probably the only example of a developer looking at their rhythm peripheral (for an ersatz taiko no tatsujin no less) and deciding that they needed to make an "actual" game to justify its existence. varied environments, a legitimate combo-based scoring system, and reams of new baddies for DK to fight: this has basically everything you'd want from what was effectively a stop-gap release for the core mario team between sunshine and galaxy. it's also nintendo's only true 2D platformer on the gamecube at a time where the genre was relegated to handhelds. for what it wrings out of the limited controls available via the bongos, this is honestly a blast.

the main issue is that those damn bongos are so annoying to use in practicality that it makes the game never really extend beyond "cool and interesting" territory. at the same time this game with generic controls would likely be trivially easy even when going for high scores... so I don't really know. this is in many ways smartly built around the limitations of the controls, and the control contextuality is consistently smart and responsive, but when the bongos consistently miss claps the experience begins leaning into drudgery and frustration. I do suggest that those using the bongos try tapping the sides of the bongos as an alternative to clapping; I found this much more reliable. the pads themselves are still tuned to full-on slaps and can feel weaker when taps or clicks are used, which feels like a necessity unless you plan on only playing for 15 minutes. then again, this might have been the goal from the beginning given the bite-sized levels.

the nintendo coat of paint really sells the experience though, with a lot of smart touches that I would only expect from them. as levels get more complex and the potential combo opportunities expand, each kingdom will postpend the ranking screen with a quick peek at a potential combo opportunity you may have missed, which is especially useful if it's particularly hidden or not necessarily intuitive. if you're willing to master the bongos, there's obviously the pieces in place to reach large double-digit platforming combos in some of these sections (your combo multiplier builds every time you interact with a platforming object or jump off a wall before touching the ground), and being able to grab bananas in a chain remotely becomes addicting when you master killing enemies and perfectly grabbing each of their bananas before they hit the ground. it also just rocks that nintendo decided to make a game where the conceit is that donkey kong wants to beat up every other strong creature in the world. no plot or consistency required, just total mayhem.

Everything about this game is totally unique. The control method is bonkers (bongkers?), the gameplay loop and the level design is like no other platformer. In fact, many of the mechanics first seen here were reused in Super Mario titles almost a decade down the line (This is the sort of bourgeois behaviour we've come to expect from residents of the Mushroom Kingdom). I'd wager Retro took a lot of influence from this game when developing DKC Returns, too. The boss battles are varied: some feel like they're straight out of Punch-out, while others have you volleying projectiles like Zelda.

Donkey Kong's movement feels very fluid, almost primal. It's certainly more exciting to bash and clap your way through a level than just pressing buttons. While it can be slightly unwieldy at times, this game is more about flow than precision, and the often smooth, curved level terrain makes traversal very fun.

If you have a set of Gamecube bongos, this is one of the best (and only) things you can do with them.

Nobody Saves the World is an ugly cute RPG revolving around transforming into different characters for puzzles and combat.

The gameplay is interesting, with every transformation having different playstyles. Each transformation has its own set of quests you must complete to level them up and unlock more abilities for them. These quests are cool, as not only do they teach you how to play the characters, they encourage you to mix and match abilities with them, letting you experiment with different combat builds.

The dungeons are fine, but they tend to feel the same after a while, even with the different aesthetics and modifications trying to make them unique or challenging.

The story is basic and somewhat predictable, but I think it’s written well enough to not be boring or overbearing. The humor is kinda hit or miss though, as the game’s style of humor isn’t for everyone, and some jokes overstay their welcome a bit.

All in all, a fun game to play in short bursts, or as a quick time killer.

"The enemy of this place is not the Golden Rule, but human failings"

I first heard of this game when it got released as there was a positive word of mouth spreading around it but I was very surprised to find out it had in fact started out as a Skyrim mod before expanding into a game in it's own right. Even with the positive reviews around it I still hesitated due to my dislike of the Elder Scrolls games but fortunately due to a user here duhnunuh and his perpetual steam giveaway I was given the chance to try this out. Having finished it 100% in two days my reservations were extremely unfounded. It's fantastic. I found myself absolutely engrossed in the city and story around it's Groundhog day time loop premise.

