lot more than the Gradius Slot. The only thing that I ctirisize about this game in terms of it’s gameplay is HOW EASY THE GAME IS!!!!!!!!!!!!! This game has got to be the easiest game that I have ever played in my entire life. There’s a review on this site written by @LordIce5 that does a good and simple job explaining the issues with this game. They say and I quote:
“Level design is extremely bland. You can become overpowered very quickly. Bosses are forgettable.”
While they were a significant upgrade from what the first game had with troll moments and weird enemy designs at the wrong moments of the level, this game turns that down a notch to the point that even on Expert can make the game feel too easy. Extremely bland is the right word for it, just look at Kuito’s stage! You can complete that stage without pressing left. Which I absolutely loathe. Back during my 3.0 scratch days, they would feature quick platformers people would make that I would roast them hard due to them having almost every stage being completable without pressing right, and the only thing that gives them the featured treatment is just because of how great (but bland to my eyes) the game looks. Someone made a near complete port of Asteroids, and that hasn’t gotten featured. Simple stages don’t make the game fun, even if there’s a bunch of replay value to it. I want the stages to be balanced, along with the boss fights. Not to mention, Papelne Trade allows access to Express, an upgraded speed feature that makes you extremely fast, further reducing the game's difficulty.
With LordIce’s second point being that you get extremely overpowered too quickly, both as Zizou, AND has Sola. Zizou has Punishment, which is already too powerful on it’s own. With careful planning, you can cheese the bosses faster than you can say… anything. Pair that with the ability to use a Revenge Attack (Hyper Dark Arm (Zizou)/ Churros Scramble (Sola)/ or Princess Strike (Riva, Steam only), AND have the boss technical skill weakness and you’re all set, the Ich and the folks at Liana are no more. Sola is a bit different, but there’s one word to describe how OP she is: Mastery. With this, she unlocks everything within the Gradius slots, for free. Everything. Game breaking…. I mean it isn’t bad when you’re playing Lunatic but STILL!!! This goes with his last point: The boss fights are forgettable. Due to the game being so easy , the bosses attack patterns don’t mean much to you cause all you want is to just kill them to advance through the story. If they had a bit more elbo grease (or you’re playing on Lunatic), then the bosses won’t be forgettable as such. A
While DW2 definitely has it’s flaws, this game is not really bad when you put it into the perspective that it managed to do everything that the first game failed to do, and the game is pretty solid on it’s own. Thanks for tuning into this review! :D
Stellar Blade
2024
(Demo abandoned)
What the fuck are we doing? How the hell did Dark Souls 3 become the template for action games?
"Oh, it's the potential for good levels!" But what would good level design even look like in this context? Dark Souls 1 has a simple combat system that doesn't rely on large open spaces without obstacles. This way the player can be trusted to defend themselves in most terrain, which in turn enables designs like Blighttown, Sen's Fortress, New Londo Ruins, etc. where enemies can meaningfully interact with the level geometry. One can argue how consistently applied or successful this was in practice, but there is a solid design goal there that's still visible even up to Elden Ring (as scattershot as that game is).
As you make combat systems and enemy AI more complex though, generally you'll have to start making the simplifying assumptions of plenty of open space and no blocking terrain, which in turn restricts your level design capabilities. This is fine if you build the game accordingly, i.e. most of the classic linear action games. But Dark Souls 3 likes do not actually seem to be aware of this and so have dragged along huge amounts of bloat sections (Stellar Blade: swimming, keypads, climbing) so they can continue to pretend that the spaces between fights have any relation to the actual mechanics.
Similarly constructed arguments can also be made for the following Souls systems, which I will leave as an exercise to the reader: items, camera, pacing, leveling.
So I guess the whole point of these games is to grit your teeth so that you can experience the combat system? But is the combat really all that interesting? The camera limits how many aggressive enemies you can reasonably handle at once, and not being able to hitstun enemies with normal attacks pushes you into hit and run defensive play, which in turn pushes you to abuse the simplistic, timing-based parrying and iframe systems that all these games are cursed with. Why bother when you can just play Nioh 2, which commits all the soulslike sins above but at least has actually interesting resource management, accessible hitstun, deep weapon movesets, and so on. Why play any of these games at all when you can play Monster Hunter where the defensive, commitment driven style that soulslikes are known for is a hundred times better executed?
