This is a game full of unique ideas and mechanics that remain fresh all the way until the credits roll. This remaster has brought the graphics to a point where it may as well be modern - an animated art style will always hold up better than realism but this game came out in 2007 and you would not think it to look at it. I could gush about all the ways this game is great but in the fairness of my time I'm going to mostly highlight the small negatives I have with it.

The biggest issue that holds back true love for this game is just how much it wastes your time. A level in this game will take around 5 - 10 minutes to complete, but each and every time you get a star (of which you will be getting many) the game kicks you out to the Observatory. End of level animation, animation of coming back to the Dome, score trackers going up, ask if you want to save, wait for it to save, use the blue star to access level select, choose level, confirm, watch animation of Mario flying to level, wait for stars to appear, select star, confirm, camera pans over level, Mario flies in - now you can play. This happening for every single level means you spend collective hours in this meaningless downtime. It seems a small thing to harp on but this game at minimum requires 60 stars to complete, and you are going to go through that process every single time - even longer if the level you want to do is in a different dome.

The other time wasting issue comes from the dialogue; it's overall a smaller issue but the text boxes being unskippable for several seconds is annoying to someone who can read quicker than the target demographic of 8 year olds.

The game's soundtrack is majestic, the graphics awe inspiring and the gameplay is varied and challenging. I would give this game my highest recommendation, but unfortunately it is locked behind this obscenely over-priced bundle on the switch. I get that these games (64, Sunshine and Galaxy) make up some of the most important titles ever released, but £70 for three games that are decades old is a crime.

I loathe basically everything about Alan Wake. I played this because the sequel is so critically acclaimed, but after playing this I cannot imagine how. I think this game is a failure in every aspect of design.

First, the graphics. Even with the remaster, these environments are at best passable, while at their worst they definitely show their age. The character designs and animations, however, are truly some of the ugliest I've ever seen in a video game. This is why the developers cunningly made the main enemy force completely concealed in a black shroud - it hides their awful appearance.

The gameplay is atrociously tedious. Every single level the game has to contrive a reason for Alan Wake to leave all his equipment behind but to venture out at night regardless. It became a running joke for me to see just how long the daytime segments were compared to the nighttime ones. I think this town gets about 10 minutes of total daylight every 24 hours based on how the game presents it. The combat system of not being able to shoot the enemies until you have shone a torch on them enough might sound kind of interesting but in practice it just drags the encounters out three times as long as they need to. The enemy variety is tragic; there is only 3. Men with melee weapons, crows and inanimate objects. WOW!

I've seen the story praised by critics, but I couldn't agree any less. It's a very simple story that's told in the most confusing way possible. Don't confuse that with the story having depth - it doesn't - it just makes it even harder to enjoy. The plot sucks, the characters are detestable and everything is padded out.

The only positive I have for this game it that it is playable. I got to the end without many issues. I recently tried my best to play the game Remedy made after this, Quantum Break, and found the worst optimised triple-A release I have ever seen. I could, at least, beat Alan Wake. There was one good section in Alan Wake, the musical number at the end of episode 4. That is 5 minutes of an eight hour game. Everything else in just insufferably standard. Hours and hours of wandering around the same looking dark woodland while shooting the same enemy over and over again, occasionally stopping to feed some awful piece of poorly acted exposition down your throat.

I have a lot of feeling regarding Mass Effect 3. It is not only a huge RPG in of itself, but also represents the third and final entry into a trilogy of continuity. To keep things brief, I'll say that this game doesn't reach the heights of Mass Effect 2, which to me is not only an incredible game but also probably one of my favourite sci-fi stories ever.

Especially in comparison to its immediate predecessor, ME3 has poorer pacing of its gameplay sequences and a generally more unfocused narrative. However, this game's theme is that of sacrifice, and I believe it is handled extremely well. The highest praise I can give the story of the Mass Effect trilogy is that it somehow makes something as ridiculous as a "galaxy-wide" threat into something that feels relatively grounded and like you really understand the stakes. Shepard is a fantastic viewpoint into this world as an interplanetary ambassador and I had a blast playing through these games - I can't recommend them enough, especially these remasters.

Pyschonauts holds up exceedingly well for a PS2 game. Even if graphically it shows its age, in gameplay it functions as well as any modern title should. There's very little of the jank that you sometimes find when going back to older eras of gaming.

Each level is an absolute blast and also a completely unique idea. Not just unique for the game, but unique for everything. There's nothing out there quite like the ideas present in Psychonauts. Each of the ten levels is distinct in both gameplay, visual setting and story.

The story is also a joy to experience. It's childish, yes, but with a very distinct charm that makes it appealing to almost anyone, I would say. Any story which sees you dealing into the mind of a paranoid schizophrenic milkman to solve a conspiracy drama has to receive a due amount of credit for its creativity if nothing else.

Here is my many thoughts on a very long game condensed into a spoiler free review:

Gameplay: The gameplay of a CRPG is the biggest obstacle to overcome to be able to engage with the title. It is a very slow, low tech genre with de-emphasised gameplay that favours narrative and choice. However, Baldur’s Gate 3 is absolutely the most accessible of the genre. While it is still slow paced, it makes every move feel deliberate and allows for a huge amount of interactivity with the game world and for a hightened variety of moves and synergies during combat.

Companions: I measure the worth of an RPG’s writing by it’s cast list, and more specifically by the group of companions - them getting the most screentime by virtue of constantly being with you. While I missed out on three of the games later missable companions, I can confidently say that the origin characters are up there with best of the genre. They are all unique, charming, likeable, have great arcs and are amazingly voice acted. On that note, voiceacting is to a relatively high quality across the board, even among the most insignificant of characters.

