Soldier4Christ
2022
I can see how this is a five star game if you've never had sex before.
The next one will probably be pretty good.
The next one will probably be pretty good.
This is a goofy ass version of a beloved classic. I think it's a genuinely good remake gameplay wise. Most would say the new cutscenes ruin the tone of the original. I say the new cutscenes elevate the game.
This game costs like 200 fucking dollars now USED so go emulate this game as it is really worth a playthrough if you're an MGS fan.
This game costs like 200 fucking dollars now USED so go emulate this game as it is really worth a playthrough if you're an MGS fan.
The Wii U version of this game is probably the best, which I know is not saying much given the wider Tekken community's opinion of Tag 2 is really low. It still is a really fun game that anybody can pick up and play.
The Wii U version has exclusive Nintendo related costumes which look absolutely stupid and great. It is genuinely hilarious to see the serious, grizzled Jinpachi in a full Toad costume. Other highlights include Panda as Princess Peach, P.Jack as Luigi, and Paul as Mario.
The Wii U version has an exclusive special game mode called Mushroom Battle, where you fight on one of six stages that place classic Super Mario related items like the invincibility star and super/poison mushrooms that change your size, speed and stamina which can make matches extremely goofy really quick. It's a fun, novel mode that if played with an equally skilled opponent, can be a tense and fun time. The stages in this mode are really lacking in variety, with only two variations of three stages. The variations only matter in what and how often certain items are thrown out onto the stage. I wish this mode allowed you turn off certain items like the poison mushroom, which is usually the most common item that decreases your stamina bar, but at the end of the day it's a whatever throwaway mode.
The rest is just standard Tekken Tag 2. I think the roster is pretty good, but I think the Fight Lab mode is PHENOMENAL. If you don't know, the Fight Lab is essentially a story mode followingLee Violet as he creates the world's perfect fighting robot that the player takes control of. It is essentially a full blown tutorial how to play Tekken. It's robust and in-depth breakdown of every single mechanic that makes Tekken....Tekken! It's structured by Stages and Chapters complete with bosses. It's somewhat easy to complete and move on to the next challenge, but it demands perfect inputs if you want the best ranking. What's truly excellent is that you can go back to completed chapters to re-do challenges to perfect your abilities. It is the single best feature of a Tekken game I've seen.
Downsides include a shitty online connection, which doesn't really break the mold because all Tekken games have terrible online netcode and the Wii U is going offline soon. The loading in this version is a little long, but not unforgivable (If you emulate this game on a mid-range PC this is not even a problem at all).
All in all this is a great, gimmick-y game that newer Tekken fans can really sink their teeth into or vets can use as a fun kusoge at a tournament.
The Wii U version has exclusive Nintendo related costumes which look absolutely stupid and great. It is genuinely hilarious to see the serious, grizzled Jinpachi in a full Toad costume. Other highlights include Panda as Princess Peach, P.Jack as Luigi, and Paul as Mario.
The Wii U version has an exclusive special game mode called Mushroom Battle, where you fight on one of six stages that place classic Super Mario related items like the invincibility star and super/poison mushrooms that change your size, speed and stamina which can make matches extremely goofy really quick. It's a fun, novel mode that if played with an equally skilled opponent, can be a tense and fun time. The stages in this mode are really lacking in variety, with only two variations of three stages. The variations only matter in what and how often certain items are thrown out onto the stage. I wish this mode allowed you turn off certain items like the poison mushroom, which is usually the most common item that decreases your stamina bar, but at the end of the day it's a whatever throwaway mode.
The rest is just standard Tekken Tag 2. I think the roster is pretty good, but I think the Fight Lab mode is PHENOMENAL. If you don't know, the Fight Lab is essentially a story mode following
Downsides include a shitty online connection, which doesn't really break the mold because all Tekken games have terrible online netcode and the Wii U is going offline soon. The loading in this version is a little long, but not unforgivable (If you emulate this game on a mid-range PC this is not even a problem at all).
All in all this is a great, gimmick-y game that newer Tekken fans can really sink their teeth into or vets can use as a fun kusoge at a tournament.
2003
youtube.com/watch?v=Y8R0RujsIk4
2009
FLY ME TO THE MOON AND LET ME PLAY AMONGST THE STAAAARS
This is one of the best games ever made. It is made with love and designed with fun in mind. There is a lot that can be said of this game, but I would implore you all to simply play it and let it treat you right. Even if you haven't played a character action game, just play it on the easiest difficulty and go nuts.
Why not five stars you may ask? The copy/pasting of areas out of control in this game. Though it's more hilarious pointing out reused assets than it is an egregious sin. The combat is so good that it doesn't even matter where you're fighting anyway.
