2022
Gungrave G.O.R.E. is so close to being a great 7/10 turn your brain off throwback PS2 shooter brought into the modern era, it's just way too long and unpolished.
The game actually looks pretty great, the character designs rock, some of the music is good, and at its core you can really feel the arcade influences. When it's hitting on all cylinders and you're mowing down waves of enemies flooding in from every crevice of a given area it feels wonderful, especially early on when the enemy types are much more simple to deal with. It really makes me wish it had a little extra something. I like the structure of it quite a lot as well, the straightforward fast paced levels, the loop of finishing the stage, putting in some quick upgrades, then moving next feels very nice.
That's where the positives end, unfortunately. The controls are my biggest point of contention. You will be mashing R2 a lot for most interactions in this game (give or take the occasional melee combo), and because it's a proper trigger rather than mapped to a button like its predecessors, you're highly likely to get tired of it. Even when conscientiously using the "R2 combo then hold it" move at every possible instance, my hands were still a bit fatigued after a longer play session. The story simply existed for the time I put in, and the localization is noticeably quite rough, despite the voice cast doing their best to salvage things. And again, I think it could have generally used a pass or two more of polish in some way or another, and maybe like one more interesting thing for Grave to do during gameplay. Halfway through the game I finally had to give in because I felt pretty confident I had a good idea of the game as a whole, the gameplay wasn't going to meaningfully evolve, and I wasn't going to see anything new and interesting.
I'm glad it got made regardless and enjoyed some of my time with it, I genuinely hope the game is just successful enough that they get their opportunity to make a much tighter sequel.
The game actually looks pretty great, the character designs rock, some of the music is good, and at its core you can really feel the arcade influences. When it's hitting on all cylinders and you're mowing down waves of enemies flooding in from every crevice of a given area it feels wonderful, especially early on when the enemy types are much more simple to deal with. It really makes me wish it had a little extra something. I like the structure of it quite a lot as well, the straightforward fast paced levels, the loop of finishing the stage, putting in some quick upgrades, then moving next feels very nice.
That's where the positives end, unfortunately. The controls are my biggest point of contention. You will be mashing R2 a lot for most interactions in this game (give or take the occasional melee combo), and because it's a proper trigger rather than mapped to a button like its predecessors, you're highly likely to get tired of it. Even when conscientiously using the "R2 combo then hold it" move at every possible instance, my hands were still a bit fatigued after a longer play session. The story simply existed for the time I put in, and the localization is noticeably quite rough, despite the voice cast doing their best to salvage things. And again, I think it could have generally used a pass or two more of polish in some way or another, and maybe like one more interesting thing for Grave to do during gameplay. Halfway through the game I finally had to give in because I felt pretty confident I had a good idea of the game as a whole, the gameplay wasn't going to meaningfully evolve, and I wasn't going to see anything new and interesting.
I'm glad it got made regardless and enjoyed some of my time with it, I genuinely hope the game is just successful enough that they get their opportunity to make a much tighter sequel.
2022
This is the best Pokemon has been in ages.
Where Arceus felt like an overhaul of the core of Pokemon's gameplay, Scarlet and Violet are an overhaul of everything surrounding the core gameplay... with a few bits and bobs from Arceus anyways, just for good measure. The world feels so carefully designed, every objective placed with intention to push the player to explore. The writing is vastly improved, and every storyline is a treat. Most of the new Pokemon are hits, and Terrastalizing is a legitimately fun and well-thought out "super" mechanic, putting the series' other attempts to shame handily. The difficulty is also surprisingly good for a modern day Pokemon. I loved this game from beginning to end, and I can't believe I might be considering a Pokemon game of all things for my top 10 of the year.
Just a few small dings here: for starters, the very last area does drag a little bit and doesn't fully take advantage of its cool concept, but at the very least the story beats are enjoyable and done well. Performance is rough, but it never hit the point of unplayability for me (though admittedly later areas with more effects on screen push the envelope). I also didn't experience any of the rampant glitchiness people were talking about, aside from one persistent glitch where Pokemon would spawn in walls when an outbreak was placed strangely on the map; hopefully that gets fixed or tweaked.
Where Arceus felt like an overhaul of the core of Pokemon's gameplay, Scarlet and Violet are an overhaul of everything surrounding the core gameplay... with a few bits and bobs from Arceus anyways, just for good measure. The world feels so carefully designed, every objective placed with intention to push the player to explore. The writing is vastly improved, and every storyline is a treat. Most of the new Pokemon are hits, and Terrastalizing is a legitimately fun and well-thought out "super" mechanic, putting the series' other attempts to shame handily. The difficulty is also surprisingly good for a modern day Pokemon. I loved this game from beginning to end, and I can't believe I might be considering a Pokemon game of all things for my top 10 of the year.