Story: I really liked the unravelling mystery storyline, it is (mostly) well-paced and thouroughly engaging the entire way through. The many allies and villains are highly memorable and are all great - this genre really lives and dies on the writing and I can confidently say that even those who may not typically enjoy these high-fantasy settings will find something to latch onto here.

Act 1 - without spoiling anything, the first act doees well to engage you into both the setting and the mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons. It’s all quite low stakes compared to the rest of the story, but I think that’s needed because it allows leeway for some mistakes without huge and dire consequences.

Act 2 - Easily the strongest arc of the game in my eyes. The introduced villain is masterfully built up and gratifyingly lives up to the hype. He’s intimidating and powerful, and his underlings and children make for a great cast of side villains too. The setting of the act is also very well executed.

Act 3 - This act for me is where the game slips slightly. Once you reach the city proper, all great mysteries have been revealed and now it's all down to tying up all the questlines that have been developing. However, it becomes so narratively dense that (to me) it was daunting. I think the crux of the problem is that there is a lack of focus. In one building, one questline reaches its conclusion while next door an entirely seperate story thread will wrap up. And i mean that quite literally. Add to the at least a dozen questlines that culminate here with a whole huge batch of area specific side quests and it becomes harder and harder to care. This all goes doubly as by this point my characters had reached maximum level and had basically the best gear they were going to get, meaning that a lot of this seemed completely pointless. Yes, the writing is still high quality, but when the progression loop of the RPG has ended it’s hard to strive for anything else but reaching the ending. The two main villains are solid for this act though, albeit i think slightly lesser compared to the act two antagonist. The multitude of boss fights are certainly mechanical combat peaks for the entire game too, requiring some real strategy to overcome - with the final battles being utterly ridiculous in what they demand of you.

Despite some shortcomings, this is an incredible experience that represents a step forward for the genre. We can only hope it inspires greater and more varied games across the whole medium.

(Final playtime of 72 hours on one character, with an additional 6 hours put into co-op runs so far.)

This game is made up of recognisable chunks of other 3D platforms, with Super Mario Galaxy and Psychonauts being the two influences I feel are most strong. However, it does not come close to either in quality and comes across as a pale imitation. Not to say the game is not unique in its own ways - I just feel that there are better titles out there.

The games four distinct worlds are hit and miss, and mostly miss. I will compliment their attempt and differentiating themselves from one another, but I can't say that any are truly good ideas.

The mafia world is a fine starting point.

The film director world feels like it could've been handled in a far more interesting way.

The horror world is probably my favourite - it's not the most unique of settings but I enjoyed most of the levels and the two boss fights it has were dangerously close to being actually fun.

The final open world area seemed like it would be a welcome change of pace, but in practice it's confusingly designed and the lack of structure hurt it.

The game was fun while I played it but I can't say I would recommend it when so many better 3D platformers are out there.

It Takes Two is a very good game that's full to the brim with a constant stream of unique ideas and gameplay mechanics. The sheer variety of settings, boss fights, puzzles and co-op interactions across the game's 10 hour runtime borders on ridiculous - the game never really gets boring because of this. I think you could argue that the game would've done better to explore less mechanics in more depth, but I think part of this game's unique charm is the unpredictability of what will come next.

The focus on co-op mechanics is the game's biggest draw. A lot of "co-op" games more just feel like single player games that occasionally oblige the two of you to stand next to one another to open a door to the next area. It Takes Two is distinct in that nearly everything you do requires the help of the other player; whether it's a combat encounter that requires teamwork to get through or even one player controlling the platforms that the other player must navigate. There is a countless amount of examples of the game's dedication to creating a fully cooperative experience and I must say that it's probably one of the best co-op games ever made for this reason.

The story is very tongue in cheek, I feel. The dialogue is knowingly silly and the characters are all radically distinct and voice acted in a very exaggerated way. There isn't too much critique to lay on the narrative on the whole and it certainly takes a backseat to the gameplay anyway. The cutscenes are well paced and never get in the way of the gameplay side, mostly just acting as necessary interludes and breaks to add context to the gameplay sequences. I also quite liked the ending - it wasn't exactly a twist ending but it definitely didn't go the way I thought it would and I was pleasantly surprised by how realistically it was handled.

I think my one and only problem with this title is that it lacks any challenge. It never really requires much critical thinking or engagement and the result is a game that you can breeze through without really thinking. I'm not saying the game needed to be insanely difficult, but the complete lack of consequence for dying combined with how each mechanic is quite surface-level means that there isn't much room to ever fail. The result is that everything kind of blurs together when looking back, with no specific puzzle, boss fight or mechanic standing out among the rest.

The game has only the framework of a narrative to keep the player moving from scene to scene. The characters are all so dreadfully bland, with the worst offender being the protagonist himself - Gabriel. He rarely says anything, and when he does you'd wish he hadn't. I've never heard a voice actor sound this uninterested in their own work before.

The game starts strong with regular boss fights and new scenery for each level, but at the back of my mind I kept wondering "how long are they gonna keep this variety up before it starts just recycling what's already been used?" The answer is: not long at all. The game is strong for the first couple hours, and quickly descends into tedium from there as the levels start to blend together visually and the same three enemies make up all the combat encounters. Online sources say the same is 18 hours long, which is actually criminal. You're getting your money's worth, I guess, but that is far beyond what a game of this scale should be. There's a reason all the old God of Wars (the games this is clearly influenced by) are all done in 5-8 hours.

The game feel here is also not great. The combat has some good ideas - I like the crystal system that makes you choose between healing and dealing extra damage - but it just feels bad to play. And no amount of good ideas can save a game that just isn't fun to control. If it wasn't clear, I didn't finish this one. It became too tedious and eventually at one point the plot contrived me to have to go and collect some keys or something for the dozenth time and I gave up bothering.