My most recent playthrough was the PS4 version played on my PS5 and it was delightful. The load times from the PS3 era are almost nonexistent here and the upscale'd graphics were a treat.
Go play it. Do it. Fly yourself yo the moon and be gay among the stars. You won't regret it.
This is one of the best games ever made. It is made with love and designed with fun in mind. There is a lot that can be said of this game, but I would implore you all to simply play it and let it treat you right. Even if you haven't played a character action game, just play it on the easiest difficulty and go nuts.
Why not five stars you may ask? The copy/pasting of areas out of control in this game. Though it's more hilarious pointing out reused assets than it is an egregious sin. The combat is so good that it doesn't even matter where you're fighting anyway.
My most recent playthrough was the PS4 version played on my PS5 and it was delightful. The load times from the PS3 era are almost nonexistent here and the upscale'd graphics were a treat.
Go play it. Do it. Fly yourself yo the moon and be gay among the stars. You won't regret it.
After having this game since release and never really beating it, I came back to this game as an adult to check it off my mental backlog for good. It was worth the initial hit of nostalgia, but ultimately was a slog to play through and finish.
The Battle Network era of Mega Man is pretty good aesthetically. The concept of having an AI partner you can use as an avatar to explore a physical internet space is a stellar Saturday Morning cartoon idea that I think the tv series & Battle Network games pulled off better than it's done here but still cool.
With that in mind, this game's 2D world exploration is underwhelming and wholly underutilized here. You'll spend the beginning portion of the game exploring medium-sized worlds sprinkled with hidden collectibles, with some collectibles requiring abilities obtained later to access, giving reason to do backtracking. Otherwise you're mostly progressing one direction to another without much platforming as there are no real platforming challenges in this game. A huge blemish for a Mega Man game like this.
At the midway point, the game gives up sometimes having levels at all, opting for hallway cutscenes that lead directly to a boss battle. In some areas, you feel really boxed in and unable to fight enemies in any meaningful capacity.
The lack of interesting traversal may have something to do with how somewhat stiff Megaman is to control in this game. His jump isn't very high and his slide move is hard to use as a dodge because it always feels like he comes up from the slide a little too early when dodging traps & wide attacks, leaving one prone to sustaining attacks.
Megaman isn't really equipped to handle enemies below his waist unless you happen to have an ability card that you can use, which often means waiting up to 60 seconds for your ability meter to recharge so you can refresh your abilities to deal with an otherwise minor nuisance.
The bosses of this game go one of two ways: 1) You will get steam rolled because you don't have the right ability cards and will have to learn obnoxious attack patterns that require more luck than skill to dodge to due to previously mentioned mobility issues or 2) You have the right ability cards to counter the boss and the fight is over within 15 seconds.
It is somewhat frantic and tense in a fun way fighting a boss and dodging everything it's throwing at you, waiting for your ability meter to recharge so you can re-up on precious abilities to turn the tide of the battle, but due to relatively small boss arenas and mobility issues -- these kinds of scenarios are more so irritating than fun.
I like the concept of this game, but it's execution was bad. The vibes of this iteration of Mega Man are so nice though, with it's contemporaries Phantasy Star Online and the .hack series painting futuristic tech as wonderful and mysteriously terrifying being right up my alley. Maybe check of the Battle Network games instead if you need a nostalgic hit of Mega Man from this era.
The Battle Network era of Mega Man is pretty good aesthetically. The concept of having an AI partner you can use as an avatar to explore a physical internet space is a stellar Saturday Morning cartoon idea that I think the tv series & Battle Network games pulled off better than it's done here but still cool.
With that in mind, this game's 2D world exploration is underwhelming and wholly underutilized here. You'll spend the beginning portion of the game exploring medium-sized worlds sprinkled with hidden collectibles, with some collectibles requiring abilities obtained later to access, giving reason to do backtracking. Otherwise you're mostly progressing one direction to another without much platforming as there are no real platforming challenges in this game. A huge blemish for a Mega Man game like this.
At the midway point, the game gives up sometimes having levels at all, opting for hallway cutscenes that lead directly to a boss battle. In some areas, you feel really boxed in and unable to fight enemies in any meaningful capacity.
The lack of interesting traversal may have something to do with how somewhat stiff Megaman is to control in this game. His jump isn't very high and his slide move is hard to use as a dodge because it always feels like he comes up from the slide a little too early when dodging traps & wide attacks, leaving one prone to sustaining attacks.
