I'm going to say something controversial. Playing as a giant shark, jumping onto beaches, attacking boats and eating people should not feel this boring.

This entire ocean feels lifeless. There is no personality aside from the narrator. The combat is little more than pressing the same button. Mechanics like lock on straight up don't work. My game crashed 5 times when I used the bio-electric abilities. Missions are plagued with boring repetition and there is no challenge even when going against enemies significally higher level then you. You can just spam the dodge button into them and they die. I could go on. I don't think it's over the top nature and jokes saves this adventure.

Look it's a fun idea and it's not like I was looking for a game of the year. But I expected a little more than a 5 minute gameplay loop and the same 3 missions spread out across 10-15 hours. I do like the setup, I like the documentary style and the shark looks cool. But that is all that is here. I have friends that like this game and I just personally don't get it. If you want a funny animal game there are a lot others that do a better job than this one.

It's up there as one of the worst cases of open world video game junk food i've played. The empty calories provied little substance and I'm pretty sure it gave me a stomach ache.

Developer Aggro Crab shows us once again that they are a studio built by incredibly clever and talented individuals. Taking real world issues and injecting colorful characters, great humor and ideas in a worthwhile adventure.

Equal parts charming and comedic as it is dark and disturbing. They knew the game had to be more than just "Underwater Dark Souls" to succeed. I loved it's shell themed combat, It's platformer like traversal and the elements it parodies from other titles. When I first saw "The Sands Between" I nearly lost it.

Bosses are memorable with great music and fantastic designs. Getting your shell kicked in is very entertaing with stellar animations and voice lines. It all works great and I had a blast.

I also wanna shout out the accessiblity options. From enabling "Give Kril a Gun" to real worthwhile difficulty modifiers. Aggro Crab's first goal was to make a fun video game for everyone to enjoy. It's your choice if you want a breezy or crushing experience. I respect them a lot for giving players that freedom.

Another Crab's Treasure to my surprise is my favorite thing I've played in 2024 at the time of writing. It's a worthwhile adventure that I recommend you fully complete as finding all the surprises was a real treat. It's in my top 3 souls games hands down.

It's not the size of your open world, it's how you use it. Supraland showcases that perfectly with excellent puzzles in one of the best designed Metroidvanias I've seen. Great context clues, secrets around every corner and a creative list of gadgets really test you mind. Once you find one solution that in turn becomes a mechanic for later puzzles. It all really flows together seemlessly.

However, I do wish combat had either been more defined or left out of this adventue completely. I never really enjoyed it and avoiding it is next to impossible. It's a pretty big flaw, but thankfully one that doesn't bring down the adventure too much.

This is a really meaty game. Completionists will have a blast solving everything here and I look forward to checking out other games in this series. I would recommend Supraland to anyone who is interested in a good brain buster.

It's missing that variety element that makes rougelikes replayable. It's classes feel very limited. It's narrative feels undercooked. I managed to clear a full run on my 6th attempt. It then unlocked a harder difficulty and a horde mode. Doesn't seem like there is much more besides that.

But the moment to moment gunplay is great. It's very Doom 2016 and that is 100% a compliment. Abilities work great in tandum and I found the enginneer class to be my favorite. Visuals are nice and I enjoyed the music. I can see myself jumping back to it in the future to just play a couple runs but not consecutively. I don't feel that "one more run" sensation with this one.

Maybe if this was a full blown shooter campaign over a roguelike I would feel very differently. With runs over in a heartbeat and meta progression lacking it's tough not to think the idea of making this a rougelike might have been an afterthought.

I never played the original titles but I can see why friends of mine were excited when this was announced. It provides really great brain busters throughout of most of its campaigns. The different commanding officers all were really likeable on both sides of the conflict. Overall presentation is pretty good. Early on I was really fond of visuals and the segmenets that were fully animated were great.....the first few times I saw them.

