Arc System Works really knows how to make a competent anime fighter, but Guilty Gear especially just has some great setplay and okizeme (for those who don't play fighters, basically setting up attacks after knocking down your opponent) as well as interesting neutral game that's very unique. Most of the characters are really fun to play, with particular setplay dynamics ranging from Venom's pool ball setups to Kum's moving ball setup to Millia's loops. Roman cancels are also still in and while they aren't perfect (YRC slowing down time is shit) they add another dimension to meter management and decisionmaking that's just incredibly deep and fun to play around with.

The music is also great, giving a huge metal power to each character with their themes and just being kickass to listen to while fighting. And even if you don't approve of the new soundtrack, you can queue up tracks of old like Guilty Gear XX's. The character designs are anime as hell and they're great as well, it is an aesthetic feat to watch even if you can't get into the base gameplay.

The only real issues are more personal, as in setplay is cool for a solid 20-30 hours and then not so cool when that's all neutral becomes at times. Also the netcode is some real trash to work with, and Danger Time is still a terrible mechanic. It's a great fighting game and I highly recommend trying it even if you're not a big fan of anime fighters. (8/10)

I genuinely hate Rockstar mission structure, it is a scourge of poor narrative pacing and game design that I hope whoever coined it first gets fired off a cliff. That being said, Red Dead Redemption is an alright time overall, mostly because when the narrative actually decides to hit, it does.

Red Dead Redemption is one part really weak open world with middling side stuff, one part gameplay that just barely passes, and one part great narrative poking fun at Wild West revisionism and revisionism in general that is somewhat taken apart by shitty pacing thanks to its meandering structure. That ends up all combining to make something cohesive and somewhat immersive, not really a match of gameplay and story because the mission mechanics undercut the freedom you can have (hey there's a NakeyJakey vid on this you should see for RDR2). But it works, at least.

I really do find however, that the story elements it offers are genuinely great and competent to be worth the venture. Rockstar's writing while not perfect does end up generally understanding and evaluating the culture and time period it works with, putting up heralded ideals of Wild West storytelling and then cutting its limbs, pointing out the issues of its supposed "freedom" as you go from Mexican war where both sides are narcissists, wanted lists that give no real glory, the old guard completely exploited by the police and government as capitalism decides the real truth. And even with all of that subtext, RDR still manages to bring out a last act that hits home with core family tenants. Again though, a lot of this is terribly paced, with a shitload of "do this favor for x so you can get to y, and then do another favor for x or maybe even y this time! And then after you've done this 5 times we'll actually continue the fucking story." It's grating, but I think the heart of it shines through over time.

Overall, it's an alright game where the positives while strong are cut under by the scope and structure it works with. It's fine, worth trying out at least but maybe not finishing. (6/10)

I had to play this twice so I could be sure, but Fireteam Raven is one of those arcade games specifically designed to quarter munch. I say this as an avid defender that you can 1cc them without them taking your credits, but here it's entirely intended.

That might seem like only one focal issue, but issues like this tend to define the entire game's structure which it does here. Fireteam Raven neither has good rail shooter design nor does it offer anything to the table, instead leaving a really slow uninteresting Halo experience that you could find better literally anywhere else, while also managing to ruin key "Halo-like" moments. It's best to leave this one alone to be forgotten about, like most people have. (3/10)

Nigoro really knows their shit when it comes to level and puzzle design. La-Mulana 2 while a significant step down from the previous game (I mean seriously, how the hell do you match the world design of La-Mulana 1) still holds the same pillars of incredible area design in terms of a metroidvania, each room still holding secrets and significance in the overall puzzle box structure. Biggest highlights were Heaven's Labyrinth which was a rotating area completely in your control, as well as the whole mantra system in general which makes for some interesting riddle deciphering, and Ancient Chaos which can go fuck itself (but also it's just a fantastic challenge).

La-Mulana 2 also asks for the same amount of attention, traps and punishing platforming requiring your upmost engagement lest you get completely destroyed. It unfortunately has more of an emphasis on combat this time around to match the warring conflicts in Eg-Lana and I really believe it is to its detriment, since LM2's combat isn't deep enough to justify being fun on its own and relies solely on its enemy design, of which for the most part La-Mulana 2 fails at in miniboss and boss design. There's a couple highlights of course, but I found a lot of it to be really dull going through the motions.

