RKPrime
2022
OlliOlli World is incredible, and a game I'd highly recommend for anyone to try out.
My only gripe is that the sweat level ratchets up intensely by the third or fourth world, which really put me off of striving for completion of the game. I am not interested in beating every level in single combo!
My only gripe is that the sweat level ratchets up intensely by the third or fourth world, which really put me off of striving for completion of the game. I am not interested in beating every level in single combo!
The game is pretty fun and fairly competent. The levels are bite-sized and it feels like a heavier, clunkier shovel knight. It's fun to get into a rhythmn of jumping in and out of levels quickly.
The scrolling of the screen made it a bit difficult to make out background details at times, but you'll get used to it. The level structure is straightforward but puzzling if it's meant to be more. It seems there's potential for 4 puzzle pieces but I've only ever seen 2 in one run. Maybe I'm just bad at it?
If anything this feels like a proof of concept that there's room for a 2D platformer on the Playdate.
I think this guy is the devil?
The scrolling of the screen made it a bit difficult to make out background details at times, but you'll get used to it. The level structure is straightforward but puzzling if it's meant to be more. It seems there's potential for 4 puzzle pieces but I've only ever seen 2 in one run. Maybe I'm just bad at it?
If anything this feels like a proof of concept that there's room for a 2D platformer on the Playdate.
I think this guy is the devil?
2022
This game fucks
2022
I really love Stray, the trophy list is not perfect! They've done the impossible by making a game about cats appeal to people outside the cat-person bubble, and for that I'm grateful.
After getting the platinum, it's an even more imperfect list.
After getting the platinum, it's an even more imperfect list.
2024
Very fun time, boss fights are alright
1999
Ape Escape is lovely. I played it for the first time in 2022, it was my entry into the franchise. The game still feels creative, making use of the then-new dual analog sticks to deliver some gadgets and gizmos that make tracking down each Ape a fun time. The game is definitely still playable, even if events begin to feel samey and you find yourself wrestling with the camera at other points.
2022
It cannot be overstated enough how smooth the gameplay of Rollerdrome is. No wipeouts, no bails, no punishments for dodging too late and not nailing a trick. It presents a steady rise in challenge and complication culminating at a peak that just misses the mark.
The ramp up in difficulty and challenge as Kara reaches for the finals is immaculate. The challenges are perfectly designed so that you’ll naturally nail a couple on a first playthrough, and the remaining in a couple replays. Any time that I finished a level, dismayed that I couldn’t reach a top score, I found myself able to land it within another attempt or two. Each attempt felt like something new kept clicking. It was a rare fulfillment.
The aesthetic is clean First person segments are a neat additional viewport into a future world. Opening a door, pulling the camera out and skating directly into the levels is a special choice.
The boss fights are a drag. A departure from the standard 10-challenge loaded levels in a rinse & repeat format. They don’t present anything novel or new to the gameplay loop and instead act as time sinks to endcap specific levels. Not to mention there is only one boss that is fought twice. This theme is continued with the ‘secondary’ Out for Blood campaign, which follows Kara as the now champion competing in the subsequent year of the Rollerdrome. The black jumpsuit is a fun addition, but not enough to outweigh the complete repetition of the original campaign. Instead of 10 challenges it’s reduced to 3, focused solely on a high score, single combo and speedrun. Enemies are dropped in troves in exchange for considerably less creativity in the level challenges. The sweat is turned up and enjoyment dramatically reduced to an extreme fault. The Out for Blood campaign should be viewed more as a tacked-on afterthought rather than a valued addition to the base game.
To this end, I still wish the game was longer. Prior to reaching the finals, the Rollerdrome feels like it can go on forever. I’d show up instantly to play another 4 levels with myriad challenges. Continue the Tony Hawk inspiration and have me skate a line to spell a word. Run a specific combo, keep shaking things up.
Rollerdrome rocks the most not when it’s challenging but when the impetus is creative. Unfortunately, it only achieves this for under half of its run time.
The ramp up in difficulty and challenge as Kara reaches for the finals is immaculate. The challenges are perfectly designed so that you’ll naturally nail a couple on a first playthrough, and the remaining in a couple replays. Any time that I finished a level, dismayed that I couldn’t reach a top score, I found myself able to land it within another attempt or two. Each attempt felt like something new kept clicking. It was a rare fulfillment.
The aesthetic is clean First person segments are a neat additional viewport into a future world. Opening a door, pulling the camera out and skating directly into the levels is a special choice.
