2002
Everything from the level select map, the home hub, the in game arcade where you can unlock old pacman games, music, level design. It's by far peak Pac-Man outside of arcades. The way it's all presented just adds a lot to the universe in a way no other game in the series really does for me. It's a completionist's nightmare but I wouldn't have it any other way. Not often does it feel this good to actually find everything in a level.
The auto scrolling underwater shooting level is absolutely miserable. It single handedly destroys the pacing near the end of the game. If you're thinking about putting a ten minute long auto scroller in your game, I urge you to reconsider. I'm usually a big defender of water levels in games but EESH.
Difficulty balancing gets a bit inconsistent near the end which I can see bothering a lot of people but I can't say I mind very much. It's funny how dramatically the challenge in bosses changes between worlds. One guy will likely slay through dozens of lives and the next will be a pushover. I'm just glad one of these Pac-Man World games has some teeth, there's something to really dig into and enjoy and overcome here. 1's just so standard and 3's a joyless husk. This one's sick tho.
Would love to see some of the arcade classics try their hand at adapting to the modern era like this more often again. They all had a pretty spotty track record in doing so but when they hit they go hard.
The auto scrolling underwater shooting level is absolutely miserable. It single handedly destroys the pacing near the end of the game. If you're thinking about putting a ten minute long auto scroller in your game, I urge you to reconsider. I'm usually a big defender of water levels in games but EESH.
Difficulty balancing gets a bit inconsistent near the end which I can see bothering a lot of people but I can't say I mind very much. It's funny how dramatically the challenge in bosses changes between worlds. One guy will likely slay through dozens of lives and the next will be a pushover. I'm just glad one of these Pac-Man World games has some teeth, there's something to really dig into and enjoy and overcome here. 1's just so standard and 3's a joyless husk. This one's sick tho.
Would love to see some of the arcade classics try their hand at adapting to the modern era like this more often again. They all had a pretty spotty track record in doing so but when they hit they go hard.
2022
Never made it far in the original so this was mostly all new to me. From what I hear, it's mostly pretty faithful. Bosses seem to be updated for the better. I dramatically prefer the OG cutscenes though. It's impossible to match the quality and energy of old FMV's in unity. A lot of the game being tied to a high score felt lame and outdated on the PS1 let alone on the PS5. They could have at least thrown in some online leaderboards of some sort if not a proper ranking system.
Thankfully though the games got a decent achievements list which made that aspect not let the collectibles feel too worthless, as 100% was fun enough.
Level design is pretty standard and gets a bit repetitive at points. A lot of back and forth seeing locked doors, getting the fruit to unlock them shortly later and backtracking to open the door. The new bosses were pretty good as far as old 3D platformers go.
I like that this remake exists more than I really care for this game specifically. The theming and overall design don't really do a whole lot for me. It's consistently extremely safe in its level design and doesn't offer much challenge. But this is a good remake of an okay game. Even with the remake's improvements it's nowhere near as good as Pac-Man World 2 though.
Thankfully though the games got a decent achievements list which made that aspect not let the collectibles feel too worthless, as 100% was fun enough.
Level design is pretty standard and gets a bit repetitive at points. A lot of back and forth seeing locked doors, getting the fruit to unlock them shortly later and backtracking to open the door. The new bosses were pretty good as far as old 3D platformers go.
I like that this remake exists more than I really care for this game specifically. The theming and overall design don't really do a whole lot for me. It's consistently extremely safe in its level design and doesn't offer much challenge. But this is a good remake of an okay game. Even with the remake's improvements it's nowhere near as good as Pac-Man World 2 though.
2022
Taking place in the portal universe and telling a brief, fun story while utilizing a lot of the unique features of the Steam Deck is cool. But comparing it to other launch games that serve as tech demos, it's a bit disappointing that this one has absolutely zero replay value or any actual game attached.
Stuff like Astros Playroom not only serve to show off how cool the PS5 could be if it got games, but it lasts as a legitimate game to think back on and maybe return to once and a while. Then you start thinking of other launch games that are technically tech demos like Luigi's mansion, or the iconic Wii Sports. Mario 64 counts right? Or gee, Half-Life Alyx.
I never thought about any of this while playing, it's truly fine for what it is and was never aiming to be the next Wii Sports or whatever. It's well made and packed with fun little details. But the first game you're meant to play on a brand new console is usually such a huge momentous occasion. It's just that this is a slightly interactive short film. And what's worse I'm not really sure this does a great job showing the extent of how versatile the Steam Deck really is. Woulda been kinda sick for this to be a minigame collection simulating tons of different genres you might not immediately think about running on the Steam Deck. There's certainly more scenarios you'll be using the touch screen outside of scribbling your name down, but that's all this tech demo has to show you on that topic. Nothing's given much focus, but they'll spend half of the 30 minute run time on showing off very standard gun controls. Nice that they highlighted gyro controls at least, that should be a standard option across the industry and anyone saying otherwise is stuck in the early 2010's. Feels a tad creatively bankrupt to be making a console as flexible as the Steam Deck and half your tech demo is -hold left trigger to aim and pull right trigger to shoot-
Perhaps it's a bit silly to really go in an criticize something like this. It's a free lil' bonus thing that I can't say I'm really upset with or anything. But it's really one of the most nothing launch title tech demos out there. Which is tragic 'cuz the Steam Deck itself is by far the best modern console by a longshot. Can't say I really needed this game to show me I could press one of the 4 face buttons to have something happen in-game lol.
Stuff like Astros Playroom not only serve to show off how cool the PS5 could be if it got games, but it lasts as a legitimate game to think back on and maybe return to once and a while. Then you start thinking of other launch games that are technically tech demos like Luigi's mansion, or the iconic Wii Sports. Mario 64 counts right? Or gee, Half-Life Alyx.
I never thought about any of this while playing, it's truly fine for what it is and was never aiming to be the next Wii Sports or whatever. It's well made and packed with fun little details. But the first game you're meant to play on a brand new console is usually such a huge momentous occasion. It's just that this is a slightly interactive short film. And what's worse I'm not really sure this does a great job showing the extent of how versatile the Steam Deck really is. Woulda been kinda sick for this to be a minigame collection simulating tons of different genres you might not immediately think about running on the Steam Deck. There's certainly more scenarios you'll be using the touch screen outside of scribbling your name down, but that's all this tech demo has to show you on that topic. Nothing's given much focus, but they'll spend half of the 30 minute run time on showing off very standard gun controls. Nice that they highlighted gyro controls at least, that should be a standard option across the industry and anyone saying otherwise is stuck in the early 2010's. Feels a tad creatively bankrupt to be making a console as flexible as the Steam Deck and half your tech demo is -hold left trigger to aim and pull right trigger to shoot-
Perhaps it's a bit silly to really go in an criticize something like this. It's a free lil' bonus thing that I can't say I'm really upset with or anything. But it's really one of the most nothing launch title tech demos out there. Which is tragic 'cuz the Steam Deck itself is by far the best modern console by a longshot. Can't say I really needed this game to show me I could press one of the 4 face buttons to have something happen in-game lol.
I'm usually very confident when I come to say why I don't really care for a game. But something about this game just never clicked with me, and I don't definitively know why? I've beat this on both Xbox and Steam deck with close to a year gap between them. And idk, just kind of, everything about it makes me feel nothing? I'm normally very good at stating what's objectively bothering me about a game, but here a lot of it feels not only subjective, but I also feel that I'm wrong for feeling that way.
Like for example the graphics and artstyle. I look at it and find nothing wrong with it, it looks great and all but I'm for some reason just not in love with how it looks. Maybe I don't like the super detailed landscapes in conjunction with the very metroidvania gamey platformer level design with no foreground? It's just kinda flat. Most of the enemies don't really have strong visual designs, maybe it's just that the world itself isn't grabbing me. The whole thing feels weirdly minimalistic which is at odds with how stylish it presents itself. I'm kinda just thinking out loud here.
Then there's the save system. You put your own save points down. Which is another area where I'm left thinking negatively and yet I think objectively this is my fault and I'm wrong. It's so frustrating losing all progress since your last save, which is a totally indefinite amount of time. Doesn't help a lot of your deaths feel very sudden and perhaps, not entirely your fault. Could do a few minutes of easy platforming, nothing is really happening so saving hasn't entered my mind, oh instant death from something you couldn't really see coming. Then you're annoyed at having to redo so much so you rush it and make more mistakes. And I'm just like mannnn, the level design isn't really that fun as it is now I'm having to replay it all 'cuz Ori dies if a stick cracks under him too hard - And it feels extra bad 'cuz it's actually my fault I didn't place a better checkpoint when I had the chance. Had this same problem in Demon Turf, but it's even worse here considering this isn't just an A to B level based platformer.
On a less negative note, I'll defend the combat. I'm all about non-conventional game design these days and conceptually I don't have anything wrong with it. Allowing you to constantly do damage while on the move allows the focus to be on your own positioning. You can dodge projectiles and dance around enemies as you take them down. Feels really good once it's upgraded too. But then the topic of enemy design comes up and I find they don't really take advantage of what this combat would allow them to most of the time. And half the time you're dying to enemies just because their projectiles blend into the background or the way they move isn't really well defined. So like seemingly everything in this game, it's fine but leaves me feeling nothing if not slightly annoyed.
Skill trees, I just don't like 'em conceptually. They're a game design crutch that rarely truly adds to any game. That said, in the context of a metroidvania, I'd rather find EXP chunks that help me get my next level up as opposed to say, my 35th missile upgrade so I guess it's fine here.