Just a few small dings here: for starters, the very last area does drag a little bit and doesn't fully take advantage of its cool concept, but at the very least the story beats are enjoyable and done well. Performance is rough, but it never hit the point of unplayability for me (though admittedly later areas with more effects on screen push the envelope). I also didn't experience any of the rampant glitchiness people were talking about, aside from one persistent glitch where Pokemon would spawn in walls when an outbreak was placed strangely on the map; hopefully that gets fixed or tweaked.
2022
God of War 2018 was the game that really sold me on the series, with my biggest complaint being that I wished there was more of it. After finishing Ragnarok, I feel my biggest takeaway is that I wish there was less of it.
It's a very well put together, beautiful game with combat that remains as good as the first (if maybe a bit to much of the same), enchanting music, and a story that ultimately ends in a very satisfying way. The new weapon is fun, and I enjoyed the alternate gameplay style they added. All of the performances were great, and especially some of the later bits will remain in my mind for a long time to come.
But the journey to get there is some of the most strangely unevenly paced content I have seen in a game recently. I don't mind slow levels focused on worldbuilding and general plot setup, but some of these chapters are not only slow, they simply do not know when to end. Especially in the first half most chapters simply drag on the same simple points for way too long, presumably to hammer in the plot if for some reason you did not get it.
Hell, the main story of this game doesn't trust the player with any sort of adversity. All of the main story encounters are remarkably easy on normal, and the characters CONSTANTLY quip out the solutions to puzzles just as you find them. It is actual insanity how simple most of the puzzles in this game are, but it's doubly insane how often your companion will pipe up with the solution not even 5 seconds after seeing it. Let the player think and experiment if they have to!! Meanwhile, side content literally 10 feet off the main path will beat the bricks off of you just for looking in its direction. The balancing is just so strange.
I feel like I have been pretty negative here, but again, I enjoyed the game enough by the end. I just wish I liked it more than that.
It's a very well put together, beautiful game with combat that remains as good as the first (if maybe a bit to much of the same), enchanting music, and a story that ultimately ends in a very satisfying way. The new weapon is fun, and I enjoyed the alternate gameplay style they added. All of the performances were great, and especially some of the later bits will remain in my mind for a long time to come.
But the journey to get there is some of the most strangely unevenly paced content I have seen in a game recently. I don't mind slow levels focused on worldbuilding and general plot setup, but some of these chapters are not only slow, they simply do not know when to end. Especially in the first half most chapters simply drag on the same simple points for way too long, presumably to hammer in the plot if for some reason you did not get it.
Hell, the main story of this game doesn't trust the player with any sort of adversity. All of the main story encounters are remarkably easy on normal, and the characters CONSTANTLY quip out the solutions to puzzles just as you find them. It is actual insanity how simple most of the puzzles in this game are, but it's doubly insane how often your companion will pipe up with the solution not even 5 seconds after seeing it. Let the player think and experiment if they have to!! Meanwhile, side content literally 10 feet off the main path will beat the bricks off of you just for looking in its direction. The balancing is just so strange.
I feel like I have been pretty negative here, but again, I enjoyed the game enough by the end. I just wish I liked it more than that.
2022
Sonic Frontiers is great. That alone is a relief to say, but I didn’t expect to think it was quite this great. There are still things that could use some major tightening up, but Frontiers was predominantly an absolute joy. My cautious optimism has turned to genuine excitement, both for the game itself and the future of the series.
The story starts with Sonic and crew flying to the mysterious Starfall Islands, a mysterious set of landmasses that the Chaos Emeralds were suddenly drawn to. Just as they begin to approach the islands, a portal opens up and sucks the crew into a realm called Cyberspace. Sonic quickly escapes, finding himself alone on Kronos Island, unsure of the whereabouts of his friends.
I won’t go too far into the weeds here, but I will say that the story is indeed a step in the right direction. It has a pretty good balance of serious moments and lightheartedness, and most surprisingly it not only makes an effort to link a lot of the canon, but it actually has wider lore implications for the series as a whole. The characters are great here and their arcs are by far the most captivating part of the story, finally being handled with some semblance of consistency, and there are a lot of really nice moments. Tails specifically has had a rough go of it over the years so it’s good to see him characterized well again. I also found Sage to be a pretty great villain who works pretty well in the plot.
The wider mystery of the islands takes center stage most of the time, and I found it a bit weak in the end, especially as a heavy point of advertisement. And while I appreciate that the game acknowledges the series’ past, at times it is a bit heavy handed with characters remarking quite a bit about their memory of some past event or character who will not be appearing. And across the board the presentation hurts it a lot; while some cutscenes show Sonic more fun, expressive, and cartoony than he has been in a hot minute, others have his head slowly swiveling like a Chuck-E-Cheese animatronic and standing in a static position for the duration of the scene.