The boss fights are a drag. A departure from the standard 10-challenge loaded levels in a rinse & repeat format. They don’t present anything novel or new to the gameplay loop and instead act as time sinks to endcap specific levels. Not to mention there is only one boss that is fought twice. This theme is continued with the ‘secondary’ Out for Blood campaign, which follows Kara as the now champion competing in the subsequent year of the Rollerdrome. The black jumpsuit is a fun addition, but not enough to outweigh the complete repetition of the original campaign. Instead of 10 challenges it’s reduced to 3, focused solely on a high score, single combo and speedrun. Enemies are dropped in troves in exchange for considerably less creativity in the level challenges. The sweat is turned up and enjoyment dramatically reduced to an extreme fault. The Out for Blood campaign should be viewed more as a tacked-on afterthought rather than a valued addition to the base game.
To this end, I still wish the game was longer. Prior to reaching the finals, the Rollerdrome feels like it can go on forever. I’d show up instantly to play another 4 levels with myriad challenges. Continue the Tony Hawk inspiration and have me skate a line to spell a word. Run a specific combo, keep shaking things up.
Rollerdrome rocks the most not when it’s challenging but when the impetus is creative. Unfortunately, it only achieves this for under half of its run time.
2022
Tinykin brings the collection and resource management angles of Pikmin and expertly shaves them down to their most fun components in a delightful package. It sticks the landing as an indie 3D platformer rife with all the charm and delight you'd expect from its contemporaries, those being the top of its class.
The design is impeccable, never getting in its own way to force a dialogue interaction with NPCs. You just continually bounce around the room with absolute freedom, constantly unlocking shortcuts for quick access back to the heights you ascended. I'd be delighted to enter a similar house in a sequel and do it all over again!
The design is impeccable, never getting in its own way to force a dialogue interaction with NPCs. You just continually bounce around the room with absolute freedom, constantly unlocking shortcuts for quick access back to the heights you ascended. I'd be delighted to enter a similar house in a sequel and do it all over again!
Excellent game. Drips and oozes style, the fights are bombastic, the music kicks, it's playing in an anime in the best ways possible.
There are some annoying collision issues with wall spikes during precise platforming segments which bother but don't break the experience.
Fast travel should be mapped to trees, not statues. And Ubi shouldn't have locked a collectible tracker to a premium edition!
There are some annoying collision issues with wall spikes during precise platforming segments which bother but don't break the experience.
Fast travel should be mapped to trees, not statues. And Ubi shouldn't have locked a collectible tracker to a premium edition!
2022
Inventory Hero is not a game for me. One round was all that I felt necessary to play. It was a good run, reaching level 83 and losing to RNG in the end. And for that I was thankful, I wanted an excuse to bow out by the time I reached Glitch world the first time...
There's a lot that I know went into this game, graphics, world design, all of the items being equipped to my player character and neat enemy sprites. But I have no way of appreciating them in real time as the entire game has me fixated on my inventory. The loop is not very fun, sadly I won't be coming back to it.
There's a lot that I know went into this game, graphics, world design, all of the items being equipped to my player character and neat enemy sprites. But I have no way of appreciating them in real time as the entire game has me fixated on my inventory. The loop is not very fun, sadly I won't be coming back to it.
This game was very nice. I enjoyed playing with Molly. Co-op is very lackluster as P1 is Kirby and P2 is locked to Bandana Waddle Dee. P2 sits back for much of the game while kirby gets new abilities, upgrades and mouthfuls. Very disappointing in that respect.
The world's are varied and very pleasant to spend time in. The music has no business going so hard. The ending CG cutscene might be the best thing I've seen on the switch. The combat is passable and gameplay rather basic.
The ability upgrades are great and give great incentive to explore, revisit the village and pursue challenges. Unfortunately these challenges are only for P1, so more sitting and watching for P2.
Despite being rather basic and a Kirby game I got hit plenty and even died once. It was certainly easier in Co-op mode, but it still felt like the game was scaled. Molly carried me through much of the combat.
I discovered the block & dodge roll 85% through the game. Maybe that's why it was hard before? It made the game easier.
Level 3 ice is a busted power in the best way. Highly reccomend.
As with many Switch games I feel ripped off at $60, but there's enough content here to reasonably delude yourself. I had a lot of fun with my time.
The world's are varied and very pleasant to spend time in. The music has no business going so hard. The ending CG cutscene might be the best thing I've seen on the switch. The combat is passable and gameplay rather basic.
The ability upgrades are great and give great incentive to explore, revisit the village and pursue challenges. Unfortunately these challenges are only for P1, so more sitting and watching for P2.
Despite being rather basic and a Kirby game I got hit plenty and even died once. It was certainly easier in Co-op mode, but it still felt like the game was scaled. Molly carried me through much of the combat.
I discovered the block & dodge roll 85% through the game. Maybe that's why it was hard before? It made the game easier.
Level 3 ice is a busted power in the best way. Highly reccomend.
As with many Switch games I feel ripped off at $60, but there's enough content here to reasonably delude yourself. I had a lot of fun with my time.