The escape sequences and moments with the owl are mostly pretty sick at least. Makes me wish more of the game was full of memorable set pieces. Maybe that's my problem. The game puts out the vibes of a modern cinematic story driven experience, but most of the time you're solving basic puzzles and killing blobs in nondescript locations. Like you're just grinding through standard metroidvania nothing level design just waiting for something cool to happen again. The heights the game reaches so thoroughly outclasses ANYTHING you're doing for 90% of the runtime, and they're so good while featuring almost nothing the rest of the game has you doing. No setting your own checkpoints, just a well crafted dedicated platforming section that says "do this from beginning to end". No random enemies put there just so the empty room won't feel empty, any enemies are explicitly there to move the section forward in a meaningful way. No handholdy exploration where you're looking for exp orbs to level up your skill tree so you can choose which part of the game to make even easier (including just showing you on the map where collectibles are)
Yeah, I think that's what it is. The best moments in the game are thoroughly disconnected from how the entire rest of the game is designed. There's completely wordless, effective storytelling? Great! Why does most of the game not lean into that and instead have Navi follow you around saying nothing of worth. Striking visuals are great, but most of the game you're spending it looking at absolutely nothing. It's got the ability to be a fast paced and engaging platformer with memorable levels, but most of the time you're navigating pretty unremarkable areas that aren't really that fun to explore anyway. With potentially horrendous pacing issues if you forget to place a single checkpoint. It's got nonconventional combat, which is rad, but it's also got a skill tree full of combat upgrades, which is extremely conventional. And none of what you can upgrade really matters all that much, if at all, during the sections I actually really like. Ori is an indie game darling, but actually it's funded by one of the biggest corporations in the world making it feel a tad overproduced in areas.
Dunno, I understand you gotta have peaks and valleys, it can't all be bombastic action set pieces. But I just find the metroidvania style isn't playing into the huge strengths this game shows it can reach. At least, that's what I figure. Like I said for some reason it's hard for me to talk definitively on this game, heck I completely forgot I beat it a second time just last month - I'm mostly trying to explain to myself why I don't "get it" 'cuz I don't like just saying -eh it's just not for me-
I just can't help looking at this game and listening to its soundtrack and thinking "Am I a heckin' buffoon of a monster for not really liking this?" The ost really drives this feeling home like, it's playing all the right notes, with all the right instruments, it's a huge emotional production through and through. But all I can say coming out of it is that almost none of the music really stuck with me, just kinda blends together and 99% of the time means nothing to me.
I can recognize this is a beautifully made game with a boatload of love and effort put into it, which is more than I can say for a lot of games I don't care for. Normally if I don't like something I definitively tear into it and call out every area that went horribly wrong -even if I understand why the game has its fans, as I do here-. But In this case, it's a game that feels a lot less than the sum of its parts. I just don't feel anything towards this game beyond liking the core themes of the story. Idk, I usually have very strong thoughts I love to actively discuss and defend, but this is a whole lot of yappin' to say I don't really have much to say about this game. It's like, okay I guess.
Like for example the graphics and artstyle. I look at it and find nothing wrong with it, it looks great and all but I'm for some reason just not in love with how it looks. Maybe I don't like the super detailed landscapes in conjunction with the very metroidvania gamey platformer level design with no foreground? It's just kinda flat. Most of the enemies don't really have strong visual designs, maybe it's just that the world itself isn't grabbing me. The whole thing feels weirdly minimalistic which is at odds with how stylish it presents itself. I'm kinda just thinking out loud here.
Then there's the save system. You put your own save points down. Which is another area where I'm left thinking negatively and yet I think objectively this is my fault and I'm wrong. It's so frustrating losing all progress since your last save, which is a totally indefinite amount of time. Doesn't help a lot of your deaths feel very sudden and perhaps, not entirely your fault. Could do a few minutes of easy platforming, nothing is really happening so saving hasn't entered my mind, oh instant death from something you couldn't really see coming. Then you're annoyed at having to redo so much so you rush it and make more mistakes. And I'm just like mannnn, the level design isn't really that fun as it is now I'm having to replay it all 'cuz Ori dies if a stick cracks under him too hard - And it feels extra bad 'cuz it's actually my fault I didn't place a better checkpoint when I had the chance. Had this same problem in Demon Turf, but it's even worse here considering this isn't just an A to B level based platformer.
On a less negative note, I'll defend the combat. I'm all about non-conventional game design these days and conceptually I don't have anything wrong with it. Allowing you to constantly do damage while on the move allows the focus to be on your own positioning. You can dodge projectiles and dance around enemies as you take them down. Feels really good once it's upgraded too. But then the topic of enemy design comes up and I find they don't really take advantage of what this combat would allow them to most of the time. And half the time you're dying to enemies just because their projectiles blend into the background or the way they move isn't really well defined. So like seemingly everything in this game, it's fine but leaves me feeling nothing if not slightly annoyed.
Skill trees, I just don't like 'em conceptually. They're a game design crutch that rarely truly adds to any game. That said, in the context of a metroidvania, I'd rather find EXP chunks that help me get my next level up as opposed to say, my 35th missile upgrade so I guess it's fine here.
The escape sequences and moments with the owl are mostly pretty sick at least. Makes me wish more of the game was full of memorable set pieces. Maybe that's my problem. The game puts out the vibes of a modern cinematic story driven experience, but most of the time you're solving basic puzzles and killing blobs in nondescript locations. Like you're just grinding through standard metroidvania nothing level design just waiting for something cool to happen again. The heights the game reaches so thoroughly outclasses ANYTHING you're doing for 90% of the runtime, and they're so good while featuring almost nothing the rest of the game has you doing. No setting your own checkpoints, just a well crafted dedicated platforming section that says "do this from beginning to end". No random enemies put there just so the empty room won't feel empty, any enemies are explicitly there to move the section forward in a meaningful way. No handholdy exploration where you're looking for exp orbs to level up your skill tree so you can choose which part of the game to make even easier (including just showing you on the map where collectibles are)
Yeah, I think that's what it is. The best moments in the game are thoroughly disconnected from how the entire rest of the game is designed. There's completely wordless, effective storytelling? Great! Why does most of the game not lean into that and instead have Navi follow you around saying nothing of worth. Striking visuals are great, but most of the game you're spending it looking at absolutely nothing. It's got the ability to be a fast paced and engaging platformer with memorable levels, but most of the time you're navigating pretty unremarkable areas that aren't really that fun to explore anyway. With potentially horrendous pacing issues if you forget to place a single checkpoint. It's got nonconventional combat, which is rad, but it's also got a skill tree full of combat upgrades, which is extremely conventional. And none of what you can upgrade really matters all that much, if at all, during the sections I actually really like. Ori is an indie game darling, but actually it's funded by one of the biggest corporations in the world making it feel a tad overproduced in areas.
Dunno, I understand you gotta have peaks and valleys, it can't all be bombastic action set pieces. But I just find the metroidvania style isn't playing into the huge strengths this game shows it can reach. At least, that's what I figure. Like I said for some reason it's hard for me to talk definitively on this game, heck I completely forgot I beat it a second time just last month - I'm mostly trying to explain to myself why I don't "get it" 'cuz I don't like just saying -eh it's just not for me-
I just can't help looking at this game and listening to its soundtrack and thinking "Am I a heckin' buffoon of a monster for not really liking this?" The ost really drives this feeling home like, it's playing all the right notes, with all the right instruments, it's a huge emotional production through and through. But all I can say coming out of it is that almost none of the music really stuck with me, just kinda blends together and 99% of the time means nothing to me.
I can recognize this is a beautifully made game with a boatload of love and effort put into it, which is more than I can say for a lot of games I don't care for. Normally if I don't like something I definitively tear into it and call out every area that went horribly wrong -even if I understand why the game has its fans, as I do here-. But In this case, it's a game that feels a lot less than the sum of its parts. I just don't feel anything towards this game beyond liking the core themes of the story. Idk, I usually have very strong thoughts I love to actively discuss and defend, but this is a whole lot of yappin' to say I don't really have much to say about this game. It's like, okay I guess.
1995
This game has absolutely zero market appeal, which is based as hec. A Tetris style puzzle game where you gotta connect intestinal tubes, trying to make them as long and twisty as possible before capping them off at every orifice. (Tho if you accidentally leave a single hole open and unreachable, the entire tract is now unusable save for the fairy coming along to mine some trash meat away if you manage to summon her)
A lot slower and methodical than a lot of games in the genre, and extremely punishing for any minor mistakes to compensate. Bit of an RNG nightmare at later levels but it do feel good to burst a digestive tract you just spent 4 minutes piecing together. It's like if Tetris let you clear the ENTIRE map from top to bottom instead of just 4 lines at max. But yeah when it starts spawning 3 pieces at once it can get pretty rough.
Perhaps just about any other game in the genre is more worth your time, but I like to think there's room for the unusual and unloved. Virtual Lab somehow has the Virtual Boy itself beat in those two categories. This game practically doesn't even exist. It's got obscene rarity due to the Virtual Boy being cancelled before it got to come out properly. So that's pretty cool. For what it is, it works and I don't have much bad to say about it. Nothing to really praise beyond the vile concept free of any tiring tropes. No marketable plushies or standard conventions here - connect those intestines with the trademark black and red VB visuals, a repetitive soundtrack that isn't exactly coherently written, and uh, not much else.
Somehow managed to get to level 33 after leaving the game on for 7 days and playing off and on. A year later someone beat my record by hitting 35. Borderline unplayable this many stages in but there's something to be said about the challenge of overcoming something that wasn't even designed to be beaten. A visceral connection very few well designed games can match.
If this dropped tomorrow on Steam or any other digital shop, it would be a breath of fresh air to me. I'm just so tired man, I've resorted to playing Virtual Lab because at every turn you're bombarded with "Gather materials and craft tools, build your base and survive the harsh randomly generated landscapes in this early access open world" Bro I don't got time for that I'm busy crafting intestines I can't be bothered to be picking up wood and stones I've moved on man.
A lot slower and methodical than a lot of games in the genre, and extremely punishing for any minor mistakes to compensate. Bit of an RNG nightmare at later levels but it do feel good to burst a digestive tract you just spent 4 minutes piecing together. It's like if Tetris let you clear the ENTIRE map from top to bottom instead of just 4 lines at max. But yeah when it starts spawning 3 pieces at once it can get pretty rough.