The gameplay is the real star of the show here though. It comes in 3 flavors, the “open zone” as they call it (it’s just an open world with stages in it shut up Iizuka), 3D cyberspace levels (think like a normal 3D boost era stage), and 2D cyberspace levels (the same but in 2D). The open zone in particular is the standout here as it is easily the most polished, controls near-perfectly to my taste, and is genuinely always a joy to explore. I was worried about this more than anything pre-release, but I think having small level segments as open world activities as well as a large variety of puzzles makes it actually engaging and fun to run around in.
There are small combat challenges scattered throughout the open zone, and to my surprise they are really well-designed as encounters. They are mostly pretty brief, have a clear gimmick to them that keeps them mostly fresh, and they are quite punchy and fun. The bosses are also a highlight, truly tapping into modern Sonic’s shonen roots with crazy over the top bouts, some of the best cutscenes in the game (perhaps even the series), and awesome vocal themes. Visually they don’t quite fit with the rest of Sonic if I had one complaint, I know they’re supposed to be strange-looking abstract creatures, but they maybe went a bit too far in that respect.
I guess it would be appropriate to mention the game’s RPG elements here. All I can say is that they’re inoffensive, they serve the purpose of providing some form of progression and that’s it. It could have been worse. The skill tree is simultaneously the most traditional progression and provides the bare minimum, and the preorder item pack unlocks like ⅓ of the entire thing, which is… strange, although the upgrades themselves are pretty fun. Your other upgrades are stat based, with collectible seeds and creatures that bolster your attack, defense (how many rings you lose from a hit), speed, and ring count. These are “fine”, though I think ring count could have easily been replaced with boost gauge expansion; why would you upgrade your ring count if you have an ability that gives an enhanced boost for topping off your rings?
3D cyberspace levels are a little less fun, the cracks start to show as you do more of them in how they throttle your control/speed and change your physics. I did enjoy the “tribute” levels and there were some genuine surprises in there, but I can’t help but feel some of them ruin the luster on remakes of past games just by being here made with reused assets. Even still, they’re all brief, decent fun, and either more complex than most of the boost game levels or rely upon a one-off gimmick that I can’t be too mad at.
The weakest part of the gameplay is unfortunately when you hit 2D segments, as I found them all quite mediocre. The 3D elements of the gameplay clearly got a lot of polish and customization, but I guess they thought the 2D was perfect as it was so they have essentially done next to nothing to it aside from (THANKFULLY) fixing Forces’ horrid physics and control issues. I also experienced by far the most jank in these segments; a good 80% of my deaths in this game were caused by the 2D physics not interacting properly with the environment (most notably boosting off ramps consistently gave me problems for some strange reason) or the transitions from 3D to 2D in the open world not properly functioning. But to give them some credit I did not find any of the levels outright awful, and despite there being an island focused around 2D segments, they become quite easy to avoid entirely.
Finally, I should briefly mention a bit of an elephant in the room: Hard Mode. The game tells you that you get “something extra” (I believe this is the wording) for playing through it, and that something is the true final boss. There is functionally no difference in story content aside from simply including that fight, just that and a new credits theme (given, said credits theme is one of my new favorite songs in the series so hey, worth it for that at least?). You can also simply switch to Hard right before the final stretch of the game, but I didn’t find Hard Mode particularly difficult otherwise so I wouldn’t hesitate to just go through the whole thing that way. Still, it was quite a strange choice to do this, it’s likely because the sequence itself is decently long and by far the most difficult part of the game. Be warned, I suppose!
The presentation is mostly functional and that’s all I can really say about it. The game looks fine and I feel they did about the best they could with what they must have been given, but it’s clear that despite this being their biggest most ambitious Sonic project in ages, their biggest obstacle was still some sort of production issue or lack of budget. The level themes are fairly dire, cyberspace alternates like 4 level themes, the palette is a bit drab… Given I don’t think it looks bad, there just isn’t a whole lot of variety nor memorable theming here, and none of it really screams “Sonic”.
As for sound, I think the music is intentionally a scattershot of different stylings from throughout the series, so you’re bound to find one or two tracks to like at minimum. There are adventure-style tunes, Sonic R-esque jams, even some of Ohtani’s coveted lofi made it in. I enjoyed most of it, but I’m not sure if I’ll remember most of it a year from now. Also specific shout-outs to the aforementioned hard mode exclusive credits theme, it’s legitimately the best Sonic song in ages and was a perfect cap-off to the experience.