The Forgotten City is a hard game to actually discuss though as much of the joy of playing it is making the discoveries as the narrative unfolds. A couple of parts really made me go "well dam!" as I played through it. The short spoiler free version is that you wake up next to a river in modern times before stumbling into an underground Roman ruin whilst searching for a man who had entered it prior to you. Once in there you realise it's a one way entrance and you are now stuck inside except for a portal that takes you back 2000 years before when the city was still a vibrant community. To get out you need to find out why it became the ruin it was in your time and prevent it from happening.

Though it does have plenty of options, branches and endings the game is actually more linear than it appears overall with talking to all the residents of this ancient Roman city to unlock more information, items and quests to constantly progress with loop shortcuts built in once enough progress is made. It's a clever little game but the cast of characters and usage of history and myths is what really makes it such a winner for me. I love historical settings and though Rome is often used in large scale war games and gladiator titles it rarely gets as intimate a background as this. Conversations of normal people of the period, gods and politics all mixed in but each conversation actually serving a purpose to push the story along towards it's conclusion. The characters all have their own lives and backgrounds and although some are more important to the overall narrative than others they all feel like people rather than background models in the world. The small setting allows for the characters to each have their own personality, worries, history and flaws.

Outside of the dialogue and conversations you will spend your time exploring the location. The game is called the Forgotten City but it's more a small village or town than a city. There is still plenty to explore and see however with temples, markets, forums, caves and secrets. There is some occasional basic combat in first person which is kind of weak though extremely limited with only one section really requiring it as the main point is the mystery. If I'm really nit-picking flaws, some of the animations for their faces and how characters stand can pull you out of the immersion a little as they stare at you cross eyed. The thing is I actually do think it's a fantastic looking and sounding title overall. It has great art design, vistas, music and voice acting to pull it all together cohesively, especially for a game made by a core group of only 3 people from scratch off the back of a mod idea.

Overall I think this is a game that will stay with me for a long time that occasionally I will just think about. Whilst I like a great many games in a variety of genres there are only a few for their story that really stand out to me for the overall experience. Games like Soma, Mass Effect, 13 Sentinels and now, The Forgotten City. "The many shall suffer for the sins of the one?" No, no, no. The many shall enjoy due to the work of a few.

Recommended.

+ Great historical references, narrative and characters.
+ Gorgeous art design.
+ Just an engrossing experience.

- Combat though limited isn't that fun.

I love football. It's my favorite sport by far and one of my favorite things period. I also like video games, and the fact that EA is in charge of the only official NFL game and practically the only major football game is an embarrassment and a dissapointment to me and a lot of other people.

Let me start off with the good, and unpopular opinion: Madden, gameplay wise, is amazing. While it isn't a simulation game like EA so desperately wants us to believe, it is very fun and complex. It has it's moments of weirdness, mostly interceptions that should have been caught or vice versa, but all in all it feels very fleshed out. Playbooks are extensive and varied, throwing, catching and running all feel very good. One of my favorite things is how different they make each team feel, just like in real life the ravens aren't going to play the same as the bills or even teams that don't have that "x factor"(not the madden feature, the thing that makes that team special) feel different. One of the big things that is upgraded here is the franchise mode, and I think while the updates here aren't mind blowing since they were just features taken away from the previous maddens then re added, they are still improvments.


Now onto the bad. This is a game without soul. This isn't me blaming the devs since I know it's EA doing this but this feels like a game made by robots, especially when you aren't actually in the field playing the game(which is practically the only good part of this game). Let's start with presentation: it genuinly baffles me how shit this is. Pre game. no matter if it's an exhibition game or a playoff game(it's slightly changed in super bowls but even then it's just a couple different graphics), you get this weird thing of the players just standing awkwardly in a room with led lights and a basic trap beat in the background. Compare it to something like madden 11, where you could see the players come off the bus, commentators would give analysis of the game and of the different player matchups. During the game, you would have crowd noises cheering, which you do have here but it feels so fucking lame and inconsistent, I hear the crowd chanting something around once every five games. Also, the commentary is so boring. It's been the same for 7 YEARS, same people, same voice lines, istg if I hear "OH AND HE FAKES IT!" one more time I'm going to lose it. There is so much more to the presentation I hate but I can't fit it all in one review. The one last thing I do want to talk about presentation though is the SHITTY ASS MENUS. I cannot believe how a game this major on the PS5 has menus this slow. I know this sounds like a nitpick to people who haven't played, but trust me navigating any menu, main, franchise or any other menu in game is a nightmare.