Perhaps just about any other game in the genre is more worth your time, but I like to think there's room for the unusual and unloved. Virtual Lab somehow has the Virtual Boy itself beat in those two categories. This game practically doesn't even exist. It's got obscene rarity due to the Virtual Boy being cancelled before it got to come out properly. So that's pretty cool. For what it is, it works and I don't have much bad to say about it. Nothing to really praise beyond the vile concept free of any tiring tropes. No marketable plushies or standard conventions here - connect those intestines with the trademark black and red VB visuals, a repetitive soundtrack that isn't exactly coherently written, and uh, not much else.
Somehow managed to get to level 33 after leaving the game on for 7 days and playing off and on. A year later someone beat my record by hitting 35. Borderline unplayable this many stages in but there's something to be said about the challenge of overcoming something that wasn't even designed to be beaten. A visceral connection very few well designed games can match.
If this dropped tomorrow on Steam or any other digital shop, it would be a breath of fresh air to me. I'm just so tired man, I've resorted to playing Virtual Lab because at every turn you're bombarded with "Gather materials and craft tools, build your base and survive the harsh randomly generated landscapes in this early access open world" Bro I don't got time for that I'm busy crafting intestines I can't be bothered to be picking up wood and stones I've moved on man.
2022
A lot of my problems with this game are things lifted from Splatoon 2, and tripled down on. As a quick recap - 2's Maps are smaller and WAY more focused on nonstop PVP. Splatoon as a concept was designed originally for people who weren't really into traditional shooters, the maps in the original game were big enough to give you breathing room and genuinely strategize on how to help your team even if you couldn't 1v4 the enemy. Now in 3 maps are so cramped that some barely even feature floors to heckin ink dude. It's a nonstop teamfight and it sucks. I was never this actively frustrated playing 1 or even 2 despite the problem cropping up there. Even games where my team ends up winning I find I'm just straight up not having any fun.
Sploon 3's improvements are small but felt really cool at first. The lobby is nice, not locking hairstyles to gender is HUGE for making the male inkling a viable aesthetic choice. The hub is unnecessarily large which is nice coming off of 2's miniscule hub. Salmon run is more properly integrated and feels worth playing now. There's more to unlock than ever with a rotating free battle pass and daily loot box along with a fully customizable locker.
But at the end of the day, I find I'm only playing for worthless FOMO content. They really have us out here grinding for 50+ hours for a dabbing emote, png's, and objects to put in your locker that do absolutely nothing. Man having 2 of these games on the same console already really harshes the "keep it FRESH" counter culture anti-online shooter nature the series was founded on...But if I'm gonna be grinding out meaningless slop content I'd probably genuinely have a better time playing one of this game's contemporaries that have got this trash down to a science. Another splatoon comes and goes and I'm still a bit let down by how few stand out character customization options there are. Ten years of them drip feeding just a morsel of new pants and hairstyle options and almost nothing else has me going delirious.
And while I enjoy Salmon run's implementation more here...What the hecc is big run? I kept hearing people clamoring for it for a few months and we finally get it and it's just Salmon Run but on one of the turf war maps? Is this where we are that we're waiting months for lazy asset flip content? I just don't get it.
Complete with a fourth campaign that I've lost any and all tolerance for. An absolute snoozefest that's supposedly taking after the octo expansion? Idk, the octo expansion was already taking after base splatoon 2, which was "inspired" by the nothing single player of the original game. Batting 0 for 4 with no legitimate improvements here had me feeling burnt out and not wanting to even finish the incredibly short campaign. It's got some actual boss fights so it's better than octo expansion I guess, can't say I remember anything about any of 'em besides one of them being a mario sunshine reference - Love when mid games reference significantly better games to inject artificially positive feelings~ The lore additions aren't as interesting as Octo Expansion though so eh it's really whatever.
Splatoon 2 was carried for me by Pearl and Marina, their dialogue/dynamic made the Splatfests fun to participate in. I didn't even once use any of the crystal mushroom things you get, I just enjoyed playing 'em for the sake of it. That and the devs basically admitted they ruined turf war by making the only good turf war maps exclusive to the splatfests. They were a highlight of 2 that gave me the fun I needed to have positive associations with the game. This time around there's no splatfest exclusive maps, so even these events are hurt by the pvp first focus that Splatoon as a concept was designed to not be about. And I really tried but I just can't get into the new idols. I barely even know what they're babbling about half the time and I find their dialogue pretty dry and I don't really closely identify with any of them enough to fight for their side. The prompts are pretty mid and the system doesn't seem very well thought out as they've had to change it four times already. There was criticism towards how 2's victor was handled but I never felt like what I did didn't matter like in 3. 2's results being rigged was more of a conspiracy theory and in-joke than legitimate major design issues that hurt the experience much. Just like the normal game itself, Sploon 3 has me annoyed and feeling empty even when I do win. For the first time I found myself actively not caring when a Splatfest came around. I've done a handful of them but the tri battles aren't strong enough in their implementation to carry how nothing the rest of the experience is now. In 1 and 2 I always tried so hard to participate in as many splatfests as possible, rarely missing one. But 3? Yawn. Callie and Marie are sisters, Pearl and Marina are all but confirmed dating (I'm not usually a shipping type but I love these 2), but these 3 feel like co-workers that are at most throwing very surface level competitive jabs, not able to really cut very deep at any point. Pearl and Marina would get so fired up but these 3 sometimes can't even decide what side they themselves want to be on. 2's so quotable and full of lines that catch you off guard. 3's dialogue feels so phoned in and devoid of stakes.
Hec they let you skip the news now so that's probably why they put less effort into a good localization. Gamers just wanna grind their CONTENT they don't want EFFORT just let them GRIND. Genuinely any change to make the majority happy is a bad decision when it comes to gaming. I remember people debating the Japanese culture of curated experiences when the original game came out. America likes to preach the customer is always right, but anyone who's worked anywhere can tell you, they most certainly are not. I'll take a nonconventional approach made to give a legitimate experience over something that sheepishly gives into peer pressure and gives us nothing. Make Splatoon 4's news screens twice as long as 2's to filter out half the audience please. They've got restaurants in Japan where you have to literally catch your own fish before it gets cooked. Americans above the age of 40 can't even handle self check out machines that have been around for 20 years man don't listen to us.
The idea that I've just outgrown the series popped into my head so when I went to go visit my family I dug out their now extremely crusty, disheveled wiiU who's gamepad can NOT hold a charge to save its life...And I just had a blast playing the original game. Instead of the unfun uphill 1v4 feeling of modern Splatoon I was inking the walls and strategizing and flanking. With maps and weapons that were expansive enough to foster a healthy level of direct combat instead of it being the ENTIRE focus...And without all the slop slapped on to justify the existence of a sequel it just felt like a coherent experience instead of a complete chaotic mess. I wasn't just hopelessly grinding battle passes like any other generic online game...I was just playing because it was inherently fun, because the first Sploon was made to be the exact opposite of the unfun state online shooters had found themselves in. Watched a compilation of all the Splatfest debates 2 had and it was consistently a joy to revisit, and I'm so glad I was there to play them all live. I have my problems with 2 but it was a really fun game to follow. Here we are at the third installment and not only is it not fresh anymore, the series itself has forgotten why it was made to begin with and became what it used to stand against.
On a somewhat positive note I guess, I'll never understand the universal hatred Nintendo's online gets. Obviously it varies on location I'm sure and I don't wanna completely white knight them. It's a topic that warrants its own focused essay to properly do justice...But in most cases Nintendo's online works just fine. If it was truly anywhere near as bad as reputation would imply the Switch itself would never have popped off, a huge percentage of the library is online-first in its focus and the games are good BECAUSE the online is there. Like yeah they're missing some standard conventions in a lot of cases but if I wanna play mario kart online I can do that, same with mario party, tennis, smash, splatoon. It literally just works. Tends to be pretty no frills attached but Nintendo has ALWAYS competed with a high amount of actual games to play. 20$ a year with the Switch's lineup is giving a lot more value than over three times the cost on the competitor's side. That said sploon 3 succ I genuinely prefer Foamstars by a landslide 'boutta drop 100$ to play that online for a year or something 'cuz my PSPlus expired this month and I sad that I'm stucc with sploon 3 when Foamstars is a much better designed game in almost every way. But uh, +1 to the online working perfectly fine, Nintendo's online is no different than any of the other guys. I say as an American who's pretty sure we have some of the most genuinely trash internet options in the world in a lot of states.
Oh yeah they added some card mode thing. Was kinda into it and was waiting for them to add online matchmaking to it. Don't think that even ended up happening, so yawn.
Also dog did they really announce paid DLC that lets you use the hub world from the first game and then you'd have to wait a whole year for yet another mediocre single player experience? Was that any good? Dunno if I'll ever bother with it 'cuz this series really just gets worse every time they put out more content. Idk if I've just lost all tolerance but updates for this game in general really felt abysmally slow. Less dripfeed over a long time and more...absolutely nothing for months then the updates don't feel big enough to warrant the wait. I'll prolly look into it soon 'cuz Chaos winning the final splatfest in the previous game felt like it was leading up to something really exciting. Pearl went on about how things staying the same predictable thing is LAME. Leading into the most safe, inoffensive game in the series is such a missed opportunity. Splatoon 2's canonical ending we all fought for was an excuse for 3 to be completely insane and change everything. Then maybe it wouldn't have been such a nothing sequel fighting an uphill battle to justify itself.
-You're a kid now, you're a focus tested milked dry franchise with all positive qualities drained out noooowwww, you're a kid now, you're a-
Sploon 3's improvements are small but felt really cool at first. The lobby is nice, not locking hairstyles to gender is HUGE for making the male inkling a viable aesthetic choice. The hub is unnecessarily large which is nice coming off of 2's miniscule hub. Salmon run is more properly integrated and feels worth playing now. There's more to unlock than ever with a rotating free battle pass and daily loot box along with a fully customizable locker.