The one thing La-Mulana 2 improves on its predecessor however, is in terms of lore and storybuilding. It's not a particularly deep story, but every single enemy, boss, and tablet ties neatly into the lore of the 7 past children of the Mother. It ends up combining several different cultures to make a ridiculously cohesive whole, with everything from Norse mythology to Egyptian, Hindu, and Japanese. There's even some Babylonian DNA here, giving LM2 a real cultural mythos highlights feel. It works really well atop of LM1's lore, which makes sense considering the simplicity of the previous game's story, where as LM2 is kneedeep in generational conflict and quest for power.

Overall, La-Mulana 2 is still an amazing experience even if it is inferior to its predecessor in most ways. Still one of the best metroidvanias I've played, and a worthy recommendation for anyone looking to spend time taking 32 pages of notes and looking like you're attempting to find Pepe Silvia. (9/10)

Utterly disgusted that this uses the exact same themes as Pathologic 2, came out in the same year, revolves around the most standard storyline structure and dialogue, and somehow managed to win an award for Best Narrative of the Year in three different awards shows.

And when I mean standard I seriously mean every sense of the word, let's hear it for our #1 companions:

-Budget stealth mechanics
-Upgrade mechanics that add very little to anything
-Uncharted gift style items to get as you play
-Walking sim that spends too much time making you go through fake loading screens

I probably wouldn't be so frustrated if the story wasn't so asinine in its construction, you have a family who gets killed with a sister who doesn't get to see her brother often at all immediately come together with melodrama sprinkled throughout with writing so borderline on bad that I really rolled my eyes a few times.

The one positive I can give to the game at all is the aesthetic. It LOOKS pretty I guess???? The dialogue delivery is really strung awfully, and the poor lipsyncing doesn't help.

Man just go play Pathologic 2 why the fuck would you touch this. (5/10)

Shigesato Itoi's ending to the Mother series leaves off on its strongest messages to take home. I'm of a family of brothers and sisters, but most importantly I have a twin brother of my own. That made the story around Lucas and Claus that much stronger and poignant to me, not to discredit that the writing in general isn't already incredible.

From the slow corruption of Tazmily village as it conforms into a capitalist society that comes with less pros than it does take away familial strengths and bonds within the community, to the surrealist hero's journey of the seven needles, Mother 3 fantastically paces itself out and keeps the core message of family ever so strung through the whole thing.

The characters, while not so much riveting examples of three dimensional characterization, each found their way into my heart as I played through. This is a game where, though it has its lows, had a profound effect on my life for a very long time. Even when you dig to its core, to where you find that it's simple in scope and works off of a fine tightrope of emotional beats, I still think it's a shining example of video games I've ever played. I can hum most of the soundtrack to this day.

The combat may not be riveting, it taking up a huge percentage of the time playing the game and just barely good enough thanks to some great boss design, some solid enemy encounters, and the cohesive rhythm system. But still, I never lost my engagement for a single moment. I was gripped until the credits rolled and the game came up and told me that it wants the very best of my life as I did the characters at the end. And I think, I wish everyone here the best too, and that maybe if these words find you that you also play Mother 3. (10/10)

I really really enjoy S3&K level design, it's incredibly good just in terms of level density and smart use of building up momentum and utilizing downtime. The 2D Sonic games really find their rhythm here, ironing out the issues like enemies within the pathway that you have to outright memorize to not take hits and making sure the downtime where you're not speeding through is effective.

The speedruns of the game elegantly show how strong the levels get, and the exploration element to find the chaos emeralds is pretty fun this time around too. The minigame to get it itself is still ok at best but at this point I've come to expect it. The bosses this time around are also pretty strong, and not much needs to be said on the game's excellent soundtrack.

It's great, everything from Mushroom Hill to IceCap to Sky Sanctuary is strong and consistent. Sure, you do have a couple stinker levels and the platforming in of itself doesn't get to anywhere where I'd call it amazing, but I definitely enjoyed my time through the whole thing.

