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I will be upfront here and admit that my initial impression of Magic Pengel was underwhelming. The first couple of hours felt extremely plodding, thanks to the opening glut of story cutscenes with awkward voice acting, the lack of part variety to attach to your Doodles (your drawable monsters for battle), and the initial grind for more colors necessary to both draw and further develop your Doodles. This initial grind can be a nightmare because a lot of the fightable villagers will easily outclass you in terms of sheer stats and stall you out by using Charge every other turn to heal off more damage than you can inflict, so you’ll end up wasting your arena time if you happen to challenge a super tough villager since there’s also no way to forfeit a match. It also doesn’t help that there’s a half minute loading screen every time you need to move to a new area in the overworld, so you’ll end up sitting through over a minute of loading screens moving between the two main arenas alone since there’s no fast travel and you’ll have to pass through the market every time. Not a great start for a seemingly great premise!
Get past this initial roadblock by winning a few arena matches and gaining enough resources to thoroughly flesh out your Doodles with better stats, however, and the game starts to find its footing. Combat is almost entirely turn-based rock-paper-scissors (magic trumps attack, attack trumps block, block trumps magic) with some degree of mind games. This fortunately does get a bit more complex later on; landing magic spells can inflict status effects such as paralysis and sleep upon foes, as well as temporarily lock or punish types of attacks depending on the spell used. This essentially adds another layer to the mind games, aside from the aforementioned Charge for healing/powering-up the next attack/resetting neutral; thus, combat isn't just mindlessly following the advantage triangle specified above. In addition, the colors and parts used (i.e. adding limbs, wings, a held weapon, etc) drastically change both your stat and skill distribution (explained in more detail here and here ), and since your drawing capabilities and max capacity are increased with each arena win, you’ll likely be redrawing your Doodles all the time anyways to keep up with the tougher fights while tinkering with new and expanded loadouts. Simultaneously, it becomes a lot easier to farm resources since your Doodles will finally have enough attack power to deal more damage than opponents can heal off with Charge, and you’ll earn significantly more of each color (a few thousand as opposed to a few hundred in the early game) upon victories. While Magic Pengel’s combat never reaches the depth of similar monster battling systems such as Pokemon, I nevertheless found it easy enough to get into the rhythm of the progression loop once I got past the opening grind, and it served as a solid podcast game that vaguely reminded me of my days laddering on Pokemon Showdown.
A word of warning though: as much fun as it is sketching crude creatures with your Pengel and watching your crayon abominations destroy developer-drawn Doodles with much more effort put into sketching, that is unfortunately just about all that this game has to offer. Magic Pengel’s narrative touches upon some interesting lore and story beats concerning both the world of color and the supporting cast (such as your friend Zoe’s connection with her missing foster father, a renowned Doodler that once worked for the king), but the game never goes into too much detail with its sparse storytelling, and it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger as your friends decide to set off on another adventure. While you can sell spare colors for gold gems, there’s not much to purchase from shopkeepers; you can buy a few brushes to further adjust your line thickness, but the only other items on offer are Doodles, and there’s no point in buying those when you’ll get far more utility out of drawing your own (especially because you can’t delete any part of a Doodle drawn by an NPC). Finally, the game is a bit lacking in post-game content. The only unlocked features are a new arena where you can engage in 1 v 3 or 2 v 3 fights for higher rewards, as well as a hidden boss that can be fought if you somehow grind one million gold gems. As such, I have to concede that a lot of the Magic Pengel’s surrounding elements could have used some more time in the oven.
Ultimately, I prefer the game’s spiritual successor Graffiti Kingdom for its more succinct runtime and expanded drawing utensils. Even so, I mostly enjoyed my time with Magic Pengel (the quaint charm and artstyle admittingly a big reason why), and I’d say it’s worth checking out if you want a taste of one of more creative monster collecting/creating games out there. I think Taito had something really special on their hands with this formula, and it’s a shame we’ll never see a game in this vein from them again.
Get past this initial roadblock by winning a few arena matches and gaining enough resources to thoroughly flesh out your Doodles with better stats, however, and the game starts to find its footing. Combat is almost entirely turn-based rock-paper-scissors (magic trumps attack, attack trumps block, block trumps magic) with some degree of mind games. This fortunately does get a bit more complex later on; landing magic spells can inflict status effects such as paralysis and sleep upon foes, as well as temporarily lock or punish types of attacks depending on the spell used. This essentially adds another layer to the mind games, aside from the aforementioned Charge for healing/powering-up the next attack/resetting neutral; thus, combat isn't just mindlessly following the advantage triangle specified above. In addition, the colors and parts used (i.e. adding limbs, wings, a held weapon, etc) drastically change both your stat and skill distribution (explained in more detail here and here ), and since your drawing capabilities and max capacity are increased with each arena win, you’ll likely be redrawing your Doodles all the time anyways to keep up with the tougher fights while tinkering with new and expanded loadouts. Simultaneously, it becomes a lot easier to farm resources since your Doodles will finally have enough attack power to deal more damage than opponents can heal off with Charge, and you’ll earn significantly more of each color (a few thousand as opposed to a few hundred in the early game) upon victories. While Magic Pengel’s combat never reaches the depth of similar monster battling systems such as Pokemon, I nevertheless found it easy enough to get into the rhythm of the progression loop once I got past the opening grind, and it served as a solid podcast game that vaguely reminded me of my days laddering on Pokemon Showdown.
A word of warning though: as much fun as it is sketching crude creatures with your Pengel and watching your crayon abominations destroy developer-drawn Doodles with much more effort put into sketching, that is unfortunately just about all that this game has to offer. Magic Pengel’s narrative touches upon some interesting lore and story beats concerning both the world of color and the supporting cast (such as your friend Zoe’s connection with her missing foster father, a renowned Doodler that once worked for the king), but the game never goes into too much detail with its sparse storytelling, and it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger as your friends decide to set off on another adventure. While you can sell spare colors for gold gems, there’s not much to purchase from shopkeepers; you can buy a few brushes to further adjust your line thickness, but the only other items on offer are Doodles, and there’s no point in buying those when you’ll get far more utility out of drawing your own (especially because you can’t delete any part of a Doodle drawn by an NPC). Finally, the game is a bit lacking in post-game content. The only unlocked features are a new arena where you can engage in 1 v 3 or 2 v 3 fights for higher rewards, as well as a hidden boss that can be fought if you somehow grind one million gold gems. As such, I have to concede that a lot of the Magic Pengel’s surrounding elements could have used some more time in the oven.
Ultimately, I prefer the game’s spiritual successor Graffiti Kingdom for its more succinct runtime and expanded drawing utensils. Even so, I mostly enjoyed my time with Magic Pengel (the quaint charm and artstyle admittingly a big reason why), and I’d say it’s worth checking out if you want a taste of one of more creative monster collecting/creating games out there. I think Taito had something really special on their hands with this formula, and it’s a shame we’ll never see a game in this vein from them again.
West of Loathing
2017
A short RPG about stick figures in a comedy western. Not a lot to say about it honestly but it’s a pretty good game despite how it looks, the writing and humor goes a long way in making it memorable and it’s only a few hours so didn’t feel like it was starting to drag on. The turn based combat was easy and nothing special though, but fine for what it was
Mega Man 8
1996
This game is fun to play and controls really well, with the voice acting being incredibly entertaining, but similarly to Mega Man 7 I just don't really feel like going through the whole game just to say I've completed it when my overall enjoyment will be minimal. I think this is just because whilst I do like Mega Man games, they're just so extremely similar that even new graphics and power-ups haven't really interested me for a while, and these games lack the innovation that other game series from the NES had gone through by this time, for example Mario had gone 3D the same year Mega Man 8 released.
It's through no fault of this game that I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, but I hope that Mega Man 9 and 10 being NES throwbacks make better use of this overdone formula, and aren't purely nostalgia which won't do much for me.
It's through no fault of this game that I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to, but I hope that Mega Man 9 and 10 being NES throwbacks make better use of this overdone formula, and aren't purely nostalgia which won't do much for me.
Just like the first Metal Gear Solid, this game was a very profound experience, and whilst it can get very confusing at times, the overall story is always engaging and I loved seeing all the new ways the game managed to completely change the way I looked at the events of the game, with the ending cutscenes being a lot to take in at once, especially since they go on for like half an hour, but still make me satisfied with what I played.
Gameplay is also a massive improvement with pretty much anything that made the first game feel outdated being gone, so the game as a whole feels as good as any modern game to play, and older features like the fixed-camera aren't even noticeable due to how well it controls.
Whilst I would've preferred to play as Solid Snake for longer than the prologue, I actually really enjoyed playing as Raiden, he feels like his own character and the more the story progressed the more he fit into this bizarre world of Snake-clones and vampires, and I look forward to seeing him again in MGS4.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid 2 is a really great game which has aged amazingly, and whilst the games are getting progressively more confusing with their stories and long cutscenes, I still really love playing them, and I look forward to making my way through the rest of the Metal Gear games.
Gameplay is also a massive improvement with pretty much anything that made the first game feel outdated being gone, so the game as a whole feels as good as any modern game to play, and older features like the fixed-camera aren't even noticeable due to how well it controls.
Whilst I would've preferred to play as Solid Snake for longer than the prologue, I actually really enjoyed playing as Raiden, he feels like his own character and the more the story progressed the more he fit into this bizarre world of Snake-clones and vampires, and I look forward to seeing him again in MGS4.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid 2 is a really great game which has aged amazingly, and whilst the games are getting progressively more confusing with their stories and long cutscenes, I still really love playing them, and I look forward to making my way through the rest of the Metal Gear games.
