NindyIndy
2005
Chibi-Robo is underrated, like I don’t understand how anybody could say it’s bad unless you didn’t actually play it. It’s a shame we probably won’t get another entry in the series especially considering all the other ones were on DS and 3DS not a proper console. I played some of Zip-Lash before this and actually really liked it, but the Gamecube game doesn’t even compare, it’s a work of art. For right now I don’t think I’ll play any of the other DS titles (though they look interesting) because I don’t see anything living up to how good this game was.
I’ll put this up in my top 5 or 10 favorite games it was that good. I want to see a real version of Chibi-Robo (I already have the amiibo in my house) but other than that there are no other figures and that’s sad.
It’s just my kind of game, the style, the extraordinary sense of personality and character. It blows me away because you spend the game in 1 house! 1 house and you’d expect that to get a bit repetitive, you can look at Toy Story 2 and I adore exploring Andy’s house but if that was the whole game I would still get bored. This doesn’t have that problem somehow?? You start with the basic rooms and unlock the rest later on as you get more gadgets and stuff as well as there always being something to do in those rooms and if you explored a whole room, there’s a bunch more to explore every nook and cranny. Speaking of gadgets and upgrades, if you have a problem with how something works or something is just an inconvenience, pretty much everything gets fixed and improved upon throughout the game, I won’t spoil anything so just hold out. Though there isn’t a bathroom?! Where do they- you know what I’m not even gonna bother.
When I say there’s always something to do, I MEAN THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO! The center of this game is none other than cleaning, and as lackluster as that sounds, this game (again somehow??) makes it interesting and rewarding and an actual game mechanic. I can see how someone could hear that at face value and be turned off by it, but trust me just try it!
You’re only a few centimeters tall so rooms seem pretty big which makes getting around them a little slow at times, sometimes you unlock easier routes but walking speed is the only problem I have with this game. And the only time it actually hits you is towards the end. You can pick up your plug for a slight boost but barely (maybe that lasso thing from Ziplash would come in handy here, make it so you can grapple around the place)
I easily spent 20+ hours on this game, I didn’t 100% it but I finished a lot of the stuff which includes collecting stickers, I wasn’t necessarily aiming for it, just felt like doing it because I like these characters. The game isn’t hard but not always easy, it’s easy for anyone to get into it though. It’s puzzling where necessary but not to the point where you spend hours trying to figure it out, chances are if you come back later, over time it will become clear on how to do it. The story gets deeper than you would think and only makes you love the game and characters even more.
When I say come back to it, I mean there are no obligations, prepare for a gush fest! Perhaps the best thing about this game is that order DOES.NOT.MATTER. You can do whatever, whenever, and not have to worry about “Oh I did this before that which means I missed my chance.” Nope, none of that. You need to finish a mission to get to another? Not really. You get objectives from characters, you finish them, you make the decisions, you do it if and when you want to do it but that also saves you the stress of multiple routes because it all ends up in the same place. Nothing to worry about at all which is one of the many reasons I would hold this game up as a stress reliever right next to Animal Crossing and Minecraft.
The music is interesting because when you walk, each step has a beat, walk continuously and it makes a song, same with a lot of things like the toothbrush. There is a day and night cycle, where at the end of one or the other, you’ll return to the Chibi-House for your character to rest and you reevaluate your progress. As the time of day or night comes to a close the music will get slightly faster prompting you to get what you’re doing done. I will say some events will need to be done in day or night, there’s always something in both and it’s easy to find out when you need to do it. So check this game out!!
I’ll put this up in my top 5 or 10 favorite games it was that good. I want to see a real version of Chibi-Robo (I already have the amiibo in my house) but other than that there are no other figures and that’s sad.
It’s just my kind of game, the style, the extraordinary sense of personality and character. It blows me away because you spend the game in 1 house! 1 house and you’d expect that to get a bit repetitive, you can look at Toy Story 2 and I adore exploring Andy’s house but if that was the whole game I would still get bored. This doesn’t have that problem somehow?? You start with the basic rooms and unlock the rest later on as you get more gadgets and stuff as well as there always being something to do in those rooms and if you explored a whole room, there’s a bunch more to explore every nook and cranny. Speaking of gadgets and upgrades, if you have a problem with how something works or something is just an inconvenience, pretty much everything gets fixed and improved upon throughout the game, I won’t spoil anything so just hold out. Though there isn’t a bathroom?! Where do they- you know what I’m not even gonna bother.
When I say there’s always something to do, I MEAN THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING TO DO! The center of this game is none other than cleaning, and as lackluster as that sounds, this game (again somehow??) makes it interesting and rewarding and an actual game mechanic. I can see how someone could hear that at face value and be turned off by it, but trust me just try it!
You’re only a few centimeters tall so rooms seem pretty big which makes getting around them a little slow at times, sometimes you unlock easier routes but walking speed is the only problem I have with this game. And the only time it actually hits you is towards the end. You can pick up your plug for a slight boost but barely (maybe that lasso thing from Ziplash would come in handy here, make it so you can grapple around the place)
I easily spent 20+ hours on this game, I didn’t 100% it but I finished a lot of the stuff which includes collecting stickers, I wasn’t necessarily aiming for it, just felt like doing it because I like these characters. The game isn’t hard but not always easy, it’s easy for anyone to get into it though. It’s puzzling where necessary but not to the point where you spend hours trying to figure it out, chances are if you come back later, over time it will become clear on how to do it. The story gets deeper than you would think and only makes you love the game and characters even more.
When I say come back to it, I mean there are no obligations, prepare for a gush fest! Perhaps the best thing about this game is that order DOES.NOT.MATTER. You can do whatever, whenever, and not have to worry about “Oh I did this before that which means I missed my chance.” Nope, none of that. You need to finish a mission to get to another? Not really. You get objectives from characters, you finish them, you make the decisions, you do it if and when you want to do it but that also saves you the stress of multiple routes because it all ends up in the same place. Nothing to worry about at all which is one of the many reasons I would hold this game up as a stress reliever right next to Animal Crossing and Minecraft.
The music is interesting because when you walk, each step has a beat, walk continuously and it makes a song, same with a lot of things like the toothbrush. There is a day and night cycle, where at the end of one or the other, you’ll return to the Chibi-House for your character to rest and you reevaluate your progress. As the time of day or night comes to a close the music will get slightly faster prompting you to get what you’re doing done. I will say some events will need to be done in day or night, there’s always something in both and it’s easy to find out when you need to do it. So check this game out!!
2012
I got this game for fun, it was on sale, and I like the cover of the mask, I even have the Gameinformer magazine of it.
I'm not into dark and gritty games or even stealth but this was fun. It's kind of what you make it, you play how you feel, if you play recklessly though, you'll have to face the consequences, whether that's the ending or a band of guards after you, it adds a sense of paranoia which really bothers me at times "Was I too violent?" luckily it's split up into missions and you get a report card at the end of each of them saying how chaotic you were or weren't. A good thing about the mission setup is that it's pretty open yet contained enough that there's always stuff to do and things to find inside cool and diverse areas, there's quite a bit of exploration and not much backtracking, something I've come to love about the modern Deus Ex games.
That's not to say the 'pacifist' route isn't hard or have its own consequences, y'know how many times I went back to an old save because I was spotted or misclicked and killed a guard?! All to get that ending, always having to wait out enemies and avoid contact (kinda like real life...) but to see that report card just makes you feel like you've accomplished something, I consider myself a bit of a baby when it comes to difficulty it made me feel like I was good at the game or something, it's rewarding, just takes a bit to get used to it.
Will I be playing the other games in this franchise? No, I've tried the demo for Dishonored 2 and it still really stresses me out with the good and bad endings hanging over my head but don't let that hamper this review or the game at all. I'll probably look up the stories for them, they seem more like a companion piece anyway (if you got the good ending) this could've been just one game all the same.
I'm not into dark and gritty games or even stealth but this was fun. It's kind of what you make it, you play how you feel, if you play recklessly though, you'll have to face the consequences, whether that's the ending or a band of guards after you, it adds a sense of paranoia which really bothers me at times "Was I too violent?" luckily it's split up into missions and you get a report card at the end of each of them saying how chaotic you were or weren't. A good thing about the mission setup is that it's pretty open yet contained enough that there's always stuff to do and things to find inside cool and diverse areas, there's quite a bit of exploration and not much backtracking, something I've come to love about the modern Deus Ex games.
That's not to say the 'pacifist' route isn't hard or have its own consequences, y'know how many times I went back to an old save because I was spotted or misclicked and killed a guard?! All to get that ending, always having to wait out enemies and avoid contact (kinda like real life...) but to see that report card just makes you feel like you've accomplished something, I consider myself a bit of a baby when it comes to difficulty it made me feel like I was good at the game or something, it's rewarding, just takes a bit to get used to it.
Will I be playing the other games in this franchise? No, I've tried the demo for Dishonored 2 and it still really stresses me out with the good and bad endings hanging over my head but don't let that hamper this review or the game at all. I'll probably look up the stories for them, they seem more like a companion piece anyway (if you got the good ending) this could've been just one game all the same.
Every now and then, I like to have a yearly tradition, normally taking place around Christmas. For a while, it was an Aladdin movie every year. Next round it was Hunchback. Next round, it was to read a Star Wars book. Last year I finished the Thrawn trilogy but I also started Donkey Kong Country. I've played the games sparingly and I wasn't really a fan but I always appreciated what they did for gaming. I couldn't say that I ever beat the game and thought maybe the first was different from the rest, so I finished it last year and thought it was good but nothing to write home about unless you were there when it released hence why there's no review.
This year, I decided to keep the tradition and play DKC2 and I've always known that this was everyone's favorite but I've always found it to be the hardest and what's the point when Donkey Kong isn't even in it? Well, I understand now.
Let's start with the setting. Pirates. An easy concept to grab from especially since we had themes of it in the original, King K even being on a pirate ship of his own but we take it to a whole new level. The beginning of the first game had it very simply put, the bananas are gone, go get them back. This one, Donkey Kong has been kidnapped…I did not know that, that explains it then. So he enlists the help of Dixie Kong, which I also know is a fan favorite but I never understood why. She is though. When you switch characters in DKC, it was usually through a cool high five, this one, Dixie kicks Diddy out of the way and says "It's my turn." (At least in my head she says that) She glides with her hair which you already know I have a thing for if you saw me talking about Conker. Her idle animations are blowing gum and drinking a juice box. She plays the guitar at the end of a level. I like Diddy's precision but I can't say I used him all that much in comparison.
The bosses are better this time around (though a few are fairly similar). Overall, it's the better DK game. So what's wrong with it? Why did I dislike it?
You can run. I learned this last year in the original but it didn't hit me until now that I didn't know that as a kid and would try making these sloped jumps with no luck or speed behind them, that's partially why it was so hard. But it's still hard, mind you, especially when you're playing legit with lives and stuff. There are instances where it just doesn't seem plausible to do some of these things reasonably like the ghost ropes or the King Zing Sting boss, they're a bit too precise and-
THIS STUPID! THIS FRICKIN STUPID SNAKE LEVEL WITH THE TOXIC WASTE COMING AFTER YOU IN A TIMED MANNER BUT YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIM TO JACK HIMSELF OFF TO JUMP HIGHER. I WAS YELLING AND SCREAMING "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!" AND MY PARENTS EVEN GOT CONCERNED "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?" I WAS PREPARED TO GO OFF ON THEM GETTING IN MY WAY OF THE FIGHT BETWEEN ME AND…RATTLY. THEY MAKE HIM OUT TO BE A HERO BUT THIS GAME ISN'T DANTE'S INFERNO, IT'S ABOUT APES! I HOPE I NEVER SEE A SNAKE AGAIN. I DROPPED THIS GAME AND DIDN'T COME BACK WITH JUST A FEW LEVELS LEFT. GOOD RIDDANCE GREEN SLIME.