One of the reasons I feel there is no soul to this game is the lack of features. There is a list of over 70 features missing from previous maddens, ranging from fun silly things like setting the prices for concessions in franchise mode to big things like create a team. Putting aside MUT which I have never and will never touch, the only things you can do here is franchise, superstar, and normal matches. To start, franchise is franchise. There is a bunch of shit missing, scouting is still shitty, but all in all its fine, like I said it's better here than 23 although that's not a very high bar. Superstar is what replaces face of the franchise from last year and it's exactly the same just with even less story or content. First of all, NO trading?? What the fuck? Second of all though literally there is NOTHING to this mode. All you do is create a player(who may I add you can't even play as any position you want to), do the combine which I admit is pretty cool, then get drafted to a team for four years and have to stay with that team, and you just play games. It is also very very easy, I'm on all pro playing on simulation as a wide receiver and I've already gotten MVP, x2 rookie of the year, offensive player of the year x2, won the super bowls, beaten the overall record of receiving yards in my rookie season, and have average like 300 yards a game. There is genuinly nothing to this mode, not even basic interviews and stuff like in franchise.


After all that though I still have hope. Not in madden, I think it's gonna continue being shitty until the NFL realise they're missing out on a shit load of money when they sign an exclusive deal, but my hope is in CFB 25. I genuinly haven't been this excited for a game in years, and from everything we've seen, and the amount of time it's taken to develop, this might be something special. I'm cautious ofc since it's still EA, but I have hope. Also despite all my criticisms of madden, I rated it 1.5 cause it's still fun as hell to play, I think gameplay wise there isn't much you can improve, it't just everything aside from it sucks balls.

Need For Speed: Carbon is basically Most Wanted, but with the nighttime street racing vibe of the Underground games.

Almost everything that made Most Wanted so good is here. They have made some welcome changes, especially when it comes to progression. You no longer have to complete milestones to advance. Instead, they are now optional challenges that unlock additional rewards. The game is much shorter as a result, but I don't see that as a bad thing.

Gone is the Blacklist and instead you have to take over an entire city piece by piece. This was a bit of a trend in the mid-2000s. I think it works well here, but the Blacklist approach is superior.

They've also added crew members to help you during races. They add some welcome chatter, but I didn't find their abilities all that useful. Just pick a Scout class and let them win races for you when you're behind.

"Autosculpt" was another new feature they added, but to be honest I prefer the traditional customization options of the older NFS titles.

The big question remains which is better: Most Wanted or Carbon. I think it's a matter of taste. Most Wanted has a much better story and more intense police chases, while Carbon has a much better city and progression. I'd say for me personally, Most Wanted wins by a very narrow margin, just because of the story.

In any case, both games are worth your time and you cannot go wrong with either one.

Polyphony Digital at the time of of writing this review have made 17 games since their founding in 1994. 16 of these are racing games with Omega Boost, a 3D mech action game being the one outlier in their repertoire. With the lead programmer on Omega Boost being Yuji Yasuhara (Panzer Dragoon Zwei), the mech designs by Shoji Kawamori (Macross, Visions of Escaflowne, Transformers) it's kind of amazing this is somewhat of a hidden gem considering the pedigree behind it.

And the thing is, a gem it really is. This is the first time I've played it in the 25 years since it's original release and it's amazing how well it holds up. The most impressive thing about it is actually the control scheme. It's simple yet highly effective at allowing players to traverse 3D environments having dog fights with a variety of enemies. It essentially uses 5 buttons. Boost, fire, special, hover and lock on. That's it. Your mech, The Omega Boost will always move forward unless you hover which will lock you in place from auto moving. This with the lock on that will auto target you facing the nearest enemy allows for a surprising degree of control in aiming, moving and shooting all at once that still holds up better than some more recent games. Once used to them you can strafe around targets, stop to fire, boost away and reacquire all with ease.