Persona 3 FES
2007
All the way back in 2017, I played Persona 5. I picked it up on a whim the day after it released, because my friend loves the Persona series and recommended I get into it, and not too long after I was hooked. That same friend also gave me SMT4 around that same time and I didn't really get into at all. But it did get me more interested in Megaten as a whole. Fast forward to the Summer, I go to TooManyGames 2017. I remember seeing the Persona 5 collectors edition, man good times. Ah anyways, I also stumbled upon Persona 3 FES and Persona 4 inside a glass cabinet along with some other Megaten games. Naturally of them all, I was most interested in P3 and P4 seeing as I was a huge fan of 5. Knowing the price of the Raidou games, I wish I picked those up then since they were only $30 but in the end I bought both FES and P4. Oh, not at the convention btw. I bought them off eBay the day after cuz I realized you could get them for cheaper there. Anyways, to this day I still haven't touched vanilla P4 since I played Golden. But FES, I picked up and dropped several times over the years. I really don't know why it wasn't grabbing me but the furthest I ever until this most recent playthrough was the first full moon operation on the subway. Either way, I can say I've finally beaten Persona 3 FES and I'm happy to say I ended up enjoying it overall.
Let's start with the story. I think overall, it's good and has some really fantastic moments. The beginning scene where the MC awakens to his Persona, to the whole turning point in Junpei's arc near the end of the game (if you know you know) to the whole last hour or two. There's some super good moments throughout the game, I just wish the story's pacing was better. After the MC's awakening in the beginning, I found the story to be super slow up until the middle of the game where it starts picking up again. Then near the end before the grand finale I found it dragged a bit. Pacing-wise, I thought it was the worst of the nusona games but specific moment-wise it's some of the best in the series. I do think the whole theme of facing death head on and not being afraid of it and making the most of life is super strong though, especially in the end-game. They really hammer that theme into you by the end but it works really well.
The main cast is solid overall but it can be a mixed bag. I really liked Akihiko, Yukari, Junpei and Aigis by the end of the game. They all felt really fleshed out and I just liked them the most. Mitsuru is decent but I expected her to be better, idk why I found her somewhat bland. Fuuka and Ken are the definitely the weakest party members imo and a big part of that, besides just not caring about their characters as much, was their voice acting. This game has really solid voice acting (the 4 characters I listed at the beginning) and then it has some really awful voice acting (Fuuka, Ken, Shinjiro, the chairman). Fuuka especially man, she sounded more robotic than Aigis it's crazy. This no doubt took me out of the story a bit just cuz those 4 are so prominent. Oh and can't forget Koromaru, interesting that he's the only normal animal sidekick in which he doesnt actually speak but he's a good boy nonetheless.
Going into more of the game's characters, let's talk about the social links. They're a bit more hit or miss in this game compared to 4 and 5. Akinari may be the best social link in the entire series with how good it is. I was tearing up in literally every rank, no doubt due to the music that plays during it. Yukari, Maiko and Chihiro were probably my favorites then after Akinari. I didn't even think Gourmet King's was bad like some people say considering his whole backstory and everything making me sympathize with him. However, a lot of the others I just thought were decent, very meh or just straight up bad. The worst by far was Kenji's, one of the worst in the series imo and just such a nothing Social Link. Same with Bebe, just did absolutely nothing for me. I didn't love 4's social links either but I think overall they're better in that game, especially since there's no male party member SL in 3. Yeah that's a weird omission, along with being forced to romance all the school girl social links, just overall the weakest of the nusona social links imo. It's not a terrible first try at the social aspect tho, but it's clear it's the first game to try to tackle it. 5 definitely has the best social links I think even if there are a couple duds in that game as well.
Something I actually dissed on stupidly was the game's soundtrack. Idk what was wrong with me but I originally just thought it was out right bad (besides battle for everyone's souls) but have since realized it's actually a super great ost, liking it so much now I think I like it more than 4's soundtrack. 5 is still easily my favorite but never did I think I'd like 3's ost more than 4's. Some of my favorite songs were the aforementioned Battle For Everyone's Souls, Joy, Living With Determination, Memories of the City and many more. Honestly, absolutely insane how much my opinion on the OST changed but I'm super glad I can see now why people love it so much.
Just a couple of random things I liked before I get into the combat. I really like that in part with the theme of death, every single party member experiences the loss of a friend or relative throughout the story. It really makes the dorm's friendship more believable since they can all relate to each other. The 2nd awakenings are easily the best in the nusona games simply because they aren't tied to the social links and are apart of the main story. Really felt impactful, especially Junpei's goddamn man. Also really enjoyed the atmosphere, mostly in the Dark Hour and Tartarus. Seeing how each Tartarus block would look was fun.
Speaking of Tartarus, it's one of the most contentious aspects of the game (along with tactics of course). Some people really love it and some people despise it. Me? It's not terrible but it's definitely the worse of the Nusona dungeons imo (yes I like 4's more) and probably the worst of the PS2 megaten games in terms of its dungeons. Absolutely does not touch DDS1's dungeons for example, but I didn't hate it overall. At first, I was just not getting into it but after a while you get used to the flow of doing a bunch of floors, then social link stuff then Tartarus and repeat. Near the middle of the game is where I was sort of getting burnt out on it a bit, especially since you do have to grind in this game and around that point I feel like enemies weren't giving great exp. Maybe I was over leveled then, idk but near the end game I was getting loads more exp and my personas were actually good so I got over my burn out near the middle of the game. Either way, Tartarus is just meh imo. Thematically it works but gameplay wise it leaves a lot to be desired.
Funnily enough, I ended up thinking more positively on tactics this time around. I still definitely prefer controlling your party members, but tactics works really well for the most part. You just have to not be dumb and engage in the mechanic. If you simply set your party to act freely all the time, then yeah they're gonna do whatever and are more prone to do stupid shit. But if you set them accordingly then I don't see the issue at all really. In fact I found it fun the more tactics you got as you progressed. Though, one issue I personally had is when I want a group heal from Yukari. Someone is super low on health, while the others aren't as low but are still missing a chunk of their health. If only one party member has less than 50% of their health, then she'll single target them and that's it. In that case, I'd want to be able to control my party members but that was about it really. One more still doesn't touch press turn imo, and I'd take controllable party members over tactics I'd say but this game clearly is built around tactics and it works really well.
Honestly, super glad I ended up enjoying FES, even if it's my least favorite nusona and my least favorite PS2 Megaten game. I was expecting to actually dislike this one cuz that's how I felt the few times I tried to get into it. It has its faults but it also has its highs and yeah I recommend playing this even with Reload out now. It may fix some of this games issues idk, but this is still a good time I'd say. Going onto almost 7 years since I got into Persona and Megaten as a whole and I'm just happy to say I've beaten all the nusona games now!
Let's start with the story. I think overall, it's good and has some really fantastic moments. The beginning scene where the MC awakens to his Persona, to the whole turning point in Junpei's arc near the end of the game (if you know you know) to the whole last hour or two. There's some super good moments throughout the game, I just wish the story's pacing was better. After the MC's awakening in the beginning, I found the story to be super slow up until the middle of the game where it starts picking up again. Then near the end before the grand finale I found it dragged a bit. Pacing-wise, I thought it was the worst of the nusona games but specific moment-wise it's some of the best in the series. I do think the whole theme of facing death head on and not being afraid of it and making the most of life is super strong though, especially in the end-game. They really hammer that theme into you by the end but it works really well.
The main cast is solid overall but it can be a mixed bag. I really liked Akihiko, Yukari, Junpei and Aigis by the end of the game. They all felt really fleshed out and I just liked them the most. Mitsuru is decent but I expected her to be better, idk why I found her somewhat bland. Fuuka and Ken are the definitely the weakest party members imo and a big part of that, besides just not caring about their characters as much, was their voice acting. This game has really solid voice acting (the 4 characters I listed at the beginning) and then it has some really awful voice acting (Fuuka, Ken, Shinjiro, the chairman). Fuuka especially man, she sounded more robotic than Aigis it's crazy. This no doubt took me out of the story a bit just cuz those 4 are so prominent. Oh and can't forget Koromaru, interesting that he's the only normal animal sidekick in which he doesnt actually speak but he's a good boy nonetheless.
Going into more of the game's characters, let's talk about the social links. They're a bit more hit or miss in this game compared to 4 and 5. Akinari may be the best social link in the entire series with how good it is. I was tearing up in literally every rank, no doubt due to the music that plays during it. Yukari, Maiko and Chihiro were probably my favorites then after Akinari. I didn't even think Gourmet King's was bad like some people say considering his whole backstory and everything making me sympathize with him. However, a lot of the others I just thought were decent, very meh or just straight up bad. The worst by far was Kenji's, one of the worst in the series imo and just such a nothing Social Link. Same with Bebe, just did absolutely nothing for me. I didn't love 4's social links either but I think overall they're better in that game, especially since there's no male party member SL in 3. Yeah that's a weird omission, along with being forced to romance all the school girl social links, just overall the weakest of the nusona social links imo. It's not a terrible first try at the social aspect tho, but it's clear it's the first game to try to tackle it. 5 definitely has the best social links I think even if there are a couple duds in that game as well.
Something I actually dissed on stupidly was the game's soundtrack. Idk what was wrong with me but I originally just thought it was out right bad (besides battle for everyone's souls) but have since realized it's actually a super great ost, liking it so much now I think I like it more than 4's soundtrack. 5 is still easily my favorite but never did I think I'd like 3's ost more than 4's. Some of my favorite songs were the aforementioned Battle For Everyone's Souls, Joy, Living With Determination, Memories of the City and many more. Honestly, absolutely insane how much my opinion on the OST changed but I'm super glad I can see now why people love it so much.
