Radshyguy
2013
At the time writing this, I am currently the only review of this game giving it such a high score and I wanna defend that stance.
This game most definitely has its issues, the animations are dreadful and the game overall has pretty mediocre graphics (mayonaise water), the game remains undubbed, a lot of the anime cutscenes are just taken straight from the DS version or are drawn over, and it has random encounters in the year 2013. I will also say that this game starts off pretty slowly and takes a bit for it to pick up, but it sure does and in the 2nd half I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen.
That being said, I think this game is one of the most underrated games in the series. The cast isn't the best or most memorable but they have some good development, really good chemistry with eachother, and there are some big stars of the cast. Shoutout to Hisui, a character I was really indifferent to at the start but ended up loving come the ending. The story also went from really episodic and whatever to being one of the most interesting in the series for me, with some extremely good scenes and a fast pace in the second half with a memorable set of final hours. So many twists and turns too, a lot of stuff in this game I just didn't expect and it was really fun to see.
The gameplay though? Easily the highlight. This is up as one of my favorite combat systems in the series, if not my favorite. It's fast, fluid, has an emphasis on air combat, an dit just has so many fun mechanics. It's a bit of a middleground between Xillia and Vesperia, instead of having a number of attacks you can do, you have a set number of basic attacks and then a set number of artes you can use. You can use them in any order you like which can make for some creative combos, especially with how almost every character can allow you to go flying. Top that off with perfect timing counter attacks that continue your combo or the ability to enter chase links so you can use link artes and freaking teleport behind your enemies in midair and launch them across the screen and this is some of the most fun I've had in the series. Every character has their appeal too, I couldn't get into all of them but with eight party members I still enjoyed playing as more than half of them, Chalcedony being my favorite.
Overall, this game is an absolute steal. This is one of my longer reviews on this site but I just really wanted to defend this game since I feel most Tales fans just pass it off as an average 7/10 game, but there's so much to appreciate here. The only major issue with this game (aside from stupid random encounters) is that it it's trapped on the Vita.
This game most definitely has its issues, the animations are dreadful and the game overall has pretty mediocre graphics (mayonaise water), the game remains undubbed, a lot of the anime cutscenes are just taken straight from the DS version or are drawn over, and it has random encounters in the year 2013. I will also say that this game starts off pretty slowly and takes a bit for it to pick up, but it sure does and in the 2nd half I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen.
That being said, I think this game is one of the most underrated games in the series. The cast isn't the best or most memorable but they have some good development, really good chemistry with eachother, and there are some big stars of the cast. Shoutout to Hisui, a character I was really indifferent to at the start but ended up loving come the ending. The story also went from really episodic and whatever to being one of the most interesting in the series for me, with some extremely good scenes and a fast pace in the second half with a memorable set of final hours. So many twists and turns too, a lot of stuff in this game I just didn't expect and it was really fun to see.
The gameplay though? Easily the highlight. This is up as one of my favorite combat systems in the series, if not my favorite. It's fast, fluid, has an emphasis on air combat, an dit just has so many fun mechanics. It's a bit of a middleground between Xillia and Vesperia, instead of having a number of attacks you can do, you have a set number of basic attacks and then a set number of artes you can use. You can use them in any order you like which can make for some creative combos, especially with how almost every character can allow you to go flying. Top that off with perfect timing counter attacks that continue your combo or the ability to enter chase links so you can use link artes and freaking teleport behind your enemies in midair and launch them across the screen and this is some of the most fun I've had in the series. Every character has their appeal too, I couldn't get into all of them but with eight party members I still enjoyed playing as more than half of them, Chalcedony being my favorite.
Overall, this game is an absolute steal. This is one of my longer reviews on this site but I just really wanted to defend this game since I feel most Tales fans just pass it off as an average 7/10 game, but there's so much to appreciate here. The only major issue with this game (aside from stupid random encounters) is that it it's trapped on the Vita.
2001
When describing parts of Megaman X6 to my friends in voicechat, my friend was playing the level where you fight 5 donuts that aren't animated in a row in different arenas with varying levels of annoyance. During this conversation, I just remember that one of my friends who was mostly quiet said something along the lines of "this sounds like a bad game someone would make up for a joke".
That speaks volumes.
That speaks volumes.
2005
The first game without the creator on board and a huge step down.