Voice acting is pretty good here too, making good on the great script and character interactions, but interestingly they have significantly changed the direction for both Sonic and Eggman. Perhaps this was to match the more somber tone of the story, to delineate a new era for the franchise, to match closer to the movies and other media…. Who knows. Either way, Mike Pollock’s Eggman works quite well being slightly less hammy than he has been, but I feel early-game Sonic goes a little too far into voice actor Roger Craig Smith’s natural speaking voice at times and generally makes the performance feel weird. Luckily he settles into it as the game goes on, and eventually I enjoyed the take as something very different. Knuckles’ new voice also fluctuates, but more in such a way that it feels the actor isn’t accustomed to the role yet. Some of his delivery feels like it really gets the character, others ring very flat, but it’s not too bad overall. The rest of the cast is about as good as you would expect, and again, overall I felt positive on the voiceover in the end.
I wasn’t sure what to expect upon putting in my copy of Sonic Frontiers, but I certainly didn’t think it would end up on the shortlist of my favorite 3D Sonic games. While some aspects could still use some work, it does a lot of things really well and has enough polish that I came away genuinely impressed with the game. If I had to choose a way for the series to go next, I would go for a straight-up open world without having to go into stages with new physics and junk. But considering they seem set on the open zone that’s fine too. In the end, I just hope they can match, polish, and exceed the magic that they managed to find here.
The story starts with Sonic and crew flying to the mysterious Starfall Islands, a mysterious set of landmasses that the Chaos Emeralds were suddenly drawn to. Just as they begin to approach the islands, a portal opens up and sucks the crew into a realm called Cyberspace. Sonic quickly escapes, finding himself alone on Kronos Island, unsure of the whereabouts of his friends.
I won’t go too far into the weeds here, but I will say that the story is indeed a step in the right direction. It has a pretty good balance of serious moments and lightheartedness, and most surprisingly it not only makes an effort to link a lot of the canon, but it actually has wider lore implications for the series as a whole. The characters are great here and their arcs are by far the most captivating part of the story, finally being handled with some semblance of consistency, and there are a lot of really nice moments. Tails specifically has had a rough go of it over the years so it’s good to see him characterized well again. I also found Sage to be a pretty great villain who works pretty well in the plot.
The wider mystery of the islands takes center stage most of the time, and I found it a bit weak in the end, especially as a heavy point of advertisement. And while I appreciate that the game acknowledges the series’ past, at times it is a bit heavy handed with characters remarking quite a bit about their memory of some past event or character who will not be appearing. And across the board the presentation hurts it a lot; while some cutscenes show Sonic more fun, expressive, and cartoony than he has been in a hot minute, others have his head slowly swiveling like a Chuck-E-Cheese animatronic and standing in a static position for the duration of the scene.
The gameplay is the real star of the show here though. It comes in 3 flavors, the “open zone” as they call it (it’s just an open world with stages in it shut up Iizuka), 3D cyberspace levels (think like a normal 3D boost era stage), and 2D cyberspace levels (the same but in 2D). The open zone in particular is the standout here as it is easily the most polished, controls near-perfectly to my taste, and is genuinely always a joy to explore. I was worried about this more than anything pre-release, but I think having small level segments as open world activities as well as a large variety of puzzles makes it actually engaging and fun to run around in.
There are small combat challenges scattered throughout the open zone, and to my surprise they are really well-designed as encounters. They are mostly pretty brief, have a clear gimmick to them that keeps them mostly fresh, and they are quite punchy and fun. The bosses are also a highlight, truly tapping into modern Sonic’s shonen roots with crazy over the top bouts, some of the best cutscenes in the game (perhaps even the series), and awesome vocal themes. Visually they don’t quite fit with the rest of Sonic if I had one complaint, I know they’re supposed to be strange-looking abstract creatures, but they maybe went a bit too far in that respect.
I guess it would be appropriate to mention the game’s RPG elements here. All I can say is that they’re inoffensive, they serve the purpose of providing some form of progression and that’s it. It could have been worse. The skill tree is simultaneously the most traditional progression and provides the bare minimum, and the preorder item pack unlocks like ⅓ of the entire thing, which is… strange, although the upgrades themselves are pretty fun. Your other upgrades are stat based, with collectible seeds and creatures that bolster your attack, defense (how many rings you lose from a hit), speed, and ring count. These are “fine”, though I think ring count could have easily been replaced with boost gauge expansion; why would you upgrade your ring count if you have an ability that gives an enhanced boost for topping off your rings?
3D cyberspace levels are a little less fun, the cracks start to show as you do more of them in how they throttle your control/speed and change your physics. I did enjoy the “tribute” levels and there were some genuine surprises in there, but I can’t help but feel some of them ruin the luster on remakes of past games just by being here made with reused assets. Even still, they’re all brief, decent fun, and either more complex than most of the boost game levels or rely upon a one-off gimmick that I can’t be too mad at.