But at the end of the day, I find I'm only playing for worthless FOMO content. They really have us out here grinding for 50+ hours for a dabbing emote, png's, and objects to put in your locker that do absolutely nothing. Man having 2 of these games on the same console already really harshes the "keep it FRESH" counter culture anti-online shooter nature the series was founded on...But if I'm gonna be grinding out meaningless slop content I'd probably genuinely have a better time playing one of this game's contemporaries that have got this trash down to a science. Another splatoon comes and goes and I'm still a bit let down by how few stand out character customization options there are. Ten years of them drip feeding just a morsel of new pants and hairstyle options and almost nothing else has me going delirious.
And while I enjoy Salmon run's implementation more here...What the hecc is big run? I kept hearing people clamoring for it for a few months and we finally get it and it's just Salmon Run but on one of the turf war maps? Is this where we are that we're waiting months for lazy asset flip content? I just don't get it.
Complete with a fourth campaign that I've lost any and all tolerance for. An absolute snoozefest that's supposedly taking after the octo expansion? Idk, the octo expansion was already taking after base splatoon 2, which was "inspired" by the nothing single player of the original game. Batting 0 for 4 with no legitimate improvements here had me feeling burnt out and not wanting to even finish the incredibly short campaign. It's got some actual boss fights so it's better than octo expansion I guess, can't say I remember anything about any of 'em besides one of them being a mario sunshine reference - Love when mid games reference significantly better games to inject artificially positive feelings~ The lore additions aren't as interesting as Octo Expansion though so eh it's really whatever.
Splatoon 2 was carried for me by Pearl and Marina, their dialogue/dynamic made the Splatfests fun to participate in. I didn't even once use any of the crystal mushroom things you get, I just enjoyed playing 'em for the sake of it. That and the devs basically admitted they ruined turf war by making the only good turf war maps exclusive to the splatfests. They were a highlight of 2 that gave me the fun I needed to have positive associations with the game. This time around there's no splatfest exclusive maps, so even these events are hurt by the pvp first focus that Splatoon as a concept was designed to not be about. And I really tried but I just can't get into the new idols. I barely even know what they're babbling about half the time and I find their dialogue pretty dry and I don't really closely identify with any of them enough to fight for their side. The prompts are pretty mid and the system doesn't seem very well thought out as they've had to change it four times already. There was criticism towards how 2's victor was handled but I never felt like what I did didn't matter like in 3. 2's results being rigged was more of a conspiracy theory and in-joke than legitimate major design issues that hurt the experience much. Just like the normal game itself, Sploon 3 has me annoyed and feeling empty even when I do win. For the first time I found myself actively not caring when a Splatfest came around. I've done a handful of them but the tri battles aren't strong enough in their implementation to carry how nothing the rest of the experience is now. In 1 and 2 I always tried so hard to participate in as many splatfests as possible, rarely missing one. But 3? Yawn. Callie and Marie are sisters, Pearl and Marina are all but confirmed dating (I'm not usually a shipping type but I love these 2), but these 3 feel like co-workers that are at most throwing very surface level competitive jabs, not able to really cut very deep at any point. Pearl and Marina would get so fired up but these 3 sometimes can't even decide what side they themselves want to be on. 2's so quotable and full of lines that catch you off guard. 3's dialogue feels so phoned in and devoid of stakes.
Hec they let you skip the news now so that's probably why they put less effort into a good localization. Gamers just wanna grind their CONTENT they don't want EFFORT just let them GRIND. Genuinely any change to make the majority happy is a bad decision when it comes to gaming. I remember people debating the Japanese culture of curated experiences when the original game came out. America likes to preach the customer is always right, but anyone who's worked anywhere can tell you, they most certainly are not. I'll take a nonconventional approach made to give a legitimate experience over something that sheepishly gives into peer pressure and gives us nothing. Make Splatoon 4's news screens twice as long as 2's to filter out half the audience please. They've got restaurants in Japan where you have to literally catch your own fish before it gets cooked. Americans above the age of 40 can't even handle self check out machines that have been around for 20 years man don't listen to us.
The idea that I've just outgrown the series popped into my head so when I went to go visit my family I dug out their now extremely crusty, disheveled wiiU who's gamepad can NOT hold a charge to save its life...And I just had a blast playing the original game. Instead of the unfun uphill 1v4 feeling of modern Splatoon I was inking the walls and strategizing and flanking. With maps and weapons that were expansive enough to foster a healthy level of direct combat instead of it being the ENTIRE focus...And without all the slop slapped on to justify the existence of a sequel it just felt like a coherent experience instead of a complete chaotic mess. I wasn't just hopelessly grinding battle passes like any other generic online game...I was just playing because it was inherently fun, because the first Sploon was made to be the exact opposite of the unfun state online shooters had found themselves in. Watched a compilation of all the Splatfest debates 2 had and it was consistently a joy to revisit, and I'm so glad I was there to play them all live. I have my problems with 2 but it was a really fun game to follow. Here we are at the third installment and not only is it not fresh anymore, the series itself has forgotten why it was made to begin with and became what it used to stand against.
On a somewhat positive note I guess, I'll never understand the universal hatred Nintendo's online gets. Obviously it varies on location I'm sure and I don't wanna completely white knight them. It's a topic that warrants its own focused essay to properly do justice...But in most cases Nintendo's online works just fine. If it was truly anywhere near as bad as reputation would imply the Switch itself would never have popped off, a huge percentage of the library is online-first in its focus and the games are good BECAUSE the online is there. Like yeah they're missing some standard conventions in a lot of cases but if I wanna play mario kart online I can do that, same with mario party, tennis, smash, splatoon. It literally just works. Tends to be pretty no frills attached but Nintendo has ALWAYS competed with a high amount of actual games to play. 20$ a year with the Switch's lineup is giving a lot more value than over three times the cost on the competitor's side. That said sploon 3 succ I genuinely prefer Foamstars by a landslide 'boutta drop 100$ to play that online for a year or something 'cuz my PSPlus expired this month and I sad that I'm stucc with sploon 3 when Foamstars is a much better designed game in almost every way. But uh, +1 to the online working perfectly fine, Nintendo's online is no different than any of the other guys. I say as an American who's pretty sure we have some of the most genuinely trash internet options in the world in a lot of states.
Oh yeah they added some card mode thing. Was kinda into it and was waiting for them to add online matchmaking to it. Don't think that even ended up happening, so yawn.
Also dog did they really announce paid DLC that lets you use the hub world from the first game and then you'd have to wait a whole year for yet another mediocre single player experience? Was that any good? Dunno if I'll ever bother with it 'cuz this series really just gets worse every time they put out more content. Idk if I've just lost all tolerance but updates for this game in general really felt abysmally slow. Less dripfeed over a long time and more...absolutely nothing for months then the updates don't feel big enough to warrant the wait. I'll prolly look into it soon 'cuz Chaos winning the final splatfest in the previous game felt like it was leading up to something really exciting. Pearl went on about how things staying the same predictable thing is LAME. Leading into the most safe, inoffensive game in the series is such a missed opportunity. Splatoon 2's canonical ending we all fought for was an excuse for 3 to be completely insane and change everything. Then maybe it wouldn't have been such a nothing sequel fighting an uphill battle to justify itself.
-You're a kid now, you're a focus tested milked dry franchise with all positive qualities drained out noooowwww, you're a kid now, you're a-
It's at this point where I really fall off Splatoon as a series and just do not see eye to eye with popular opinion anymore. I'm absolutely in love with what this expansion presents itself as. Sploon's single player campaigns always left more to be desired. They were basically just shooter versions of Mario 3D world type game design with some decent boss fights at best. Base game 2 not growing from where 1 started at ALL felt aggressively lame in that regard. So here comes a very stylish expansion that seems to finally deliver the true single player splatoon we've all been itching for.....And then we get another batch of very basic floating platform levels with little to no challenge.....And this time there's not even cool boss fights to look forward to.
This bait and switched me so hard. I just want single player splatoon to drop the floating rectangle design dude, make some real locations, I want to see more of this world. Opening this expansion with a whole intro level and scenes that take place in an abandoned railroad was so sick. I absolutely love roaming around the train, and I'm obsessed with all the character designs they made for creatures taking the train with you. Characters that don't even have a single line of dialogue are given such striking designs. This is such a sick world and any glimpse we get into it is a reminder of why Splatoon got so popular to begin with. But then the actual levels start and you get NONE of that. They do such a good job nailing the aesthetic and world building but the second you take a step off the train you're in a lifeless, featureless, void of level design that's scientifically engineered to be vaguely engaging and nothing more. Just content slop for the content mill. You're not here to really get more out of this world, you're here for 80 levels that are slightly more gimmicky than the unmemorable husks of the last 2 campaigns. Very occasionally at best you'll have some decent gimmick level that stands out. Like painting a huge object, or breaking all the correct boxes. Stuff like that, I vibe with. Not exactly what I'd want out of this universe but if this is the route we're taking I'm a lot happier they're playing with the mechanics that make Splatoon unique, as opposed to shooting and platforming for shooting/platformings sake.
I just don't see what makes this THAT different than what we already got in the base game. It feels more like a proper sequel and if this is what we'd got in the base game I'd comfortably say it's an improvement over 1 in most cases besides bosses. Still leaves me wanting more but it's a big step in the right direction. But as a THIRD campaign this doesn't feel like a step in the right direction it feels like the last straw. The digital logs and ending were very enjoyable so at least we get to see more of some of the strongest characters in the series. But for a majority of the runtime, Pearl and Marina are given nothing interesting to say or do in the present. Cool backstory and cool finale. It's a shame their personalities weren't allowed to shine during gameplay where they're constantly talking, but never saying anything. It's all such frustratingly dry writing coming from characters that otherwise singlehandedly carried Splatoon 2 as a game for me.