The first thing any Katamari fan will notice are the controls, which are different since the PSP obviously does not have two analog sticks. Thankfully, this can be ammended with the Vita version or an emulator, which makes it feel better even if it's obviously not as smooth as real dual analog. What's more annoying is that the new quick turn is really hard to get use to using and the dash lacks the fluidity of We Love Katamari's since it's used by spamming up on digital inputs. That being said though, it is playable, and I will defend the game on that.
That's not the big issue here though. It's the level design. This game has four unique main levels. Three for the super large stages are unique and the final stage's last part is also unique. The game mostly consists of different versions of these four maps with different objects, similar to Katamari Damacy, however just like that game it is pretty repetitive. Even more so this time though in my experience. By the end of the game, even for the specific versions of each stage I had played some of these over five times. It doesn't help that some of these levels have you play one level of each size except the final one too, so it just overall makes for an extremely repetitive game. The level design for the smaller stages is at least alright, but on the larger ones it honestly feels almost braindead since you start so large with no real threats to you. Especially the stages where you start at 10 meters.
This game is for fans only, otherwise, skip it.
The first thing any Katamari fan will notice are the controls, which are different since the PSP obviously does not have two analog sticks. Thankfully, this can be ammended with the Vita version or an emulator, which makes it feel better even if it's obviously not as smooth as real dual analog. What's more annoying is that the new quick turn is really hard to get use to using and the dash lacks the fluidity of We Love Katamari's since it's used by spamming up on digital inputs. That being said though, it is playable, and I will defend the game on that.
That's not the big issue here though. It's the level design. This game has four unique main levels. Three for the super large stages are unique and the final stage's last part is also unique. The game mostly consists of different versions of these four maps with different objects, similar to Katamari Damacy, however just like that game it is pretty repetitive. Even more so this time though in my experience. By the end of the game, even for the specific versions of each stage I had played some of these over five times. It doesn't help that some of these levels have you play one level of each size except the final one too, so it just overall makes for an extremely repetitive game. The level design for the smaller stages is at least alright, but on the larger ones it honestly feels almost braindead since you start so large with no real threats to you. Especially the stages where you start at 10 meters.
This game is for fans only, otherwise, skip it.
1992
Atlus, while remaining relatively niche, has such a devoted fanbase that I can't help but respect them for it. This would have never happened without SMT, and I thank this game for that. Who knows, without it maybe we wouldn't have our Trauma Centers, SMT4s, Persona 5s, or Catherines. That being said, this game is an utter trainwreck.
A slow-paced, ugly game with a story that largely becomes aimless later on featuring bland characters with no direction ever pointing you in the right way. When you do find the right way, you'll find that this game has some of the most boring, repetitive, and easy turn-based combat to ever grace the SNES.
After that battle though, you'll realize that using a map in this game is incredibly clunky with no listed cardinal directions in maze-like dungeons and that you already have another encounter. This game has a comically high encounter rate, thankfully the fights aren't too long but does it really even matter when you can get eight of the same enemy in one encounter, and then get another encounter on the same space? Hopefully one of your demons doesn't die by the way, one time I lost one to an instakill move and had to pay 50,000 monies to revive them. That was almost all of mine after doing an hour long dungeon. Also make sure you make that you keep your allignment to neutral, the other routes are shorter, make you use less demons, and have way worse endings. You can also only see your allignment by how your blue overworld avatar rotates on the map by the way, of course though, nothing ever tells you this.
I think this game's horrible design came ahead to me in this one section where my party member and I got paralyzed. No matter, paralysis is usually annoying (looking at you Tales) but it's just a status effect. My demons finished the fight for me and I went to use an item to heal it. You can't use items when all your human party members are paralyzed... Alright, well, thankfully, I had a demon on me that could cure paralysis. I tried to summon them... You can't summon demons when paralyzed. Okay, so, despite being about 20-30 minutes into the dungeon, it could have been worse, so I started slowly walking back to the beginning to get it healed while I either ran away (which makes you move back a space so you'll probably get another encounter) or had my demons fight the enemies for me. After I got to the beginning, what do you know, no healing area at the beginning. That's fine! I'll just go into the overworld, there's a healing place not too far from here... Everytime you move one space in the overworld while paralyzed, the game pauses for about 2-3 seconds while the screen flashes white. That should sum up my feelings well.