The weakest part of the gameplay is unfortunately when you hit 2D segments, as I found them all quite mediocre. The 3D elements of the gameplay clearly got a lot of polish and customization, but I guess they thought the 2D was perfect as it was so they have essentially done next to nothing to it aside from (THANKFULLY) fixing Forces’ horrid physics and control issues. I also experienced by far the most jank in these segments; a good 80% of my deaths in this game were caused by the 2D physics not interacting properly with the environment (most notably boosting off ramps consistently gave me problems for some strange reason) or the transitions from 3D to 2D in the open world not properly functioning. But to give them some credit I did not find any of the levels outright awful, and despite there being an island focused around 2D segments, they become quite easy to avoid entirely.
Finally, I should briefly mention a bit of an elephant in the room: Hard Mode. The game tells you that you get “something extra” (I believe this is the wording) for playing through it, and that something is the true final boss. There is functionally no difference in story content aside from simply including that fight, just that and a new credits theme (given, said credits theme is one of my new favorite songs in the series so hey, worth it for that at least?). You can also simply switch to Hard right before the final stretch of the game, but I didn’t find Hard Mode particularly difficult otherwise so I wouldn’t hesitate to just go through the whole thing that way. Still, it was quite a strange choice to do this, it’s likely because the sequence itself is decently long and by far the most difficult part of the game. Be warned, I suppose!
The presentation is mostly functional and that’s all I can really say about it. The game looks fine and I feel they did about the best they could with what they must have been given, but it’s clear that despite this being their biggest most ambitious Sonic project in ages, their biggest obstacle was still some sort of production issue or lack of budget. The level themes are fairly dire, cyberspace alternates like 4 level themes, the palette is a bit drab… Given I don’t think it looks bad, there just isn’t a whole lot of variety nor memorable theming here, and none of it really screams “Sonic”.
As for sound, I think the music is intentionally a scattershot of different stylings from throughout the series, so you’re bound to find one or two tracks to like at minimum. There are adventure-style tunes, Sonic R-esque jams, even some of Ohtani’s coveted lofi made it in. I enjoyed most of it, but I’m not sure if I’ll remember most of it a year from now. Also specific shout-outs to the aforementioned hard mode exclusive credits theme, it’s legitimately the best Sonic song in ages and was a perfect cap-off to the experience.
Voice acting is pretty good here too, making good on the great script and character interactions, but interestingly they have significantly changed the direction for both Sonic and Eggman. Perhaps this was to match the more somber tone of the story, to delineate a new era for the franchise, to match closer to the movies and other media…. Who knows. Either way, Mike Pollock’s Eggman works quite well being slightly less hammy than he has been, but I feel early-game Sonic goes a little too far into voice actor Roger Craig Smith’s natural speaking voice at times and generally makes the performance feel weird. Luckily he settles into it as the game goes on, and eventually I enjoyed the take as something very different. Knuckles’ new voice also fluctuates, but more in such a way that it feels the actor isn’t accustomed to the role yet. Some of his delivery feels like it really gets the character, others ring very flat, but it’s not too bad overall. The rest of the cast is about as good as you would expect, and again, overall I felt positive on the voiceover in the end.
I wasn’t sure what to expect upon putting in my copy of Sonic Frontiers, but I certainly didn’t think it would end up on the shortlist of my favorite 3D Sonic games. While some aspects could still use some work, it does a lot of things really well and has enough polish that I came away genuinely impressed with the game. If I had to choose a way for the series to go next, I would go for a straight-up open world without having to go into stages with new physics and junk. But considering they seem set on the open zone that’s fine too. In the end, I just hope they can match, polish, and exceed the magic that they managed to find here.
2021
just play lapis x labyrinth, a far superior game for your vapid brain turn off slot machine go flash fix
2022
Objectively a very polished and well-made game (as it damn well better be after so many years!), and on paper "Utawarerumono but with Digimon" seems like an easy enough formula for success. Unfortunately, this game just does not have the world, writing, or even localization to support that line of comparison. After 10ish hours I just did not find anything intriguing enough to keep me going.
2022
Just as Bayonetta was a response to the Devil May Cry series, a lot of Bayonetta 3's choices make it feel like a response to Devil May Cry 5 specifically. The somewhat melancholy beats in the story, the bombastic celebratory feeling of wrapping up a saga, the switching between characters, even the fun challenges outside of combat verses that I can't help but think were added because so many people complained about DMC5 being all combat... maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it all feels a bit too familiar. And similar to the former situation, I think that despite both being extremely quality games that I would take either of in a heartbeat, I think Bayonetta 3 outclasses its competitor... if only by just a bit.
It's not a perfect game to be sure, but it looks to be an easy best in the series for me.