Just a couple of random things I liked before I get into the combat. I really like that in part with the theme of death, every single party member experiences the loss of a friend or relative throughout the story. It really makes the dorm's friendship more believable since they can all relate to each other. The 2nd awakenings are easily the best in the nusona games simply because they aren't tied to the social links and are apart of the main story. Really felt impactful, especially Junpei's goddamn man. Also really enjoyed the atmosphere, mostly in the Dark Hour and Tartarus. Seeing how each Tartarus block would look was fun.
Speaking of Tartarus, it's one of the most contentious aspects of the game (along with tactics of course). Some people really love it and some people despise it. Me? It's not terrible but it's definitely the worse of the Nusona dungeons imo (yes I like 4's more) and probably the worst of the PS2 megaten games in terms of its dungeons. Absolutely does not touch DDS1's dungeons for example, but I didn't hate it overall. At first, I was just not getting into it but after a while you get used to the flow of doing a bunch of floors, then social link stuff then Tartarus and repeat. Near the middle of the game is where I was sort of getting burnt out on it a bit, especially since you do have to grind in this game and around that point I feel like enemies weren't giving great exp. Maybe I was over leveled then, idk but near the end game I was getting loads more exp and my personas were actually good so I got over my burn out near the middle of the game. Either way, Tartarus is just meh imo. Thematically it works but gameplay wise it leaves a lot to be desired.
Funnily enough, I ended up thinking more positively on tactics this time around. I still definitely prefer controlling your party members, but tactics works really well for the most part. You just have to not be dumb and engage in the mechanic. If you simply set your party to act freely all the time, then yeah they're gonna do whatever and are more prone to do stupid shit. But if you set them accordingly then I don't see the issue at all really. In fact I found it fun the more tactics you got as you progressed. Though, one issue I personally had is when I want a group heal from Yukari. Someone is super low on health, while the others aren't as low but are still missing a chunk of their health. If only one party member has less than 50% of their health, then she'll single target them and that's it. In that case, I'd want to be able to control my party members but that was about it really. One more still doesn't touch press turn imo, and I'd take controllable party members over tactics I'd say but this game clearly is built around tactics and it works really well.
Honestly, super glad I ended up enjoying FES, even if it's my least favorite nusona and my least favorite PS2 Megaten game. I was expecting to actually dislike this one cuz that's how I felt the few times I tried to get into it. It has its faults but it also has its highs and yeah I recommend playing this even with Reload out now. It may fix some of this games issues idk, but this is still a good time I'd say. Going onto almost 7 years since I got into Persona and Megaten as a whole and I'm just happy to say I've beaten all the nusona games now!
Rhythm Heaven has always been a difficult game to master. This isn't Warioware or Hatsune Miku. This game requires precise timing, and you must be really in tune with the beat. I had to physically tap my foot or nod my head to keep myself in rhythm for some of these minigames.
The game has a typical Nintendo-esque storyline in the vein of Warioware, with goofy characters. The art style is nice and cute, with skippable dialogue, which most people will probably do. Each section contains four mini-games that you must pass to move on to the next set of four mini-games. These games are some new and mostly old from the previous two games. Mini-games require you to press the A or B button or tap the stylus (this is an optional alternative). Being on the beat is a bit more forgiving than previous mini-games, and scoring is a lot more generous. If you are just a couple of points from passing, the game will give them to you out of pity, and the boss stages will let you pass if you spend 30 coins for at least trying. My biggest gripe with the previous games was the lockout from progression, which would make you want to quit playing.
My favorite mini-games are the ones that have something physical to track. The LumberBear one is a perfect example. Logs get laid out in front of you, and each mini-game has a second type of beat to follow. There is usually a fast-paced rhythm and then one where it requires longer pauses or rapid-fire button presses (in the form of three most of the time). The first tower you play is actually much harder than the later towers because the second version of these mini-games is longer, which allows you to miss more and still pass. There is a practice mode before each game starts and if you miss too much the bottom screen will show a rhythm pattern for you to follow. This helps as some patterns are just hard to get down. Again, another way for the series to be more forgiving this time around.
There are some mini-games I was just terrible at or weren't designed in a way that made staying on beat intuitive. There is always a visual or audio cue, but sometimes the mini-games will trick you and pull the camera out, obscure your view, or cut the audio, and this requires mastering the mini-game. It all becomes muscle memory at a certain point. This isn't a casual rhythm game or mini-game compilation like we're used to. Can we call this a hardcore rhythm game?
You can unlock trophies and other extra mini-games in the museum and cafe. This never really interested me, as this isn't a game I wanted to finish 100%. Once you finally finish the story mode, there's no real reason to come back to this game unless you really love punishment. I found this game wasn't relaxing at all for how tense and focused you have to be to play it and pass the story stages. Even with the goofy characters and skippable dialogue, the story mode is quite long, with seven towers to finish. The graphics are great, and each mini-game looks unique and charming. This has that wacky Nintendo signature all over it. If you disliked previous Rhythm Heaven games, I would give this a shot since it is more forgiving and the timing has been somewhat refined.
The game has a typical Nintendo-esque storyline in the vein of Warioware, with goofy characters. The art style is nice and cute, with skippable dialogue, which most people will probably do. Each section contains four mini-games that you must pass to move on to the next set of four mini-games. These games are some new and mostly old from the previous two games. Mini-games require you to press the A or B button or tap the stylus (this is an optional alternative). Being on the beat is a bit more forgiving than previous mini-games, and scoring is a lot more generous. If you are just a couple of points from passing, the game will give them to you out of pity, and the boss stages will let you pass if you spend 30 coins for at least trying. My biggest gripe with the previous games was the lockout from progression, which would make you want to quit playing.
My favorite mini-games are the ones that have something physical to track. The LumberBear one is a perfect example. Logs get laid out in front of you, and each mini-game has a second type of beat to follow. There is usually a fast-paced rhythm and then one where it requires longer pauses or rapid-fire button presses (in the form of three most of the time). The first tower you play is actually much harder than the later towers because the second version of these mini-games is longer, which allows you to miss more and still pass. There is a practice mode before each game starts and if you miss too much the bottom screen will show a rhythm pattern for you to follow. This helps as some patterns are just hard to get down. Again, another way for the series to be more forgiving this time around.
There are some mini-games I was just terrible at or weren't designed in a way that made staying on beat intuitive. There is always a visual or audio cue, but sometimes the mini-games will trick you and pull the camera out, obscure your view, or cut the audio, and this requires mastering the mini-game. It all becomes muscle memory at a certain point. This isn't a casual rhythm game or mini-game compilation like we're used to. Can we call this a hardcore rhythm game?
You can unlock trophies and other extra mini-games in the museum and cafe. This never really interested me, as this isn't a game I wanted to finish 100%. Once you finally finish the story mode, there's no real reason to come back to this game unless you really love punishment. I found this game wasn't relaxing at all for how tense and focused you have to be to play it and pass the story stages. Even with the goofy characters and skippable dialogue, the story mode is quite long, with seven towers to finish. The graphics are great, and each mini-game looks unique and charming. This has that wacky Nintendo signature all over it. If you disliked previous Rhythm Heaven games, I would give this a shot since it is more forgiving and the timing has been somewhat refined.
Mario Kart 8
2014
Back in the day, I was a huge fan of the Wii U. I got one for Christmas a month after it came out and for a long while, I would get every single big release. Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, some great titles released early on into the consoles life cycle so I was always looking forward to the next big Wii U game. Fast forward to May of 2014, I got my hands on Mario Kart 8 the day it came out. I loved 7 back in the day and was absolutely ecstatic for 8's release. Once I finally was able to play it, I knew it would be THE game I'd be playing with friends for a long while. Though honestly in retrospect, while I still played it a decent amount with my buds, I ended up playing Smash 4 and even it's better version Mario Kart 8 Deluxe a lot more. Still, even if there's no reason to go back to this one when Deluxe is a thing, it's still great in its own right.
The initial aspect I noticed all those years ago was just how damn amazing this game looks. And yeah, it still looks amazing to this day. Idk what Nintendo was cooking but this was easily the best-looking Wii U game like ever, with Pikmin 3 coming right behind it. Not only are the new tracks all so vibrant and just super clean looking with its more realistic shading and texture work, all the retro courses got this treatment too and they're simply wonderful to look at. Like I said, this game still looks beautiful to this day, and it's almost 10 years old at this point! It's crazy really.
A big reason this game's tracks look so good visually is due to the game's new gimmick. While underwater driving and gliding are still in the game, Mario Kart 8 also added zero gravity. This leads to some amazing looking and feeling track design with how the track can curve all around any which way. It gives new tracks so much character and retro tracks are better than ever because of it. Like for example GBA Mario Circuit. Very boring track outside of 8 but 8's anti gravity section has a section of the track totally elevated off the ground and just makes an otherwise unmemorable track, super memorable. Same thing happens with Toad's Turnpike where you can literally drive on the walls, passing a lot of traffic if you choose to do so, and this wall driving happens in several other courses too. Underwater driving is meh, gliding is cool but anti-gravity as a gimmick is just so awesome and I'm glad it's used so well and so often in 8.
Going into more depth on the track selection, it's actually really great overall. While I still think Wii easily wins in the original track selection department, 8 just uses the anti-gravity mechanic so well it's hard not to like 8's selection too. Cloudtop Cruise was always my favorite but you have some other really good tracks like Mario Circuit, Mount Wario, Thwomp Ruins, Sunshine Airport and Toad Harbor. My favorites from Wii's selection definitely trump most of these but this is still one of the better selections of original tracks in the series. Now with the retro tracks, I know I said 7 has the best selection but thinking on it, 8 probably has the best in the series. The anti-gravity additions to many of the tracks just adds so much and the glide pads also added to a lot of them was nice too. It would've been cool if every retro stage had anti-gravity added to them but they added it to a good chunk of them so I can't complain. All this plus these retro tracks just look absolutely gorgeous.
