And to think, I thought I was done with Celeste this month. I heard this got released yesterday, and it's free, so I had to go and play it. For only being made in a week, this is very impressive. Celeste transitions surprisingly well into 3D. You lose your upward dash in this game but everything else is here. Yes even your grab which I stupidly didn't realize was a thing until 2/3rds into my playthrough. Once I did, it definitely clicked way more since I was infinitely wall-jumping to do stuff before I learned grabbing was part of her moveset. I really like the implementation of the camera and it having a big part with the various puzzles. The early 3D atmosphere was also really nice. It never got crazy difficult like Celeste but what was here was fun. It's only like an hour long so there really isn't much content, but this could be a good stepping stone into something greater. Either way, fun game..just wish it was longer.

Also, I got all 30 strawberries, that last cassette tape under Badeline was definitely the hardest part of the game but it was very cool.

It's everything you've heard. And more.

When looking at the RPG genre, most people will agree that the best aspects are, well, the roleplaying. Being able to create your own character and be immersed into a fully realised world is the truest form of the escapism that video games can provide us.

And while Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't invent some magic new system that will "change RPGs forever", it instead decides to focus on making sure the delivery of that immersion is as polished yet still vast as a Dungeons and Dragons game can be within the limits of video games.

I get that it isn't for everyone. D&D isn't for everyone and that's okay, if you are reading this and you didn't enjoy it then that is okay. But the quality of content here is indisputable and it is absolutely worth trying out at least once. Larian has poured so much love into this and you can see it in the voice acting, the music, the combat, and every little small detail that you'll miss initially which reignites your desire for another playthrough.

This was a very pleasant surprise. I absolutely love the concept, aesthetic, and music. I had a good time overall, this is much more enjoyable than the PICO-8 Celeste games in my opinion, but I do feel like it has some shortcomings in controls and polish that I wanted to talk about. These aren't a huge deal for a very short game made in a week, but I just think it's interesting.

There's some clear issues with the controls, particularly relating to the camera, that become much more obvious doing some of the more difficult B-Sides. Edges of platforms also feel particularly slippery where I feel like other games would be more generous, and Madeline is all too eager to perform a ledge climb when moving along a wall even when there are spikes on top that will instantly kill you. Many of the jumps in this game require a lot of active camera management to see where you're going, and since you also want your thumb on the face buttons to be able to dash mid-air you're constantly moving your grip back and forth. There are no control options whatsoever, and in most games I'd settle for being able to put dash on a shoulder button. I generally think taking common actions off of the face buttons in games that use both analog sticks is a good idea and fully solves a lot of issues like this, but here it feels like it would still be a band-aid solution.

The problems with the camera go deeper. For one thing, I think putting the ability to zoom in and out on the right stick's Y-axis was a mistake, you're not going to be getting perfectly horizontal inputs every time you want to turn the camera, so over the course of a series of jumps with quick camera turns you can find the camera at a very different angle than you intended. This is especially annoying since the camera doesn't reset when you respawn and you almost always have to adjust it before each attempt at a section. It's also often very hard to judge distance, I found myself under or overshooting small platforms a lot of the time. I've played a lot of 3D platformers and this is not an issue I usually have, and I had to think for a bit about what the actual cause is, which I think comes down to a couple of things. I think the developers realized this problem as well, since they included a very exaggerated guide that's enabled by default, rather than the traditional shadow below your character there's also a dotted line that extends from you to the ground. I don't think this solves the issue however.

The camera does a lot less automated movement than the average 3D platformer. In Super Mario 64 the developers only had a single analog stick to work with, and were also designing for players new to 3D games entirely, so they made the camera movement largely automatic, keeping it at a good angle behind Mario as he moved, with buttons left only for larger adjustments. Even with the move to dual-analog controllers, most 3D platformers since have largely copied this behavior. Celeste 64 seems to expect the player to do a lot more of this camerawork on their own, which is a decision I can understand sounding good on paper but doesn't really work in this genre. An interesting side-effect of this is that I think a lot of how distance is perceived is through seeing the edges of objects or textures move as the camera moves, and when the camera is at a locked angle even though the player is moving this makes the scene appear flat.