I think 3 manages to hit pretty darn close to 1's nice levels of balance (there are a couple abilities and weapons that feel slightly overtuned, but thankfully the giant demons are kept pretty well in check compared to Umbran Climax) while keeping 2's immaculate presentation and feeling of being on a crazy roller coaster ride the whole way through, creating a perfect formula for excitement. Bayonetta feels wonderful to control as per usual and has plenty of options, and newcomer Viola is a welcome change of pace that had me playing her every chance I got (though her Witch Time parry window took some MAJOR adjustment). The genre bending here is incredible and at times I was howling at how creative they had gotten. Given there are some tiny missteps here I think, I think the gameplay style of the Side Chapters specifically were a novel idea but had the most misses for me, especially the first two which are probably my least favorite stages in the game. Despite this, I don’t think there’s a single segment I really dread getting to on a replay, which I feel is a marked improvement.
I enjoyed the story, though it's about what you would expect from one of these games; there is a little bit of asspullery afoot (especially in regards to Luka’s character, though maybe it’s just been too long), but the series has always had some of that here and there and I can forgive it for some truly exciting and fun moments with these characters. I absolutely ADORED Viola being a complete dork with the facade of having it together, it made for some of the story's best moments as the complete polar opposite of Bayonetta (who continues to steal the show as usual). I won’t say too much more, but this is a great celebration of Bayonetta as a series, and color me very excited for wherever they choose to go next.
I’m sure you may know where I’m going when I say unfortunately this game has one big undeniable flaw: the presentation. Don’t get me wrong, the cutscenes are great as always, the music is the best in the series, the art style remains awesome, every aspect owns… except for the fact that the Switch is absolutely dying trying to run this game. I do think the performance is being singled out a bit too much, it could be much better but I think it’s fairly consistent at least and very rarely drops into the realm of being unplayable. I also think that Platinum’s engine is taking a bit too much blame as it feels pretty clear that they did some heavy work on it to add more detail and I can see it scaling pretty well to more powerful hardware (perhaps the reason for these presentation issues).
But the resolution was consistently a problem. The game is a bit of a pixely mess all the way through, and it’s especially bad in the action-heavy opening chapters. It makes it even funnier that they featured a photo mode, because despite trying excessively I could barely ever even get a picture that looked serviceable. I really hope they put in some optimization work post-launch, up the resolution for whenever the Switch successor comes along, just something, because this game deserves to be seen in its full glory.
All that said, I adored my time with this game. In a year where my gaming motivation has been about as finicky as it ever has been, Bayonetta 3 grabbed my attention and held it hard. This is definitely a new all-timer for me, and I couldn’t be happier that it lived up to the hype.
It's not a perfect game to be sure, but it looks to be an easy best in the series for me.
I think 3 manages to hit pretty darn close to 1's nice levels of balance (there are a couple abilities and weapons that feel slightly overtuned, but thankfully the giant demons are kept pretty well in check compared to Umbran Climax) while keeping 2's immaculate presentation and feeling of being on a crazy roller coaster ride the whole way through, creating a perfect formula for excitement. Bayonetta feels wonderful to control as per usual and has plenty of options, and newcomer Viola is a welcome change of pace that had me playing her every chance I got (though her Witch Time parry window took some MAJOR adjustment). The genre bending here is incredible and at times I was howling at how creative they had gotten. Given there are some tiny missteps here I think, I think the gameplay style of the Side Chapters specifically were a novel idea but had the most misses for me, especially the first two which are probably my least favorite stages in the game. Despite this, I don’t think there’s a single segment I really dread getting to on a replay, which I feel is a marked improvement.
I enjoyed the story, though it's about what you would expect from one of these games; there is a little bit of asspullery afoot (especially in regards to Luka’s character, though maybe it’s just been too long), but the series has always had some of that here and there and I can forgive it for some truly exciting and fun moments with these characters. I absolutely ADORED Viola being a complete dork with the facade of having it together, it made for some of the story's best moments as the complete polar opposite of Bayonetta (who continues to steal the show as usual). I won’t say too much more, but this is a great celebration of Bayonetta as a series, and color me very excited for wherever they choose to go next.
I’m sure you may know where I’m going when I say unfortunately this game has one big undeniable flaw: the presentation. Don’t get me wrong, the cutscenes are great as always, the music is the best in the series, the art style remains awesome, every aspect owns… except for the fact that the Switch is absolutely dying trying to run this game. I do think the performance is being singled out a bit too much, it could be much better but I think it’s fairly consistent at least and very rarely drops into the realm of being unplayable. I also think that Platinum’s engine is taking a bit too much blame as it feels pretty clear that they did some heavy work on it to add more detail and I can see it scaling pretty well to more powerful hardware (perhaps the reason for these presentation issues).
But the resolution was consistently a problem. The game is a bit of a pixely mess all the way through, and it’s especially bad in the action-heavy opening chapters. It makes it even funnier that they featured a photo mode, because despite trying excessively I could barely ever even get a picture that looked serviceable. I really hope they put in some optimization work post-launch, up the resolution for whenever the Switch successor comes along, just something, because this game deserves to be seen in its full glory.