However, there weren't just 8 cups this time around. If you got the DLC, which I did, you were able to race on 12 cups in total. It was $12 for both DLC packs and it added 4 cups, 6 new characters and 8 new vehicles. The 4 new cups have some alright tracks, some solid ones and some absolute bangers like Wario's Gold Mine, SNES Rainbow Road and Ribbon Road. It also added an excite bike course, an Animal Crossing course, a Zelda course and two F Zero Courses. It was basically a crossover pack since with the characters, it also added Link and the villagers. While it is a bit weird seeing non-Mario characters in the game, it's still really cool and is also really amazing value wise. Also with this DLC came a free update which gave players the option to race on 200cc. This is a cool addition, and more content is always nice, tho it was never my preferred way to play since it can just be so awkward going that fast on these courses. Still, it can be fun just seeing your friends rage when they fall off the track going that fast. At this point, this was the most amount of characters and courses in any Mario Kart game so you'd think it'd be hard to not call it the ultimate Mario Kart game. Well, sadly there's a couple issues I have outside of the stuff I mentioned.
The biggest issue people have and yeah, it's a pretty big one for me too, is the bad battle mode. Instead of having battle mode specific courses, they decided to pick a handful of race courses for you to play on instead and it just doesn't work. More enclosed and smaller maps works well for battle mode since players will always be in the action. But with normal race courses, a lot of the time it's hard to find players unless you deliberately stay on each other's asses the whole time. Bottom line is, it just doesn't work really and there's a reason people shat on it when the game came out.
Another, smaller issue I had, was the character selection. It's better than 8's but not only did they add another baby in baby Rosalina (which makes no sense if you know her back story), they added all 7 koopalings as separate characters and something as dumb as pink gold peach. Having something like pink gold peach but not diddy kong or birdo or boswer jr.?
Just disappointing on the new character selections even if I mained Ludwig back in the day. Still, at least this game has Waluigi and the DLC at least added Dry Bowser back as well the crossover characters.
Even with the less than great character roster and possibly the worst battle mode in the series, the other things this game does so well, it elevates it to still being great in my eyes. There may be absolutely no reason to play this version of 8 when deluxe is a thing, but I can't deny this game's immense quality when it comes to the racing. Though honestly I do think Wii is the best in the series up to this point, we'll see how Deluxe stacks up when I get to that next. So look forward to that one as it will be the finale of this Mario Kart marathon!
The initial aspect I noticed all those years ago was just how damn amazing this game looks. And yeah, it still looks amazing to this day. Idk what Nintendo was cooking but this was easily the best-looking Wii U game like ever, with Pikmin 3 coming right behind it. Not only are the new tracks all so vibrant and just super clean looking with its more realistic shading and texture work, all the retro courses got this treatment too and they're simply wonderful to look at. Like I said, this game still looks beautiful to this day, and it's almost 10 years old at this point! It's crazy really.
A big reason this game's tracks look so good visually is due to the game's new gimmick. While underwater driving and gliding are still in the game, Mario Kart 8 also added zero gravity. This leads to some amazing looking and feeling track design with how the track can curve all around any which way. It gives new tracks so much character and retro tracks are better than ever because of it. Like for example GBA Mario Circuit. Very boring track outside of 8 but 8's anti gravity section has a section of the track totally elevated off the ground and just makes an otherwise unmemorable track, super memorable. Same thing happens with Toad's Turnpike where you can literally drive on the walls, passing a lot of traffic if you choose to do so, and this wall driving happens in several other courses too. Underwater driving is meh, gliding is cool but anti-gravity as a gimmick is just so awesome and I'm glad it's used so well and so often in 8.
Going into more depth on the track selection, it's actually really great overall. While I still think Wii easily wins in the original track selection department, 8 just uses the anti-gravity mechanic so well it's hard not to like 8's selection too. Cloudtop Cruise was always my favorite but you have some other really good tracks like Mario Circuit, Mount Wario, Thwomp Ruins, Sunshine Airport and Toad Harbor. My favorites from Wii's selection definitely trump most of these but this is still one of the better selections of original tracks in the series. Now with the retro tracks, I know I said 7 has the best selection but thinking on it, 8 probably has the best in the series. The anti-gravity additions to many of the tracks just adds so much and the glide pads also added to a lot of them was nice too. It would've been cool if every retro stage had anti-gravity added to them but they added it to a good chunk of them so I can't complain. All this plus these retro tracks just look absolutely gorgeous.
However, there weren't just 8 cups this time around. If you got the DLC, which I did, you were able to race on 12 cups in total. It was $12 for both DLC packs and it added 4 cups, 6 new characters and 8 new vehicles. The 4 new cups have some alright tracks, some solid ones and some absolute bangers like Wario's Gold Mine, SNES Rainbow Road and Ribbon Road. It also added an excite bike course, an Animal Crossing course, a Zelda course and two F Zero Courses. It was basically a crossover pack since with the characters, it also added Link and the villagers. While it is a bit weird seeing non-Mario characters in the game, it's still really cool and is also really amazing value wise. Also with this DLC came a free update which gave players the option to race on 200cc. This is a cool addition, and more content is always nice, tho it was never my preferred way to play since it can just be so awkward going that fast on these courses. Still, it can be fun just seeing your friends rage when they fall off the track going that fast. At this point, this was the most amount of characters and courses in any Mario Kart game so you'd think it'd be hard to not call it the ultimate Mario Kart game. Well, sadly there's a couple issues I have outside of the stuff I mentioned.
The biggest issue people have and yeah, it's a pretty big one for me too, is the bad battle mode. Instead of having battle mode specific courses, they decided to pick a handful of race courses for you to play on instead and it just doesn't work. More enclosed and smaller maps works well for battle mode since players will always be in the action. But with normal race courses, a lot of the time it's hard to find players unless you deliberately stay on each other's asses the whole time. Bottom line is, it just doesn't work really and there's a reason people shat on it when the game came out.
Another, smaller issue I had, was the character selection. It's better than 8's but not only did they add another baby in baby Rosalina (which makes no sense if you know her back story), they added all 7 koopalings as separate characters and something as dumb as pink gold peach. Having something like pink gold peach but not diddy kong or birdo or boswer jr.?
Just disappointing on the new character selections even if I mained Ludwig back in the day. Still, at least this game has Waluigi and the DLC at least added Dry Bowser back as well the crossover characters.
Even with the less than great character roster and possibly the worst battle mode in the series, the other things this game does so well, it elevates it to still being great in my eyes. There may be absolutely no reason to play this version of 8 when deluxe is a thing, but I can't deny this game's immense quality when it comes to the racing. Though honestly I do think Wii is the best in the series up to this point, we'll see how Deluxe stacks up when I get to that next. So look forward to that one as it will be the finale of this Mario Kart marathon!
Bomberman 64
1997
Bomberman is a much loved multiplayer game, and with the Nintendo 64 having four controller ports built in, an N64 version seems like a no-brainer, you could even have 8 players by having players sharing controllers, one using D-pad and L and the other using C-buttons and R.
Bomberman 64, however, leaves multiplayer to be an afterthought, focusing instead on a 3D puzzle-platform game.
The start of Bomberman 64 is immensely more difficult than the rest, with the main challenge working out the mechanics of the game. The controls feel extremely imprecise and the game gets you to use the barely-working method of dropping a bomb and then pressing b to pick it up – except if you get close to a bomb, you’ll kick it and it will slide away.
Then, after you’ve completed the first world, the game tells you “oh, if you press A and B together, you’ll hold it straight away”. It’s strange that the game lets you struggle with it before telling you the proper way to play.
Little frustrations plague the game. From thin platforms that aren’t suited to the game’s controls, the game hiding objects in places where the game’s bad camera struggles to see and that once you’ve figured out the main mechanics, you realise that there aren’t really any puzzles other than roaming around, hoping you’re going the right way.
Your bombs also explode in a circle, with the blast radius increasing slightly every time you collect a power up, which makes it very difficult to judge how far your bomb will explode, although even at the maximum, it’s nothing compared to the + shape explosions we know and love from Bomberman, one that is integral to the gameplay.
To get to the credits, there are 5 zones, each with 2 levels and 2 bosses. The bosses are quite tedious and not exciting, and Bomberman can only take one hit. There are also golden cards to collect. To collect these, you have to search every nook and cranny, as well as attack bosses in certain ways – with no clues for any of them.
If you find all 100, and fight the boss again, you’ll unlock the secret final world, but when the game is so tedious to play, is more even a good thing?
Bomberman 64 is slow, tedious and the transition to “3D” has taken away everything that made Bomberman fun and enjoyable. It’s no surprise that Bomberman ended up returning to its 2D gameplay.
Bomberman 64, however, leaves multiplayer to be an afterthought, focusing instead on a 3D puzzle-platform game.
The start of Bomberman 64 is immensely more difficult than the rest, with the main challenge working out the mechanics of the game. The controls feel extremely imprecise and the game gets you to use the barely-working method of dropping a bomb and then pressing b to pick it up – except if you get close to a bomb, you’ll kick it and it will slide away.
Then, after you’ve completed the first world, the game tells you “oh, if you press A and B together, you’ll hold it straight away”. It’s strange that the game lets you struggle with it before telling you the proper way to play.
Little frustrations plague the game. From thin platforms that aren’t suited to the game’s controls, the game hiding objects in places where the game’s bad camera struggles to see and that once you’ve figured out the main mechanics, you realise that there aren’t really any puzzles other than roaming around, hoping you’re going the right way.