This year, I decided to keep the tradition and play DKC2 and I've always known that this was everyone's favorite but I've always found it to be the hardest and what's the point when Donkey Kong isn't even in it? Well, I understand now.
Let's start with the setting. Pirates. An easy concept to grab from especially since we had themes of it in the original, King K even being on a pirate ship of his own but we take it to a whole new level. The beginning of the first game had it very simply put, the bananas are gone, go get them back. This one, Donkey Kong has been kidnapped…I did not know that, that explains it then. So he enlists the help of Dixie Kong, which I also know is a fan favorite but I never understood why. She is though. When you switch characters in DKC, it was usually through a cool high five, this one, Dixie kicks Diddy out of the way and says "It's my turn." (At least in my head she says that) She glides with her hair which you already know I have a thing for if you saw me talking about Conker. Her idle animations are blowing gum and drinking a juice box. She plays the guitar at the end of a level. I like Diddy's precision but I can't say I used him all that much in comparison.
The bosses are better this time around (though a few are fairly similar). Overall, it's the better DK game. So what's wrong with it? Why did I dislike it?
You can run. I learned this last year in the original but it didn't hit me until now that I didn't know that as a kid and would try making these sloped jumps with no luck or speed behind them, that's partially why it was so hard. But it's still hard, mind you, especially when you're playing legit with lives and stuff. There are instances where it just doesn't seem plausible to do some of these things reasonably like the ghost ropes or the King Zing Sting boss, they're a bit too precise and-
THIS STUPID! THIS FRICKIN STUPID SNAKE LEVEL WITH THE TOXIC WASTE COMING AFTER YOU IN A TIMED MANNER BUT YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOR HIM TO JACK HIMSELF OFF TO JUMP HIGHER. I WAS YELLING AND SCREAMING "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!" AND MY PARENTS EVEN GOT CONCERNED "WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?" I WAS PREPARED TO GO OFF ON THEM GETTING IN MY WAY OF THE FIGHT BETWEEN ME AND…RATTLY. THEY MAKE HIM OUT TO BE A HERO BUT THIS GAME ISN'T DANTE'S INFERNO, IT'S ABOUT APES! I HOPE I NEVER SEE A SNAKE AGAIN. I DROPPED THIS GAME AND DIDN'T COME BACK WITH JUST A FEW LEVELS LEFT. GOOD RIDDANCE GREEN SLIME.
1994
How about them Mets, huh? No, I don't mean BASEBALL!
I mentioned how I visited Prime as a kid and didn't like the controls so I only just recently revisited with PrimeHack. Well, after dropping Prime as a kid, I visited this game, thinking 2D Metroid was my route but I lost the save file so this was actually the second Metroid game that I've tried then failed to finish. It's about as well regarded as any top ten list, not just for Metroid but for gaming as a whole, so let's see if it lives up to my memory as well as its reputation.
I could see people falling in love with this as a kid, moreso than the original, I mean this was the first one of "those" Metroid games and definitely pioneered a lot of what made ZM great for me, including the atmosphere. If I mentioned it with the Prime games, then this one makes it feel like Alien at times, little bodies with bugs crawling around, deep mechanical structures, and for the time, this was THE game but how does it age with today's standards?
It feels more precise. Not "more stiff" but just not as buttery as Zero Mission, which would make sense, ZM came out a decade afterwards and a lot of things in that game were based off of this game, which I assume was made to appease the fans of this game as well as introduce it to the handheld market. So, rather than just porting Super, they bred it with the NES one, which for the time sounds great but in today's day and age when you play one after the other, it just feels a bit repetitive to play both. There were a lot of points where I'd ask "Didn't I do this before?" during the first half, the second half differentiates itself a little more.
When comparing the two, I can't help but feel ZM gets the better hand. And because of that, a lot of my gripes from ZM carried over to this game. I actually went back and played the first level of ZM just to be sure and I was right, I think it's just faster momentum wise. (I don't know whether Fusion feels like that or not, haven't played it yet but I'll revisit this topic when I do).
There are a few little downgrades that you can't do like seeing what certain rooms are on the map, there's just maps, ammo and save stations, no indication of colored doors or any of that jazz unfortunately. And I feel like it's a bit harder to follow than the other games because there were a lot more things in your way that just didn't need to be there while backtracking. For example, doors with buttons that can only be opened on one side. They close again after you leave the area rather than just unlocking a shortcut. Part of it is my fault because I've opened these doors before in such a way that I knew what I was doing but just forgot after trekking a completely different area to learn (hence why there should be a map in the first place). But I wouldn't call this the game to start the series with, leaving it in a weird position.
Now I talked about how some things felt out of sorts with ZM but I let them slide because of how early and experimental the game it was based on was and how a lot of the mechanics I complained about weren't mandatory features, just to get certain bonuses but I feel a little less lenient with this one, I definitely felt the most unnecessarily frustrated with this title compared to the others, and I played Prime 2!
The ball bombs aren't OP, you actually have to time them which is fine but still seems like a mechanic they can improve upon. The sand pits of Maridia are a chore to just jump up and out of places. The amount of times I got stuck is beyond belief, the water was one thing because you get the gravity suit eventually but the sand is just horrid to try and traverse and you never get anything to help you with it which made getting optional items like the spring ball a real hassle. I actually took a few day break from the game after Maridia because I didn't want that alone to mar my experience.
Some people will say that they like that because it takes time and training to master since it just drops you in with a brief idea of what Samus is doing and sets you in this world with no instruction but I look at it as "if you gatekeep controls behind masters then how are you supposed to play the game normally?" It's not a bad controlling game overall, it's just certain features that I feel like are purposefully there to get in your way and waste time. Wall jumping, screw attack, have all been improved upon in later titles and going back to a title where it wasn't as fine tuned feels but that's just how I feel, maybe I just couldn't get it to work but it seems like a lot of people have complained about it.
BUT I can say that it allows you to turn whatever abilities you want off. So I complained about the screw attack and freeze ray in ZM and how sometimes I wouldn't want to do that. There are also a lot of really cool secret details that this game opens up since it tells you very little. I liked it, it's still a Metroid game but just didn't live up to what I was expecting.
I mentioned how I visited Prime as a kid and didn't like the controls so I only just recently revisited with PrimeHack. Well, after dropping Prime as a kid, I visited this game, thinking 2D Metroid was my route but I lost the save file so this was actually the second Metroid game that I've tried then failed to finish. It's about as well regarded as any top ten list, not just for Metroid but for gaming as a whole, so let's see if it lives up to my memory as well as its reputation.
I could see people falling in love with this as a kid, moreso than the original, I mean this was the first one of "those" Metroid games and definitely pioneered a lot of what made ZM great for me, including the atmosphere. If I mentioned it with the Prime games, then this one makes it feel like Alien at times, little bodies with bugs crawling around, deep mechanical structures, and for the time, this was THE game but how does it age with today's standards?
It feels more precise. Not "more stiff" but just not as buttery as Zero Mission, which would make sense, ZM came out a decade afterwards and a lot of things in that game were based off of this game, which I assume was made to appease the fans of this game as well as introduce it to the handheld market. So, rather than just porting Super, they bred it with the NES one, which for the time sounds great but in today's day and age when you play one after the other, it just feels a bit repetitive to play both. There were a lot of points where I'd ask "Didn't I do this before?" during the first half, the second half differentiates itself a little more.
When comparing the two, I can't help but feel ZM gets the better hand. And because of that, a lot of my gripes from ZM carried over to this game. I actually went back and played the first level of ZM just to be sure and I was right, I think it's just faster momentum wise. (I don't know whether Fusion feels like that or not, haven't played it yet but I'll revisit this topic when I do).
There are a few little downgrades that you can't do like seeing what certain rooms are on the map, there's just maps, ammo and save stations, no indication of colored doors or any of that jazz unfortunately. And I feel like it's a bit harder to follow than the other games because there were a lot more things in your way that just didn't need to be there while backtracking. For example, doors with buttons that can only be opened on one side. They close again after you leave the area rather than just unlocking a shortcut. Part of it is my fault because I've opened these doors before in such a way that I knew what I was doing but just forgot after trekking a completely different area to learn (hence why there should be a map in the first place). But I wouldn't call this the game to start the series with, leaving it in a weird position.
Now I talked about how some things felt out of sorts with ZM but I let them slide because of how early and experimental the game it was based on was and how a lot of the mechanics I complained about weren't mandatory features, just to get certain bonuses but I feel a little less lenient with this one, I definitely felt the most unnecessarily frustrated with this title compared to the others, and I played Prime 2!
The ball bombs aren't OP, you actually have to time them which is fine but still seems like a mechanic they can improve upon. The sand pits of Maridia are a chore to just jump up and out of places. The amount of times I got stuck is beyond belief, the water was one thing because you get the gravity suit eventually but the sand is just horrid to try and traverse and you never get anything to help you with it which made getting optional items like the spring ball a real hassle. I actually took a few day break from the game after Maridia because I didn't want that alone to mar my experience.
Some people will say that they like that because it takes time and training to master since it just drops you in with a brief idea of what Samus is doing and sets you in this world with no instruction but I look at it as "if you gatekeep controls behind masters then how are you supposed to play the game normally?" It's not a bad controlling game overall, it's just certain features that I feel like are purposefully there to get in your way and waste time. Wall jumping, screw attack, have all been improved upon in later titles and going back to a title where it wasn't as fine tuned feels but that's just how I feel, maybe I just couldn't get it to work but it seems like a lot of people have complained about it.
BUT I can say that it allows you to turn whatever abilities you want off. So I complained about the screw attack and freeze ray in ZM and how sometimes I wouldn't want to do that. There are also a lot of really cool secret details that this game opens up since it tells you very little. I liked it, it's still a Metroid game but just didn't live up to what I was expecting.
2004
This is pretty much my review (gushing) of the sequel.
I started out with Halo 1 when I was a kid, I think Halo 2 had launched relatively near that time but it was like a mythical game to me. "2 guns at once?!" "You can play as one of the Elite?!" I was baffled and then someone told me that it was only with certain guns, like pistols, to which I felt disappointed. The person who showed me Halo, got Halo 2 and showed me basically what amounted to a teaser of it but I never got my hands on the actual gameplay. Then the 3rd generation console wars came with PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. I didn't really see anything on PS3 at the time but I knew that Xbox 360 had Halo 3 and Viva Pinata...but then I played Mario Galaxy in a Gamestop and that sold me on a Wii. I took my hiatus and went to my friend's house when Reach was already out and we played the multiplayer like no other. Me and my friend boarded the hype train for Halo 4 and Anniversary but we didn't really play them together too often, what we did have though were the Halo Mega Blox, which I still have by the way.
