Malchior
1996
Definitely one of my hottest gaming opinions. Certainly, for one of the first 3D Platformers, it's really solid. When you compare it to what was actually possible, though, such as Kazooie which came two years later...it just falls flat for me.
For one, the OST. Don't get me wrong, the songs that exist are good...but why are they reused so many times? I don't really want to make this a "Kazooie better" review and make it seem like I'm nothing but a Rare fanboy, but really, it seems absurd that they couldn't have spent some time to at least make a unique theme for every single course.
Heck, the first two courses even share the same song! Bob-omb Battlefield, Whom's Fortress, Tall, Tall Mountain, and Tiny-Huge Island all have the same song. Lethal Lava Land and Shifitng Sand Land also share the same song, and they're right next to each other too.
Don't even get me started on the fact that it's absurd that they went ahead and made two separate ice worlds. Why did we need both Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land? Who thought that was a good idea?
I don't know. Yes, you can argue that Kazooie could pull off having a unique song for every single level because it only has 9, as compared to 64, which has 15...but then that argument falls apart when you see that Kazooie has an OST of over 100 songs when you factor in all of the remixes and variations. Less is more.
Honestly, part of me feels dirty for giving Mario 64 a rating this low. It really isn't a bad game, but I just can't help but find it utterly inferior to not just Kazooie, but absolutely eclipsed by Tooie. With how big and ambitious Tooie was, I really do think that 64 could have been much better if more time was pumped into it.
For one, the OST. Don't get me wrong, the songs that exist are good...but why are they reused so many times? I don't really want to make this a "Kazooie better" review and make it seem like I'm nothing but a Rare fanboy, but really, it seems absurd that they couldn't have spent some time to at least make a unique theme for every single course.
Heck, the first two courses even share the same song! Bob-omb Battlefield, Whom's Fortress, Tall, Tall Mountain, and Tiny-Huge Island all have the same song. Lethal Lava Land and Shifitng Sand Land also share the same song, and they're right next to each other too.
Don't even get me started on the fact that it's absurd that they went ahead and made two separate ice worlds. Why did we need both Cool, Cool Mountain and Snowman's Land? Who thought that was a good idea?
I don't know. Yes, you can argue that Kazooie could pull off having a unique song for every single level because it only has 9, as compared to 64, which has 15...but then that argument falls apart when you see that Kazooie has an OST of over 100 songs when you factor in all of the remixes and variations. Less is more.
Honestly, part of me feels dirty for giving Mario 64 a rating this low. It really isn't a bad game, but I just can't help but find it utterly inferior to not just Kazooie, but absolutely eclipsed by Tooie. With how big and ambitious Tooie was, I really do think that 64 could have been much better if more time was pumped into it.
2009
I'm sure I could write a full essay describing my thoughts on League, but...I don't have the energy for that. Instead, I'll put the following points.
1. I have a very, very high frustration threshold. League of one of only a handful of games that consistently surpasses it. It is unbelievably frustrating to get put into a situation where you have no chance of winning, it's incredibly obvious, but your entire team refuses to surrender, forcing you to suffer for 40 minutes.
2. The Champions are great. I won't say that all of them are, but there are a good portion with plenty of fun and unique kits.
3. Lore and story is good.
Ultimately, though, I would never recommend someone play League. I play it maybe a couple times a year now, and almost never alone. I used to greatly enjoy it, but the balancing is just insane. Either my team gets stomped, or my team stomps. Theres almost never anything in between, making losses frustrating and victories boring.
1. I have a very, very high frustration threshold. League of one of only a handful of games that consistently surpasses it. It is unbelievably frustrating to get put into a situation where you have no chance of winning, it's incredibly obvious, but your entire team refuses to surrender, forcing you to suffer for 40 minutes.
2. The Champions are great. I won't say that all of them are, but there are a good portion with plenty of fun and unique kits.
3. Lore and story is good.
Ultimately, though, I would never recommend someone play League. I play it maybe a couple times a year now, and almost never alone. I used to greatly enjoy it, but the balancing is just insane. Either my team gets stomped, or my team stomps. Theres almost never anything in between, making losses frustrating and victories boring.
A game that I had a surprising amount of fun with.
2005
This review contains spoilers
Going into Shadow the Hedgehog, I expected a pretty bad experience from what I had heard from the Sonic Community, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it was my favorite Sonic Game, even moreso than Sonic Adventure 2. I found the story to be compelling, and really appreciated the different routes.
Will I admit that it's a bit silly you have to beat the game 10 different times in order to challenge the final boss? Yes, but I don't think it matters, especially when each different ending, you can get to it by playing a completely different route.