Your bombs also explode in a circle, with the blast radius increasing slightly every time you collect a power up, which makes it very difficult to judge how far your bomb will explode, although even at the maximum, it’s nothing compared to the + shape explosions we know and love from Bomberman, one that is integral to the gameplay.
To get to the credits, there are 5 zones, each with 2 levels and 2 bosses. The bosses are quite tedious and not exciting, and Bomberman can only take one hit. There are also golden cards to collect. To collect these, you have to search every nook and cranny, as well as attack bosses in certain ways – with no clues for any of them.
If you find all 100, and fight the boss again, you’ll unlock the secret final world, but when the game is so tedious to play, is more even a good thing?
Bomberman 64 is slow, tedious and the transition to “3D” has taken away everything that made Bomberman fun and enjoyable. It’s no surprise that Bomberman ended up returning to its 2D gameplay.
Maliciously designed to kill you.
It's banking on you to beat it out of spite. "Oh you just teleported chaingunners behind me after picking up this inconspicuous gun? Well now I'm ready next time, asshole!" It really wants to make you hate these demons with a burning passion. If Doom II was built any easier or laxer then these enemies wouldn't be much of a threat alone, and therefore less memorable. The level design accentuates the demons as scheming yet merciless. This isn't some honorable battle between warriors, this is a hunt for flesh. And there can only be one winner here.
More than many action games is Doom II a test on your memory, reactivity, and resource management. This game is straight up unfair, so you need to keep in mind what gun your currently holding before triggering the trap that killed you earlier. Demons have various levels of health, damage, and mobility; thus misusing and wasting your more powerful weapons will leave you vulnerable for when you really need that rocket launcher or B.F.G. against that Archvile. Sound cues are vital to knowing if a enemy has spotted you, or if a off-screen projectile is flying towards you. The player at least has the newly added super shotgun, though while a extremely powerful gun with good ammo efficiency, can be easy to over rely on. Definitely had times where the intervals between reloading the shotgun got me killed, when I should've attacked more from a distance with the chaingun or stunlocked with the plasma rifle.
But even with the generous usage of quicksaves, this game can get exhausting for a new player. Sometimes you get tired of being made a fool of yourself when the game teleports you into a tiny room with four imps on every side, which then proceed to tear you to shreds. Literally no way to know that was going to happen. The more bullshit people will encounter, the less willing they'll be able to continue with your game. Of course that isn't a universal rule, but there's a fine line between "Fck you, let's try that again!" and "Fck you, I quit!" For better or worse, games just don't do this kind of evil, unscrupulous design anymore.
Like Doom Eternal, I had to take breaks in the middle of levels. But unlike Eternal, it was because I couldn't be bothered at points to drudge through yet another elevator that takes me right into a horde of chaingunners that eat away at my health before I can even see where they are. It's funny how some of the earliest demons, the chaingunners, I find to be more annoying then even the Pain Elementals or Archviles.
Though with that in mind, playing Doom II showed me why this game has remained popular to this day. The enemies with their particular and variable roles, and the weapons with their satisfying designs and function, makes for near-infinite mod level packs with fresh feeling gameplay. Whether you want to have the player cleave through hordes of fodder demons with the B.F.G., or starve them for ammo as they have to whittle down a towering Cyberdemon, modding Doom II levels will live on well-passed any live service game that shuts down (six months after release).
Don't know if I played a good version of Doom II though. I'll be honest when I look up stuff for classic Doom, I get pretty intimidated by the number of ports and re-releases of the game, plus all the hard-core fans mentioning which ports are better then others. I played the standalone release from Steam on my Steam Deck, not sure what people in the community would call that port. I just took the path of least resistance to play the game, so hopefully that version won't make a Doom fan too upset at me. Did come across a few bugs, namely to do with a elevator not triggering and I had to reload my save to get it working again. Also I don't know if this is just a normal Doom thing, but sometimes it can feel pretty stingy when auto-aim will work if you're trying to hit a demon from a large elevation difference. Hard to get into a precise location to hit them when they can attack with their hitscans from wherever they want off-screen. This version of Doom 2 at least had that reticle to light up red if the next shot will hit a target, but it still doesn't change the fact how awkward "aiming" can be in this game.
And lastly, why did 'Into Sandy's City' only play in one level when it's easily the best song in the entire game?
It's banking on you to beat it out of spite. "Oh you just teleported chaingunners behind me after picking up this inconspicuous gun? Well now I'm ready next time, asshole!" It really wants to make you hate these demons with a burning passion. If Doom II was built any easier or laxer then these enemies wouldn't be much of a threat alone, and therefore less memorable. The level design accentuates the demons as scheming yet merciless. This isn't some honorable battle between warriors, this is a hunt for flesh. And there can only be one winner here.
More than many action games is Doom II a test on your memory, reactivity, and resource management. This game is straight up unfair, so you need to keep in mind what gun your currently holding before triggering the trap that killed you earlier. Demons have various levels of health, damage, and mobility; thus misusing and wasting your more powerful weapons will leave you vulnerable for when you really need that rocket launcher or B.F.G. against that Archvile. Sound cues are vital to knowing if a enemy has spotted you, or if a off-screen projectile is flying towards you. The player at least has the newly added super shotgun, though while a extremely powerful gun with good ammo efficiency, can be easy to over rely on. Definitely had times where the intervals between reloading the shotgun got me killed, when I should've attacked more from a distance with the chaingun or stunlocked with the plasma rifle.
But even with the generous usage of quicksaves, this game can get exhausting for a new player. Sometimes you get tired of being made a fool of yourself when the game teleports you into a tiny room with four imps on every side, which then proceed to tear you to shreds. Literally no way to know that was going to happen. The more bullshit people will encounter, the less willing they'll be able to continue with your game. Of course that isn't a universal rule, but there's a fine line between "Fck you, let's try that again!" and "Fck you, I quit!" For better or worse, games just don't do this kind of evil, unscrupulous design anymore.
Like Doom Eternal, I had to take breaks in the middle of levels. But unlike Eternal, it was because I couldn't be bothered at points to drudge through yet another elevator that takes me right into a horde of chaingunners that eat away at my health before I can even see where they are. It's funny how some of the earliest demons, the chaingunners, I find to be more annoying then even the Pain Elementals or Archviles.
Though with that in mind, playing Doom II showed me why this game has remained popular to this day. The enemies with their particular and variable roles, and the weapons with their satisfying designs and function, makes for near-infinite mod level packs with fresh feeling gameplay. Whether you want to have the player cleave through hordes of fodder demons with the B.F.G., or starve them for ammo as they have to whittle down a towering Cyberdemon, modding Doom II levels will live on well-passed any live service game that shuts down (six months after release).
Don't know if I played a good version of Doom II though. I'll be honest when I look up stuff for classic Doom, I get pretty intimidated by the number of ports and re-releases of the game, plus all the hard-core fans mentioning which ports are better then others. I played the standalone release from Steam on my Steam Deck, not sure what people in the community would call that port. I just took the path of least resistance to play the game, so hopefully that version won't make a Doom fan too upset at me. Did come across a few bugs, namely to do with a elevator not triggering and I had to reload my save to get it working again. Also I don't know if this is just a normal Doom thing, but sometimes it can feel pretty stingy when auto-aim will work if you're trying to hit a demon from a large elevation difference. Hard to get into a precise location to hit them when they can attack with their hitscans from wherever they want off-screen. This version of Doom 2 at least had that reticle to light up red if the next shot will hit a target, but it still doesn't change the fact how awkward "aiming" can be in this game.
And lastly, why did 'Into Sandy's City' only play in one level when it's easily the best song in the entire game?
Metal Gear Solid
1998
A truly cinematic experience. Metal Gear Solid doesn't feel like any other game from the time that I've played, as it's whole approach feels a lot more like an action/spy movie with long cutscenes, engaging plot and amazing dialogue that benefits a lot from the great voice acting that comes with it. The gameplay is also very unique, as whilst it has the standard game controls which have aged decently, there's also a lot of really cool fourth wall breaks which also took me off guard, and felt like a very clever use of the PlayStation's features. The only compaints I have about this game is mostly due to the fact it's just an older game, with the controls sometimes being a bit weird during stealth, as well as hitboxes on bosses being either smaller or larger than I expected, which isn't game-ruining but can be frustrating especially if I thought I was clear of being kicked in the head.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid is a game that stands-out very easily compared to everything else from the PS1 era, and I'm looking forward to playing through the rest of the series as I've heard but nothing but praise for every game.
Overall, Metal Gear Solid is a game that stands-out very easily compared to everything else from the PS1 era, and I'm looking forward to playing through the rest of the series as I've heard but nothing but praise for every game.
Persona 3 Reload
2024
Death is something that no one will escape. Not only do we have to face our own deaths but we also deal with the pain of loved ones losing their lives as well. Learning how to live, heal, and grow through loss, tragedy, and acceptance that this will happen to you and all your loved ones is not easily overcome. There is no one way to go about it, there is no correct path to take, nor is there any timetable for the healing or acceptance. After a loved one dies or knowing you will be gone soon, some will lean on others(this is what MOST of the cast does in this game, also its what I would do), some will go into their shell, and for some they cannot handle the magnitude of some losses. Death is not something that most feel comfortable openly talking about, but Persona 3 Reload puts death front and center of their narrative and shows all the effects it can bring on the most excellent cast of characters I’ve ever experienced in gaming. While this game comes with a trigger warning for suicide, bullying, and death (and believe me by the end I was thoroughly depressed) and the content matter is uncomfortable I think its something that needs to be addressed and talked about more. This game needs to be heard and played. Its message is powerful and very real.