I would sit in my room, thinking about what my gamertag and dogtag would be and customizing my suit based on the Mega Blox. Well, here I am. Over a decade later with these Halo games now available on PC, something I've only dreamed of, so let me visit that mythical Halo 2.
It's back! As much as I enjoyed Anniversary, this one is making me reconsider which game I love more. This has a lot of the things that made an impression on me in the first game, like the interactive suit testing but it's not aiming to make the same impression, it's just taking you through the motions, reminding you of Halo 1 and then revealing what else it has up its sleeve. I was immediately thrown off by the interface because it looks "different" and more simplistic. I'm not one for cluttered HUDs, in fact I've avoided some games for that very reason, and this is far from cluttered but I just preferred the original one partially because I got used to it and partially because it looks more stylized. But anyway, I found myself playing the game a bit differently anyway. I liked pulling the Covenant and UNSC combo with an SMG in one hand and a Type-25 in the other. I've found that Elites seem to hurt more when I use their weapons, while with grunts, it's just whatever, so I used the SMG on them to avoid overheating my rifle. It is kind of a hassle to drop your second gun every time you throw a grenade but you can just pick it right back up, it's no big deal and I suppose it makes sense (practically and all).
I was afraid about the "only certain guns" thing and while I didn't feel limited initially, it started to settle in a little bit more. But just the fact that you can do it, is still very cool. (I thought I remembered a flamethrower though...guess I was mistaken?) Now, playing as the Arbiter also had me hyped because I believe that's the first time you get to wield the sword which made the whole story just stunning because it starts out with Chief getting recognized for taking down Halo while on the flip side, the Arbiter is being punished for losing Halo. Dare I call this sequel the Shrek 2 of game sequels.
I like how your melee actually brings you to your enemy, rather than smacking and missing all the time, it's a wonder how much these games revolutionized not just the genre, but gaming in general, I can feel its influence. Now I do have a small complaint however, I found that after playing both Reach and OG, this one had the most problems running. It's not awful or anything but there were noticeable moments where it would freeze up which is odd that it would be this one specifically. All in all, I couldn't imagine playing this and then having to wait until Halo 3 with that cliffhanger.
I started out with Halo 1 when I was a kid, I think Halo 2 had launched relatively near that time but it was like a mythical game to me. "2 guns at once?!" "You can play as one of the Elite?!" I was baffled and then someone told me that it was only with certain guns, like pistols, to which I felt disappointed. The person who showed me Halo, got Halo 2 and showed me basically what amounted to a teaser of it but I never got my hands on the actual gameplay. Then the 3rd generation console wars came with PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii. I didn't really see anything on PS3 at the time but I knew that Xbox 360 had Halo 3 and Viva Pinata...but then I played Mario Galaxy in a Gamestop and that sold me on a Wii. I took my hiatus and went to my friend's house when Reach was already out and we played the multiplayer like no other. Me and my friend boarded the hype train for Halo 4 and Anniversary but we didn't really play them together too often, what we did have though were the Halo Mega Blox, which I still have by the way.
I would sit in my room, thinking about what my gamertag and dogtag would be and customizing my suit based on the Mega Blox. Well, here I am. Over a decade later with these Halo games now available on PC, something I've only dreamed of, so let me visit that mythical Halo 2.
It's back! As much as I enjoyed Anniversary, this one is making me reconsider which game I love more. This has a lot of the things that made an impression on me in the first game, like the interactive suit testing but it's not aiming to make the same impression, it's just taking you through the motions, reminding you of Halo 1 and then revealing what else it has up its sleeve. I was immediately thrown off by the interface because it looks "different" and more simplistic. I'm not one for cluttered HUDs, in fact I've avoided some games for that very reason, and this is far from cluttered but I just preferred the original one partially because I got used to it and partially because it looks more stylized. But anyway, I found myself playing the game a bit differently anyway. I liked pulling the Covenant and UNSC combo with an SMG in one hand and a Type-25 in the other. I've found that Elites seem to hurt more when I use their weapons, while with grunts, it's just whatever, so I used the SMG on them to avoid overheating my rifle. It is kind of a hassle to drop your second gun every time you throw a grenade but you can just pick it right back up, it's no big deal and I suppose it makes sense (practically and all).
I was afraid about the "only certain guns" thing and while I didn't feel limited initially, it started to settle in a little bit more. But just the fact that you can do it, is still very cool. (I thought I remembered a flamethrower though...guess I was mistaken?) Now, playing as the Arbiter also had me hyped because I believe that's the first time you get to wield the sword which made the whole story just stunning because it starts out with Chief getting recognized for taking down Halo while on the flip side, the Arbiter is being punished for losing Halo. Dare I call this sequel the Shrek 2 of game sequels.
I like how your melee actually brings you to your enemy, rather than smacking and missing all the time, it's a wonder how much these games revolutionized not just the genre, but gaming in general, I can feel its influence. Now I do have a small complaint however, I found that after playing both Reach and OG, this one had the most problems running. It's not awful or anything but there were noticeable moments where it would freeze up which is odd that it would be this one specifically. All in all, I couldn't imagine playing this and then having to wait until Halo 3 with that cliffhanger.
This was my first Zelda game, yeah, I wasn't originally a Nintendo kid, but this game holds a lot for me. It represents my game skill in a way, I mean, I had no idea what I was doing when I first started it, barely got past the first sequence. It was only when I got into high school that I actually tackled it and I was on fire, I got all the way to the water temple and that's when I stopped. No real reason, just daunting. That and I had other things to occupy myself with.
The story is something else. You know something's rich when you can see yourself creating stories and fanfictions in your head from every little aspect and the lush variety of characters. Just the idea of being in that world is enough to be satisfying which is enough to say that you've achieved something great. And because of that, it's satisfying no matter what port you're playing.
In part, some of that is due to its similarities to Ocarina of Time. There were a lot of points where things felt really familiar but I've never gotten that far before but at the same time, in other ways, it challenges your perspective. Take Midna, she's probably one of the most enjoyable companions in the series, they even make it as bold as to say she's the new Zelda. Picture this, a mysterious being, unlike you've ever seen before floats into your cell and offers to help you out but asking for repayment, telling you you're going to be some big hero in the end. Creepy but ok for now, she's on our side and we become human again. They even show how cute she is by having her eek whenever you dash, yawn every once in a while, do little gestures and pat your side when you don't use the controller for a while, she really wins you over.
Well, one of the spirits tells you that this power she seeks (and has been having us get), is probably quite evil so you start to question her methods, maybe she's with the baddie afterall. Then when you finally meet the main baddie (which isn't Ganondorf) face to face after hearing stories of him, he turns you back into a wolf but Midna saves you from death. You feel bad for doubting her and take her where she requests as she's dying, which happens to be off to Zelda who then in turn sacrifices herself because she sees the good in Midna and wants to…for lack of a better term, exploit that and give her light and being so she's no longer trapped in the twilight and can move freely. The same princess that surrendered to the baddie hoping to save Hyrule but only made things worse, where she failed, she saw an opportunity for others to prosper. Midna now having the approval and light of Zelda herself, the name of the game, the one that you know from the other games. That's some A-level commitment and payoff. And there're so many moments like that, that's not even to say the Princess is bad, she's actually one of my favorites.
The gameplay reinvents itself and always shows you something new, you can tell how masterfully crafted it all is just from the opening segment alone and how much it teaches you. It never felt dull or repeitive despite how memory served with the tears of light. I actually almost expected more of that to be honest. And it's a bit of an outdoorsman simulator, canoeing, horseback riding, herding, bug collecting, archery, fishing and let me just say I did not expect snowboarding in my Zelda game today but here we are and I'm in love, how could I not? It can be action packed then cozy. And there's a ton of stuff to collect to reach completion so play time can be anywhere you want.
I understand why they changed Zelda now though, I could see so many of these other elements from other games all basing themselves around Ocarina and its system but since it has most of what I like about Ocarina and most problems I had with it are easy-ish fixes that any updated version would be able to fix then this technically is my number one Zelda game right now and not just that but-
Ok, I'll actually finish the sentence this time because I'm shocked yet scared to admit it. This isn't just my favorite Zelda game now but one of my favorite games of all time, like no joke a top 3 candidate, it's that good. Easy 5/5. I think this is a once in a lifetime game where we may never achieve this type of Zelda game again.
The story is something else. You know something's rich when you can see yourself creating stories and fanfictions in your head from every little aspect and the lush variety of characters. Just the idea of being in that world is enough to be satisfying which is enough to say that you've achieved something great. And because of that, it's satisfying no matter what port you're playing.
In part, some of that is due to its similarities to Ocarina of Time. There were a lot of points where things felt really familiar but I've never gotten that far before but at the same time, in other ways, it challenges your perspective. Take Midna, she's probably one of the most enjoyable companions in the series, they even make it as bold as to say she's the new Zelda. Picture this, a mysterious being, unlike you've ever seen before floats into your cell and offers to help you out but asking for repayment, telling you you're going to be some big hero in the end. Creepy but ok for now, she's on our side and we become human again. They even show how cute she is by having her eek whenever you dash, yawn every once in a while, do little gestures and pat your side when you don't use the controller for a while, she really wins you over.
Well, one of the spirits tells you that this power she seeks (and has been having us get), is probably quite evil so you start to question her methods, maybe she's with the baddie afterall. Then when you finally meet the main baddie (which isn't Ganondorf) face to face after hearing stories of him, he turns you back into a wolf but Midna saves you from death. You feel bad for doubting her and take her where she requests as she's dying, which happens to be off to Zelda who then in turn sacrifices herself because she sees the good in Midna and wants to…for lack of a better term, exploit that and give her light and being so she's no longer trapped in the twilight and can move freely. The same princess that surrendered to the baddie hoping to save Hyrule but only made things worse, where she failed, she saw an opportunity for others to prosper. Midna now having the approval and light of Zelda herself, the name of the game, the one that you know from the other games. That's some A-level commitment and payoff. And there're so many moments like that, that's not even to say the Princess is bad, she's actually one of my favorites.
The gameplay reinvents itself and always shows you something new, you can tell how masterfully crafted it all is just from the opening segment alone and how much it teaches you. It never felt dull or repeitive despite how memory served with the tears of light. I actually almost expected more of that to be honest. And it's a bit of an outdoorsman simulator, canoeing, horseback riding, herding, bug collecting, archery, fishing and let me just say I did not expect snowboarding in my Zelda game today but here we are and I'm in love, how could I not? It can be action packed then cozy. And there's a ton of stuff to collect to reach completion so play time can be anywhere you want.
I understand why they changed Zelda now though, I could see so many of these other elements from other games all basing themselves around Ocarina and its system but since it has most of what I like about Ocarina and most problems I had with it are easy-ish fixes that any updated version would be able to fix then this technically is my number one Zelda game right now and not just that but-
Ok, I'll actually finish the sentence this time because I'm shocked yet scared to admit it. This isn't just my favorite Zelda game now but one of my favorite games of all time, like no joke a top 3 candidate, it's that good. Easy 5/5. I think this is a once in a lifetime game where we may never achieve this type of Zelda game again.
2019
Toradora... I mean, Yakuza Foura.
You start out with a different protag, Shun, and I actually like him, he's just a financial dealer that allies with homeless people, the Yakuza are just stuck in his path for better or worse which I think is nice to set yourself outside of the box for a minute.