There's really not much else to say either. For an "expansion" it's pretty small. There's this ominous buildup whenever you enter a level that has one of the 4 plot maguffins in in it, but you just grab them 10 seconds in and move on with no boss fights for some reason. They reuse bosses from the first game with some minor gimmick thrown on...There's a lot of target practice on grind rails I guess...Like whatever. There's a weird currency mechanic where you gotta pay to try levels and you get more rewarded to you for choosing harder guns for the challenge...But I really don't understand this whole system. It's like if they said "You need 50 coins to enter this level" in mario 3D world. Then 2 hours in they're still saying "You need 50 coins to enter this level" as you're sitting on 5,000 coins. Like yeah it charges you to retry but that's potentially punishing and would alienate players if it became a legitimate obstacle. Auto pilot platformer design Nintendo would never risk that ergo the levels are all baby easy. I'd much rather they removed the punishment for dying if it meant the designers were comfortable putting together anything genuinely challenging.
Hecc while I like the ending, the finale is practically more of an auto scroller "shoot the targets" mission than a boss fight. Ultimately it was just nice to be able to play as an Octoling in multiplayer after beating it. Added some much needed upgrades to character customization with that alone.
Sploon single player has never been great but they've never had to stand on their own like this before. This game presents itself as everything we all want but to me it just cemented the fact that Splatoon will never grow from this extremely safe and predictable formula. Base game being a bit rushed gave it somewhat of an excuse but a dedicated single player project being the same slop kills any interest going forward. The exciting imagery seen in the promotional art...Is the extent of said excitement. The idea that a single player Splatoon could genuinely be cool is used as set dressing, and kept far away from the actual meat of the experience. They're literally just using the idea that Splatoon doesn't have to suck as promotional material, with no plans to follow up on any of those concepts in any way.
I'd be curious if the campaigns of 1 and 2 were standalone experiences, what they'd be rated. 'Cuz this one being held up as peak splatoon feels like if New Super Mario Bros 1 and 2 got "meh" responses and the third got universal acclaim, like bro they're all the same game.
This bait and switched me so hard. I just want single player splatoon to drop the floating rectangle design dude, make some real locations, I want to see more of this world. Opening this expansion with a whole intro level and scenes that take place in an abandoned railroad was so sick. I absolutely love roaming around the train, and I'm obsessed with all the character designs they made for creatures taking the train with you. Characters that don't even have a single line of dialogue are given such striking designs. This is such a sick world and any glimpse we get into it is a reminder of why Splatoon got so popular to begin with. But then the actual levels start and you get NONE of that. They do such a good job nailing the aesthetic and world building but the second you take a step off the train you're in a lifeless, featureless, void of level design that's scientifically engineered to be vaguely engaging and nothing more. Just content slop for the content mill. You're not here to really get more out of this world, you're here for 80 levels that are slightly more gimmicky than the unmemorable husks of the last 2 campaigns. Very occasionally at best you'll have some decent gimmick level that stands out. Like painting a huge object, or breaking all the correct boxes. Stuff like that, I vibe with. Not exactly what I'd want out of this universe but if this is the route we're taking I'm a lot happier they're playing with the mechanics that make Splatoon unique, as opposed to shooting and platforming for shooting/platformings sake.
I just don't see what makes this THAT different than what we already got in the base game. It feels more like a proper sequel and if this is what we'd got in the base game I'd comfortably say it's an improvement over 1 in most cases besides bosses. Still leaves me wanting more but it's a big step in the right direction. But as a THIRD campaign this doesn't feel like a step in the right direction it feels like the last straw. The digital logs and ending were very enjoyable so at least we get to see more of some of the strongest characters in the series. But for a majority of the runtime, Pearl and Marina are given nothing interesting to say or do in the present. Cool backstory and cool finale. It's a shame their personalities weren't allowed to shine during gameplay where they're constantly talking, but never saying anything. It's all such frustratingly dry writing coming from characters that otherwise singlehandedly carried Splatoon 2 as a game for me.
There's really not much else to say either. For an "expansion" it's pretty small. There's this ominous buildup whenever you enter a level that has one of the 4 plot maguffins in in it, but you just grab them 10 seconds in and move on with no boss fights for some reason. They reuse bosses from the first game with some minor gimmick thrown on...There's a lot of target practice on grind rails I guess...Like whatever. There's a weird currency mechanic where you gotta pay to try levels and you get more rewarded to you for choosing harder guns for the challenge...But I really don't understand this whole system. It's like if they said "You need 50 coins to enter this level" in mario 3D world. Then 2 hours in they're still saying "You need 50 coins to enter this level" as you're sitting on 5,000 coins. Like yeah it charges you to retry but that's potentially punishing and would alienate players if it became a legitimate obstacle. Auto pilot platformer design Nintendo would never risk that ergo the levels are all baby easy. I'd much rather they removed the punishment for dying if it meant the designers were comfortable putting together anything genuinely challenging.
Hecc while I like the ending, the finale is practically more of an auto scroller "shoot the targets" mission than a boss fight. Ultimately it was just nice to be able to play as an Octoling in multiplayer after beating it. Added some much needed upgrades to character customization with that alone.
Sploon single player has never been great but they've never had to stand on their own like this before. This game presents itself as everything we all want but to me it just cemented the fact that Splatoon will never grow from this extremely safe and predictable formula. Base game being a bit rushed gave it somewhat of an excuse but a dedicated single player project being the same slop kills any interest going forward. The exciting imagery seen in the promotional art...Is the extent of said excitement. The idea that a single player Splatoon could genuinely be cool is used as set dressing, and kept far away from the actual meat of the experience. They're literally just using the idea that Splatoon doesn't have to suck as promotional material, with no plans to follow up on any of those concepts in any way.
I'd be curious if the campaigns of 1 and 2 were standalone experiences, what they'd be rated. 'Cuz this one being held up as peak splatoon feels like if New Super Mario Bros 1 and 2 got "meh" responses and the third got universal acclaim, like bro they're all the same game.
2017
This game coming out so early in the Switch's life was definitely extremely important for the early momentum of the system. Very much a right time at the right place kinda game. Splatoon's appeal absolutely towers over the audience the WiiU got, so it's nice to see the series truly reach the audience it deserved. In the process though this is very clearly aggressively rushed. Or if not rushed, the focus was put a LOT harder onto the competitive shooter side of things and I think it doesn't mesh well with what made Sploon fun conceptually to begin with.
Maps are just so much smaller in 2 compared to the original game. They're also a lot blockier with less verticality and complexity. Specials are also retooled to be less "kill buttons" and more useful tools. Feels a lot more focused on close range skirmishes. Which generally feels alright for the ranked modes like the tower or ink zones. But the big MAIN mode turf war feels at odds with the new focus. The maps are so small it genuinely feels like the first 2 minutes 30 seconds of the 3 minute match mean nothing. It's just whoever wins the fight at the end. I remember being constantly frustrated how many maps were just walled off spawn points, and one point in the middle you'd fight over the whole time. I don't think I can think of any other sequel that took the "smaller = better" approach. Even the hub world is smaller.
I can get into the ranked modes well enough and have fun but at the end of the day Turf War IS Splatoon to me, and that mode being gutted really hurts the game in my eyes. Then you've got a single player mode that's just more of the same mario galaxy-esque auto pilot floating platform levels, which is a huge bummer. I'd have loved a splatoon single player that takes place in real locations instead of a bunch of floating platforms in the middle of nowhere. Customization for your character which was a big part of the first game didn't really see much of an upgrade. It's probably on par as far as clothing options but it being just more of the same really hurt the "Keep it FRESH" mantra the OG game thrived on. Why can't we buy pants yet?
Still I absolutely had my fun with this game. Looking back, Pearl and Marina really carried it for me. Wasn't as into it as a whole package but Pearl's chaotic gremlin choices and her dynamic with Marina really kept the Splatfests fun to participate in and fight for. I don't say this often but the writing was SOLID. Not just comical but easy to really attach yourself into the event and characters. Overall they were more memorable than any of Sploon 1's Splatfests imo, which I already loved at the time. So that's one area 2 exceeds 1 at least. Best part, and also the most frustrating, 2 had Splatfest exclusive maps (Put together by Marina in lore). AND THEY WERE BIGGER AND MORE COMPLEX IN DESIGN THAN ANYTHING IN THE NORMAL ROTATION?!? It's such a crime that these maps weren't just added to the daily rotations after Splatfests ended. Hecc them having to make Splatfest exclusive maps kind of tells me the designers knew they botched Turf War a bit. But yee bottom line Pearl and Marina singlehandedly made Sploon 2 fun for its whole life cycle.
Almost forgot to mention Salmon Run. Dunno, I definitely like it but it doesn't feel very well integrated. It's very side-mode content that doesn't feel like you're getting much out of it. Definitely fun as a break from the main modes, and given that Turf War was kinda gutted it's nice to have another stand out mode to play. But it never left a big impact on me.
Fond memories of the Splatfests and what this game did for the launch year of the Switch. But imo it's not as cohesive in its ideas as the original. And given Splatfests are over, my ranking of how the game is experienced now would likely be much lower. But I was really into what was presented to me during its time.
TEAM MAYO FOR LIFE <3
Maps are just so much smaller in 2 compared to the original game. They're also a lot blockier with less verticality and complexity. Specials are also retooled to be less "kill buttons" and more useful tools. Feels a lot more focused on close range skirmishes. Which generally feels alright for the ranked modes like the tower or ink zones. But the big MAIN mode turf war feels at odds with the new focus. The maps are so small it genuinely feels like the first 2 minutes 30 seconds of the 3 minute match mean nothing. It's just whoever wins the fight at the end. I remember being constantly frustrated how many maps were just walled off spawn points, and one point in the middle you'd fight over the whole time. I don't think I can think of any other sequel that took the "smaller = better" approach. Even the hub world is smaller.