While fixing that problem would go a long way, I think there's also just an inherent issue with the amount of air control expected from Celeste's mechanics when applied to a 3D space. Most 3D platformers give you a lot of control in how you start your jump, but once you're in the air you're mostly just expected to make minor adjustments to ensure you land in the right spot. Completely changing your trajectory in the air and having to use that precisely is a lot more challenging, and even as someone who has played many difficult platformers I think that type of challenge is more awkward than it is fun. It's still probably possible to make a better-controlling game around this idea, with a better camera and level design that keeps this in mind and tries to avoid the awkward situations, but I think this game shows how difficult that would be to make properly.

While I mainly focused on negatives so far, I did have a very nice time with this overall. The play area feels packed with secrets and I was really impressed with the number of B-Sides. The ideas taken from Mario and the way they're implemented is great, I love the inclusion of 64's side-jump, and the short B-Side levels as secrets fit in great with the more open exploration. Like I mentioned at the start the game looks and sounds great, especially so for something put together so quickly. For something that took me under 3 hours to 100% the downsides are easy to overlook, and I had a really fun time with it.

I played this game specifically to spite people in a Discord server who were saying it's bad in one sitting to 100% because I will not take slander towards this absolute gem of a game. Mario 64 isn't perfect. Rainbow Ride is mid, the bosses aren't anything special, some of the stars are tedious as hell and exiting a stage every time you get a star gets monotonous after a while. But despite those issues everything from the controls, to (most of) the levels, to the music, to even the visual style for being one of the first N64 games is absolutely stellar. There's a reason why this game is the golden standart for 3D platformers, and why it's remained that for so long.

Ya know, I was gonna start this review with my usual personal story opener. I was gonna talk about how I was interested in this game because of Chuggaaconroy's Let's Play that had just come out. I was gonna talk about how I bought a copy at TooManyGames 2019 and saw Thrown Controllers live. I was gonna talk about how I was going to have Chugga sign my copy and I was disappointed in the end that I missed my chance while I was there. So, for this to be my first mention of the guy in any of my reviews, and I'm putting this review out after all the stuff that's come out in the past week and a half? Probably the worst timing imaginable since I had planned this opener from the start lol. (Edit: with the recent statement Emile put out, I have decided to delete the part saying I'm done with him.)

Sorry to start this on a negative note. I figured it needed to be said since I've had this on my mind for the past week and a half. Either way, on to the actual game. I did play like a half hour of this game back in 2019 but dropped it for whatever reason. It was one of my most hyped games in my backlog and while I don't absolutely love it like some people, I did think it was pretty great overall!

Let's start with the story of Chrono Trigger. It's a typical time travel story but it's executed very well! Throughout the game, you're traveling through various different time periods, meeting various different characters along the way. It's light hearted and really picks up in the last third of the game when shit goes down. While the story overall is executed well, flawless in pacing too, I can't say I loved it as really nothing about it blew my mind. Future square games, while maybe more imperfect in their execution of their stories (like FF7 or FFX) I enjoy way more just because they're way more impactful to me. That's not to say the story is bad in Chrono Trigger, it definitely is not, it's just not mind-blowing like I was expecting from such a well regarded JRPG.