It has a very arcade feel to it with only two main weapons of a rapid fire gun and homing lasers when held down called boost. You get a special with a bar that builds up that does great damage but can only use sparingly but there are no other options or upgrades so to speak. There are 9 levels in total and each one you get scored on for how quickly you can beat them and the amount of enemies killed which can unlock more boost lock on segments to hit more targets at once. The game probably takes an hour or so to beat if you play straight and know what you are doing but it took me longer due to the aforementioned roots above. You only get 5 continues and only recover a chunk of life at the end of each level rather than starting full. I can think of no reason to do this other than to create an artificial difficulty. Honestly, I found it really pointlessly annoying as I would have almost full health but not quite at the start of each level. Just why?

The levels themselves are pretty varied and have this great chunky mechanical industrial feel to them that PSX visuals did so well. Initially I thought this would be a purely space based shooter but very early on you end up fighting ships in planet atmospheres watching them explode onto the planet as you destroy them, artificial tunnels with giant robots, sand plains with floating embers like a giant fire in the darkness as you fight a variety of enemies with some really creative bosses. I really hated the final couple of levels though with a needless difficulty spike. One of them has an annoying timer to beat two bosses then a very tough mini boss rush to finish that feel a little thrown together with no level before them. Maybe on sequential play throughs that would be easier but with only 5 continues and having to start the whole level over if you die it's just needlessly brutal.

The story is kind of basic. Essentially you are trying to go back in time to prevent a catastrophe where humanity are losing a war with an AI. It's presented in cutscenes that use a mixture of live action actors and CGI. The opening video if left to play seems to have a surprisingly high budget of a command centre, getting into the Omega Boost and flying off all to a completely out of place rock song. The rest of the music except the end credits sound more like something from Nier which I feel fit the aesthetic far better. The music feels bizarrely inconsistent in places though I like the actual cutscenes themselves, extremely 90's and I mean that in the best way.

So even with it's minor flaws, Omega Boost is a pretty crazy intense game that looks amazing. To think Polphony Digital made this cool 3D mech game and then went on to make nothing but racing games forever more will never not feel like wasted potential to me.

The US TV advert for Omega Boost as an extra.

+ Controls are really fluid, they hold up amazingly well.
+ Varied levels and fantastic visuals.
+ Some great music....

-....Also some really out of place music. It's like someone's put their rock track over the opening and ending videos for no reason.
- Brutal continue system and life recovery between levels just take some of the fun away from actually playing the game.

After playing Sea of Stars, I had to check in on this one and it really delivered! Instead of Chrono Trigger this one pays tribute to Ninja Gaiden and other side-scrolling action titles of the 8- and 16-bit eras with banging music and buttery controls. Nice challenge level as well, it nails that fine line betwen retro challenge and outright sadism. When the game has somewhere to go, it's 5 stars no question. When it becomes a metroidvania-esque open-world riddle-solving game, it's... not quite as good. It's more than a little disruptive to be moving forward with so much momentum and then just let it all dissipate. You have this great upgrade tree, and once you fill it—which 100% of players will do in the first half of the game without even trying—that's it. Around the same time you also notice that there's about 20 enemy types total in this entire 15-hour game, which imo is a missed opportunity. But fortunately it all comes roaring back together towards the end with some real showstopping setpieces and fun bosses. And then you see in the credits that it was made by a very small team and the whole thing becomes even more impressive.

A pretty, simple game that's a really neat concept but not very fun or engaging to actually play.

I remember when this game was announced how cool it looked and sounded. I loved the idea of bringing life and nature back to an area, but when I finally got my hands on the game I found it to be quite boring to play. I finished the first area and then didn't really feel like the game had anything else to show me

Terra Nil is not really that engaging and the usual satisfaction of building out your town, base, etc. that other strategy games like this have, is not here because the point of the game is to do the opposite. It has the same sort of "do nothing" chill vibe as Dorfromantik, but even Dorfromantik has the satisfaction of building out your map even if there's no real goal.

I still think the idea of Terra Nil is real neat, and I don't really know what I'd change but it's just not very engaging at all.

+ Really neat idea
+ Kind of chill

- Not engaging or fun
- Performance issues and buggy on iOS