Kinda hype and underrated ngl.

A really fun third person shooter with a pretty interesting story. I understand why this game might be disappointing for some people. As it differs a lot from the amazing star fox 64. Yet on its own not only is star fox assault a really underrated game but it evolves the series in some interesting ways.

Sure it’s not the typical rail shooter like the games before but instead a mission based third person shooter with some fun vehicle sections thrown in. Sort of like Halo in an odd way. In fact this game imo competes fairly well with many shooters of the time. It’s really good on its own merits.

I’ll admit I do wish the game had a better balance of the ground gameplay and the arwing gameplay. In fact if the balance was better, this might be my favorite star fox. But still I wish people would be more willing to judge this more for what it is rather than what it isn’t. I think the missions and combat are quite fun. It’s got decent variety too. Besides it still feels like star fox, it offers a lot of what makes the series so exciting. Just on the ground instead of the air.

I also really like how this game attempted to give star fox a more serious story and succeeded pretty well. It can be corny fun sometimes but other times can be serious without being cringe. Really high stakes too.

Overall this could have been the next new chapter for the series. Better storytelling, and a mix of ground combat/vehicle combat. Assault is really good but sadly there hasn’t been a true follow up to it. A sequel could take the great aspects even further but sadly Nintendo would carry star fox into a directionless state and all people want now is a “true” sequel to 64.

Still I’ll continue to enjoy this game. You can shoot a rocket while standing on top of a arwing, this game is sick.

Solid 4/5

Doki Doki Literature Club! has been, to my immense chagrin, many people's first visual novel. I have seen reviews along the lines of "I usually hate visual novels, but I love DDLC!" Indeed, DDLC is the blueprint for any pretentious and illiterate creator who attempts to "deconstruct" the visual novel genre. "This ain't your DADDY'S visual novel," they imply on their steam store listing or itch.io page, "THIS is a REAL DEEP one!" It's like people who say "I hate rap - but I love Eminem!" A group who is broadly ignorant of the medium, prejudiced by years of memes and stereotypes which paint visual novels universally as vapid dating sims for lonely virgins, but who nonetheless envision themselves as the Auteurs who can redeem the medium. An entire group of home-grown David Cages. I do not think Dan Salvato is one such creator, but he has bolstered their cause and, in doing so, has unleashed upon the public a game whose oft-lauded "fourth wall moments" and "horror themes" can be found in titles as tame and widely played as Undertale.

DDLC is not scary, it's not interesting, it's not novel, it's not especially memorable, and its most notable feature is, tellingly, its vocal and ubiquitous fanbase. The game's inept attempts at scaring the player are, if anything, welcome. The scares are oases in a game whose pace is a desert, the player forced to trudge through multiple hours of schoolgirl stereotypes cloyingly flirting with them and occasionally saying something vaguely ominous before the next visual glitch or photorealistic graphic appears on the screen just to make sure the game isn't losing you. The game pretends to deal in heavy topics, but these are only milked for cheap spectacle. Suicide, parental neglect, and poverty are treated with the same tact and respect as the deaths of Bruce Wayne's parents. The game's premise, a visual novel character going rogue and becoming infatuated with the player behind the screen, is a vaguely interesting idea that is undercut by the fact that it is literally the plot of an episode of Gravity Falls.

The only satisfying explanation is that DDLC is some kind of elaborate prank to waste the time of gaming YouTubers and creepypasta-nostalgic players. It is an easier idea to stomach than the notion that this unremarkable and stale game was created and enjoyed in earnest.