Onto the cast, I really liked most of the characters! They all have little arcs that come to play in the story and those are my favorite bits of the story, just seeing the characters interact and grow. My favorites were Frog, Robo and Lucca..they just felt the most impactful of them all. My only issue and it's another bigger one sadly, I really wish there were more scenes of the entire party interacting and more specific character scenes in general. Once you go through a characters arc, you don't really see much from then again unless you have them in your party during a big story moment. There are little scenes here and there that do involve specific characters but I really wanted more of that. The best parts of the character development and worldbuilding and honestly they were maybe my favorite parts of the game as a whole, were the endgame optional side quests. Most of them were super great in fleshing out the characters more, I just wish that happened more in the actual story. The one where you have Robo help Fiona for 400 years, and you learn about something that happened in Lucca's past and Robo comforting her...god it was so good. But I wanted more of that! So while I did really enjoy the cast as a whole, I just wish they were more prominent in the story and not just tied down to who's in your party. Because sadly someone like Marle I completely forgot about for a while cuz I didn't find her fun to use so she wasn't really involved in the story. Also in regards to the main "villian", Lavos. They're alright..it's just a big towering obstacle in your way but I never loved it as it obviously doesn't have any dialogue and thus I never felt any type of connection to them compared to other JRPG's I've played. Everyone kept talking about Lavos but the being itself didn't do much for me besides having a cool design.

The presentation is honestly mind blowing for a Super Nintendo game. I did play the DS version so idk if the visuals were totally the same or not but what I played here was goddamn impressive. The little animations each characters have are crazy, especially if you compare it to something like Final Fantasy VI which came out a year prior to this. The areas are very rich in detail and the world as whole, while being relatively small in scope, felt alive because of the amazing visuals. Along with the presentation is the great OST. Now I won't lie and say I'm in love with the OST as a whole as of now, but each time I listen to it I'm liking it more and more and it truly is great. The standout themes for me were Frog's Theme, Schala's Theme,and Secret of the Forest among several others.

The combat is another thing I think was super well done. It's ATB like the Final Fantasy games from 4 onwards but in Chrono Trigger's case, positioning of the party plays a part. Instead of the characters being lined up all in a row, depending on encounters they can be in different postions on the screen. The character's moves can then take a part in this as some only hit enemies when they're close to you or some multitarget enemies when they're bunched up. I thought this was really fun and added something new to the combat system we all know. That plus tech moves which are specific moves that involve two more more characters when their ATB gauge is full, it adds a lot of variety to the combat. There is a ton of tech moves btw, with it being between every single character and I don't think I even unlocked them all, I doubt I even performed half of them. Gives the game a bit of replayabiliity I'd say.

Something else that makes the game replayable in my eyes is the addition of NG+ and the different endings this game has. I got the Beyond Time ending but I believe there's around 10 endings to get. You get these by defeating Lavos at different points in the game. The fact you can technically beat the game at any time, is not only awesome but with the addition of ng+, makes it feel worth it to get every ending. That plus the game is like 20 hours on a first playthrough so it's a short JRPG overall. This was also one of the first instances of NG+ in a game too which is so cool. Like I said, I got one ending but that's it. I plan on going back to get all the other endings eventually and do that NG+ only extra dungeon and final boss added in the DS version.

Speaking of something else added in the DS version, along with doing all the normal side quests which were great, I also did the Lost Sanctum. This, in my opinion is a pretty crappy addition to the game. It gives you good items but the whole thing is just meaningless fetch quests, going up the same mountain like 20 times and fighting some mediocre bosses. It's not worth the hassle and story-wise I just don't care at all. There was also this arena the DS version added too and I didn't mess with it much, didn't seem like my thing.

So yeah, overall the game is pretty great! I feel like this is a prime example of a jack of all trades but master of none game. Everything is really solid and well polished but nothing is super exceptional except for the music. Personally, I prefer more ambitious games that may be messier in execution..tho I also love Xenoblade 1 and relecting on that game, it's also pretty safe. Maybe chalk it up to when I played it then, I probably would have absolutely adored this game if I played it as a kid..but as of now, I just think it's a great classic game that does deserve the praise it gets! Anyways, now I'm wondering how I'll feel about Chrono Cross as that one seems more split. Ah well, guess we'll see!

Persona 5 Tactics is another spin-off game that allows us to control the Phantom Thieves. As the title suggests, it's not a turn-based RPG like Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal; instead, it's a tactical game similar to XCOM.

I really enjoy tactical games, but I must say that Persona 5 Tactics is the easiest game in this genre. There are almost no consequences for your wrong actions on the field. The main story consists of easy stages, and you only face some challenges when playing the side quests.