Persona 3 Reload has 4 things that single handedly make this a 5 star game. The first two of which I’ve already touched on. First this is my favorite cast in my 3 decades of playing video games. Every character is well written, likable, believable, and relatable. The main cast specifically has 6 characters (The MC, Aigis, Yukari, Misuru, Shinji, and Akihiko) that would be worthy of being the main character of a game. Even the villains, while clearly on the wrong side of things, have relatable, believable reasons for their actions. You will be hard pressed to find a better set of characters in the medium. Secondly is the story which goes in tandem with the characters to make a story that I will remember in detail for the rest of my life.
While I mentioned death is at the forefront of the game, the story to me is more about how to deal with tragedy, sacrifice, love, and ultimately the bonds we forge with the people in our lives. To me it is about how the bonds we forge make life worth it and while death will ultimately end it in sadness it only hurts because of how good the journey was making it more than worth the pain at the end.
Our main cast have been devastated with tragedies before the game even starts. The MC is an orphan, Junpei has a big spoiler happen to him that broke my heart, Yukari’s father has passed, Akihiko’s entire family is gone, Aigis is searching for a reason to live, Mitsuru has dealt with death from her family as well as having to deal with ultimate demons that her family left her with, shinji has no family, Amada lost his parents while in elementary school, Koromaru’s owner recently passed, and they all deal with multiple spoiler losses that affect them all throughout the story. They learn to grow and heal by leaning on and loving each other becoming the family that they all had been missing. I want to go much deeper into the story but it is hard without just spoiling everything but please please play this game to find out what happens for yourself. It is heart wrenching, emotionally draining, downright depressing, but it also has heart warming, uplifting moments, hilarious moments, genuine beautiful moments that again make the journey worth it. I won't spoil the ending either but it was a beautiful tragic bitter sweet moment with major ramifications for all the major characters you meet along the way. I literally couldn’t believe everything I had just witnessed… Also the MC went through and accomplished more than pretty much any protagonist in any game ever.
The 3rd and 4th thing that immediately elevate this to a 5 star for me are the music and art style. Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby!!! One of the most electric and amazing soundtracks gaming has to offer can be found in Persona 3 Reload. “Full Moon Full Life” “Joy” “It’s Going Down Now” “Mass Destruction” are all stand out hits but the Final Boss Theme is by far my favorite in the series so far. When the velvet room hits in the track it immediately became my favorite. The UI is something to behold. It is flashy and beautiful. It captures the spirit of the series very similar to Persona 5’s interface. The characters are unique and well designed and there are some really awesome shadow designs as well.
The gameplay loop is extremely solid and satisfying. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it does require strategy and with knowledge of the persona system you can make the MC wildly overpowered. I always appreciate JRPG’S where you don't just use a physical attack all the way through the game except on bosses and this game definitely isn’t that. The life sim aspects of the game are awesome as well. I will say there are a few social links that I didn't care for at all like the kid in your class whose whole arc is simping for his teacher and “The Gourmet King” who has a touching moment but for 90% he’s a pompous asshole that eats a lot. However there are some truly great and touching social links as well that make it well worth your time to invest in all of them.
My one and literally only complaint in this game is that you have way too many things to juggle during the day time to try and complete and very few night time options. This is especially true during the late game. If day and night was more balanced I would say this is a perfect game.
The story (mostly spoiler stuff that I really want to talk about but wont) really touched me, hit me, hurt me, made me want to cry, made me laugh, and most of all made me think quite a bit, both about the game and about life in general. Not many games have made me do half of that stuff. I haven’t even mentioned the twist and turns this game throws at you, Strega, Pharos, Tarturus, love interests, and so many other things that if I mention this would turn into a 100,00 word review. This is one of the few games I think everyone should play before it's their turn to face death.
It made many lists for me!!
It easily made my top 100! Spoiler you're going to have to scroll way down to find it.
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-100-video-game-of-all-time/
My games i played in 2024 ranked
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/
My games of each year
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-game-of-the-year-1985-present/
Best Soundtracks in games
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-sounds-tracks-in-video-games-no-order/
Best Box Arts
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-box-arts-of-all-time-ranked/
Persona 3 Reload has 4 things that single handedly make this a 5 star game. The first two of which I’ve already touched on. First this is my favorite cast in my 3 decades of playing video games. Every character is well written, likable, believable, and relatable. The main cast specifically has 6 characters (The MC, Aigis, Yukari, Misuru, Shinji, and Akihiko) that would be worthy of being the main character of a game. Even the villains, while clearly on the wrong side of things, have relatable, believable reasons for their actions. You will be hard pressed to find a better set of characters in the medium. Secondly is the story which goes in tandem with the characters to make a story that I will remember in detail for the rest of my life.
While I mentioned death is at the forefront of the game, the story to me is more about how to deal with tragedy, sacrifice, love, and ultimately the bonds we forge with the people in our lives. To me it is about how the bonds we forge make life worth it and while death will ultimately end it in sadness it only hurts because of how good the journey was making it more than worth the pain at the end.
Our main cast have been devastated with tragedies before the game even starts. The MC is an orphan, Junpei has a big spoiler happen to him that broke my heart, Yukari’s father has passed, Akihiko’s entire family is gone, Aigis is searching for a reason to live, Mitsuru has dealt with death from her family as well as having to deal with ultimate demons that her family left her with, shinji has no family, Amada lost his parents while in elementary school, Koromaru’s owner recently passed, and they all deal with multiple spoiler losses that affect them all throughout the story. They learn to grow and heal by leaning on and loving each other becoming the family that they all had been missing. I want to go much deeper into the story but it is hard without just spoiling everything but please please play this game to find out what happens for yourself. It is heart wrenching, emotionally draining, downright depressing, but it also has heart warming, uplifting moments, hilarious moments, genuine beautiful moments that again make the journey worth it. I won't spoil the ending either but it was a beautiful tragic bitter sweet moment with major ramifications for all the major characters you meet along the way. I literally couldn’t believe everything I had just witnessed… Also the MC went through and accomplished more than pretty much any protagonist in any game ever.
The 3rd and 4th thing that immediately elevate this to a 5 star for me are the music and art style. Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby Baby!!! One of the most electric and amazing soundtracks gaming has to offer can be found in Persona 3 Reload. “Full Moon Full Life” “Joy” “It’s Going Down Now” “Mass Destruction” are all stand out hits but the Final Boss Theme is by far my favorite in the series so far. When the velvet room hits in the track it immediately became my favorite. The UI is something to behold. It is flashy and beautiful. It captures the spirit of the series very similar to Persona 5’s interface. The characters are unique and well designed and there are some really awesome shadow designs as well.
The gameplay loop is extremely solid and satisfying. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it does require strategy and with knowledge of the persona system you can make the MC wildly overpowered. I always appreciate JRPG’S where you don't just use a physical attack all the way through the game except on bosses and this game definitely isn’t that. The life sim aspects of the game are awesome as well. I will say there are a few social links that I didn't care for at all like the kid in your class whose whole arc is simping for his teacher and “The Gourmet King” who has a touching moment but for 90% he’s a pompous asshole that eats a lot. However there are some truly great and touching social links as well that make it well worth your time to invest in all of them.
My one and literally only complaint in this game is that you have way too many things to juggle during the day time to try and complete and very few night time options. This is especially true during the late game. If day and night was more balanced I would say this is a perfect game.
The story (mostly spoiler stuff that I really want to talk about but wont) really touched me, hit me, hurt me, made me want to cry, made me laugh, and most of all made me think quite a bit, both about the game and about life in general. Not many games have made me do half of that stuff. I haven’t even mentioned the twist and turns this game throws at you, Strega, Pharos, Tarturus, love interests, and so many other things that if I mention this would turn into a 100,00 word review. This is one of the few games I think everyone should play before it's their turn to face death.
It made many lists for me!!
It easily made my top 100! Spoiler you're going to have to scroll way down to find it.
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-100-video-game-of-all-time/
My games i played in 2024 ranked
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/games-i-played-in-2024-ranked-1/
My games of each year
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-game-of-the-year-1985-present/
Best Soundtracks in games
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-sounds-tracks-in-video-games-no-order/
Best Box Arts
https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-box-arts-of-all-time-ranked/
A "rougelike" DLC story for a game that uses that genre in the loosest definition possible.
For brevity sake, check out my review on the base game as this DLC isn't about doing things radically different or new.(https://backloggd.com/u/AlphaOne2/review/971762/) The rougelike is really just randomly generated dungeoneering, with a slightly harsher punishment for death where you lose a lot (or all, depending on difficulty) of your earned force. In case you didn't read the old review or forgot, force is used to progress through the game's skill tree. You earn a looooooot of stat ups using it, and you also use it for unlocking new spells and valuable items. Regardless, everything else you earned prior to death is kept, hence rougelike being a poor descriptor.
Just like the base game, this DLC wants you to become absurdly powerful. Like, the most overpowered character you can possibly be. Able to cast magic that starts as standard fireballs, and end with summoning lasers so large it kills hundreds of enemies off screen as all their loot gets magnetized towards you. All the other progression systems are here as well (equipment leveling, crafting and upgrading, magic leveling, item trading, and so forth). One of the more notable additions is the style system. Think more of a class system in other RPGs, but they don't change your playstyle too much in comparison. Each style comes with their own passive bonuses and one unique skill that's on a short cooldown. A magician can recover the magic meter on the spot, or a samurai will do a iaido slash as the demon gets cut in half a second later, or a assassin will teleport behind the enemy and stab them in the back. They aren't a game changer, but it is fun experimenting with them as leveling up styles will also earn permanent stat ups.