It really gives a new perspective on Kamurocho in general because you're no leader of it, you're just a guy that sees trouble all the time. You know of Kazuya but so does everybody else, you know what he's done, you see its effects. For one, you can knock people's teeth out, including your own!
I like that your allies are homeless people. But it goes beyond that, shows just how deep this goes through the eyes of different characters. And man, I understood why people liked Majima but I get more reasons every time, he's not just one thing, he's kind of the unsung protagonist of this saga.
With Saejima, his route (literally) navigation is dumb. It makes sense to venture into the underground but you get twisted all around and it just gets tedious. It made me not want to do the side stuff because I didn't know what route to take, so make sure that you do whatever you're going to do as soon as it's introduced to you, that way you can keep track of it. If not, there's a place at the end of the game before the final battle where it lets you revisit all the characters and their side missions to your leisure, but you still have to follow the weird routes with Saejima.
Now, next is Tanimura who is a 29 yo. Hey, wait, the plot takes place over 25 years so this guy-That's smart, could've been cool if he was born then but to show just how much time has passed to have a whole new generation be in line. This is the part where I decided I was going to take my time with it, I'd spend days doing side-quests and just leveling up because the first two seemed like they were fleeting.
With an action game of this caliber, you begin to see the calm in the eye of the storm. Check out the Hangout or the Cuez Bar in the underground mall where Lyn Inaizumi type music plays. It's nice. Meeting characters like Nair and learning her movesets and story, it's like a story away from the story but good enough to be apart of yours personally.
Lastly, our original protag, Kiryu, that gets roped into this and kind of expands on what happened in Yakuza 1. I would like to see a game expand on what happened while Kiryu was in jail but I do see us getting a ton of spinoffs already so it's probably not far behind.
There are a lot of enemies with batons that I've come to despise and always took me the longest, never learned how to handle them. It's got a weird obsession where it tries to impress you or fake you out. "Uh-oh, someone got shot but did they actually get shot? Or is it a twist murder?"
But this game is in a weird spot for me rank wise because it has the ingredients to be great and perhaps even second favorite so far due to its scheme, story, characters and gameplay toss-up but it's also the most disappointing because it could've used those elements to much greater effect so I can't really say what I prefer it over or if I prefer others over it, I'm in the middle with it and even after a nice break of time to settle my opinion, I feel the same way, so I may just never get over that.
You start out with a different protag, Shun, and I actually like him, he's just a financial dealer that allies with homeless people, the Yakuza are just stuck in his path for better or worse which I think is nice to set yourself outside of the box for a minute.
It really gives a new perspective on Kamurocho in general because you're no leader of it, you're just a guy that sees trouble all the time. You know of Kazuya but so does everybody else, you know what he's done, you see its effects. For one, you can knock people's teeth out, including your own!
I like that your allies are homeless people. But it goes beyond that, shows just how deep this goes through the eyes of different characters. And man, I understood why people liked Majima but I get more reasons every time, he's not just one thing, he's kind of the unsung protagonist of this saga.
With Saejima, his route (literally) navigation is dumb. It makes sense to venture into the underground but you get twisted all around and it just gets tedious. It made me not want to do the side stuff because I didn't know what route to take, so make sure that you do whatever you're going to do as soon as it's introduced to you, that way you can keep track of it. If not, there's a place at the end of the game before the final battle where it lets you revisit all the characters and their side missions to your leisure, but you still have to follow the weird routes with Saejima.
Now, next is Tanimura who is a 29 yo. Hey, wait, the plot takes place over 25 years so this guy-That's smart, could've been cool if he was born then but to show just how much time has passed to have a whole new generation be in line. This is the part where I decided I was going to take my time with it, I'd spend days doing side-quests and just leveling up because the first two seemed like they were fleeting.
With an action game of this caliber, you begin to see the calm in the eye of the storm. Check out the Hangout or the Cuez Bar in the underground mall where Lyn Inaizumi type music plays. It's nice. Meeting characters like Nair and learning her movesets and story, it's like a story away from the story but good enough to be apart of yours personally.
Lastly, our original protag, Kiryu, that gets roped into this and kind of expands on what happened in Yakuza 1. I would like to see a game expand on what happened while Kiryu was in jail but I do see us getting a ton of spinoffs already so it's probably not far behind.
There are a lot of enemies with batons that I've come to despise and always took me the longest, never learned how to handle them. It's got a weird obsession where it tries to impress you or fake you out. "Uh-oh, someone got shot but did they actually get shot? Or is it a twist murder?"
But this game is in a weird spot for me rank wise because it has the ingredients to be great and perhaps even second favorite so far due to its scheme, story, characters and gameplay toss-up but it's also the most disappointing because it could've used those elements to much greater effect so I can't really say what I prefer it over or if I prefer others over it, I'm in the middle with it and even after a nice break of time to settle my opinion, I feel the same way, so I may just never get over that.
2018
The games I wish I grew up with.
"Oh, so you didn't have a PS1?" Oh no, I did, just didn't have any games for it. I've always loved the mascot of Spyro (Crash too) and I can't really think of anybody else who thinks otherwise, whether it's the game or just appreciation for the character in some form or another and Enter the Dragonfly was my first (not even kidding) and it is considered one of the worst, I only played it that once then returned it because it felt stupid to me.
I didn't fall out of it with Spyro though, I always intended to give it another chance but it just got farther and farther. Then Skylanders came out and would you believe it? I was into it. It's not a whole lot of Spyro (but the game itself and voice of Spyro were good) I just consider it a different game. Since then, I've tried A New Beginning, and it was fun at times but still not the experience I wanted and I do plan on continuing the Legend of Spyro but in the mean time...
I have a soft spot for platformers so when Reignited was announced, it was right up my alley...so what stopped me? Well, I heard the complaint that it's a collect-a-thon and that it might not have aged well for fans that haven't played and enjoyed the originals. That shot my expectations in the water then I saw some speed-running and it made me want to give it a try so here I am, finally trying this game out for size. I'll split it up game by game though and look at them on a modern level since it's technically a modern game now.
I love the little pitter-patter of his feet while he's dashing and the little prance he does when you jump and dash at the same time. Make sure you use the D-Pad while you dash though because for some reason, the control stick just doesn't cut tight turns, like at all.
This game adds cool little flips and flaps to the loading screens and I get that it's a redone PS1 game but there's a lot of them, luckily they aren't too long (I imagine having a PS5 may help a lot in that department). I appreciate the transitions from zone to zone as well with that little flip he does before landing. And I don't know who's idea it was to have an installation after the Artisanal area but it's really stupid because apparently there was a demo from preordering it that was just that area and you could upgrade to the full game after that point but I don't see why they didn't just make it a separate file for the people who aren't upgrading from a demo. Now if you're thinking that I played this right after downloading, the answer is no, I didn't. I downloaded it days prior and it was well past finished when I arrived, not to mention I got it digitally, I doubt it's like that on Switch but unfortunately it is for PS4.
I like how the barriers are stone pillars with gems in them which activate a forcefield to keep you from going out of bounds. I love little gameplay explanations like that. I also like the level design, including the hub worlds. There are a lot of things that I miss about older games but a lot of things that I don't. I believe I've seen some people bring this up but the dialogues for the rescued dragons are pretty bland at times, I love seeing just how different each one looks versus just the cookie cutter ones of the original but they'll often just say "I'd like to chat but I have to go." or just a small throwaway line. I know that there are too many to really do much with and how the original game had that dialogue but just a little thing I feel they could've changed if they wanted.
Now that I have more of a grasp on the game, I can say that I enjoy more than I thought I would. I don't get bored just walking around, all the landscapes are different, I love the atmosphere, I like collecting and actually feel compelled to 100% every level, the "aging" problem I originally had before I bought it is gone, I feel like just watching gameplay doesn't cut it, you have to give it your own shot.
Now there are normal stages, boss stages, and flight stages. Flight stages are easily my least favorite, good luck trying to get me to "All-in-One" those because they have a time limit. I expected a simple little game out of it but I got a lot more meat than I expected. I feel like you can just dash through it if you want (which makes for good speedrunning) but I felt compelled to collect, felt compelled to save the dragons, you only need a certain minimum but I almost don't care, I searched every nook and cranny. Boss stages are barely even recognizable as that, they're a breeze for the most part but I like them and I don't feel like it subtracts from the experience not having bosses the way other games would because it's not necessarily combat focused like the latter-day Spyro games.
Now the one boss that I hate is Gnorc and it's for that same reason, he's not a boss, you chase him around. It's not even that I dislike that though, what bugs me is the level because first you have to chase one of those egg thieves because it has a key, you use that key to unlock another door to another egg thief with another key, chase them then use the key to unlock Gnorc. Why is this so terrible? Because if you die on the Gnorc level, you have to start all over and chase those egg thieves again and you do get used to it but it's annoying as heck, give me a checkpoint! There's challenging and then there's annoying, that's annoying, just leave Gnorc on his own because you basically have to memorize the course so you know every which way to go or else you die and when you die, you lose a life and you only have so many in this game. I went the whole thing easily having around 10 lives on hand but this level made me break out the 99 lives cheat because this was the last level! I'm not going back to farm for lives when I'm in Gnorc's realm doing the same level over and over again, trial and error. I felt that for some of the jumps you have to make with the boost pad like in Tree Tops.
Overall it's a nice precursor for Insomniac, I didn't know Spyro did those news sessions like Ratchet and Clank, it's a nice game overall but it left me wanting just a bit more out of it which is why there are 3 in the trilogy that I suppose would build on that as well as a new Spyro probably on the way that should deliver on that even further.
"Oh, so you didn't have a PS1?" Oh no, I did, just didn't have any games for it. I've always loved the mascot of Spyro (Crash too) and I can't really think of anybody else who thinks otherwise, whether it's the game or just appreciation for the character in some form or another and Enter the Dragonfly was my first (not even kidding) and it is considered one of the worst, I only played it that once then returned it because it felt stupid to me.
I didn't fall out of it with Spyro though, I always intended to give it another chance but it just got farther and farther. Then Skylanders came out and would you believe it? I was into it. It's not a whole lot of Spyro (but the game itself and voice of Spyro were good) I just consider it a different game. Since then, I've tried A New Beginning, and it was fun at times but still not the experience I wanted and I do plan on continuing the Legend of Spyro but in the mean time...
I have a soft spot for platformers so when Reignited was announced, it was right up my alley...so what stopped me? Well, I heard the complaint that it's a collect-a-thon and that it might not have aged well for fans that haven't played and enjoyed the originals. That shot my expectations in the water then I saw some speed-running and it made me want to give it a try so here I am, finally trying this game out for size. I'll split it up game by game though and look at them on a modern level since it's technically a modern game now.
I love the little pitter-patter of his feet while he's dashing and the little prance he does when you jump and dash at the same time. Make sure you use the D-Pad while you dash though because for some reason, the control stick just doesn't cut tight turns, like at all.