My only criticisms, if any, are:
1. Both of the ARK stages are unfun. Super cool to sort of go back in the past, but they weren't enjoyable.
2. There were some pretty missed opportunities with the routes. There really should have been an ending where you could side with Eggman, and one where you could join forces with Rouge and aid Gun. Also, I never particularly found Chaos Blast all too useful in the normal levels, though they were obviously a great help in the boss ones.
Will I admit that it's a bit silly you have to beat the game 10 different times in order to challenge the final boss? Yes, but I don't think it matters, especially when each different ending, you can get to it by playing a completely different route.
My only criticisms, if any, are:
1. Both of the ARK stages are unfun. Super cool to sort of go back in the past, but they weren't enjoyable.
2. There were some pretty missed opportunities with the routes. There really should have been an ending where you could side with Eggman, and one where you could join forces with Rouge and aid Gun. Also, I never particularly found Chaos Blast all too useful in the normal levels, though they were obviously a great help in the boss ones.
2022
It's a cute little game set in the Portal Universe, There's nothing much to it, it's about 30 minutes to beat it, but I found it enjoyable. Nothing incredible, but its a nice and small amount of enjoyment.
2018
Among Us is, at its best, a genuinely fun game that I love to play with friends. I think the real problem arises whenever you aren't playing it with a group of people that you already know. When you're just playing with randoms, one's enjoyment is incredibly limited. For one, if you're killed in a game, theres next to no reason to actually stay, one might as well just leave and join a new lobby. That all ties into the fact that, being a ghost is honestly, well...boring.
Your only purpose as a ghost is to complete your tasks. Once you do that, you pretty much just have to sit around and do nothing while you watch the others play the game. It's manageable when you're playing with friends, but with random people....blegh.
Overall, I'd say that at its best, Among Us would probably be 4-5 stars, but factoring in how enjoyable it is while playing in random lobby's, it puts it smack dab in the middle.
Your only purpose as a ghost is to complete your tasks. Once you do that, you pretty much just have to sit around and do nothing while you watch the others play the game. It's manageable when you're playing with friends, but with random people....blegh.
Overall, I'd say that at its best, Among Us would probably be 4-5 stars, but factoring in how enjoyable it is while playing in random lobby's, it puts it smack dab in the middle.
1991
One of the worst games I've ever played by far. Green Hill Zone was fun, but then it was all downhill from there, as if they made the first zone and then had no idea what to do with the rest of the game.
It feels like there's a conflict of interest in how exactly one is meant to play the game. This was my first real venture into the Sonic series, and I thought it was all about speed, but found that going fast was an awful idea due to the hazards off screen that you could never see coming, thus it seemed that it wanted you to go incredibly slow.
In general, just very frustrating level design. I'm all for a hard game if I feel most of the mistakes are on me, the player, but this simply felt like the game gave you Green Hill Zone, and then abandoned any attempt of teaching the player how to get used to the game. Seriously, who in the right mind thought that Marble Zone should be the 2nd one? With its difficulty, it should have been one of the last ones!
Also, the bosses range from alright to atrocious. Egg Crusher was just terrible, whilst Egg Stinger I beat on my first try...but, as I had no idea that the platforms weren't coming back, even after I beat the boss, I had to fight it a 2nd time. Just terrible.
With a first entry like this, it's a wonder how Sonic ever managed to compete with Mario.
It feels like there's a conflict of interest in how exactly one is meant to play the game. This was my first real venture into the Sonic series, and I thought it was all about speed, but found that going fast was an awful idea due to the hazards off screen that you could never see coming, thus it seemed that it wanted you to go incredibly slow.
In general, just very frustrating level design. I'm all for a hard game if I feel most of the mistakes are on me, the player, but this simply felt like the game gave you Green Hill Zone, and then abandoned any attempt of teaching the player how to get used to the game. Seriously, who in the right mind thought that Marble Zone should be the 2nd one? With its difficulty, it should have been one of the last ones!
Also, the bosses range from alright to atrocious. Egg Crusher was just terrible, whilst Egg Stinger I beat on my first try...but, as I had no idea that the platforms weren't coming back, even after I beat the boss, I had to fight it a 2nd time. Just terrible.
With a first entry like this, it's a wonder how Sonic ever managed to compete with Mario.
2010
Perhaps the single best tower defense game of all time, if not one of them. A very strong roster of playable characters, with all sorts of great costumes and color customization to add your own flair. Fantastic levels, and it's even better in my opinion if one plays the officially supported Redux version of the game.