How are the random dungeon exactly? Crude and sloppy, but admittedly pretty fun. Namely due to the enemy placement. Each stratum has 9 floors. Early in the stratum enemies are relatively straight forward and spaced fairly normally. But by floor 6 the dev just seemed to not care anymore and will just randomly place twenty high level monsters in a room that attack the very instant you enter their domain. Doubly worst if these monsters can inflict debilitating status ailments like paralyze or webbed. It's actually comical how little restraint these monster closets get the further you get into the game, and they aren't rare by any means. You start getting into the habit of holding down to immediately readying your shield anytime you enter a new room, cause there's a high likelihood you'll get sucker punched by a horde of photo-shopped monsters on the otherside.
At the same time, this actually makes it pretty fun. There's a great satisfaction overcoming something so blatantly unfair and unhinged, and being rewarded with gold, loot, experience a plenty that hits me in the dopamine tenfold. And even though I played this game on hard, I never died from these relentless ambushes. Certainly came close, but you have plenty of tools to conquer these ridiculous enemy layouts. Magic gives you invincibility frames, which combined with how absurdly busted some spells are makes these things both unfair but also not frustrating.
I am a little disappointed with the lack of new in this DLC. The enemies and many boss fights are recycled from the base game, and the story doesn't go nearly as hard as it either. Though the game does warn that this DLC has massive spoilers if you hadn't played the original, so I unfortunately can't recommend this if it were standalone. This DLC is more of a abridged retelling of the base game, but as a dungeon crawler with a different main character. Again, do not expect anything truly unique.
And you know, if I ever get the hankering for Astlibra Revision again I think I might play this instead. With the nature of the random dungeons, you are experiencing more of forward momentum during your grinding sessions as you descend further down; whereas grinding in the original has you walk back and forth between the same exact areas over and over. Not to mention this is 20 hours versus 50 hours. The DLC is lengthy but not too obscene as the base game, if you feel like replaying it from start to end.
Plus now you can dress up your main character and that shit is a plus in any game ever.
For brevity sake, check out my review on the base game as this DLC isn't about doing things radically different or new.(https://backloggd.com/u/AlphaOne2/review/971762/) The rougelike is really just randomly generated dungeoneering, with a slightly harsher punishment for death where you lose a lot (or all, depending on difficulty) of your earned force. In case you didn't read the old review or forgot, force is used to progress through the game's skill tree. You earn a looooooot of stat ups using it, and you also use it for unlocking new spells and valuable items. Regardless, everything else you earned prior to death is kept, hence rougelike being a poor descriptor.
Just like the base game, this DLC wants you to become absurdly powerful. Like, the most overpowered character you can possibly be. Able to cast magic that starts as standard fireballs, and end with summoning lasers so large it kills hundreds of enemies off screen as all their loot gets magnetized towards you. All the other progression systems are here as well (equipment leveling, crafting and upgrading, magic leveling, item trading, and so forth). One of the more notable additions is the style system. Think more of a class system in other RPGs, but they don't change your playstyle too much in comparison. Each style comes with their own passive bonuses and one unique skill that's on a short cooldown. A magician can recover the magic meter on the spot, or a samurai will do a iaido slash as the demon gets cut in half a second later, or a assassin will teleport behind the enemy and stab them in the back. They aren't a game changer, but it is fun experimenting with them as leveling up styles will also earn permanent stat ups.
How are the random dungeon exactly? Crude and sloppy, but admittedly pretty fun. Namely due to the enemy placement. Each stratum has 9 floors. Early in the stratum enemies are relatively straight forward and spaced fairly normally. But by floor 6 the dev just seemed to not care anymore and will just randomly place twenty high level monsters in a room that attack the very instant you enter their domain. Doubly worst if these monsters can inflict debilitating status ailments like paralyze or webbed. It's actually comical how little restraint these monster closets get the further you get into the game, and they aren't rare by any means. You start getting into the habit of holding down to immediately readying your shield anytime you enter a new room, cause there's a high likelihood you'll get sucker punched by a horde of photo-shopped monsters on the otherside.
At the same time, this actually makes it pretty fun. There's a great satisfaction overcoming something so blatantly unfair and unhinged, and being rewarded with gold, loot, experience a plenty that hits me in the dopamine tenfold. And even though I played this game on hard, I never died from these relentless ambushes. Certainly came close, but you have plenty of tools to conquer these ridiculous enemy layouts. Magic gives you invincibility frames, which combined with how absurdly busted some spells are makes these things both unfair but also not frustrating.
I am a little disappointed with the lack of new in this DLC. The enemies and many boss fights are recycled from the base game, and the story doesn't go nearly as hard as it either. Though the game does warn that this DLC has massive spoilers if you hadn't played the original, so I unfortunately can't recommend this if it were standalone. This DLC is more of a abridged retelling of the base game, but as a dungeon crawler with a different main character. Again, do not expect anything truly unique.
And you know, if I ever get the hankering for Astlibra Revision again I think I might play this instead. With the nature of the random dungeons, you are experiencing more of forward momentum during your grinding sessions as you descend further down; whereas grinding in the original has you walk back and forth between the same exact areas over and over. Not to mention this is 20 hours versus 50 hours. The DLC is lengthy but not too obscene as the base game, if you feel like replaying it from start to end.
Plus now you can dress up your main character and that shit is a plus in any game ever.
Foamstars
2024
I don’t know why I downloaded this, it doesn’t look like something I would enjoy. I have a backlog full of probably much higher quality games but I spent some time on this. It’s free on PS plus that’s why and I thought, ‘what’s the harm in giving it a go, it might be fun?’
I shouldn’t be supporting games like this, even if I don’t spend money on it and it’s just a free download and some time put in. I wouldn’t even have PS Plus essential if I didn’t need it for online play. Now I have a bunch of games I feel somewhat obligated to try every month so I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. Thanks Microsoft for making paying for online multiplayer the norm. You got into consoles because you were afraid Sony would take over everyone’s living room. You somehow convinced everyone to pay for online, while dead 360s were being stacked sky high at your doorstep. You abandoned your core audience and took a hard turn into Kinect. Then you had an interesting Xbox One reveal, that required a lot of back tracking and fixing your image. I haven’t played everything but it seems like you mishandled or messed up every successful series you had. You failed at providing healthy competition that would have been beneficial to us consumers. Now you are pushing the all digital/subscription future. Uncle Phil isn’t your buddy looking out for gamers interests he is the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. How is Xbox Game Pass really that different to what they were trying to do back at the Xbox One reveal? They just realised that you need a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. It’s funny and sad watching people laugh at or criticise the Xbox One reveal and then talk about how good of a deal Game Pass is. People don’t make the best decisions when they think they’ve got a good deal or are getting something for free, myself included. I already wasn’t planning on getting an Xbox Series console and their current direction, plus recent news, has strongly solidified that.
At least it wasn’t all bad. I still have my older Xbox consoles and I have good memories of games like Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Amped, Jet Set Radio Future, Ninja Gaiden, Forza, even Gears of War which I’m not the biggest fan of, and several others. Farewell Xbox…
Oh yeah Foamstars, let’s get back to that, I guess.
Foamstars is like a microwavable frozen meal. It lacks quality and quantity and it’s pretty questionable whether you should actually get it and try it. But sometimes you just don’t have the energy. You want to pull the packaging off something and press a button and just eat something because it gets the job done.
Foamstars is a lazy game you can throw on and not put any effort or much thought into. It’s an online multiplayer game you can play lying down. You don’t need to worry about communication or any of the negatives that come with that. You don’t need to worry about being competitive or not doing well. Don’t worry about skill, strategy, violence or language. Just put your feet up and shoot some bubbles. Sometimes a brainless activity like this can be beneficial. Sometimes you just need a break and there is some fun to be had here.
The monetization though. Wow. When I looked at the cost of things I laughed but then thought about how this game seems targeted at a younger audience and realised this is diabolical. It is like villain level stuff. Imagine making a game that, when you’re not hunting whales, you’re trying to separate children from their allowance, in a greedy, unfair way. Or you’re just relying on parents to not supervise their kids spending. That’s enough about this, don’t worry I won’t go on another tangent.
Apart from those issues Foamstars is so inoffensive that it’s almost offensive. It’s so bland and forgettable. It’s so bright and colourful and over the top but makes you feel nothing at all, except maybe slightly annoyed. But then you find out the characters actually secrete foam from their bodies. Think about that the whole time you’re playing, you’re welcome. I know I’m not the demographic they were going for but there isn’t much to like about the presentation, characters, dialogue and what little story there is. There is unskippable stuff too. But it’s got some quirks and the music isn’t bad.
The gameplay is okay, it’s four versus four, with a few different modes and there’s also a four player co-op mission mode or single player ones too. You have a main gun, two skills and a special and each character has their own set unique to them. None of it is really that good or satisfying to use. You need to foam up the map in your teams colour so you can surf around quicker while also taking on the other team at the same time. You have to keep hitting opponents until they are in a ball of foam, then they can be taken out or revived by a teammate. Obviously it’s not completely devoid of skill and a bit of strategy but there isn’t enough here. I wish you could move a bit more, like a dodge and a double jump would be cool. The missions are pretty bare bones, where you just face waves of enemies and there is a serious lack of variety in the versus modes too. It’s often too visually chaotic and takes too long to get back into matches as well. It is a bit of stress free fun but it isn’t good enough and has no lasting appeal. I had to change the region in the options to consistently get in matches too, so you might want to get in quick if you’re keen on trying this.
Is Foamstars a good use of your available free time/gaming time? No, no it’s not, but also kind of yes because sometimes you just want to chill, although there are most likely better ‘chill’ games available. It’s not a good game but when I’m in the right mood, I don’t mind getting foamed up.