This game adds cool little flips and flaps to the loading screens and I get that it's a redone PS1 game but there's a lot of them, luckily they aren't too long (I imagine having a PS5 may help a lot in that department). I appreciate the transitions from zone to zone as well with that little flip he does before landing. And I don't know who's idea it was to have an installation after the Artisanal area but it's really stupid because apparently there was a demo from preordering it that was just that area and you could upgrade to the full game after that point but I don't see why they didn't just make it a separate file for the people who aren't upgrading from a demo. Now if you're thinking that I played this right after downloading, the answer is no, I didn't. I downloaded it days prior and it was well past finished when I arrived, not to mention I got it digitally, I doubt it's like that on Switch but unfortunately it is for PS4.
I like how the barriers are stone pillars with gems in them which activate a forcefield to keep you from going out of bounds. I love little gameplay explanations like that. I also like the level design, including the hub worlds. There are a lot of things that I miss about older games but a lot of things that I don't. I believe I've seen some people bring this up but the dialogues for the rescued dragons are pretty bland at times, I love seeing just how different each one looks versus just the cookie cutter ones of the original but they'll often just say "I'd like to chat but I have to go." or just a small throwaway line. I know that there are too many to really do much with and how the original game had that dialogue but just a little thing I feel they could've changed if they wanted.
Now that I have more of a grasp on the game, I can say that I enjoy more than I thought I would. I don't get bored just walking around, all the landscapes are different, I love the atmosphere, I like collecting and actually feel compelled to 100% every level, the "aging" problem I originally had before I bought it is gone, I feel like just watching gameplay doesn't cut it, you have to give it your own shot.
Now there are normal stages, boss stages, and flight stages. Flight stages are easily my least favorite, good luck trying to get me to "All-in-One" those because they have a time limit. I expected a simple little game out of it but I got a lot more meat than I expected. I feel like you can just dash through it if you want (which makes for good speedrunning) but I felt compelled to collect, felt compelled to save the dragons, you only need a certain minimum but I almost don't care, I searched every nook and cranny. Boss stages are barely even recognizable as that, they're a breeze for the most part but I like them and I don't feel like it subtracts from the experience not having bosses the way other games would because it's not necessarily combat focused like the latter-day Spyro games.
Now the one boss that I hate is Gnorc and it's for that same reason, he's not a boss, you chase him around. It's not even that I dislike that though, what bugs me is the level because first you have to chase one of those egg thieves because it has a key, you use that key to unlock another door to another egg thief with another key, chase them then use the key to unlock Gnorc. Why is this so terrible? Because if you die on the Gnorc level, you have to start all over and chase those egg thieves again and you do get used to it but it's annoying as heck, give me a checkpoint! There's challenging and then there's annoying, that's annoying, just leave Gnorc on his own because you basically have to memorize the course so you know every which way to go or else you die and when you die, you lose a life and you only have so many in this game. I went the whole thing easily having around 10 lives on hand but this level made me break out the 99 lives cheat because this was the last level! I'm not going back to farm for lives when I'm in Gnorc's realm doing the same level over and over again, trial and error. I felt that for some of the jumps you have to make with the boost pad like in Tree Tops.
Overall it's a nice precursor for Insomniac, I didn't know Spyro did those news sessions like Ratchet and Clank, it's a nice game overall but it left me wanting just a bit more out of it which is why there are 3 in the trilogy that I suppose would build on that as well as a new Spyro probably on the way that should deliver on that even further.
2010
I wanted to start with my score of 7/10 to show that this isn't such a bad game, I actually had a lot of fun with it but it doesn't come without its flaws and I think I can pinpoint where people may have had problems with it. When I see people saying "You're better off not playing it." I think that's kind of unearned because it's not as bad as people say, the fanbase is a bit whack though, has made them bitter.
I know this is sometimes considered a prequel of sorts but you need to know Super Metroid to get it, it actually takes place afterwards but then has Samus lamenting on her past in the cutscenes.
This has a lot of previous material but one trope that I didn't really see were Space Pirates, I was actually quite relieved because they're considered extinct after Super and I feel like they should remain that way. It also doesn't pay homage to the Chozo in much way at all.
In some ways, I do believe this should've been a prequel to all the games and then maybe I wouldn't hold as much problem with it but other than the little differences, it plays out like an Americanized version. It has the formula of a Hollywood sci-fi movie.
I also felt it necessary to urge you to stick around until after the credits because that ending beforehand is barely even an ending, it left kind of a bad enough taste in my mouth to sour the whole game. There IS another boss. There is another ending so be patient. All in all the story ends up kind of plain and average, a 5/10.
It was quite unexpected the way it plays because you DON'T use the nunchuck, you hold the remote sideways. Now this actually came across pretty good in translation but there are times where you have to have the remote upright to do certain things. But there are separate low-pressure sections where you don't have to be quick about it so you don't have to flip-flop all the time. The one exception are missiles and while it is annoying to switch just for that, I didn't find it that bad.
Speaking of combat, it's quite different, shooting auto-locks enemies so obviously that comes with a few misfires here and there but it still has a lot that the series is known for. You can dodge attacks similar to the parry system in SR/Dread and have finishing melee moves that have these crisp and unique animations. The wall kick is back and I can actually do it this time, you only have to hold the direction towards one wall. So believe it or not, I think there are some things that originated here that carried over into the later games because they were so good.
Beating enemies doesn't give you health but save points do so it's a trade off. You do slowly gain your items back but not for the reasons you might imagine. You see because you're with the federation, you need to follow orders, which means that you have your weapons but they're not authorized to be used by your officer yet. Sometimes it's kind of dumb though because you have this whole section of extreme heat to get through before the commander's like "Oh, yeah, you can activate your Varia suit. I'll allow it." It's a defense, I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed. Since there's no collecting random bits from enemies, you can just reload your missiles anytime, the expansions are just for as much you can hold which is really cool.
The art is pretty good too, seeing Samus clash against these white matte backgrounds and contrast the bright colors of her armor to the dark environments, all the little pieces glow. Sometimes lush. The plasma beam is really satisfying with its green lightning approach. It pushes the Wii to its limit, I had times where it seemed like it couldn't keep up and pop a loading banner at the bottom. That was really only when I was moving faster than it wanted so it wasn't detrimental to the experience, in fact, I was proud. It might not mean anything for today's standards but it still looks pretty good today especially for being a little over 12 years old already.
What I didn't like are the "investigate sections" where it forces you into a first person pov and you have to spot what it is that you're supposed to be looking at. The thing is, there's no real clue most of the time, even the very first one is this little red emblem on the spaceship that shows the federation logo but I never would've guessed that unless I looked it up.
In fact, that was where most of my difficulty came from, just figuring out "what" to do rather than where to do because it shows you where to go a lot more than the other games in my personal opinion. A stark contrast to Super Metroid with doors in your way that you just can't get through. Some people will like that, some people won't. Backtracking is interesting because it's not traditional. In Prime 2, they had those main sections and then a hub connecting them all. This kind of has that with "Sectors", a lot of the time you're not expected to go through the same corridors to get back though, there's usually a new route that just circles around. I didn't collect all the items (missile and health etc) though because it tends to limit where you can't return to. You can't just wander around at any given time, you're normally closed off to just that sector until you finish it. You do revisit sectors but I never felt like I got the chance to collect EVERYTHING until after the game but I didn't really feel I needed to because I felt like I had quite enough already to thrive. So what happens if you do collect everything then? Secret ending? Nope, just a hard mode unlock.
I suppose I was expecting more crazy arcade shooter moments like Prime 3 and while there are a few, I want more! I think there's still an untapped 3rd person Metroid with a 3D environment. But this is a perfectly good game, it has some of the best bosses, some of the best use of its mechanics, it's polished, it doesn't deserve quite as much flack as people make out.
I know this is sometimes considered a prequel of sorts but you need to know Super Metroid to get it, it actually takes place afterwards but then has Samus lamenting on her past in the cutscenes.
This has a lot of previous material but one trope that I didn't really see were Space Pirates, I was actually quite relieved because they're considered extinct after Super and I feel like they should remain that way. It also doesn't pay homage to the Chozo in much way at all.
In some ways, I do believe this should've been a prequel to all the games and then maybe I wouldn't hold as much problem with it but other than the little differences, it plays out like an Americanized version. It has the formula of a Hollywood sci-fi movie.
I also felt it necessary to urge you to stick around until after the credits because that ending beforehand is barely even an ending, it left kind of a bad enough taste in my mouth to sour the whole game. There IS another boss. There is another ending so be patient. All in all the story ends up kind of plain and average, a 5/10.
It was quite unexpected the way it plays because you DON'T use the nunchuck, you hold the remote sideways. Now this actually came across pretty good in translation but there are times where you have to have the remote upright to do certain things. But there are separate low-pressure sections where you don't have to be quick about it so you don't have to flip-flop all the time. The one exception are missiles and while it is annoying to switch just for that, I didn't find it that bad.
Speaking of combat, it's quite different, shooting auto-locks enemies so obviously that comes with a few misfires here and there but it still has a lot that the series is known for. You can dodge attacks similar to the parry system in SR/Dread and have finishing melee moves that have these crisp and unique animations. The wall kick is back and I can actually do it this time, you only have to hold the direction towards one wall. So believe it or not, I think there are some things that originated here that carried over into the later games because they were so good.
Beating enemies doesn't give you health but save points do so it's a trade off. You do slowly gain your items back but not for the reasons you might imagine. You see because you're with the federation, you need to follow orders, which means that you have your weapons but they're not authorized to be used by your officer yet. Sometimes it's kind of dumb though because you have this whole section of extreme heat to get through before the commander's like "Oh, yeah, you can activate your Varia suit. I'll allow it." It's a defense, I don't see why that wouldn't be allowed. Since there's no collecting random bits from enemies, you can just reload your missiles anytime, the expansions are just for as much you can hold which is really cool.
The art is pretty good too, seeing Samus clash against these white matte backgrounds and contrast the bright colors of her armor to the dark environments, all the little pieces glow. Sometimes lush. The plasma beam is really satisfying with its green lightning approach. It pushes the Wii to its limit, I had times where it seemed like it couldn't keep up and pop a loading banner at the bottom. That was really only when I was moving faster than it wanted so it wasn't detrimental to the experience, in fact, I was proud. It might not mean anything for today's standards but it still looks pretty good today especially for being a little over 12 years old already.
What I didn't like are the "investigate sections" where it forces you into a first person pov and you have to spot what it is that you're supposed to be looking at. The thing is, there's no real clue most of the time, even the very first one is this little red emblem on the spaceship that shows the federation logo but I never would've guessed that unless I looked it up.
In fact, that was where most of my difficulty came from, just figuring out "what" to do rather than where to do because it shows you where to go a lot more than the other games in my personal opinion. A stark contrast to Super Metroid with doors in your way that you just can't get through. Some people will like that, some people won't. Backtracking is interesting because it's not traditional. In Prime 2, they had those main sections and then a hub connecting them all. This kind of has that with "Sectors", a lot of the time you're not expected to go through the same corridors to get back though, there's usually a new route that just circles around. I didn't collect all the items (missile and health etc) though because it tends to limit where you can't return to. You can't just wander around at any given time, you're normally closed off to just that sector until you finish it. You do revisit sectors but I never felt like I got the chance to collect EVERYTHING until after the game but I didn't really feel I needed to because I felt like I had quite enough already to thrive. So what happens if you do collect everything then? Secret ending? Nope, just a hard mode unlock.