The only good things about this game are the music and atmosphere, the latter of which is honestly pretty excellent for the time. I respect this game's place in history for Atlus and honestly I was teetering on the edge of giving it a 2, but honestly the more I think about this game the less and less I like it. I was in denial about this ofr a while though, so if you're interested maybe try it for a little bit? The game does have its fans after all.
A slow-paced, ugly game with a story that largely becomes aimless later on featuring bland characters with no direction ever pointing you in the right way. When you do find the right way, you'll find that this game has some of the most boring, repetitive, and easy turn-based combat to ever grace the SNES.
After that battle though, you'll realize that using a map in this game is incredibly clunky with no listed cardinal directions in maze-like dungeons and that you already have another encounter. This game has a comically high encounter rate, thankfully the fights aren't too long but does it really even matter when you can get eight of the same enemy in one encounter, and then get another encounter on the same space? Hopefully one of your demons doesn't die by the way, one time I lost one to an instakill move and had to pay 50,000 monies to revive them. That was almost all of mine after doing an hour long dungeon. Also make sure you make that you keep your allignment to neutral, the other routes are shorter, make you use less demons, and have way worse endings. You can also only see your allignment by how your blue overworld avatar rotates on the map by the way, of course though, nothing ever tells you this.
I think this game's horrible design came ahead to me in this one section where my party member and I got paralyzed. No matter, paralysis is usually annoying (looking at you Tales) but it's just a status effect. My demons finished the fight for me and I went to use an item to heal it. You can't use items when all your human party members are paralyzed... Alright, well, thankfully, I had a demon on me that could cure paralysis. I tried to summon them... You can't summon demons when paralyzed. Okay, so, despite being about 20-30 minutes into the dungeon, it could have been worse, so I started slowly walking back to the beginning to get it healed while I either ran away (which makes you move back a space so you'll probably get another encounter) or had my demons fight the enemies for me. After I got to the beginning, what do you know, no healing area at the beginning. That's fine! I'll just go into the overworld, there's a healing place not too far from here... Everytime you move one space in the overworld while paralyzed, the game pauses for about 2-3 seconds while the screen flashes white. That should sum up my feelings well.
The only good things about this game are the music and atmosphere, the latter of which is honestly pretty excellent for the time. I respect this game's place in history for Atlus and honestly I was teetering on the edge of giving it a 2, but honestly the more I think about this game the less and less I like it. I was in denial about this ofr a while though, so if you're interested maybe try it for a little bit? The game does have its fans after all.
TBD
Challenging, full of secrets, wonderful quasi-ironic humor, and just fun to play. What's not to love?
This game probably deserves a 1/10 ngl but honestly out of pure irony I'm giving this game a 2. This game is absolutely unplayable garbage and as soon as you get past act 1 of Green Hill Zone it becomes super frustrating but this game is just really funny. The awful music, the framerate drops, the broken physics, just all around a funny game.
This is still probably one of the worst ports of all time though so 2/10 lol.
This is still probably one of the worst ports of all time though so 2/10 lol.
This game hurts me on a personal level.
1995
4 stars if you just play the main game, 3 1/2 stars if you're counting Thy Flesh Consumed as well. It's just filled with bullet sponge enemies, a lack of health packs, and just being generally annoying. The rest of the game is how everyone else describes it, you know "it's so timeless and great" and all that jazz. But gosh, what a waste of an expansion.
You Don't Know Jack is pretty alright, got lots of content too.
Fibbage is good but got new versions on sequels.
Drawful is great but you can get the sequel on its own for really cheap prices sometimes.
Lie Swatter is awful and extremely boring.
Word Spud is laughably bad.
Just play the sequels.
Fibbage is good but got new versions on sequels.
Drawful is great but you can get the sequel on its own for really cheap prices sometimes.
Lie Swatter is awful and extremely boring.
Word Spud is laughably bad.
Just play the sequels.
I've heard this game is extremely easy for DDR veterans, and yeah I imagine having to unlock Very Hard and Super Hard only being on free play would be annoying to someone big into it especially considering those difficulties aren't that hard anyway, but this is an excellent game for beginners as far as I'm aware and all the fun stuff you can add into songs is pretty nifty.
