Intensely solid game that has aged surprisingly well in terms of its mechanics and gameplay loop, filled with nice visuals and some bumpin' music to keep you company. Unfortunately, draw distance issues and sometimes-finnicky camera (I wish you could HOLD L1 to keep the camera centered on Spike) bog the game down, lest we not forget some painful enemies. Toward the end of the game, projectiles and aggressive monkeys are just thrown at you relentlessly at points and it gets obnoxious fast. The final level also takes about an hour, and this is with me saving time with save states, I can't imagine trying to deal with this on real hardware.

I can't say this is one of those games held together with glue and sticks, because it's much too intricate and well-thought-out, elegantly simple to its core. If nothing else, this perhaps pushes the PlayStation and any accepted theories on how to design a 3D platformer to the limit. It's a good thing the franchise wouldn't stay here for long...

I actually played this on an emulator because I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to also try playing it with a controller. Blazed through the base game in about two hours total and got silver and gold stars on most levels, but then I got the final zone and the boss made me want to punch something. It actually ended up taking me longer to beat that boss than it did to get to that point. I ended up becoming frustrated and used save states to beat it because no way was I going to take all the time to start the game again from the title screen, navigate through the hub world, fight the penultimate boss (which would cost me a life or two), and then finally lose to some bullshit rng. I've also already beaten it multiple times before as a kid. It's a fine Sonic game but that last boss is not really worth it. All the other levels are pretty fun though, and the music SLAPS. Fantastic soundtrack.

what an incredibly charming game. going into the game blind allowed me to enjoy the story to its fullest, and i felt legitimate tension during the plot-related cutscenes because i had no clue what was going to happen. the gameplay is non-punishing which allowed for a relaxing playthrough at almost all times. the snax themselves were so incredibly creative and adorable that i actually took the time to 100% the game and catch all of them. though the game's strength partially lies in its brevity, i couldn't help but wish for more because i enjoyed the setting, characters, and gameplay so much.

Played through on "I'm Too Young to Die". The epic conclusion to the Slayer's saga definitely feels like an epic conclusion. Although shorter and relatively easier than The Ancient Gods Part 1, it still delivers even more incredible maps, fantastic cutscenes, new demons (some of which are more annoying than cool but whatever), and a new weapon. Its presentation is amazing, the final level is more epic than anything I've played in recent memory aside from Dark Souls 3 and Horizon Zero Dawn. The final boss is no pushover, but feels great once you get the pattern down. The ending you'll have to see for yourself, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm excited for what Id has in store next.

Radios, ghosts, and coming-of-age. Oxenfree is a narrative indie title with elements of a walking simulator, a puzzle game, and a choose-your-own-adventure that follows a group of high school friends and acquaintances as they take a ferry to an island for a weekend party, and end up uncovering the island's mysterious secrets.

Dialogue is a near constant throughout the game, as much of the primary narrative - and backstory - is given to us through the many conversations the characters have. One of the primary gameplay elements is the option to choose what Alex, the protagonist, says during these conversations. The other element is the radio.
The radio-scanning mechanic is something pretty unique to this game. It's used to progress the plot, unlock doors, and gather bits of optional lore scattered throughout the game. Sometimes finding the key points on the scanner can be a bit tedious, especially when you feel like you're supposed to be in a high-stakes situation. For me, I had a bug that caused my controller to vibrate constantly unless I re-opened the scanner and turned through a few channels, and then put it away.
Every other mechanic in this game isn't as interesting. In fact, the movement often seems sluggish and cumbersome, which makes some sections a bore.

Narratively, this game is solid. It's not the greatest narrative I've been told through a video game, but it was intriguing, and the writing and voice acting was done well enough that I got invested in the characters and what they were going through. It's a thoughtful coming-of-age story with elements of mystery and the supernatural, which is a mixture I really want to explore more of.
The music was atmospheric at most, and didn't stand out to me too much, though I did enjoy what I heard.

Overall, Oxenfree was a middling game for me. It wasn't great, but it also wasn't bad. If you have a weekend with not much to do, give this game a shot. It's definitely worth trying!