I suppose I was expecting more crazy arcade shooter moments like Prime 3 and while there are a few, I want more! I think there's still an untapped 3rd person Metroid with a 3D environment. But this is a perfectly good game, it has some of the best bosses, some of the best use of its mechanics, it's polished, it doesn't deserve quite as much flack as people make out.
It has a fair amount of content, more than most other games would give. There's a whole section of the map dedicated to it and feels like a natural part of the game rather than a whole separate section. It also has a fair share of side stuff so if you're worried about amount, it's well worth the 6-10$ you'd spend. I had the expansion pass for Spider-Man PS4 and I think I played this more than any one of those episodes and I'm pretty sure 100%'d 2 out of 3 of those and I didn't even do everything this DLC had to offer, just a good chunk.
Perhaps the biggest upgrade is the spear. You can add mods to your spear now, which I hope stays now and forever because I use close combat whenever I get the chance.
I would suggest playing it during the main campaign of the base game, I started mine around level 33 (which doesn't really gauge where you are in the story) but I think it recommends at least level 30 so I had already finished "The Heart of the Nora" by that time. I was seeing some high level quests (around 40) but I was able to even it out plus you level up pretty quick because they're good for XP. The story doesn't rely on where you are, it's more like the other quests in the game but try to do it before "The Looming Shadow". I mean you can use the stuff exclusive to the dlc in the main game as well, it's all connected so collect your goodies.
I'm going to keep most of the gameplay nuggets a surprise so you can just find out for youself but just know that the final boss was a real pain in the arse. It actually felt plain unfair, I was underpowered and felt underutilized but I have no idea what could've helped me. After I beat it, I looked it up to see how others did it and it seems that spamming the ropecaster and sling helps, both of which I barely used in the game, let alone the boss. They also bought up the "other" exclusive bow for this dlc, which means I apparently chose the wrong one...make good use of your bluegleam.
Overall though, there are 2 very nice side-quests that this DLC offers: Waterlogged and The Survivor. Those were my favorites as well as "some" of the main quest but the quest "Frontier Justice" matters as well if you want to do that (it's not mandatory but you might see why I suggest it later on).
Perhaps the biggest upgrade is the spear. You can add mods to your spear now, which I hope stays now and forever because I use close combat whenever I get the chance.
I would suggest playing it during the main campaign of the base game, I started mine around level 33 (which doesn't really gauge where you are in the story) but I think it recommends at least level 30 so I had already finished "The Heart of the Nora" by that time. I was seeing some high level quests (around 40) but I was able to even it out plus you level up pretty quick because they're good for XP. The story doesn't rely on where you are, it's more like the other quests in the game but try to do it before "The Looming Shadow". I mean you can use the stuff exclusive to the dlc in the main game as well, it's all connected so collect your goodies.
I'm going to keep most of the gameplay nuggets a surprise so you can just find out for youself but just know that the final boss was a real pain in the arse. It actually felt plain unfair, I was underpowered and felt underutilized but I have no idea what could've helped me. After I beat it, I looked it up to see how others did it and it seems that spamming the ropecaster and sling helps, both of which I barely used in the game, let alone the boss. They also bought up the "other" exclusive bow for this dlc, which means I apparently chose the wrong one...make good use of your bluegleam.
Overall though, there are 2 very nice side-quests that this DLC offers: Waterlogged and The Survivor. Those were my favorites as well as "some" of the main quest but the quest "Frontier Justice" matters as well if you want to do that (it's not mandatory but you might see why I suggest it later on).
I bought it because one, it was on sale, and two, I found a mod where someone made an obstacle course using the physics and it looked like a legit parkour game. The physics are indeed very fun, especially the jumping, side flips, front flips, back flips, you name it!
My favorite Star Wars game is Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga, I’m sure most can agree. This would have to be in my top three though, it's really that good, it (overused saying but for lack of something better..) makes you feel like this jedi with crazy amounts of power.
The lightsaber stuff is some that I’ve never seen before, not even in Fallen Order, this game was ambitious for its time, you can slice certain body parts and they’ll go flying off then it will count everything you did by the end of the level (like how many times you threw your lightsaber, body parts taken out, number of times force powers were used, etc.). The lightsaber throwing is better than Fallen Order, I probably did that more than anything. You can also use guns which switches your perspective to FPS, I like that, it adds some variety. Sometimes your lightsaber will leave your hands because a “sith” used the force on it while you threw it so it ends up on the floor and you have to pick it up. I still can’t over that the first level has you cut down a tree to make a bridge.
With Kotor, I had trouble with the audio, this one has it too but it’s a lot better, if the audio is mute upon startup then just go into your game settings and turn EAX either on or off (opposite of what it's at) and it should just turn back to normal. It did crash and sometimes it wouldn’t open but it wasn’t anything unmanageable, I didn’t install any mods ( at the time of making this ) but if you go into your Program Files x86 and open the exe file then it will bring up the install page, you click it, close it out and then right click the program on your desktop and hit open. Seems to always work for me.
Story is pretty simple but not the best, they make it seem like certain planets have more force than others like Hoth since Obi Wan’s ghost was there and Dagobah since Yoda was there which is an excuse to visit some of the more popular places and for that I’m grateful but I don’t think that’s a canon explanation. However, I started it and got super excited because I didn’t know it took place after Rotj, you see this is LUKE’s training academy and I love that idea, not to mention a character that looks like Darth Talon called Alora, I thought maybe it would be the episode 7 we never got from George but I stand corrected.
This has better gameplay than Kotor but Kotor has better story and world building. The story here actually reminds me of something out of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. And not only does this game have Luke in it but it also has Jason Marsden, I'd like to see his character in Jedi Outcast which I will probably buy and play next in my Star Wars lineup. Jaden (the main) tries to quip an awful lot but his voice sounds too serious about it, I get that it's a game so cringy dialogue is more or less a must but still. However, it can be funny, there's a certain enemy that screams when he's dying that sounds like the Tobey Maguire scream, I laugh every time.
One of the cool things is that there is a light and dark ending but it’s not affected by the powers you use, it’s by a certain decision towards the end so you can use force lightning all you want, in fact there’s this level where there are pools of water where you have to fight some sith, fall in the water and you can get shocked really bad but that doubles for them. The last level is kind of dumb because from what I can see and what I did was get that door open and then have to backtrack through most of the level to get back to the door, no shortcut or anything to the next area. Also one more complaint is that the green things are for refilling energy, I don’t think it ever explained that so just a heads up for those who want to get into it.
All in all, I was impressed with this game and it exceeded my expectations. That’s all for the main game, I might cover one of the bigger mods though like MBII.
My favorite Star Wars game is Lego Star Wars: the Complete Saga, I’m sure most can agree. This would have to be in my top three though, it's really that good, it (overused saying but for lack of something better..) makes you feel like this jedi with crazy amounts of power.
The lightsaber stuff is some that I’ve never seen before, not even in Fallen Order, this game was ambitious for its time, you can slice certain body parts and they’ll go flying off then it will count everything you did by the end of the level (like how many times you threw your lightsaber, body parts taken out, number of times force powers were used, etc.). The lightsaber throwing is better than Fallen Order, I probably did that more than anything. You can also use guns which switches your perspective to FPS, I like that, it adds some variety. Sometimes your lightsaber will leave your hands because a “sith” used the force on it while you threw it so it ends up on the floor and you have to pick it up. I still can’t over that the first level has you cut down a tree to make a bridge.
With Kotor, I had trouble with the audio, this one has it too but it’s a lot better, if the audio is mute upon startup then just go into your game settings and turn EAX either on or off (opposite of what it's at) and it should just turn back to normal. It did crash and sometimes it wouldn’t open but it wasn’t anything unmanageable, I didn’t install any mods ( at the time of making this ) but if you go into your Program Files x86 and open the exe file then it will bring up the install page, you click it, close it out and then right click the program on your desktop and hit open. Seems to always work for me.
Story is pretty simple but not the best, they make it seem like certain planets have more force than others like Hoth since Obi Wan’s ghost was there and Dagobah since Yoda was there which is an excuse to visit some of the more popular places and for that I’m grateful but I don’t think that’s a canon explanation. However, I started it and got super excited because I didn’t know it took place after Rotj, you see this is LUKE’s training academy and I love that idea, not to mention a character that looks like Darth Talon called Alora, I thought maybe it would be the episode 7 we never got from George but I stand corrected.
This has better gameplay than Kotor but Kotor has better story and world building. The story here actually reminds me of something out of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. And not only does this game have Luke in it but it also has Jason Marsden, I'd like to see his character in Jedi Outcast which I will probably buy and play next in my Star Wars lineup. Jaden (the main) tries to quip an awful lot but his voice sounds too serious about it, I get that it's a game so cringy dialogue is more or less a must but still. However, it can be funny, there's a certain enemy that screams when he's dying that sounds like the Tobey Maguire scream, I laugh every time.
One of the cool things is that there is a light and dark ending but it’s not affected by the powers you use, it’s by a certain decision towards the end so you can use force lightning all you want, in fact there’s this level where there are pools of water where you have to fight some sith, fall in the water and you can get shocked really bad but that doubles for them. The last level is kind of dumb because from what I can see and what I did was get that door open and then have to backtrack through most of the level to get back to the door, no shortcut or anything to the next area. Also one more complaint is that the green things are for refilling energy, I don’t think it ever explained that so just a heads up for those who want to get into it.
All in all, I was impressed with this game and it exceeded my expectations. That’s all for the main game, I might cover one of the bigger mods though like MBII.
2003
A common complaint about Pokémon is that most of the games seem the same, that it needs a breath of fresh air while also retaining all the past Pokémon. Legends started to remedy that but for me, it was this.
This was my first Pokémon game so it's nice to come back to my roots, a good bit of nostalgia.
You get Umbreon and Espeon at the beginning so I just figured that you buy more Pokémon at the store, I mean the Pokéballs are right there. And since they came in a lot, I expected them to be a surprise. My child mind came up with the gacha system.
But those aren't even Pokéballs, I just thought they were. There's a lore reason as to why they don't have any Pokéballs there though…ITS THE DESERT. Apparently there just aren't any Pokémon to catch around there so there's only one place in the game that actually sells them.
The plot revolves around the Snagems, which have the power to steal Pokémon. One of those…is you. So yes, instead of random encounters, you choose to fight trainers and you can steal their Pokemon. You automatically turn Pokéballs into Snagballs.
They used things like FF7 as inspo to create a more edgy protagonist (that doesn't talk) and shake the game since players were getting older (and they weren't experts on Pokemon in general). There's even a Sephiroth looking fellow.
But the Snatchers can lock away a Pokémon's heart so they can't feel and are just a fighting machine. These are the ones that you can catch but you can also just choose to take them out the old fashioned way. But I felt the catch rate was absurdly lower than any normal Pokémon game. But the story is really good, better than your average "Team whatever is at it again in the quest to be the best" it has some break aways from the formula.
There's no normal build up like gyms, there are stadiums and colosseums, one is fixed fights that you can gain exp from, you can choose to do those one at a time. And the other is a gauntlet of battles between different trainers, (everything is double battles in this game BTW). You also raid bases though too like your average Team Rocket. This makes it seem like battles more or less happen one right after the other in a straight line, leaving me wanting a little more variety but that may just be Pokémon in general and just be more noticeable here.