All that said, I adored my time with this game. In a year where my gaming motivation has been about as finicky as it ever has been, Bayonetta 3 grabbed my attention and held it hard. This is definitely a new all-timer for me, and I couldn’t be happier that it lived up to the hype.
2014
This is the logical sequel to Bayonetta. The action is polished to even further heights, the presentation is way better, the story ties in with the first game well, enemy variety is better, I could go on... Effectively all of my small gripes with the first game are fixed for a game that is a nonstop climax roller coaster ride from beginning to end.
There is a big "but" though, and that is the general game balance. Even putting the scuffed scoring system aside, the game simply does not push back nearly enough, even for someone who considers themselves a somewhat below-average player, and the balance of Umbran Climax is completely borked. This would not be nearly as bad if the higher difficulty modes weren't locked behind a completed playthrough.
All-in-all, I would describe Bayonetta 1 and 2 as being excellent games in different ways, but I can't help but ever so slightly prefer 2 for the sheer spectacle and fun it offers.
There is a big "but" though, and that is the general game balance. Even putting the scuffed scoring system aside, the game simply does not push back nearly enough, even for someone who considers themselves a somewhat below-average player, and the balance of Umbran Climax is completely borked. This would not be nearly as bad if the higher difficulty modes weren't locked behind a completed playthrough.
All-in-all, I would describe Bayonetta 1 and 2 as being excellent games in different ways, but I can't help but ever so slightly prefer 2 for the sheer spectacle and fun it offers.
2009
As my first foray into the genre, this game ruined pretty much all of its competition at the time. It's action polished to a T, wrapped in an over-the-top shell, starring an unbelievably charismatic female protagonist who is always in control and her power is never in question. I will always hold my memories of that first playthrough fondly.
Now replaying this as a more seasoned player of the genre and having seen how it has evolved over time, it definitely feels like a transitional game between eras in a lot of ways. I still love the game, but admittedly the areas are fairly linear and straightforward, enemy variety is somewhat weak, the camera locks up classic DMC-style more often than I remembered, and in general I think it ends up feeling a bit overly-restrictive and strict in structure than its successors, at least for my taste. For those reasons, I can't say it's my favorite.
But at the same time, I can see why that structure makes this the favorite of many, giving it a sort of tough-as-nails hardcore flavor that the series never really replicated going forward. I can't help but respect that.
Now replaying this as a more seasoned player of the genre and having seen how it has evolved over time, it definitely feels like a transitional game between eras in a lot of ways. I still love the game, but admittedly the areas are fairly linear and straightforward, enemy variety is somewhat weak, the camera locks up classic DMC-style more often than I remembered, and in general I think it ends up feeling a bit overly-restrictive and strict in structure than its successors, at least for my taste. For those reasons, I can't say it's my favorite.
But at the same time, I can see why that structure makes this the favorite of many, giving it a sort of tough-as-nails hardcore flavor that the series never really replicated going forward. I can't help but respect that.
2022
The Splatoon concept does a pretty good job of drawing me in. Every time there's new content, I'm just as excited as my first turf war, and the unique gameplay hook will always bring me back for some inking. But by the time I've gotten my fill, I tend to hard tap out. Everyone's definition of "the complete package" will be different, but despite my enjoyment of the series, Splatoon has never offered that for me personally, even if 2 came close.
I picked up Splatoon 3 a bit wary, as previews were showing that it was more of an incremental revision than any sort of sweeping change or innovation; again, nothing wrong with that, but I figured that might be what it takes to finally "get me over" on one of these games. And while this is true of the game, something about it just finally got me. All of the small quality of life changes, the balancing tweaks, the revisions to Salmon Run, the fun distraction of Tableturf, and using what worked in the Octo Expansion in this base game's single player... I not only feel pretty satisfied with my 3 experience, but I actually do see myself sticking with it for much longer. The turf wars are wearing slightly thin mind you, I would still like to see a big brained idea or two in a followup (or perhaps the next expansion), but that said, this is easily my favorite in the series and it's not even close. Great game.
Also Deep Cut is the best!
I picked up Splatoon 3 a bit wary, as previews were showing that it was more of an incremental revision than any sort of sweeping change or innovation; again, nothing wrong with that, but I figured that might be what it takes to finally "get me over" on one of these games. And while this is true of the game, something about it just finally got me. All of the small quality of life changes, the balancing tweaks, the revisions to Salmon Run, the fun distraction of Tableturf, and using what worked in the Octo Expansion in this base game's single player... I not only feel pretty satisfied with my 3 experience, but I actually do see myself sticking with it for much longer. The turf wars are wearing slightly thin mind you, I would still like to see a big brained idea or two in a followup (or perhaps the next expansion), but that said, this is easily my favorite in the series and it's not even close. Great game.