I can get into the ranked modes well enough and have fun but at the end of the day Turf War IS Splatoon to me, and that mode being gutted really hurts the game in my eyes. Then you've got a single player mode that's just more of the same mario galaxy-esque auto pilot floating platform levels, which is a huge bummer. I'd have loved a splatoon single player that takes place in real locations instead of a bunch of floating platforms in the middle of nowhere. Customization for your character which was a big part of the first game didn't really see much of an upgrade. It's probably on par as far as clothing options but it being just more of the same really hurt the "Keep it FRESH" mantra the OG game thrived on. Why can't we buy pants yet?
Still I absolutely had my fun with this game. Looking back, Pearl and Marina really carried it for me. Wasn't as into it as a whole package but Pearl's chaotic gremlin choices and her dynamic with Marina really kept the Splatfests fun to participate in and fight for. I don't say this often but the writing was SOLID. Not just comical but easy to really attach yourself into the event and characters. Overall they were more memorable than any of Sploon 1's Splatfests imo, which I already loved at the time. So that's one area 2 exceeds 1 at least. Best part, and also the most frustrating, 2 had Splatfest exclusive maps (Put together by Marina in lore). AND THEY WERE BIGGER AND MORE COMPLEX IN DESIGN THAN ANYTHING IN THE NORMAL ROTATION?!? It's such a crime that these maps weren't just added to the daily rotations after Splatfests ended. Hecc them having to make Splatfest exclusive maps kind of tells me the designers knew they botched Turf War a bit. But yee bottom line Pearl and Marina singlehandedly made Sploon 2 fun for its whole life cycle.
Almost forgot to mention Salmon Run. Dunno, I definitely like it but it doesn't feel very well integrated. It's very side-mode content that doesn't feel like you're getting much out of it. Definitely fun as a break from the main modes, and given that Turf War was kinda gutted it's nice to have another stand out mode to play. But it never left a big impact on me.
Fond memories of the Splatfests and what this game did for the launch year of the Switch. But imo it's not as cohesive in its ideas as the original. And given Splatfests are over, my ranking of how the game is experienced now would likely be much lower. But I was really into what was presented to me during its time.
TEAM MAYO FOR LIFE <3
2015
Feels wild to be nostalgic for the WiiU, but the OG Splatoon was truly special. There's been some discussion about historical revisionism, with a lot of people saying they miss the WiiU era and that the Switch is totally lame in comparison. I will say, playing on a failed console with a relatively small amount of games really does foster communities like no other. Just like you can always count on an N64 fan to have played Mario 64 or Banjo Kazooie...A WiiU fan has absolutely played Splatoon. Fast forward to the Switch and that console's popping off so hard the community around it can't possibly be as tight knit. I bring this up here because Splatoon 1 is truly a modern day era defining classic.
It's always a joy to see Nintendo's take on a popular genre. They basically never play it straight. They really do like to wait for a genre to get a bit played out and stagnant and then swoop in with an idea that turns the whole concept on its head. Luigi's mansion with survival horror, Breath of the Wild with open world adventure, the Mario RPG's, etc. The online shooter genre was beyond mind numbingly saturated. Launching Splatoon with the whole angle of it being aggressively fresh and new and exciting immediately clicked with people far beyond the scope of the WiiU's audience. I know people are pretty divided on them rotating maps in real time over the course of hours, but it really helped the game not feel like it was just content for content sake. It made it feel like a real, living world that made it actively fun to follow and see what's going on. I never even cared about the reward for winning splatfests, never bothered to understand how to properly use the skill chunks. Didn't stop them from feeling extremely important and fun to attend every single time. Idk how many people are gonna understand what I mean when I say, I heckin hate content dude. Tired of games just putting out content. Just putting out some meaningless things to do is nowhere near as integral to genuinely connecting with me as making a fully realized game world. It can't be overstated how huge the counter culture "keep it fresh" style was. The less traditional conventions are followed the better imo.
Getting a bit ahead of myself putting the sequels down a bit - but I really think the maps and specials were at their best here. Every map had a well defined idea, and they had a good sense of scale. It really felt like you could truly effect the game and be helpful to your team without being absolutely amazing at the combat. You had room to breath, and the specials being a tad busted made them not only fun to use, but further de-emphasized pure shooting as a core of the gameplay. There was also a LOT more verticality and variety in the map design. Not to say shooting and getting kills wasn't an important part of being good, but compared to the sequels, this game's design just feels the most coherent with itself.
Got to revisit this game earlier this year one last time...And it was funny how any maps I actually liked from 3 I discovered came from 1. I also just dramatically prefer almost all the music in this one to any of the sequels. Best lil' hub world too. A nice comfortable size to walk around and see miiverse posts and fun details that add a lot of character and life to the world. The single player campaign I remember having some fun bosses, otherwise it's just kinda...very standard Super Mario platformer type design. Nothing really special there but it was novel enough given it was the first of its kind for this new series.
R.I.P. Hope to find private servers thriving someday - 'Cuz I really think the first game has some special elements to it the sequels couldn't quite capture.
It's always a joy to see Nintendo's take on a popular genre. They basically never play it straight. They really do like to wait for a genre to get a bit played out and stagnant and then swoop in with an idea that turns the whole concept on its head. Luigi's mansion with survival horror, Breath of the Wild with open world adventure, the Mario RPG's, etc. The online shooter genre was beyond mind numbingly saturated. Launching Splatoon with the whole angle of it being aggressively fresh and new and exciting immediately clicked with people far beyond the scope of the WiiU's audience. I know people are pretty divided on them rotating maps in real time over the course of hours, but it really helped the game not feel like it was just content for content sake. It made it feel like a real, living world that made it actively fun to follow and see what's going on. I never even cared about the reward for winning splatfests, never bothered to understand how to properly use the skill chunks. Didn't stop them from feeling extremely important and fun to attend every single time. Idk how many people are gonna understand what I mean when I say, I heckin hate content dude. Tired of games just putting out content. Just putting out some meaningless things to do is nowhere near as integral to genuinely connecting with me as making a fully realized game world. It can't be overstated how huge the counter culture "keep it fresh" style was. The less traditional conventions are followed the better imo.
Getting a bit ahead of myself putting the sequels down a bit - but I really think the maps and specials were at their best here. Every map had a well defined idea, and they had a good sense of scale. It really felt like you could truly effect the game and be helpful to your team without being absolutely amazing at the combat. You had room to breath, and the specials being a tad busted made them not only fun to use, but further de-emphasized pure shooting as a core of the gameplay. There was also a LOT more verticality and variety in the map design. Not to say shooting and getting kills wasn't an important part of being good, but compared to the sequels, this game's design just feels the most coherent with itself.
Got to revisit this game earlier this year one last time...And it was funny how any maps I actually liked from 3 I discovered came from 1. I also just dramatically prefer almost all the music in this one to any of the sequels. Best lil' hub world too. A nice comfortable size to walk around and see miiverse posts and fun details that add a lot of character and life to the world. The single player campaign I remember having some fun bosses, otherwise it's just kinda...very standard Super Mario platformer type design. Nothing really special there but it was novel enough given it was the first of its kind for this new series.
R.I.P. Hope to find private servers thriving someday - 'Cuz I really think the first game has some special elements to it the sequels couldn't quite capture.
2023
One of the most successful late 90's style collectathon platformers out there. We're entering a bit of a low poly renaissance. Which is exciting, as for years I lamented the fact that only Atari tier pixel art was ripe for the indie train. There's a genuine art to low poly stuff and it's GREAT to see it boom. But, just like the pixel art games, I'm finding it's quite rare to find something that truly feels ripped from the era.
Corn Kidz to me does a great job maintaining the simplicity AND the depth of the classics like Banjo-Kazooie. It's a truly hard mix to find. These games were rarely ever about movement, but movement and challenging level design are an easy way to make a fun platformer. For it to truly feel of the DK64 era, it needs to be a lot more grounded than one would imagine of a stylized cartoony platformer. The challenge then, is making a world that's fun to explore without it being filled with Celeste-type level design. Forcing an almost point and click puzzler type of game design in a way. MAJOR props to this team for sticking the landing on that hyper specific, hard to explain niche I'm personally looking for, while also delivering some of the most satisfying 3D platforming I've experienced.
Only real downside I have is that I wasn't expecting the one level to be...the one level. At some point it was like Geez this level may be a bit much until I realized oh this level is 80% of the game. The meat of the game being one level does mean the stage is FULLY realized and densely designed. This isn't a game length complaint. Though it's one element that does leave the classics its inspired from still at the top for me. Makes finding the last few collectibles a bit much as you feel you've thoroughly combed the level 10 times over. I'd LOVE for this game to have stages of this quality but shrunk into 9 smaller levels + hub world. There IS more outside of the level, and it's all a joy. From the tutorial stage, to very esoterically hidden bits, to end game unlockables. The Tower of Anxiety is such an inherently satisfying dedicated platforming section. I'm begging for more towers to climb in 3D platformers, I want to feel the tension of falling down grow as I climb higher and higher.
Art style and ost is a delight as well. Tho the main level being so large, the one song that plays for most of it gets just a tad tiresome. I'm very picky with my retro revivals, I hyper-fixate on everything they omit that was accomplished over 20 years ago. So for one to get past me with flying colors is a joy.
Corn Kidz to me does a great job maintaining the simplicity AND the depth of the classics like Banjo-Kazooie. It's a truly hard mix to find. These games were rarely ever about movement, but movement and challenging level design are an easy way to make a fun platformer. For it to truly feel of the DK64 era, it needs to be a lot more grounded than one would imagine of a stylized cartoony platformer. The challenge then, is making a world that's fun to explore without it being filled with Celeste-type level design. Forcing an almost point and click puzzler type of game design in a way. MAJOR props to this team for sticking the landing on that hyper specific, hard to explain niche I'm personally looking for, while also delivering some of the most satisfying 3D platforming I've experienced.