This review contains spoilers
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a lot of things. It's beautiful, charming, surprising, and above all it’s clunky. It feels like a game out of time both in design and control. Its direction and transitions are often imbalanced, constantly wrenching control from the player just to throw it back for 5 steps into another cutscene.
I think the combat system is well-designed. The marriage of action-style and turn-based combat come together impressively well. Cloud switching between Operator and Punisher modes changes the pace and a quick-select to access abilities works well. I’d appreciate it if the pause menu was accessible during combat, that would then allow me to access the remapping on my Quick Select. Especially later in the game, there isn’t a shortage of enemy variety or set-piece level boss fights. Many visually interesting enemies get lost in the combat system and ultimately feel like they miss their chance to impact. Enemies will put up fields to put you out of range, fly out of reach, indiscriminately enter phases of invulnerability. It’s very puzzling and causes them to drag and feel far more drawn out than necessary.
This same feeling is present in the level design. Midgar is beautiful and consistently visually detailed. I understand the use of guised loading segments by crouching under an object, vaulting or sidling against a wall. These moments feel constant though. Stepping into and out of train cars in the graveyard, the chase scene in the sewers. Why are so many of these slow on-rails moments present? During Hojo’s four drums, only 1 door being open at a time. Going to the call boxes to switch parties, it feels like unnecessary padding that murders the pacing.
The fears and woes of the party often feel at odds with one another. Despite Cloud’s superhuman strength and the multitude of fantastical beasts and machines the party there’s a mismatched amount of dread in cutscenes. Crossing the water in the sewers is the main scene that comes to mind. Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith just fell an indiscriminate distance from the slums to the sewers. But the prospect of falling in the water is the scariest thing to them?
The final two chapters are easily the strongest. Though still muddled by the problematic pacing. The moment finally comes when Sephiroth is truly, physically standing before you. Then it’s instantly diffused as you traverse several mandatory monster closets made necessary through the story.
I’m left with even more questions than when I started, and that’s totally okay. I beat this game because I wanted to know where it was getting me, to be a part of the remaking of one of the most revered games of all time. And in the end I liked that destination, but in no way do I think the journey was worth it.
I think the combat system is well-designed. The marriage of action-style and turn-based combat come together impressively well. Cloud switching between Operator and Punisher modes changes the pace and a quick-select to access abilities works well. I’d appreciate it if the pause menu was accessible during combat, that would then allow me to access the remapping on my Quick Select. Especially later in the game, there isn’t a shortage of enemy variety or set-piece level boss fights. Many visually interesting enemies get lost in the combat system and ultimately feel like they miss their chance to impact. Enemies will put up fields to put you out of range, fly out of reach, indiscriminately enter phases of invulnerability. It’s very puzzling and causes them to drag and feel far more drawn out than necessary.
This same feeling is present in the level design. Midgar is beautiful and consistently visually detailed. I understand the use of guised loading segments by crouching under an object, vaulting or sidling against a wall. These moments feel constant though. Stepping into and out of train cars in the graveyard, the chase scene in the sewers. Why are so many of these slow on-rails moments present? During Hojo’s four drums, only 1 door being open at a time. Going to the call boxes to switch parties, it feels like unnecessary padding that murders the pacing.
The fears and woes of the party often feel at odds with one another. Despite Cloud’s superhuman strength and the multitude of fantastical beasts and machines the party there’s a mismatched amount of dread in cutscenes. Crossing the water in the sewers is the main scene that comes to mind. Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith just fell an indiscriminate distance from the slums to the sewers. But the prospect of falling in the water is the scariest thing to them?
The final two chapters are easily the strongest. Though still muddled by the problematic pacing. The moment finally comes when Sephiroth is truly, physically standing before you. Then it’s instantly diffused as you traverse several mandatory monster closets made necessary through the story.
I’m left with even more questions than when I started, and that’s totally okay. I beat this game because I wanted to know where it was getting me, to be a part of the remaking of one of the most revered games of all time. And in the end I liked that destination, but in no way do I think the journey was worth it.
2023
Pikmin 4 is smooth and addictive to perfection. What a treat!
Games don't get more complete than this. Tears of the Kingdom is an ante up in every possible way. I've never played anything like it. The abilities and world systems lend themselves to some of the most inventive and unique gameplay I've ever had the pleasure of tooling around with. I was captured in the world. The story melted my heart.
Several heavy shortcomings hold it back from being a perfect game!
Several heavy shortcomings hold it back from being a perfect game!
2021
A neat game that marries a lot of bangers to create something special of its own. Didn't really hit for me!
Definitely recommend playing on a lower difficulty, the higher levels cause the movement to really show its blemishes.
Definitely recommend playing on a lower difficulty, the higher levels cause the movement to really show its blemishes.