Talking about the story is challenging for me. As someone who loves the Persona 5 story, I can say that this spin-off falls far behind in this aspect. However, when compared to other games, it's still interesting. The best part, for sure, is the characters who remain super charismatic. At some point, I felt the game was unnecessarily huge.

To understand the story, you have to play Persona 5 or Persona 5 Royal first. Otherwise, you won't grasp a significant part of the game and won't have the connections with these characters, who are the heart of this franchise.

The art initially made me feel like it took a step back. After a few hours, I started to enjoy it.

Persona 5 Tactics is a game destined for fans of Persona 5 and the Phantom Thieves. I don't recommend it if you've never played the main title before or if you don't want to spend more time with these characters. The gameplay is okay, but there are better tactical games out there.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 is an action-adventure game focused on one of the most popular superheroes of all time. In this game, players can control two Spider-Men as they attempt to save New York.

As for the gameplay, I can confidently say it is near-perfect. Exploring New York as Spider-Man is truly enjoyable, and the fights against both regular enemies and bosses are incredibly fun. However, one drawback for me is certain parts of the game where you control Mary Jane or the two Spider-Men in their everyday lives.

The story serves as a sequel to the first game and its DLC featuring Miles Morales. In my opinion, the storyline is the best we've seen for these characters. The interactions between Peter Parker and Miles Morales, with Peter as the mentor and Miles as the apprentice, are amazing.

We're also talking about one of the most beautiful games on the PS5. The graphics are stunning! Simultaneously, we get a near-perfect representation of New York, and revisiting the city was delightful for me.

In summary, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 stands out as one of the most enjoyable games of 2023. It's my Game of the Year, even though there are other games that may be more ambitious. It's a perfect sequel that enhances everything we saw before, even with almost no innovations.

O melhor: A combinação de cenários 3D com personagens 2D tem sempre seu charme
O pior: Nenhum aspecto do jogo apresenta muita personalidade
Vamos torcer: Para Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes ser bem melhor que esse aqui

Estou definitivamente interessado no futuro RPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, sucessor espiritual dos Suikoden de PS1 feito por parte daquela mesma equipe. Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising é um jogo menor que serviria para introduzir esse novo universo, mas é difícil imaginar alguma coisa daqui sendo relevante no projeto principal, simplesmente porque há muito pouco o que se extrair.

Rising é um RPG de ação 2D, sobre uma aventureira em busca de tesouros que acaba virando uma espécie de "faz tudo" de uma cidade, fazendo favores e coletando recursos para expandir as opções de comércio local. Eu particularmente gosto muito quando um jogo tem um lugar como "HUB", que você pode ir evoluindo conforme progride, e nesse jogo isso é uma parte bem relevante. O progresso no começo parece recompensador, porém, o ciclo de: explorar dungeon, voltar pra cidade, e ficar perambulando pra todo canto tentando cumprir o maior número de sidequests possível, sendo que muitas delas envolvem voltar para lugares já visitados e enfrentar inimigos já derrotados uma vez, cansa muito rápido. Também porque o jogo é "artificialmente" muito maior do que ele precisava ser. Um exemplo disso é que, geralmente, em jogos do tipo existe apenas um único lugar que permite melhorias em todo tipo de equipamento, já em EC: Rising existe uma loja para aumentar os atributos das armas, uma outra para modificar as armas para obter novas habilidades, e uma terceira para melhorias das armaduras. Esses vários lugares que cuidam de uma pequena parte dos atributos e mecânicas dos seus personagens, apenas para ter mais NPCs responsáveis por mais sidequests para inflar o tempo de jogo... é uma decisão esquisita, principalmente porque absolutamente nenhum desses NPCs é interessante de qualquer forma.