Only real downside I have is that I wasn't expecting the one level to be...the one level. At some point it was like Geez this level may be a bit much until I realized oh this level is 80% of the game. The meat of the game being one level does mean the stage is FULLY realized and densely designed. This isn't a game length complaint. Though it's one element that does leave the classics its inspired from still at the top for me. Makes finding the last few collectibles a bit much as you feel you've thoroughly combed the level 10 times over. I'd LOVE for this game to have stages of this quality but shrunk into 9 smaller levels + hub world. There IS more outside of the level, and it's all a joy. From the tutorial stage, to very esoterically hidden bits, to end game unlockables. The Tower of Anxiety is such an inherently satisfying dedicated platforming section. I'm begging for more towers to climb in 3D platformers, I want to feel the tension of falling down grow as I climb higher and higher.
Art style and ost is a delight as well. Tho the main level being so large, the one song that plays for most of it gets just a tad tiresome. I'm very picky with my retro revivals, I hyper-fixate on everything they omit that was accomplished over 20 years ago. So for one to get past me with flying colors is a joy.
This is the most worthless game Nintendo's ever put out. Straight up unacceptable. There's 3 map layers. Sky, surface, and the depths. Surface is ripped straight from BotW. What was once a land painstakingly crafted from the ground up to be inherently wondrous to explore...Is reduced to mindlessly checking off a barrage of F tier copy paste content. There's borderline NOTHING new or surprising to find. And you get NOTHING for wasting a hundred hours engaging with it. The caves and wells add nothing to the game. This was such a cool opportunity for them to really FILL the map. Expand towns, introduce new ones, flesh out the enemy variety, and fill the world with music. An exciting "rebuilt Hyrule" approach that links the old Zelda style with the new in a very natural way. I genuinely don't think that's a lot to ask of this series. But - they did nothing. Heck with the removal of a strong enemy concept like the guardians, and the artificially tripled size of the world, I'd argue enemy variety has been made worse.
The sky and depths fare even worse. The tutorial island is the only large sky island. The rest are tiny and filled to the brim with copy pasted content. The depths themselves are the biggest waste of time in the industry. You can get more engaging gameplay and sense of wonder out of heckin' Cookie Clicker than the depths. What you initially assume will be a dangerous, scary place with a lot to discover...Pretty much IMMEDIATELY reveals itself to be so devoid of meaningful content or even hazards, that you're not missing any information by leaving it pitch black. The classic Poes are reduced to mindless collectibles scattered across the floor. Woulda been sick to hunt down a variety of ghosts, like a fully realized version of hunting the 10 poes in Hyrule Field in OOT. But alas, you're merely fighting 99% enemies from BotW, or getting rewards that are merely costume pieces from BotW's DLC or Amiibos.
Dungeons have never been less interesting. They in no way resemble the classics and are just less creative divine beasts. Goodbye giant walking animal mechs you have some control of, hello random tiny floating island in the sky. Story sucks too. Cop out ending ruining the one and only cool moment. Rest is slow, meandering, and repetitive with dreadful writing. Ganondorf is wasted. No attempt was even feigned to tie this game into the series overall lore let alone timeline. Frustratingly the response to this issue is often "they never cared" which I disagree with strongly. This game's story is so lazy we have to rely on what is made up on the spot in interviews to even connect it to BotW properly and even then there's inconsistencies at every turn. The fuse gimmick adds very little to the overall experience. Not super useful or gracefully implemented. I can't pretend to care about how technically impressive it might be, it doesn't do combat, ui, puzzles, or traversal any favors. Genuinely just a sloppy, unfocused, actively lame version of Banjo Nuts and Bolts. There's even more shrines in this than botw, with a higher percentage of horrible filler or boring non-puzzles for good measure. Being either insultingly slow, redundant tutorials for basic mechanics, functional tutorials for car parts, or a bad reward for poking around the sky islands or sidequests for a few minutes.
I have no doubt in my mind if the Zelda team was forced to make a brand new game from the ground up in under 2 years with no delays, they could have put out something more deserving of the Zelda name. But alas, another series falls to the irresistible temptation to make objectively bad content and spend 6+ years spreading it as thin as possible. The kind of design that's just allowed to happen these days is upsetting. Imagine telling someone in the year 2000 that in 20 years they'll release a Zelda game where you do the same exact low effort mission over 88 times in a row and that it's one of the only new things they added - and while they were at it 85% of the enemy types have been removed.
P.S. Trying out making shorter versions of my obscenely long reviews. This is still getting rather long, but compared to my original review... 4 paragraphs vs 18's a pretty good TL;DR. I just like to really explain myself when having unpopular opinions. Prolly gonna make a List of all the reviews I do this with. Follow for the eventual TL;DR of my TL;DR. Also the more I dig into this game the more upset I get and I just wanna keep babbling about it.
The sky and depths fare even worse. The tutorial island is the only large sky island. The rest are tiny and filled to the brim with copy pasted content. The depths themselves are the biggest waste of time in the industry. You can get more engaging gameplay and sense of wonder out of heckin' Cookie Clicker than the depths. What you initially assume will be a dangerous, scary place with a lot to discover...Pretty much IMMEDIATELY reveals itself to be so devoid of meaningful content or even hazards, that you're not missing any information by leaving it pitch black. The classic Poes are reduced to mindless collectibles scattered across the floor. Woulda been sick to hunt down a variety of ghosts, like a fully realized version of hunting the 10 poes in Hyrule Field in OOT. But alas, you're merely fighting 99% enemies from BotW, or getting rewards that are merely costume pieces from BotW's DLC or Amiibos.
Dungeons have never been less interesting. They in no way resemble the classics and are just less creative divine beasts. Goodbye giant walking animal mechs you have some control of, hello random tiny floating island in the sky. Story sucks too. Cop out ending ruining the one and only cool moment. Rest is slow, meandering, and repetitive with dreadful writing. Ganondorf is wasted. No attempt was even feigned to tie this game into the series overall lore let alone timeline. Frustratingly the response to this issue is often "they never cared" which I disagree with strongly. This game's story is so lazy we have to rely on what is made up on the spot in interviews to even connect it to BotW properly and even then there's inconsistencies at every turn. The fuse gimmick adds very little to the overall experience. Not super useful or gracefully implemented. I can't pretend to care about how technically impressive it might be, it doesn't do combat, ui, puzzles, or traversal any favors. Genuinely just a sloppy, unfocused, actively lame version of Banjo Nuts and Bolts. There's even more shrines in this than botw, with a higher percentage of horrible filler or boring non-puzzles for good measure. Being either insultingly slow, redundant tutorials for basic mechanics, functional tutorials for car parts, or a bad reward for poking around the sky islands or sidequests for a few minutes.
I have no doubt in my mind if the Zelda team was forced to make a brand new game from the ground up in under 2 years with no delays, they could have put out something more deserving of the Zelda name. But alas, another series falls to the irresistible temptation to make objectively bad content and spend 6+ years spreading it as thin as possible. The kind of design that's just allowed to happen these days is upsetting. Imagine telling someone in the year 2000 that in 20 years they'll release a Zelda game where you do the same exact low effort mission over 88 times in a row and that it's one of the only new things they added - and while they were at it 85% of the enemy types have been removed.
P.S. Trying out making shorter versions of my obscenely long reviews. This is still getting rather long, but compared to my original review... 4 paragraphs vs 18's a pretty good TL;DR. I just like to really explain myself when having unpopular opinions. Prolly gonna make a List of all the reviews I do this with. Follow for the eventual TL;DR of my TL;DR. Also the more I dig into this game the more upset I get and I just wanna keep babbling about it.
2016
One of those sequels that thinks bigger = better. Grow Home didn't need the average ubisoft style open world formula. The first game was a journey from point A to B with open ended exploration on the way. This is the typical Find 1/25 of the exact same mission type on your map to cross it off your list type gameplay. It's ok but not as engaging, tightly designed, or unique as the first one. It's like ubisoft shocked themselves when they put out a decent game for once so they tried to make a mid version of it to compensate.
2015
Love games that give a strong sense of verticality. Grow Home is enjoyable and relaxing, and overall is a fairly one of a kind experience. No shoehorned combat or quantity over quality game design made to waste your time. Just a strong core concept and free exploration. Not exceptionally memorable or surprising, but I don't really have anything bad to say about it.
2021
It took me exactly a year of on and off playing this game to finally finish this. Demon Turf is certainly ambitious but felt more actively exhausting than anything. It's got the core of a classic collectathon with an obnoxious amount of collectibles (cool!) But is actually at the same time more of a linear obstacle course platformer. Both styles are constantly at odds and holding each other down. The collectables aren't exactly fun to find given you can spawn an arrow pointing you where anything is hidden at any point. Which is a complaint but I'm glad it's there because given the way levels are put together, it's entirely unreadable whether you're trying to explore or not. Unfocused at all times is the best way to describe Demon Turf. Level design suffers from being rather aimless, and the collectibles largely feel worthless for anything other than seeing 100% in your achievements list.
The movement is nuanced enough to have a variety of level design and decent challenge...But the "place your own checkpoints" idea robs the stages of a structured sense of progression. You're either hoarding them excessively or using them all too early. Levels can drag on and often don't really iterate on concepts, just throwing disconnected thoughts at the wall. Combat seems to be a sore point for most here, but I'm always an advocate for unconventional ideas. The premise of pushing enemies is fun and dynamic. I'm sick to death of standardized concepts shared with every game ever so I think it's kinda cool. In execution it feels bad largely because of really poor visual and sound design, and somewhat inconsistent physics. Also for some reason the camera slams itself into the ground every single time you activate something. Even if you spawn a platform directly underneath you, you get the same camera angle where it gets locked pointing upwards...