And because of the no random encounters, being in the desert and all, you don't have to trek from place to place, you just choose on the map as if you had fly, but instead you ride a bike. You don't actually get to control the bike (it had a short development schedule or I'm sure you could have).
I'd mainly play the straight battle mode as a kid because I understood that a little more with both teams getting random Pokémon. Pretty sure the back of the box said 2 players, so I just assumed you plug in another controller and the other player plays as the opposing trainer so I tricked my cousins into thinking they were actually doing something but in reality, it was the AI making all the decisions. I mean they didn't play Pokémon either, they knew what it was but they were Playstation kids. I remember one of them particularly hated Sentret because of how easy he was to beat.
For a 2004 game, it has some pretty good and unique animations like Duskull's light being snuffed out and just the grey sheet falling to the floor. Or Spoink getting all spiral eyed and fainting as the orb rolls from its head. Even some of the trainers. I think that's part of why having Umbreon and Espeon as the main party members was so enjoyable. As a kid, you want to catch them all and don't really get to appreciate it as much but I really felt for Espeon every time she got hit because in my head, these two have personality. Espeon barely got hit but when she did, it just seems to make Umbreon want to hit back more "You can't do that to my girl!" And the way Umbreon's lights flicker, when he gets thrown back, you wonder if his light will come back. It makes you feel for them which I suppose is the lesson here. Also, there's a manga based on it and it uses the exact same idea so I imagine it was deliberate.
Also Espy and Umbry (who I named Noctis and Lunafreya) are both in their 20s level wise at the start so there's no real need to start from scratch but when you catch more Pokémon, they're more or less good until that level cap is surpassed because they don't level up until they're purified. You can stick them in daycare but that's one at a time. Purifying them isn't that bad, I actually find the experience to be enjoyable because you have to get them to listen to you so it's not an immediate trainer and pet relationship so you'll have to rely on Espy and Umbry more than anything. But there are a good variety of ways to get the shadow meter down. Also, the battles more or less always aimed for Espeon over Umbreon which I thought was the level difference but then I got Espeon to surpass Umbreon so I have no clue what the AI was thinking.
There are certain things that slow the game down like walk speed and the time it takes for the animations, especially throwing your Pokémon out to begin but I'm going to chalk that up to age. Also, there's no reason Rui couldn't be the one to carry the second Pokémon in team battles, it'd give her a little more to do than just follow you around but again, an all around great story for a Pokémon game, would really like to see it represented in the anime similar to Chronicles and Origins.
This was my first Pokémon game so it's nice to come back to my roots, a good bit of nostalgia.
You get Umbreon and Espeon at the beginning so I just figured that you buy more Pokémon at the store, I mean the Pokéballs are right there. And since they came in a lot, I expected them to be a surprise. My child mind came up with the gacha system.
But those aren't even Pokéballs, I just thought they were. There's a lore reason as to why they don't have any Pokéballs there though…ITS THE DESERT. Apparently there just aren't any Pokémon to catch around there so there's only one place in the game that actually sells them.
The plot revolves around the Snagems, which have the power to steal Pokémon. One of those…is you. So yes, instead of random encounters, you choose to fight trainers and you can steal their Pokemon. You automatically turn Pokéballs into Snagballs.
They used things like FF7 as inspo to create a more edgy protagonist (that doesn't talk) and shake the game since players were getting older (and they weren't experts on Pokemon in general). There's even a Sephiroth looking fellow.
But the Snatchers can lock away a Pokémon's heart so they can't feel and are just a fighting machine. These are the ones that you can catch but you can also just choose to take them out the old fashioned way. But I felt the catch rate was absurdly lower than any normal Pokémon game. But the story is really good, better than your average "Team whatever is at it again in the quest to be the best" it has some break aways from the formula.
There's no normal build up like gyms, there are stadiums and colosseums, one is fixed fights that you can gain exp from, you can choose to do those one at a time. And the other is a gauntlet of battles between different trainers, (everything is double battles in this game BTW). You also raid bases though too like your average Team Rocket. This makes it seem like battles more or less happen one right after the other in a straight line, leaving me wanting a little more variety but that may just be Pokémon in general and just be more noticeable here.
And because of the no random encounters, being in the desert and all, you don't have to trek from place to place, you just choose on the map as if you had fly, but instead you ride a bike. You don't actually get to control the bike (it had a short development schedule or I'm sure you could have).
I'd mainly play the straight battle mode as a kid because I understood that a little more with both teams getting random Pokémon. Pretty sure the back of the box said 2 players, so I just assumed you plug in another controller and the other player plays as the opposing trainer so I tricked my cousins into thinking they were actually doing something but in reality, it was the AI making all the decisions. I mean they didn't play Pokémon either, they knew what it was but they were Playstation kids. I remember one of them particularly hated Sentret because of how easy he was to beat.
For a 2004 game, it has some pretty good and unique animations like Duskull's light being snuffed out and just the grey sheet falling to the floor. Or Spoink getting all spiral eyed and fainting as the orb rolls from its head. Even some of the trainers. I think that's part of why having Umbreon and Espeon as the main party members was so enjoyable. As a kid, you want to catch them all and don't really get to appreciate it as much but I really felt for Espeon every time she got hit because in my head, these two have personality. Espeon barely got hit but when she did, it just seems to make Umbreon want to hit back more "You can't do that to my girl!" And the way Umbreon's lights flicker, when he gets thrown back, you wonder if his light will come back. It makes you feel for them which I suppose is the lesson here. Also, there's a manga based on it and it uses the exact same idea so I imagine it was deliberate.
Also Espy and Umbry (who I named Noctis and Lunafreya) are both in their 20s level wise at the start so there's no real need to start from scratch but when you catch more Pokémon, they're more or less good until that level cap is surpassed because they don't level up until they're purified. You can stick them in daycare but that's one at a time. Purifying them isn't that bad, I actually find the experience to be enjoyable because you have to get them to listen to you so it's not an immediate trainer and pet relationship so you'll have to rely on Espy and Umbry more than anything. But there are a good variety of ways to get the shadow meter down. Also, the battles more or less always aimed for Espeon over Umbreon which I thought was the level difference but then I got Espeon to surpass Umbreon so I have no clue what the AI was thinking.
There are certain things that slow the game down like walk speed and the time it takes for the animations, especially throwing your Pokémon out to begin but I'm going to chalk that up to age. Also, there's no reason Rui couldn't be the one to carry the second Pokémon in team battles, it'd give her a little more to do than just follow you around but again, an all around great story for a Pokémon game, would really like to see it represented in the anime similar to Chronicles and Origins.
1991
Forgive me if I compare this to Metroid.
Since I revisited Metroid and it becoming one of my favorite franchises, I figured I'd do the same with Castlevania. I think this is another one of those instances where you need to start with the right game, I guess mine just so happened to be Super Castlevania 4. Why so specific? Because I didn't want to go too early with the original 1-3 on NES and this was closer to a remake of the first one.
Now I've tried Castlevania 64 and it seemed different but just not my thing, everything placed felt deliberate. Then I tried Aria of Sorrow and I had no idea what I was doing, I still kind of don't but at least with this game, I don't really have to worry about taking the wrong path. Why? Because this game is split into stages.
I think this is a cool decision because it allows for a variety of different scenarios. Now this is a harder game so enemies can pop up out of nowhere. Imagine a rushing river that's slowly pushing you wherever it wants or maybe a cave where the stalagmite falls on you or a mansion with creaky stairs, a graveyard with hands that grab you so spiders can shoot their babies at you. That's just so cool. In this game, atmosphere is everything and it nails it pretty well. I never really felt like I was doing the same things, I felt like I was progressing to whatever was ahead except I had no idea what was ahead, there was no way to tell because a book could fly off the shelf and attack you for all I know, it challenged what I thought I knew. Normally I wouldn't like that but I found it a lot more digestible with this entry and would snicker at what I ended up finding. Now, I never could've played this on a console because I'd be all screwed up redoing stages with a set amount of lives, losing too much health and whatnot, still a baby on that front.
As far as gameplay, there isn't a separate button to aim diagonally, it's just built into the stick so that threw me off at first but you can control the whip pretty good. There really isn't an upgrade system which isn't necessarily a bad thing either, you can get the metal whip frequently from one of the candles which works a bit better but that's about it, nothing's permanent so it feels like you're actually scavenging for the treasure.
Items aren't carried per say, candles hold most of the items like an axe, a boomerang, a knife, health items and so on but those weapons can only be carried one at a time so be cautious of what you pick up. You can also pick up money which gives you a better score and sort of makes you feel like a treasure hunter in Drac's mansion. Yes, there's a score which is measured by your time, enemy kills and so on but it isn't indicative of an ending, in fact, there's only one with this game specifically.
A few things I didn't like are that you can't jump or crouch on stairs. Something I hated about the original Metroid as well is that the end level is a gauntlet, well same applies here. But I will say that I learned a ton of new tricks just from that level alone, I just wish it would've come sooner (it's not the game's fault, but it didn't exactly make it obvious). But yeah, really solid title, I look forward to branching out to other entries even if this is a little bit of a lone wolf in its category.
Since I revisited Metroid and it becoming one of my favorite franchises, I figured I'd do the same with Castlevania. I think this is another one of those instances where you need to start with the right game, I guess mine just so happened to be Super Castlevania 4. Why so specific? Because I didn't want to go too early with the original 1-3 on NES and this was closer to a remake of the first one.
Now I've tried Castlevania 64 and it seemed different but just not my thing, everything placed felt deliberate. Then I tried Aria of Sorrow and I had no idea what I was doing, I still kind of don't but at least with this game, I don't really have to worry about taking the wrong path. Why? Because this game is split into stages.
I think this is a cool decision because it allows for a variety of different scenarios. Now this is a harder game so enemies can pop up out of nowhere. Imagine a rushing river that's slowly pushing you wherever it wants or maybe a cave where the stalagmite falls on you or a mansion with creaky stairs, a graveyard with hands that grab you so spiders can shoot their babies at you. That's just so cool. In this game, atmosphere is everything and it nails it pretty well. I never really felt like I was doing the same things, I felt like I was progressing to whatever was ahead except I had no idea what was ahead, there was no way to tell because a book could fly off the shelf and attack you for all I know, it challenged what I thought I knew. Normally I wouldn't like that but I found it a lot more digestible with this entry and would snicker at what I ended up finding. Now, I never could've played this on a console because I'd be all screwed up redoing stages with a set amount of lives, losing too much health and whatnot, still a baby on that front.
As far as gameplay, there isn't a separate button to aim diagonally, it's just built into the stick so that threw me off at first but you can control the whip pretty good. There really isn't an upgrade system which isn't necessarily a bad thing either, you can get the metal whip frequently from one of the candles which works a bit better but that's about it, nothing's permanent so it feels like you're actually scavenging for the treasure.
Items aren't carried per say, candles hold most of the items like an axe, a boomerang, a knife, health items and so on but those weapons can only be carried one at a time so be cautious of what you pick up. You can also pick up money which gives you a better score and sort of makes you feel like a treasure hunter in Drac's mansion. Yes, there's a score which is measured by your time, enemy kills and so on but it isn't indicative of an ending, in fact, there's only one with this game specifically.