Like the lovechild of Dead Space and BioShock (but more similar to System Shock if we're being really specific), Prey is an immersive sim that takes place in space, aboard Talos I, where you play as Morgan Yu, a scientist and the vice president and Director of Research of TranStar Industries.
You're given a variety of tools and weapons to use at your disposal, including mind powers inherited from the alien race you fight against in-game. Your arsenal allows for open-ended gameplay and gives the player opportunities to be creative in the ways they approach the challenges within.
It's mechanically ingenious, and the gameplay loop is very satisfying. The graphics are beautiful, seeing as the game was made in CryEngine. The world is well crafted and the narrative is solid. Characters are well-written and have exceptional voice acting. Enemies are diverse and require a varied array of tactics to kill or incapacitate each one. The music, done by Mick Gordon (the genius behind the iconic Doom soundtracks), is very atmospheric and does a good job setting the mood. Overall, it's a very good game.
However, where it falls short is in its polish. Sometimes after exiting a menu, I would try sprinting and it would instead open up the Steam overlay. Enemy AI would sometimes stop being intelligent and just break during encounters. The game crashed a handful of times. The end of the game seemed especially buggy, as I had two questlines bug out on me, and during Alex's cutscene where he gives you the fabrication plan for the Prototype Nullwave Transmitter, his character model freaked out and started trying to walk in all directions at once. Saving Dahl was a pain, as he kept dying for no reason, and I left him for dead several times until at one point, randomly, the quest worked and I saved him. Afterward, I had to reload the game a few times to get a fabricator to work properly so I could craft said Nullwave Transmitter.
Aside from that, most other frustrating situations mainly were due to me failing to properly prepare myself or just being unlucky and ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even just trying to rush things and ending up paying the price.
There is a difficulty setting, so if you feel like it's too hard, you can tone it down, or crank it up if you want maximum punishment.
Length wise, I feel it can overstay its welcome, but only by a bit. I did some extra quests, so my playtime was at an inflated 22 hours compared to the standard 17 on HowLongToBeat.
If you like BioShock/System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, or other immersive sims, it's very likely you'll thoroughly enjoy this one.

Sony's take on a Mario 3D World-like game leaves a bit to be desired. Sackboy moves too slow and sluggish where it feels like a chore getting through some of the levels. Then other levels can make it really difficult to see the depth of Sackboy leading to a lot of frustrating restarts. The worlds themselves are at least pretty unique and the visuals are nice as everything is made out of craft materials, all running at a smooth 60fps. Music wasn't my favorite, the use of pop songs felt a bit strange in a game like this but it was neat how the level was synced to the music.

Overall it's an alright 3D platformer.

Honestly, it amazes me the talent and budget in this Jackbox Pack. It is almost certainly the best Pack yet, with quality in every single game. So, I will now rank all of the games.

5. Blather 'Round: Surprisingly, this Trivia game with eyes on the clock is the most relaxed game in this entire pack. While it's great fun, that's all it is - it does little in comparison to the rest of the games in this pack.
8/10

4. The Devils and The Details: A great, hectic cooperative game, with the brilliant twist that it actually isn't that cooperative. The mechanics of the game are perfectly made to balance out working together and working alone with selfish intentions, but unfortunately, the tasks aren't as fun as they could be - rather than quick-fire WarioWare games, they can feel very low-key like actual chores. They're still great though.
8.5/10

3. Quiplash 3: Hey, #3 for number 3! This is still Quiplash, and it's still a brilliantly fun and quippy time. The additions make it a great sequel, with gorgeous playdough animation and a fun, thought-prompting Thriplash for the final round. It's more or less the same thing, but that's good.
9/10

2. Champ'd Up: They really went all out on the music - it sounds like stadium music, but five times better! The game itself is a much improvement on TeeKo, with the fighter and underdog mechanic making the round quite close, with one opponent knowing the criteria and the other knowing how to follow up the other's drawing. There is a pesky glitch in the presentation of the drawings on the TV, so I hope they fix that.
9/10

1. Talking Points: This might just be my favourite Jackbox Game of all time. It's like Patently Stupid, but you have no idea what you're presenting, and that's actually way better. Even the audience has fun watching the presentations, and the assistant role is surprisingly fun as well. I actually looked forward to assisting the presenter by deciding on slides!
Unfortunately, this does have the glaring flaw of the points handed out by the awards at the end - this little, joke award basically wins the entire game, so I hope they patch that out.
10/10

Overall Score: 5/5. The perfect digital board game collection.