E isso, infelizmente, acaba valendo para todos os aspectos do jogo. O combate é "ok", tem uma fluidez legal e o sistema de combos entre os personagens funciona bem. Mas a variedade de inimigos é ínfima, quando muito eles ganham alguma característica elemental e uma nova paleta de cores. A trilha sonora alterna momentos em que é quase imperceptível de tão genérica para outros onde é somente repetitiva e irritante. Tanto a história quanto os seus protagonistas são bem pouco memoráveis, de tão rasos. E os diálogos no geral são muito fracos. De ponto mais positivo fica a parte visual, mesmo os sprites não sendo muito trabalhados, os fundos em 3D são quase sempre muito bonitos.

Não é como se eu esperasse uma obra prima, mas não deixo de pensar que o jogo é uma decepção. E uma preocupação também. Espero e torço para que, tanto em relação à escrita quanto ao design das quests, EC: Hundred Heroes seja um jogo muito melhor que esse.

Abrir o jogo e me deparar com a frase: "alguns tipos de Pals podem ser montados" me fez ter certeza de que eu não tenho maturidade alguma e estou para sempre preso na quinta série.

Brincadeiras a parte, é assustador o sucesso que Palworld alcançou mesmo tendo sido lançado apenas em early access, os números assustam, chegando a mais de duas milhões de cópias vendidas no primeiro dia e mais de um milhão de jogadores simultâneos.

Mas o que causou tudo isso? Qual o motivo desse grande sucesso?

A resposta parte do gigantesco e até mesmo questionável trabalho de marketing feito desde seu trailer de revelação. Naturalmente, uma premissa de "Pokémon com armas" iria atrair a atenção de todo mundo, e tendo em vista tudo que foi prometido e mostrado, o jogo em si se vende dessa forma, o que pode ou não ter sido um problema.

Posso dizer que faço parte do grupo de pessoas que não esperavam uma jogabilidade tão estruturada em sobrevivência e crafting, praticamente aos moldes de ARK por exemplo, que por sinal são gêneros e um jogo que eu não consigo me prender por muito tempo, mas acabei me surpreendendo.

Acontece que Palworld tem algo que nenhum outro jogo no estilo tem, "pokémons", e a progressão de aprender a construir novos itens que interagem diretamente ou indiretamente com os monstros que você captura pelo mundo, que por sinal são muito bem desenhados, é muito divertida.

Jogar em cooperativo torna a experiência ainda melhor, principalmente se jogado com uma pessoa com a mesma mentalidade que você.

- "Ei, Herbert, olha esse Pal gigantesco."

- "A gente precisa de mais fluido de Pal."

- "Meu Deus! Dá pra fazer carinho no Pal!"

Por estar em early access, era de se esperar que haveriam muitos problemas de desempenho e otimização principalmente, mas o conteúdo presente nesse lançamento é muito positivo pro futuro do jogo. Palworld pode chegar ainda mais longe.

Um dos melhores remakes da história dos videogames sem sombra de dúvidas, mas também uma excelente porta de entrada para novos visitantes ao gênero e à franquia.

Por não ter nenhum tipo de conexão com Resident Evil e suas raízes, absolutamente tudo acabou sendo novidade para mim, e foi fantástico.

Minha única experiência com a franquia havia sido o Resident Evil 6, onde jogamos com um Leon completamente diferente, praticamente uma máquina de matar, um exército de um homem só, e ter finalmente terminado o segundo jogo da franquia, onde jogamos com um Leon em seu início de carreira, inexperiente e ingênuo, foi muito interessante.

Posso dizer que agora compreendo o que de fato é a "essência" de um Resident Evil, e gostei muito do que me foi apresentado, o conjunto da obra funciona muito bem, em perfeita harmonia. Gameplay, trilha sonora, exploração, e principalmente ambientação, absolutamente incrível.

Talvez seja cedo para dizer que um novo fã da franquia acaba de surgir, mas também devo dizer que nunca é tarde demais. Com certeza procurarei jogar o restante dos jogos em algum momento.

A história do jogo é mais MORTA que a ILHA.