The game its self has a lot of charm, new aspects of Mario lore are thrown in with how all problems can be solved by dancing, and the soundtrack goes surprisingly hard considering how much of it was based off of public domain music. The game also has actual Mario music, unlike Donkey Konga. Also the game has reused animations and models from Mario Party and I think that's funny.
The game its self has a lot of charm, new aspects of Mario lore are thrown in with how all problems can be solved by dancing, and the soundtrack goes surprisingly hard considering how much of it was based off of public domain music. The game also has actual Mario music, unlike Donkey Konga. Also the game has reused animations and models from Mario Party and I think that's funny.
2005
Game's so underrated it physically hurts me.
The story is pretty sweet, the voice acting is good and it's overall pretty serious and dark which I appreciate, the only real issue I have is that they kinda backed out from a couple big decisions but it's still cool.
The gameplay is great too, the typical Star Fox gameplay is as good as it usually is but the on foot stuff is a good expansion of the gameplay, hunting down enemies in these big maps, and the best part is tha tmost of these stages allow you to hop on a Landmaster or Arwing whenever you want, which just allows for so much freedom. Also, orchestral music. In 2005. It's sick. The only issue is that it's really short, but for how focused the plot is I suppose that makes sense.
The best part of the game though is easily the multiplayer, which honestly is probably some of the best multiplayer ever in a Nintendo game. Sure it's just an arena shooter, but there's so many different options you have both from the start and that you can unlock that just make for so much fun, whether it be just spamming remote controlled missiles or any other gimmick battle that comes to your head. I think this game could've been a cult classic for this alone, but Nintendo didn't have the foresight to give it online. Oh well.
Just an amazing game all around please give yourself a favor and play it.
Editing this just to say I hate 64 purists for ruining this game's reputation.
The story is pretty sweet, the voice acting is good and it's overall pretty serious and dark which I appreciate, the only real issue I have is that they kinda backed out from a couple big decisions but it's still cool.
The gameplay is great too, the typical Star Fox gameplay is as good as it usually is but the on foot stuff is a good expansion of the gameplay, hunting down enemies in these big maps, and the best part is tha tmost of these stages allow you to hop on a Landmaster or Arwing whenever you want, which just allows for so much freedom. Also, orchestral music. In 2005. It's sick. The only issue is that it's really short, but for how focused the plot is I suppose that makes sense.
The best part of the game though is easily the multiplayer, which honestly is probably some of the best multiplayer ever in a Nintendo game. Sure it's just an arena shooter, but there's so many different options you have both from the start and that you can unlock that just make for so much fun, whether it be just spamming remote controlled missiles or any other gimmick battle that comes to your head. I think this game could've been a cult classic for this alone, but Nintendo didn't have the foresight to give it online. Oh well.
Just an amazing game all around please give yourself a favor and play it.
Editing this just to say I hate 64 purists for ruining this game's reputation.
2012
30% of fun comes from it actually being a good game, 70% of fun comes from naming your game "Silly Stan Stampedes To Stinkmart" and watching it sell 3,000,000 copies.
1997
Great arcadey-type game. With the exception of Fire all the Mario remakes differentiate themselves from the original well enough to hold the same original idea, but are still different enough for both to be fun with their own appeal.
The Game & Watch games may not be LCD but they feel very authentic and are enjoyable. The Mario versions are filled with charm too. Overall it's just a solid collection of minigames and it's just a neat game.
The Game & Watch games may not be LCD but they feel very authentic and are enjoyable. The Mario versions are filled with charm too. Overall it's just a solid collection of minigames and it's just a neat game.
Pretty much as good as classic 2D platformers get. Fun level design with constant creative ideas, lots of challenge, a solid length, and so much charm. However Rare decided that that wasn't enough so they decided to make the game have a huge 100% experience and some of the best music and atmosphere you'll find on the console. Not really much I can say except it's amazing go play it.
2016
This game basically works in a way where the first world is a demo and you have to pay to get the rest of the game. It's sorta overpriced but it goes on sale a decent amount. Really fun game too, it's fun to perfect each level in Toad Rally and get all the collectables in the main game. Really no clue where the hate comes from for this being a "microtransactionfest" when it's pay once to get the actual game and that's it. I'm pretty sure all that misdirected hate is the reason Nintendo keeps making gacha crap now, so lol.