I'll be the first to admit that other than a few exceptions I haven't been a huge fan of Spike Chunsoft's writing. That applies especially here, Danganronpa as a VN primarily falters on its leading appeals. The storytelling on its own is disgustingly shallow, characters are fumbling archetypes with only two characters getting even a decent chance at characterization. The final chapter especially blows the entire thing on its head, making it clear how ridiculous it disregards logic, which while wouldn't be an issue for a thematically heavy VN, Danganronpa's other half literally works on case logic.

Which, speaking of the cases themselves, are fine. Case 3 is pretty bad, but Case 1, 2, and especially 4 all make good use of logical points at contradictions while slowly constructing how every murder went. The only real pressing issue to these cases structurally is that the "why" for most of the cases is so shallow and neglects the heart that the game enforces in the last chapter. With exception of Case 4, anyway.

What keeps the game alright to me, however, is the atmosphere. The academy in of itself is a strong cohesive place, which sounds off when it slowly gets more and more surreal, but it really works here. Going about it for every case and finding the history of it is pretty interesting (to a point, where the story rears its ugly head).

Despite how I take a hammer to Danganronpa, I still managed to enjoy myself overall. It has a lot to do with the signature aesthetic that is etched into my mind at this point, and the very few strong moments of the story still stick with me far beyond my playtime. For that, I recommend Danganronpa just a tad, for anyone interested in the series on that alone, despite its issues.

Also game's transphobic y'all. I don't want to see you fuckers stanning that.

Mario works off a very solid foundation, especially in this incarnation. Super Mario 3D Land still has a good structure when it comes to level design but the real issue here is that there's nothing interesting. It's very boneless, in a sense that every particular level doesn't bring anything remotely engaging that hasn't either been done before in the series or on its own doesn't work that well to be remotely interesting. Iteration isn't by itself bad, but I struggle to find what exactly this is iterating on that is good.

It's a super stretched out easy platforming romp. It's comfy for a few hours and then overly outstays its welcome. It's ok at best but I just don't recommend playing it and go play 3D World instead.

Infinity Ward's foray and VERY brief experimental phase ends up with a competent fps multiplayer and a just barely meets average campaign that to be fair holds a sweet surprise in its anti-imperialism sentiment.

For the campaign, you have stop and pop shooting done ad nauseam, but with decent setpieces and some cinematic wonders like the mission All Ghillied Up. I found the campaign to still be more of a monotonous grind but credit where it's due the writers snuck in some gold with the nuclear bomb, fiercely pinning down the Bush presidency's major foreign policy.

The multiplayer is good, but it's more like good in spite of a plethora of disgusting design elements. For one, killstreaks was never an interesting mechanic, it rewards snowballing and gives no counterplay for the enemy team. Awful trash that has spawned even worse incarnations later. That being said, the map design is top notch and there's incredible care into the perk and weapon system. It overall ends in a fps multiplayer that while has an almost too high TTK, still holds elements of strategy and interesting engagement.

Overall, COD4 is a middling affair, but it's certainly aged better than most of the other games in its series have.

Nintendo tries a fighting game other than Smash and it doesn't turn out well.

I think a lot of it has to do with how they shot themselves in the foot, neutral is set solely around two commands that while used in modular ways and can be done in combination to each other already gives a very small skill ceiling to get to. To make matters worse, neutral game is far more about poking rather than mind games. You're attempting to get the luckiest frame advantage possible before you can either set them up for a grab or attack into a super.

There's no real interest here after an hour, it's a poor fighting game on its own and the singleplayer content doesn't really fix that either. It's no Shaq Fu for sure, there's some competency here to the kinesthetics and the aesthetics themselves pop (although, i found the soundtrack forgettable). There's definitely an idea of where fun is had here but the competitive mindset these kind of games bring just end in tedium. Go pick up something else really, rather than the bottom of the barrel of the Switch lineup.

This is by in large probably the game I detested playing the most in the past several years.