This whole subgenre is a complete dead-end design wise and doesn't look to be getting better anytime soon. What a mess.
What the fuck are we doing? How the hell did Dark Souls 3 become the template for action games?
"Oh, it's the potential for good levels!" But what would good level design even look like in this context? Dark Souls 1 has a simple combat system that doesn't rely on large open spaces without obstacles. This way the player can be trusted to defend themselves in most terrain, which in turn enables designs like Blighttown, Sen's Fortress, New Londo Ruins, etc. where enemies can meaningfully interact with the level geometry. One can argue how consistently applied or successful this was in practice, but there is a solid design goal there that's still visible even up to Elden Ring (as scattershot as that game is).
As you make combat systems and enemy AI more complex though, generally you'll have to start making the simplifying assumptions of plenty of open space and no blocking terrain, which in turn restricts your level design capabilities. This is fine if you build the game accordingly, i.e. most of the classic linear action games. But Dark Souls 3 likes do not actually seem to be aware of this and so have dragged along huge amounts of bloat sections (Stellar Blade: swimming, keypads, climbing) so they can continue to pretend that the spaces between fights have any relation to the actual mechanics.
Similarly constructed arguments can also be made for the following Souls systems, which I will leave as an exercise to the reader: items, camera, pacing, leveling.
So I guess the whole point of these games is to grit your teeth so that you can experience the combat system? But is the combat really all that interesting? The camera limits how many aggressive enemies you can reasonably handle at once, and not being able to hitstun enemies with normal attacks pushes you into hit and run defensive play, which in turn pushes you to abuse the simplistic, timing-based parrying and iframe systems that all these games are cursed with. Why bother when you can just play Nioh 2, which commits all the soulslike sins above but at least has actually interesting resource management, accessible hitstun, deep weapon movesets, and so on. Why play any of these games at all when you can play Monster Hunter where the defensive, commitment driven style that soulslikes are known for is a hundred times better executed?
This whole subgenre is a complete dead-end design wise and doesn't look to be getting better anytime soon. What a mess.
Valorant
2020
i love quake, but i can't help feeling like it tainted the shooter scene. if it weren't for the genre-defining quakeworld update, maybe we wouldn't have to deal with an endless barrage of esports titles designed to drive their players into a maddened frenzy (though i could just as easy blame warcraft).
as for valorant? fuck anyone who supports this beyond soulless game. massive red flag! avoid the fans at all costs. every single friendship i have had with a valorant player has gone down in flames.
OH, THIS IS BY THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PEOPLE? THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING LMAO
as for valorant? fuck anyone who supports this beyond soulless game. massive red flag! avoid the fans at all costs. every single friendship i have had with a valorant player has gone down in flames.
OH, THIS IS BY THE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS PEOPLE? THAT EXPLAINS EVERYTHING LMAO
Worlds.com
1995
what the... fuck is this?
just to be clear: i have not played this. but, uh. how i am only learning, for my first time ever, about some kind of internet 1.0 david bowie online chat world, second-life-but-it's-doom (with bowie all over it) thing? in the middle of 2024? i can see it passing me by in 1995 (i was still using local dial-up bbs forums back then), but... somehow this never entered my radar even in the later '90s? possibly because it was always trash, but i have to wonder. and that's all i can ever do, i think, since apparently now it's just some shitty nft storefront.
oh well
just to be clear: i have not played this. but, uh. how i am only learning, for my first time ever, about some kind of internet 1.0 david bowie online chat world, second-life-but-it's-doom (with bowie all over it) thing? in the middle of 2024? i can see it passing me by in 1995 (i was still using local dial-up bbs forums back then), but... somehow this never entered my radar even in the later '90s? possibly because it was always trash, but i have to wonder. and that's all i can ever do, i think, since apparently now it's just some shitty nft storefront.
oh well
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