Also Deep Cut is the best!
2018
I liked it a lot! A really fun game, especially with your pals. Very easy to pick up and play, so even players less familiar with video games shouldn't have a whole lot of issue getting onboard. The building system is great and progression is structured very well, it's fun to optimize your crew's roles as well as the structure of your raft. Just a chill enjoyable game that's pretty meaty and not too deep.
It might be that the newness of the game wore off a bit by the time they came out, but I felt the later story areas weren't quite as good as the earlier ones despite upping the complexity. The last bit of the final area in particular is probably the worst part of the game, both storywise and gameplaywise. I was also a bit mixed on how they streamlined the story in the full release personally. The consequences of early access I guess!
It might be that the newness of the game wore off a bit by the time they came out, but I felt the later story areas weren't quite as good as the earlier ones despite upping the complexity. The last bit of the final area in particular is probably the worst part of the game, both storywise and gameplaywise. I was also a bit mixed on how they streamlined the story in the full release personally. The consequences of early access I guess!
2022
This is one of the most 7/10 games I have ever played, but it's also exactly the palette cleanser I needed right now.
The combat is great, bosses are fun, the music and voice acting are surprisingly good, and while the broad strokes of the story aren't the best, I enjoyed the einherjar a lot, and their growing connection to the Valkyrie and fun interactions saved it from being a complete write-off.
Unfortunately, everything else feels clearly hampered by budget. The level design is abysmal, the levels themselves are a bit overlong (and you have to replay them in their entirety if you miss some collectibles), enemy variety is rough, sidequests are monotonous, and as you get later into the game they give up and dump a million encounters on you steps apart from each other to pad things out further.
Despite all that, I enjoyed my time with it as a sort of junk food game, and I feel that it manages to be at least slightly more than the sum of its parts. I'm definitely interested to see what the extra Hilde content is like.
Also of note: demos tend to be quite good these days as they often give you a decent chunk of the start of the game that carries over data to the full version should you choose to buy it, but this game's demo is not good; it ends right before the combat really starts opening up. So if you were left a bit wanting by the start, it does get better.
The combat is great, bosses are fun, the music and voice acting are surprisingly good, and while the broad strokes of the story aren't the best, I enjoyed the einherjar a lot, and their growing connection to the Valkyrie and fun interactions saved it from being a complete write-off.
Unfortunately, everything else feels clearly hampered by budget. The level design is abysmal, the levels themselves are a bit overlong (and you have to replay them in their entirety if you miss some collectibles), enemy variety is rough, sidequests are monotonous, and as you get later into the game they give up and dump a million encounters on you steps apart from each other to pad things out further.
Despite all that, I enjoyed my time with it as a sort of junk food game, and I feel that it manages to be at least slightly more than the sum of its parts. I'm definitely interested to see what the extra Hilde content is like.
Also of note: demos tend to be quite good these days as they often give you a decent chunk of the start of the game that carries over data to the full version should you choose to buy it, but this game's demo is not good; it ends right before the combat really starts opening up. So if you were left a bit wanting by the start, it does get better.
I remember it not being quite as bad as I thought it would be, but I also genuinely can't remember a single thing about it.
2021
Between the irreverent conversations about Travis' favorite pieces of media over a couple beers with his friends and the unbeatable quirky and fun presentation, No More Heroes III really feels like a secret Swery game at times... And I think that rocks. It drags here and there and isn't without its blemishes; I can certainly see why people would be disappointed with this as a wrap-up to the beloved series, but for me it serves as the pinnacle, cutting away a lot of the fat of its predecessors, keeping much of what worked, and polishing its combat and boss battles to a T.
I think I just expected too much honestly. The netcode is pretty bad, and not enough has meaningfully changed to keep me hooked. You'll still be fishing with your stubby normals for half the match and navigating the strange feel of the game in general, despite a couple new welcome mechanics that make it feel ever so slightly better than the original. I guess the removal of the single player's energy mechanic and the general reorganization of said mode is kinda nice, but there are still some minor similarly mobile game-esque mechanics and limited time events in other places that I would have rather seen removed as well, so it's a slightly mixed bag there as well.
That said, it's a fun afternoon or two, especially if you haven't been able to get your hands on the PS3 version prior to this release. There is a ton of love for the series and fanservice stuffed into this package. All the new characters are fun and great, I specifically loved Diego and Ghiaccio. Hopefully those season pass characters continue that trend!
That said, it's a fun afternoon or two, especially if you haven't been able to get your hands on the PS3 version prior to this release. There is a ton of love for the series and fanservice stuffed into this package. All the new characters are fun and great, I specifically loved Diego and Ghiaccio. Hopefully those season pass characters continue that trend!