The eye-catching artwork seen in the box art is not present in-game. Instead the graphical style is dreadfully boring. No striking imagery, drab and repetitive color palette, the 2D character art leaves a lot to be desired and is pretty stiffly animated. Nothing memorable in the music department imo. Story goes nowhere. Very anti climactic. No level in the game is interesting or memorable enough to warrant them forcing you to replay almost all of them to get to the final boss. I was already doing it for completionist sake and it's just not fun to do. They're "remixed" so sometimes major changes have been done...But the levels themselves are devoid of strong ideas or memorable layouts to begin with, so playing them again with rearranged hazards doesn't really make any difference. Aerial movement is decent but your base floor run speed is painfully slow, even using a badge to speed it up it never feels great. Hookshot and Flight are never used in interesting ways. Very binary use hookshot/flight here type design. Wheel picks up nice speed but quickly becomes so fast you can't do any turns, and just like flight, always has dedicated use wheel moments. So your abilities are already not very well implemented...On top of not being able to wall jump or use your hookshot after a double jump which is needlessly limiting.
It's not entirely mindless like most platformers I find dull (though it has its fair share of nothing design at points too). This one fails on its own merits rather than being safe and derivative. Which makes me feel I should give bonus points for being the kind of game I WOULD like...But I was honestly never really having fun with it. The arcade bonus stages exemplify my problems with how this game feels even at its best. They rip iconic levels from various Mario games as a cool reference. I get to see a level from Mario Sunshine that's endlessly fun and grounded that I love to replay even 20 years later...Ruined by floaty and aimless mechanics, and unrealized obstacles in the port to demon turf. (with a sizeable art style and music hit to boot). The level becomes so -nothing- that they put a poison effect and a pointless combat section in as a bandaid fix. Tfw the mechanics are so weak you gotta make the player spam a button every few seconds to avoid dying to random poison. Puts into perspective how unexpectedly grounded the Mario games tend to be. In Mario you feel every jump, and when you land, you feel the ground. In demon turf I feel nothing, ever. It's at its best when it's a short, focused level, and it's rarely at its best. "Its best" being barely managing to hit "it's ok" status for a brief moment.
Supposedly the DLC is a lot better. Maybe I'll try it eventually, it's quite cheap and promises to not be an exhausting marathon...But I'm really not itching for more of any of this even if it is more focused. Below average game that's bloated to the point of being unbearable. Took me a full year to put in the 16 hours needed to finish it.
The movement is nuanced enough to have a variety of level design and decent challenge...But the "place your own checkpoints" idea robs the stages of a structured sense of progression. You're either hoarding them excessively or using them all too early. Levels can drag on and often don't really iterate on concepts, just throwing disconnected thoughts at the wall. Combat seems to be a sore point for most here, but I'm always an advocate for unconventional ideas. The premise of pushing enemies is fun and dynamic. I'm sick to death of standardized concepts shared with every game ever so I think it's kinda cool. In execution it feels bad largely because of really poor visual and sound design, and somewhat inconsistent physics. Also for some reason the camera slams itself into the ground every single time you activate something. Even if you spawn a platform directly underneath you, you get the same camera angle where it gets locked pointing upwards...
The eye-catching artwork seen in the box art is not present in-game. Instead the graphical style is dreadfully boring. No striking imagery, drab and repetitive color palette, the 2D character art leaves a lot to be desired and is pretty stiffly animated. Nothing memorable in the music department imo. Story goes nowhere. Very anti climactic. No level in the game is interesting or memorable enough to warrant them forcing you to replay almost all of them to get to the final boss. I was already doing it for completionist sake and it's just not fun to do. They're "remixed" so sometimes major changes have been done...But the levels themselves are devoid of strong ideas or memorable layouts to begin with, so playing them again with rearranged hazards doesn't really make any difference. Aerial movement is decent but your base floor run speed is painfully slow, even using a badge to speed it up it never feels great. Hookshot and Flight are never used in interesting ways. Very binary use hookshot/flight here type design. Wheel picks up nice speed but quickly becomes so fast you can't do any turns, and just like flight, always has dedicated use wheel moments. So your abilities are already not very well implemented...On top of not being able to wall jump or use your hookshot after a double jump which is needlessly limiting.
It's not entirely mindless like most platformers I find dull (though it has its fair share of nothing design at points too). This one fails on its own merits rather than being safe and derivative. Which makes me feel I should give bonus points for being the kind of game I WOULD like...But I was honestly never really having fun with it. The arcade bonus stages exemplify my problems with how this game feels even at its best. They rip iconic levels from various Mario games as a cool reference. I get to see a level from Mario Sunshine that's endlessly fun and grounded that I love to replay even 20 years later...Ruined by floaty and aimless mechanics, and unrealized obstacles in the port to demon turf. (with a sizeable art style and music hit to boot). The level becomes so -nothing- that they put a poison effect and a pointless combat section in as a bandaid fix. Tfw the mechanics are so weak you gotta make the player spam a button every few seconds to avoid dying to random poison. Puts into perspective how unexpectedly grounded the Mario games tend to be. In Mario you feel every jump, and when you land, you feel the ground. In demon turf I feel nothing, ever. It's at its best when it's a short, focused level, and it's rarely at its best. "Its best" being barely managing to hit "it's ok" status for a brief moment.
Supposedly the DLC is a lot better. Maybe I'll try it eventually, it's quite cheap and promises to not be an exhausting marathon...But I'm really not itching for more of any of this even if it is more focused. Below average game that's bloated to the point of being unbearable. Took me a full year to put in the 16 hours needed to finish it.
2022
Rarely remotely engaging. Simple to a fault. The collectathon elements are dull as nearly every secret is just a very clear branching path that acts as a 10 second distraction before you're back on the main path again. The platforming manages to be very flat and uninteresting despite the somewhat whimsical layouts. Level gimmicks besides the beat blocks taken from Mario don't ever add anything of note. Water balls or grind rails for example get very little non-automated gameplay. I feel like I'm just playing a prettier version of subway surfers, completely going through the motions. There's of course a tad more depth if you get into speedrunning it, as is true with just about any game...But the collectibles first focus encourages you to follow the already crushingly linear path most of the time. S ranks being tied to collectibles and no death runs and not on time makes me get bored of playing the stage long before I want to speedrun it--and the lack of movement options makes the prospect of speedrunning not all that interesting anyway.
I do not understand the Sonic comparisons. Sonic at its core is ENTIRELY about momentum. That's what made it cool to begin with. The competition often had very stagnant, binary movement speeds and flat ground. Sonic brought physics based gameplay to the table that made the landscape directly effect your movement options, it's dynamic. Lunistice, even played by the world record holder, is going to move at one set speed the entire way through. Besides of course the -run a bit faster- floors some stages feature...Said stages doing very little with the idea and generally having even tamer platforming than there already was to make up for the slight increase in speed. There's just not really any interesting movement options. You can combine your jump and spin attack to get a higher vertical jump, sacrificing your triple jump...But most of the game doesn't have much verticality. It's a lot of mindlessly holding forward and jumping when you reach a ledge.
Dunno, I hate being hard on small indie games with an insanely low price point. Like man I dream of being talented enough to make something like this. But besides the retro aesthetic I honestly just don't get anything out of it. Despite its very short run time it really overstays its welcome for me. It's like if Toree 3D was 2 hours long and had an extra 5-6 hours of repeat content for completionists. I was already falling off halfway through a casual run let alone going back for 100% cleanup and then doing it all again as a slightly different character 2 more times afterwards. The levels were mid the first time I played them let alone the 4th time on. I just really think platformers with a mostly horizontal layout need to have legitimate obstacles and satisfying movement. 'Cuz otherwise it's like you're playing a Mario Maker level composed entirely of semisolid platforms spaced 4 blocks apart from beginning to end. This is Crash Bandicoot with somehow less of a movement focus, less level variety, less ideas, ineffective enemies, and no sense of adventure or progression. Just has me yawning so hard I'm blinded by tears forming.
Though seeing as most people seem to be into it, this game clearly has an audience and I think that's nifty. If you're less jaded by platformers that play themselves you'll probably vibe with this game a lot more than me. I'm just a bit exhausted by retro throwbacks featuring nothing that made retro games good.
I do not understand the Sonic comparisons. Sonic at its core is ENTIRELY about momentum. That's what made it cool to begin with. The competition often had very stagnant, binary movement speeds and flat ground. Sonic brought physics based gameplay to the table that made the landscape directly effect your movement options, it's dynamic. Lunistice, even played by the world record holder, is going to move at one set speed the entire way through. Besides of course the -run a bit faster- floors some stages feature...Said stages doing very little with the idea and generally having even tamer platforming than there already was to make up for the slight increase in speed. There's just not really any interesting movement options. You can combine your jump and spin attack to get a higher vertical jump, sacrificing your triple jump...But most of the game doesn't have much verticality. It's a lot of mindlessly holding forward and jumping when you reach a ledge.
Dunno, I hate being hard on small indie games with an insanely low price point. Like man I dream of being talented enough to make something like this. But besides the retro aesthetic I honestly just don't get anything out of it. Despite its very short run time it really overstays its welcome for me. It's like if Toree 3D was 2 hours long and had an extra 5-6 hours of repeat content for completionists. I was already falling off halfway through a casual run let alone going back for 100% cleanup and then doing it all again as a slightly different character 2 more times afterwards. The levels were mid the first time I played them let alone the 4th time on. I just really think platformers with a mostly horizontal layout need to have legitimate obstacles and satisfying movement. 'Cuz otherwise it's like you're playing a Mario Maker level composed entirely of semisolid platforms spaced 4 blocks apart from beginning to end. This is Crash Bandicoot with somehow less of a movement focus, less level variety, less ideas, ineffective enemies, and no sense of adventure or progression. Just has me yawning so hard I'm blinded by tears forming.
Though seeing as most people seem to be into it, this game clearly has an audience and I think that's nifty. If you're less jaded by platformers that play themselves you'll probably vibe with this game a lot more than me. I'm just a bit exhausted by retro throwbacks featuring nothing that made retro games good.