A few things I didn't like are that you can't jump or crouch on stairs. Something I hated about the original Metroid as well is that the end level is a gauntlet, well same applies here. But I will say that I learned a ton of new tricks just from that level alone, I just wish it would've come sooner (it's not the game's fault, but it didn't exactly make it obvious). But yeah, really solid title, I look forward to branching out to other entries even if this is a little bit of a lone wolf in its category.
I had this game as a kid and I thought it was so hard so I never got anywhere but found it cool that you had these characters in a mansion environment, if only I could actually play it.
Those feelings of "it's too hard" kind of turned into "it's a cheap licensed game" after I figured out what that is over time so I just never tried playing it again. I even looked up some reviews of all the Scooby games at one point which none really seemed all that savory. Then one day, I was looking for some Scooby related clothes I could buy and couldn't find what I was looking for, nothing that said "medieval" or "ghost" and nothing said that more than the cover of this game, it always struck me as a kid. Like something out of a Goosebumps book.
So I went back to the source, this game. I got all three Gamecube games, starting with Night of 100 Frights because that cover always interested me since Charlie was on it but I never got to play it but ugh were the controls annoying, going too slow with walking speed, too fast with running and the sound effects repeated constantly. I ended up shutting it off and trying a different one first, because why not.
One thing I saw consistent in the reviews was that the opening cutscene is always a really nice homage but it seemed like all the Scooby games did that so it lost its novelty. With that said, with how cheesy the story and cutscenes are, it does feel like a Scooby Doo game, even the movements. There can be some overly long animations like climbing up on a crate but all in all it controls better than Night...why is that though?
It's not perfect but I think part of it is the mansion itself and how it's laid out. You're in close quarters but with enough variety and obstacles to not seem bland. Night wasn't bland, it was just more open so you can collect Scooby-Snacks so its faults were a lot more noticeable. In fact, the whole gameplay style has changed, rather than being a copy and paste, your goal isn't to collect Scooby Snacks, it's to, well, I'll let Velma explain it-
Sneaking is something that took me a long time to get over in games and it was Metal Gear Solid that made me finally get there but this isn't really a stealth game because you get this book that lets you absorb enemies into it using rapid presses of whatever button comes on screen.
So, no, it's not as hard as it was as a kid but that's because I made it harder than it had to be, I didn't understand that type of game yet or that you "could" be spotted by ghosts, just had to bypass them. I won't spoil the level variety but they just get longer from there. There are different sections of them and it does decent enough with pointing you in the right direction so you don't get lost and there are frequent save points but they're just longer winded is all. I'm convinced I never could've done those vehicle sections as a kid though, those gave me a run NOW.
It still falls for licensed game traps, especially using the same voice actors, hearing the same voice lines and sound effects over and over. They switch some up for the specific level you're on but like I said, those levels get longer. Sometimes they play over cutscene dialogue too. But all in all a decent experience that was never boring, I'm convinced enough to check out Night again and Unmasked now too.
Those feelings of "it's too hard" kind of turned into "it's a cheap licensed game" after I figured out what that is over time so I just never tried playing it again. I even looked up some reviews of all the Scooby games at one point which none really seemed all that savory. Then one day, I was looking for some Scooby related clothes I could buy and couldn't find what I was looking for, nothing that said "medieval" or "ghost" and nothing said that more than the cover of this game, it always struck me as a kid. Like something out of a Goosebumps book.
So I went back to the source, this game. I got all three Gamecube games, starting with Night of 100 Frights because that cover always interested me since Charlie was on it but I never got to play it but ugh were the controls annoying, going too slow with walking speed, too fast with running and the sound effects repeated constantly. I ended up shutting it off and trying a different one first, because why not.
One thing I saw consistent in the reviews was that the opening cutscene is always a really nice homage but it seemed like all the Scooby games did that so it lost its novelty. With that said, with how cheesy the story and cutscenes are, it does feel like a Scooby Doo game, even the movements. There can be some overly long animations like climbing up on a crate but all in all it controls better than Night...why is that though?
It's not perfect but I think part of it is the mansion itself and how it's laid out. You're in close quarters but with enough variety and obstacles to not seem bland. Night wasn't bland, it was just more open so you can collect Scooby-Snacks so its faults were a lot more noticeable. In fact, the whole gameplay style has changed, rather than being a copy and paste, your goal isn't to collect Scooby Snacks, it's to, well, I'll let Velma explain it-
Sneaking is something that took me a long time to get over in games and it was Metal Gear Solid that made me finally get there but this isn't really a stealth game because you get this book that lets you absorb enemies into it using rapid presses of whatever button comes on screen.
So, no, it's not as hard as it was as a kid but that's because I made it harder than it had to be, I didn't understand that type of game yet or that you "could" be spotted by ghosts, just had to bypass them. I won't spoil the level variety but they just get longer from there. There are different sections of them and it does decent enough with pointing you in the right direction so you don't get lost and there are frequent save points but they're just longer winded is all. I'm convinced I never could've done those vehicle sections as a kid though, those gave me a run NOW.
It still falls for licensed game traps, especially using the same voice actors, hearing the same voice lines and sound effects over and over. They switch some up for the specific level you're on but like I said, those levels get longer. Sometimes they play over cutscene dialogue too. But all in all a decent experience that was never boring, I'm convinced enough to check out Night again and Unmasked now too.
2017
Yeah, this is the one with the door meme.
Graphics are improved from Kiwami 1 but the animations are still a bit stiff at times since it's based on a PS2 game. I liked the map of the first game and I got used to it but this one has a new map plus visitation to the old map so in my opinion, that automatically makes it better.
It's been about a year since I played Kiwami, as well as a year in-game, so what's new? Vending machines. Some new mini games. It doesn't show its hand at first but I feel like it adds a lot of new content, maybe not on the combat side of things but everything surrounding it makes it feel like a more complete experience.
You can fight in the stores and tear stuff up. And if you do, you can't buy from there until its cleaned up. I actually kinda like that detail even if it can be inconvenient, it gives you reason to control the situation but almost makes me WANT to bring thugs into places just to be chaotic.
The interface has changed a little but I can't tell if it's clearer or not, I'm indifferent. There are also side jobs now which act as side quests, like being a bouncer which basically acts as a Collesseum. You can even manage a cabaret. These aren't really mandatory but fun little additions and give more initiative to do more side stuff.
The story feels like where it would naturally go but I do feel that the setting can be changed. We spend just a little too much time in Kamurocho compared to Sotenbori. I've seen and fought in a lot of these places and while the scenes and setups are different...do we need another funeral fight? In fact it goes out of its way to include it because it starts with a small skirmish then has you leave and go back to town, so sure, ok, they know that it's similar but then it has you come right back once the funeral is over and do the run sequence and boss 😂 I'll admit that it's a shorter sequence than last time and doesn't take place at the very beginning though. It also made for one of my favorite fights thus far. He used a sword, I used a knife and still kicked his arse.
It has some really good shots but it feels the need to keep reiterating itself and telling the viewer what they're seeing. There's a scene at the beginning where it shows a sign to show you the setting (in Japanese mind you, so I can only assume it said Sotenbori but it looked cool!) then pans down to Kiryu, it then flashes back to just before then with the woman telling him about her son, explaining why he's there and then it shows the sign AGAIN and pans down to Kiryu in a different manner than before. It's like they had scenes in mind but weren't sure which perspective to use so they just use both. This doesn't really affect the story, just the visual nature and sometimes makes the characters seem dense. For another example, there's a time where someone mentions 'fireworks' in a cutscene and then Kiryu basically goes "I wonder what that means" and then he hears a commotion and is like "Must be the fireworks." Then they show an explosion on TV "Those must be the fireworks." No dip Sherlock, I think the audience can put that together. I'm viewing this from a movie standpoint because there are so many cutscenes (which isn't a problem but you're going to bring out another critique in me) I talked about how bored I was with Xenoblade's cutscenes, this isn't quite at that level but while this game drags sometimes, it has some really good highlights.
I'll be honest, I was against playing Yakuza 0 whenever I started this series because it just looked overrated but now I think the more of these games that I play, the more I wouldn't mind playing it. Especially seeing clips of it in the karaoke (and maybe seeing that Yuki is in both)
As far as length goes, I spent about 17 hours on the first Kiwami and while I did do more side-quests with this one, I never would've expected it would put me over 26 hours! So really, this game improves on the last one in almost every aspect, making it the superior model.
Graphics are improved from Kiwami 1 but the animations are still a bit stiff at times since it's based on a PS2 game. I liked the map of the first game and I got used to it but this one has a new map plus visitation to the old map so in my opinion, that automatically makes it better.
It's been about a year since I played Kiwami, as well as a year in-game, so what's new? Vending machines. Some new mini games. It doesn't show its hand at first but I feel like it adds a lot of new content, maybe not on the combat side of things but everything surrounding it makes it feel like a more complete experience.
You can fight in the stores and tear stuff up. And if you do, you can't buy from there until its cleaned up. I actually kinda like that detail even if it can be inconvenient, it gives you reason to control the situation but almost makes me WANT to bring thugs into places just to be chaotic.
The interface has changed a little but I can't tell if it's clearer or not, I'm indifferent. There are also side jobs now which act as side quests, like being a bouncer which basically acts as a Collesseum. You can even manage a cabaret. These aren't really mandatory but fun little additions and give more initiative to do more side stuff.
The story feels like where it would naturally go but I do feel that the setting can be changed. We spend just a little too much time in Kamurocho compared to Sotenbori. I've seen and fought in a lot of these places and while the scenes and setups are different...do we need another funeral fight? In fact it goes out of its way to include it because it starts with a small skirmish then has you leave and go back to town, so sure, ok, they know that it's similar but then it has you come right back once the funeral is over and do the run sequence and boss 😂 I'll admit that it's a shorter sequence than last time and doesn't take place at the very beginning though. It also made for one of my favorite fights thus far. He used a sword, I used a knife and still kicked his arse.
It has some really good shots but it feels the need to keep reiterating itself and telling the viewer what they're seeing. There's a scene at the beginning where it shows a sign to show you the setting (in Japanese mind you, so I can only assume it said Sotenbori but it looked cool!) then pans down to Kiryu, it then flashes back to just before then with the woman telling him about her son, explaining why he's there and then it shows the sign AGAIN and pans down to Kiryu in a different manner than before. It's like they had scenes in mind but weren't sure which perspective to use so they just use both. This doesn't really affect the story, just the visual nature and sometimes makes the characters seem dense. For another example, there's a time where someone mentions 'fireworks' in a cutscene and then Kiryu basically goes "I wonder what that means" and then he hears a commotion and is like "Must be the fireworks." Then they show an explosion on TV "Those must be the fireworks." No dip Sherlock, I think the audience can put that together. I'm viewing this from a movie standpoint because there are so many cutscenes (which isn't a problem but you're going to bring out another critique in me) I talked about how bored I was with Xenoblade's cutscenes, this isn't quite at that level but while this game drags sometimes, it has some really good highlights.
I'll be honest, I was against playing Yakuza 0 whenever I started this series because it just looked overrated but now I think the more of these games that I play, the more I wouldn't mind playing it. Especially seeing clips of it in the karaoke (and maybe seeing that Yuki is in both)
As far as length goes, I spent about 17 hours on the first Kiwami and while I did do more side-quests with this one, I never would've expected it would put me over 26 hours! So really, this game improves on the last one in almost every aspect, making it the superior model.