(Okay primeiro já devo falar que paguei exatos 4 reais no jogo em uma promoção de desconto na Store do Xbox e talvez o jogo deveria ter esse preço realmente).

Dead Island surge ali em meados de 2010/2011 vindo tentar pegar a onda do hype da temática “Zumbis”. Se já não bastasse a temática em si ser um tanto ultrapassada a gameplay e todo o avançar do jogo é o mais puro suco de um jogo datado de Xbox 360.

A história do jogo é superficial num nível absurdo e nada faz muito sentido. Tentam puxar um lado sentimental com a morte ou perda de personagens mas o jogo é tão ruim que não consegue desenvolver minimamente NENHUM PERSONAGEM, logo todo mundo é só um NPC sem nenhum carisma ou relevância.

O avançar da história é uma das coisas mais lineares e chatas que já vi, literalmente uma porrada de missões super parecidas sem nenhuma criatividade ou ligação entre as missões.

De positivo tem que ser destacado a quantidade de armas do jogo e como a mecânica de ataque com facas e armas de fogo sobrevieram bem ao tempo, talvez seja a única coisa do game que envelheceu legal.

Se eu jogasse 11 anos atrás eu acharia bacana…ou talvez não…

PRÓS:
- Mecânica de combate continua divertida.
- Co-Op.

CONTRAS:
- História sem sentido algum.
- Personagens rasos.
- Todo o jogo é muito datado.
- Missões repetitivas e iguais.

O começo daquilo que consagrou a franquia (De longe o pior TKOF que já joguei).

PROIBIDO PEGAR O RUGAL…literalmente já que infelizmente o maior problema do game é o fato de que todos os trios já são escolhidos automaticamente, ou seja, você não pode editar o seu trio e sim jogar com algum pré determinado que representa algum país do mundo (Isso é MUITO RUIM pois todo trio tem algum peso morto nele).

Também achei o jogo bem “engessado” no geral. Os especiais aqui são bem simples e bem complicados de serem feitos (Ouso dizer que é meio no aleatório mesmo) e isso torna o jogo meio igual ao decorrer da gameplay.

Pra complicar mais pro jogador o nível da máquina é muito bom (Mesmo nos níveis mais baixos da CPU a máquina realmente desafia bem as habilidades do player).

De destaque cito os cenários das lutas e a trilha sonora do jogo que é ABSURDA. Também é legal a história mesmo que seja background.

Rugal de Boss é complicado.

PRÓS:
- Cenários lindos.
- Ótima trilha sonora.

CONTRAS:
- Golpes especiais “não existem”.
- Pouca variação de golpes.

Bater em PIRATAS LOBOS FUTURISTAS é gostoso demais!

(O Dreamcast é um dos consoles que MENOS JOGUEI na vida, conheço pouquíssimos games. Por isso irei tentar jogar alguns jogos dele e aceito sugestões).

Dynamite Cop é um beat n’ Up 3D com quick time events em pequenos momentos. A história é surreal num nível que beira o engraçado: Lobos Piratas Futuristas (???) sequestram um navio com 2 mil pessoas incluindo a filha do presidente. Você e sua equipe são enviados pro navio (Podemos escolher entre 3 personagens sendo 2 homens e 1 mulher).

A gameplay é o grande destaque do jogo. É satisfatório descer a porrada em todo mundo, fora que o cenário das fases são totalmente destrutíveis e interativos (Você pode pegar tudo do cenário pra usar como arma). As armas de fogo também tem uma mecânica muito boa incluindo até uma arma que é um MÍSSEL ANTI AEREO.

Os quick time events são apenas usados como transição de uma fase para a outra, todos muito iguais e sem nenhuma criatividade. Outro ponto negativo é a falta de criatividades nos chefes (Apenas o Boss final é de fato difícil e desenvolvido).

O jogo tem praticamente 1 hora e entregou o que se propôs: Ser um jogo onde você não precisa pensar muito.

PRÓS:
- Jogabilidade ótima.

CONTRAS:
- Quick time events desnecessários.
- História é apenas background.