I was a huge fan of the UI and the set rules each unit had. During the best battles it felt like one big chess board. Multiple solutions in front of you as you pick the best course of action. Really great stuff!

Not perfect though. I think the overall adventure lacks enough visual variety. By the end of the first campaign I had completely turned off the animations due to how they felt like padding. The other big complaint is I think the second campaign feels less interested in providing interesting battles. It seems more tuned to challenge your patience. The final three fights all had a gimick that really got on my nerves. I think a solution for this would be to have added a mechanic where the AI can surrender. It's frustrating to chip away at the enemy through what is basically a narrow hall way. There was no way he could come out on top but there he was...fighting to the end. I guess it fit the character atleast.

I liked Re-Boot Camp. Even with its flaws the game has more hits than misses, and if you are a fan of this genre I recommend you check it out.

Let it be said that being a product of its time isn't always a bad thing. Developed by the fittingly named Ska Studios, this is a edgy, violent and chaotic game. It's sure not to be everyones taste but it hit the spot for me.

It's style and tone really gave me a nostalgic feel for the weird late 2000s - early 2010s edgy internet odditities. Hell a few of the cutscenes had drawings that I could probably find in my old high school sketch book. Just a bunch of weird shit that I still have a fondness for.

The combat is snappy, fast paced and responsive. It's a 2D character action game with it's combos and dodge mechanics. There are two playable characters but unfortunately they don't feel that different enough from one another to warrant multiple playthroughs. Bosses are well designed and there is a solid variety of enemy types. Sometimes rapid screen shaking can make things hard to read during combat. It will absolutely lead to some deaths when you take a second to blink. But overall I had a lot of fun with this short little title.

I 100% recommend this game to anyone who grew up around that previously mentioned time and/or is into this kind of stuff. It's the kind of game that you will know just by the title if you have any interest in it or not. Love it or hate it, it's not afraid to be itself and you gotta respect that.

It's the first SteamWorld Game that just didn't ever click with me. I think the two biggest killers here are the pacing and combat design. I felt bored of the dungeon layouts and movement between areas. Battles move at snails pace making it feel like a requirement to hold down fast forward. It made the overall experience pretty rough.

The deck building and core strategies that come with it also leave a lot to be desired. It presents a decent variety of combinations that are limited by its rules. To simplify, for the 3 characters in your party each have a card limit that combine into your deck. The limit is very strict. It also doesn't help that when a character goes down you can't use those characters cards for the rest of combat. This can lead to boss fights where if one character in your party goes down you might as well wipe. The balance in this game is completely off.

It still has that SteamWorld charm that I love. Character designs aren't as strong but the artstyle is great, music is nice and the writing is charming. I made it halfway through the game before stopping. At the time of writing SteamWorld Heist 2 got announced and all I could think about is how much I would rather play that leading me to drop this one.

Batman: Arkham City is an absolutely incredible sequel. It improves combat, has a more interesting plot and expands the characters to include more of the Dark Knight's best villains. But the real standout is the open world. While small to todays standards it's dense and feels very immersive to travel around. Rocksteady Provided a really great title here that is desrving of 5 stars despite the Riddler being alive.

But this isn't Batman Arkham City. This is Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham City. While the remaster of the first title only suffered a aesthetic downgrade this one comes with a host of problems. More visual pop in, some wonky animations and worst of all a combat desync issue. I read that a patch was released that fixed this. It didn't. It's absolutely still in the game, it is just now very uncommon.

I ran into these issues while going for the Platinum so I recommend imited exposure. If you are just looking to play through the main content I think you'll be fine. Problems became more apparent the longer I spent with it. But overall I think this version of the game is not as good as the original release, and I recommend you play that one instead.

I never could have imagined that this would be one of the most demanding 3D platformers I have experienced in a hot minute. It's not that difficult to reach credits, but to 100% this one you'll have to master it completely.