Nothing works here, it's a complete gen 7 cover shooter where nothing is kinesthetically satisfying to do and all the enemies are hitscanners that pad out time with very little strategy other than stop and pop. There's entire sections built around going as slow as possible, especially the notorious jet ski bullshit. The zombie section is equivalently jarring as it is more busywork, not even doing a decent job of giving pacing to the enemy designs.

Every climbing section is a bore, every setpiece underbaked, this is Naughty Dog's concept game through and through and it's made up by design pillars all of which I just detest from the offset. Don't get me wrong, I love UC4 and they've managed to salvage the series from the next installment but this one is just so utterly awful.

I didn't even chuckle a single time to the banter, so uninspired and lifeless I felt myself in limbo as I crossed every hour.

If you are absolutely interested in the Uncharted series at all, you start from 2. ANYTHING is better than playing this one. (1/10)

Edgy

That's all the game is really, edgy schlock draped over an uninteresting open world with uninteresting mashy combat and a very by the numbers bleh story that I honestly felt a huge drive to just not watch the cutscenes after a half hour in.

The movement's cool, that's the game's biggest saving grace and its only clear positive. Movement is fluid and has mechanical depth to it, it's like Spiderman 2 but with more mechanics to it other than web slinging feeling good. If it wasn't for this movement I'd probably say the game is bad.

It's fundamentally average overall, and i'm not going to put my time in anymore than I have. (4.5/10)

It's fucking Minecraft

But in serious real hard hitting critique prose that we all clearly want to describe Minecraft, it's an excellent game despite its roots being not so interesting. What I mean by that, is that the survival game isn't good, at least at its base. It's meh at best, no matter how you slice it, Minecraft survival doesn't have anything interesting to it. Iron armor is busted for most encounters, shields are broken, the progression is incredibly quick, hunger is a complete non-issue.

Does that actually matter though? People aren't generally playing Minecraft unmodded at this day and age, and the vast majority of the appeal for Minecraft is its sandbox. And with that, it's one of if not the best sandbox for creative content out there. It's incredible what the options for everyone are, with the full server list of this day and age spiraling from PvP servers to recreations of massive cities, to full blown mod support that doesn't even need to bring in new assets to work in interesting ways. The command blocks do a lot of that heavy lifting, and the redstone systems in the game have created incredible ingame contraptions.

At its retrospective core, Minecraft is no longer a survival game (because really if it was it would be a shit one). It's entirely what any person can make of it, and that ceiling of what you can create is still being extended. (9/10)

Let's get this out of the way, P4G is NOT a well written story.

It has terrible pacing, it moves along at the pace of a slug on sedatives, and even besides that pacing the way the storylines are threaded together is weak and only makes true on its thematics rather than the character studies it teases, as those end up only two dimensional at best on the surface. Also the combat is decent at best.

That being said, other than the main story, I had a blast playing Persona 4 Golden. That 100% has to do with its enjoyable fluff and understanding of its main tone, "Joy", which Golden helps substantiate further. The dialogue between characters here goes from funny and endearing to incredibly engaging. For the most part, it doesn't take itself seriously at all, and it's all the better for it. The characters themselves are surprisingly well developed in their social links, which has always been the backbone to the nu-Persona games when the main story drags to a halt anyway.

That sounds contradictory that the main story has them two-dimensional where the side quests don't, and that requires a bit of explanation. The main story makes the characters face their inner selves but it's done in over the top black/white ways where they all quickly accept that this self is part of them with little fanfare. It's even worse, when the characters specifically code themselves in queer culture before backing the fuck up on it and waving its hands like it doesn't matter. It even has a couple full on homophobic scenes. The social links, however, have them actively evaluate their own selves and seek improvement. It also helps that it ebbs fuck societal roles for each one, but isn't close minded as to say that you're wrong if you decide to go along a route society expects from you (i.e. Yukiko). This society deciding how everyone's perspective is skewed towards one the consensus created is in-of-itself interesting if somewhat poorly executed by the time the credits roll.

That's where P4's heart lies, in its personality, characters, and themes, rather than its story and sequence of events. It's great in that, and even goes as far as to rewrite the perspective of a lot of its shortcomings in so bad it's good ways. I mean, with how garbage Marie is, what other choice do you have?