3.9/10
I shouldn’t be supporting games like this, even if I don’t spend money on it and it’s just a free download and some time put in. I wouldn’t even have PS Plus essential if I didn’t need it for online play. Now I have a bunch of games I feel somewhat obligated to try every month so I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. Thanks Microsoft for making paying for online multiplayer the norm. You got into consoles because you were afraid Sony would take over everyone’s living room. You somehow convinced everyone to pay for online, while dead 360s were being stacked sky high at your doorstep. You abandoned your core audience and took a hard turn into Kinect. Then you had an interesting Xbox One reveal, that required a lot of back tracking and fixing your image. I haven’t played everything but it seems like you mishandled or messed up every successful series you had. You failed at providing healthy competition that would have been beneficial to us consumers. Now you are pushing the all digital/subscription future. Uncle Phil isn’t your buddy looking out for gamers interests he is the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. How is Xbox Game Pass really that different to what they were trying to do back at the Xbox One reveal? They just realised that you need a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. It’s funny and sad watching people laugh at or criticise the Xbox One reveal and then talk about how good of a deal Game Pass is. People don’t make the best decisions when they think they’ve got a good deal or are getting something for free, myself included. I already wasn’t planning on getting an Xbox Series console and their current direction, plus recent news, has strongly solidified that.
At least it wasn’t all bad. I still have my older Xbox consoles and I have good memories of games like Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Amped, Jet Set Radio Future, Ninja Gaiden, Forza, even Gears of War which I’m not the biggest fan of, and several others. Farewell Xbox…
Oh yeah Foamstars, let’s get back to that, I guess.
Foamstars is like a microwavable frozen meal. It lacks quality and quantity and it’s pretty questionable whether you should actually get it and try it. But sometimes you just don’t have the energy. You want to pull the packaging off something and press a button and just eat something because it gets the job done.
Foamstars is a lazy game you can throw on and not put any effort or much thought into. It’s an online multiplayer game you can play lying down. You don’t need to worry about communication or any of the negatives that come with that. You don’t need to worry about being competitive or not doing well. Don’t worry about skill, strategy, violence or language. Just put your feet up and shoot some bubbles. Sometimes a brainless activity like this can be beneficial. Sometimes you just need a break and there is some fun to be had here.
The monetization though. Wow. When I looked at the cost of things I laughed but then thought about how this game seems targeted at a younger audience and realised this is diabolical. It is like villain level stuff. Imagine making a game that, when you’re not hunting whales, you’re trying to separate children from their allowance, in a greedy, unfair way. Or you’re just relying on parents to not supervise their kids spending. That’s enough about this, don’t worry I won’t go on another tangent.
Apart from those issues Foamstars is so inoffensive that it’s almost offensive. It’s so bland and forgettable. It’s so bright and colourful and over the top but makes you feel nothing at all, except maybe slightly annoyed. But then you find out the characters actually secrete foam from their bodies. Think about that the whole time you’re playing, you’re welcome. I know I’m not the demographic they were going for but there isn’t much to like about the presentation, characters, dialogue and what little story there is. There is unskippable stuff too. But it’s got some quirks and the music isn’t bad.
The gameplay is okay, it’s four versus four, with a few different modes and there’s also a four player co-op mission mode or single player ones too. You have a main gun, two skills and a special and each character has their own set unique to them. None of it is really that good or satisfying to use. You need to foam up the map in your teams colour so you can surf around quicker while also taking on the other team at the same time. You have to keep hitting opponents until they are in a ball of foam, then they can be taken out or revived by a teammate. Obviously it’s not completely devoid of skill and a bit of strategy but there isn’t enough here. I wish you could move a bit more, like a dodge and a double jump would be cool. The missions are pretty bare bones, where you just face waves of enemies and there is a serious lack of variety in the versus modes too. It’s often too visually chaotic and takes too long to get back into matches as well. It is a bit of stress free fun but it isn’t good enough and has no lasting appeal. I had to change the region in the options to consistently get in matches too, so you might want to get in quick if you’re keen on trying this.
Is Foamstars a good use of your available free time/gaming time? No, no it’s not, but also kind of yes because sometimes you just want to chill, although there are most likely better ‘chill’ games available. It’s not a good game but when I’m in the right mood, I don’t mind getting foamed up.
3.9/10
This is the remake that Ocarina of Time deserves, as it manages to preserve all the good parts of the N64 game whilst also modernising it with a few quality of life changes and beautiful new graphics. I hope Nintendo is considering porting this to the Switch if Luigi's Mansion 2 does well, because whilst it runs amazingly on the 3DS it deserves to be played in HD on a more powerful console.
Mini Metro
2015
As a kid, I was absolutely obsessed with subways. Whenever my family and I traveled to a new city, my immediate fixation was not the city’s many attractions but rather the intricate infrastructure linking all these various locales. While my family handled the destinations, I handled everything in-between. I wanted to know the most efficient way to get from point A to B, if there were any loopholes or special conditions necessitating an off-the-beaten-path itinerary, and most of all, I kept tabs on any planned changes regarding the evolving transportation so I could make notes of where to adjust and prioritize for future trips. I never realized it back then, but there was a certain satisfaction to memorizing every station and optimal route and running the simulations in my head that eventually led me down the path of engineering.
Mini Metro is essentially my childhood fascination with subways conceptualized as a video game. It’s super easy to pick up thanks to its minimalist design and intuitive controls; passengers are depicted with geometric symbols headed to corresponding symbolic destinations, distinctly colored subway lines are constructed by dragging your mouse between stops, and you can easily manipulate existing lines without disrupting progress by simply clicking and dragging sections of a line to new stops. At the same time, it can quickly become challenging, but this skill ceiling feels fairly approachable because the game is less about memorizing specific formulas and more about understanding implicit guidelines. For example, having a line that hits every stop in the area sounds appealing, but what’s less appealing is how much more time is subsequently spent traveling and loading/unloading passengers; you can at least somewhat account for this by toggling specific stations as “no-stop” to create express lines. The AI is fairly predictable and will always calculate the shortest path to the corresponding destination, but this also means that there’s real potential for them to overload the capacity of certain stations while in-transit between different lines. Alongside this, the game is great at organically iterating upon its basic formula to escalate difficulty by introducing more stops, altering the shape of stops to create more unique passengers and necessitate different routes, and increase the system’s load with more passengers while forcing the player to juggle their already limited number of lines, cars/carriages, and tunnels/bridges as also dictated with newly unlocked maps. At its core, it’s a game that’s great at subtly teaching players how to recognize bottlenecks and micromanage individual elements to fully understand how minor changes can quickly ripple across the fully intertwined system.
My only real nitpicks are that picking apart subway loops can get a bit annoying since you can only fiddle with one exposed end at a time while in loop form; it’s a minor complaint considering that you can pause the game at any time to more carefully reconstruct lines, but adding extra steps to reconstruct common subway loops is fairly noticeable considering Mini Metro’s elegant interface. Also, I do wish that there was a way to construct slightly longer paths along rivers instead of automatically building across them between certain junctions and using up my already limited supply of tunnels and bridges. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that this last gripe is mostly personal, and I think this game absolutely delivers upon its premise with precise execution. With so many different maps and daily challenges to boot, there’s plenty of content to exhaust within the game, and if one finds the basic experience too stressful or is more interested in sheer experimentation, then they can simply turn to endless and creative modes instead. For an accessible yet deceptively deep management game that gives great bang for your buck, I’d say Mini Metro is a fantastic entry point into the world of optimization simulators that more than holds its own against its more daunting peers.
Mini Metro is essentially my childhood fascination with subways conceptualized as a video game. It’s super easy to pick up thanks to its minimalist design and intuitive controls; passengers are depicted with geometric symbols headed to corresponding symbolic destinations, distinctly colored subway lines are constructed by dragging your mouse between stops, and you can easily manipulate existing lines without disrupting progress by simply clicking and dragging sections of a line to new stops. At the same time, it can quickly become challenging, but this skill ceiling feels fairly approachable because the game is less about memorizing specific formulas and more about understanding implicit guidelines. For example, having a line that hits every stop in the area sounds appealing, but what’s less appealing is how much more time is subsequently spent traveling and loading/unloading passengers; you can at least somewhat account for this by toggling specific stations as “no-stop” to create express lines. The AI is fairly predictable and will always calculate the shortest path to the corresponding destination, but this also means that there’s real potential for them to overload the capacity of certain stations while in-transit between different lines. Alongside this, the game is great at organically iterating upon its basic formula to escalate difficulty by introducing more stops, altering the shape of stops to create more unique passengers and necessitate different routes, and increase the system’s load with more passengers while forcing the player to juggle their already limited number of lines, cars/carriages, and tunnels/bridges as also dictated with newly unlocked maps. At its core, it’s a game that’s great at subtly teaching players how to recognize bottlenecks and micromanage individual elements to fully understand how minor changes can quickly ripple across the fully intertwined system.
My only real nitpicks are that picking apart subway loops can get a bit annoying since you can only fiddle with one exposed end at a time while in loop form; it’s a minor complaint considering that you can pause the game at any time to more carefully reconstruct lines, but adding extra steps to reconstruct common subway loops is fairly noticeable considering Mini Metro’s elegant interface. Also, I do wish that there was a way to construct slightly longer paths along rivers instead of automatically building across them between certain junctions and using up my already limited supply of tunnels and bridges. Nevertheless, I acknowledge that this last gripe is mostly personal, and I think this game absolutely delivers upon its premise with precise execution. With so many different maps and daily challenges to boot, there’s plenty of content to exhaust within the game, and if one finds the basic experience too stressful or is more interested in sheer experimentation, then they can simply turn to endless and creative modes instead. For an accessible yet deceptively deep management game that gives great bang for your buck, I’d say Mini Metro is a fantastic entry point into the world of optimization simulators that more than holds its own against its more daunting peers.