There is a level of mechanical depth here that is so infectious. Chaining jumps, quickly zipping around a level is so chaotic and fun. I hope the speedrunning community for this has a field day.

It's also just a visual treat. It's another game proud to be a video game and I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being the best soundtrack of 2024.

It sticks the landing and my biggest fear is that people either avoid this one for how simple it appears, or abandon it before the gameplay really clicks. If you love 3D platformers don't skip this one.

From 2014-2022 Rick Remender released "Deadly Class." It was a graphic novel series that spanned 56 issues abouts youths whose lives were molded and twisted through the horrors committed by the adults around them. Setting them off on a path of self-destruction and violence.

Anyone familiar with that work will feel a sort of connective tissue with Children of the Sun's presentation. If not for the supernatural element it would be easy to mistake it as apart of that world. Color choices, cutscene framing and of course sound design feel very raw. The act of setting up your shot, pulling the trigger and making contact with a target all have a massive impact. The bullet piercing through the air has this drone noise that overpowers the action. I found myself holding my breath at times, only realizing it when a level was finished at that triumpant exhale.

The story is simple but incredibly effective. Your motive is clear from the start. You are a woman on a mission that can only be accomplished by leaving a trail of bodies in your path. I found myself pulled along for ride not wanting to put the game down.

The main idea of bouncing your bullet between targets adds an addictive arcade feel. On the fly decision making tests your metal with great level design and an effective/straight forward mouse only control scheme.

I highly recommend this one. It's short but it takes its simple concepts and ideas and just runs with it. It's a wild, violent and strategic time.

The original title didn't have any additional content aside from the PS3 exclusive playable Joker and a few challenge maps. So this is basically just a higher resolution version of the 2009 epic. It's probably the definitive way to play this game moving forward but I will admit I miss the hazy visuals of the original. It added an almost grimey texture to the whole experience.

Despite sounding negative here this is still an excellent time and I'm happy I finally went and got the platinum. I'd be inclinded to do it again with the original release if Batman would just break his no kill rule on the Riddler.

While you'll see everything the game has to offer in a very short amount of time, the level of mental manipulation going on here is incredible.

It's the classic case of the house setting you up for failure. Building your expectations, giving you satisfying wins all in the name of taking it away from you when you get too cocky. Whether it's a blank or live ammo every time that trigger is pulled you feel impact.

If you're looking for that high stakes rush of betting all on red, without the real life consequences than I strongly recommend Buckshot Roulette.

Its presentation is all aces. The narrator is captivating, the colors fantastic, the environments beautiful. It's a treat for the eyes and ears as the score matches everything so perfectly.

It's a curated experience that allows for some solid weapon pairing. You're not limited to a melee and ranged option. You can mix and match abilities, passives and weapons and that really adds to the experience. It doesn't drastically change gameplay but it adds more variety which is always a plus.

It starts and ends on a real high note. Strong intrigue echoes throughout the adventure and I loved its ending. Supergiant's first game is still a great one and it shows clearly from the start that this studio knew what they were doing. I highly recommend Bastion.

Sable is a beautiful and often brilliant adventure that tells a gripping coming of age story that forces you to reflect on the quiet moments of life. It's sense of exploration is strong and it's ending feels like it meaningfully confronts you on the memories you have made. Visually it's stunning, with colors especially captivating you while you travel across the waste. With all that said I really do love what this game accomplished, but it's in a state that is hard to fully recommend.

I ran into a ton of immersive breaking bugs. Nothing absolutely game breaking but some things that just pulled me out of it. Two of the quests I was unable to finish, audio crackling, NPCs walking into walls while talking. Your Mileage may vary but you'll likely run into at least a few of these issues.

If Sable was more polished it would be an easy 5 stars and a highly recommend. It's an incredible journey that is partly undermined by its technical state. I am disappointed that my first experience with this title suffered from these issues, but it is an adventure I will return to one day for more because what is here is just that good. Overall I recommend Sable despite the problems.