Megaman isn't really equipped to handle enemies below his waist unless you happen to have an ability card that you can use, which often means waiting up to 60 seconds for your ability meter to recharge so you can refresh your abilities to deal with an otherwise minor nuisance.
The bosses of this game go one of two ways: 1) You will get steam rolled because you don't have the right ability cards and will have to learn obnoxious attack patterns that require more luck than skill to dodge to due to previously mentioned mobility issues or 2) You have the right ability cards to counter the boss and the fight is over within 15 seconds.
It is somewhat frantic and tense in a fun way fighting a boss and dodging everything it's throwing at you, waiting for your ability meter to recharge so you can re-up on precious abilities to turn the tide of the battle, but due to relatively small boss arenas and mobility issues -- these kinds of scenarios are more so irritating than fun.
I like the concept of this game, but it's execution was bad. The vibes of this iteration of Mega Man are so nice though, with it's contemporaries Phantasy Star Online and the .hack series painting futuristic tech as wonderful and mysteriously terrifying being right up my alley. Maybe check of the Battle Network games instead if you need a nostalgic hit of Mega Man from this era.
2022
I love Bayonetta as a character, as a franchise, as a bastion of the talent and creativity of Platinum games. Having completed Bayonetta 3 within this past week, my lingering thoughts and feelings about my experience have led me to the conclusion: I hate this game.
First off, the action is GREAT. Bayonetta gets more movesets and weapon combinations than I've seen any one character have in a character action game. If you didn't like Astral Chain's combat then you're really not going to like Bayonetta 3's new Slave Dance mechanic where holding down the left trigger in open environments allows you to summon a demon to fight for you while Bayonetta dances and dodges attacks like the most coked up J-pop star in existence. It feels good and mostly looks good and it's all you could really want from a game like this.
Occasionally, you'll play as newcomer Viola. I think she is fine as a character; a clumsy punk rocker who is dumb as hell, but she has her moments. My problem with her is that she gets only one moveset that doesn't lend itself well to a lot of enemies and bosses she faces. Compared to Bayonetta, Viola is a gimmick and really could have used at least a second moveset.
Jeanne is playable as well, but only for 2D side-scrolling stealth sections that are not very well put together. Her sections feel like a PSP game that would have gotten a 6/10 in 2005 and turned an otherwise cool idea to break up the action and level traversal into needless filler.
Speaking of level traversal, each level of Bayo 3 is now a pseudo open-world full of hidden fights, collectibles and objectives that require use of all your abilities to collect everything. It's tedious and boring for the most part and serves to pad the gameplay out that much further. Though collecting certain items gives you a sneak preview for a new game. It's much easier and no less rewarding to just look up the teaser on Youtube.
The level design is lacking due to the limitations of the Nintendo Switch so much so that it's becoming a major problem for every big Nintendo release. Every environment feels relatively empty and simple. Most large boss fights take place in a different dimension where there's hardly any objects or textures to save the frame rate from spiraling.
Also the new enemies and villain sucks tremendously. They are bad in a way where their motivations are dumb and they look generic and they are not all that fun to fight. In a game series that embraced weird religious imagery and sorcery you'd think Platinum could come up with something better than seafoam green AI bots that look like Twilight Princess rejects, but they didn't.
No spoilers, but the single worst thing about this game is that the ending of an already weak and far-to-serious story -- and is an ending so fucking awful that i cannot believe it's real. If you have played this game, you know what I mean. It's the special kind of bad that I cannot think of a single game that sabotages itself more. According to the credits, Hideki Kamiya himself wrote this game and he really should not have. It is devastating how much this game's plot from start to finish sucks.
The sexy, zany character action icon had a rough time here. Many highs, with just as many lows. I do not feel compelled to go back and perfect every Verse on the hardest difficulty and find every collectible because I do not find any joy in any gameplay outside of combat. It's truly a bummer and I cannot recommend this game to anyone who has played previous Bayo or Platinum games because you will most surely feel it's not up to their standard in delivering exceptional video games.
First off, the action is GREAT. Bayonetta gets more movesets and weapon combinations than I've seen any one character have in a character action game. If you didn't like Astral Chain's combat then you're really not going to like Bayonetta 3's new Slave Dance mechanic where holding down the left trigger in open environments allows you to summon a demon to fight for you while Bayonetta dances and dodges attacks like the most coked up J-pop star in existence. It feels good and mostly looks good and it's all you could really want from a game like this.
Occasionally, you'll play as newcomer Viola. I think she is fine as a character; a clumsy punk rocker who is dumb as hell, but she has her moments. My problem with her is that she gets only one moveset that doesn't lend itself well to a lot of enemies and bosses she faces. Compared to Bayonetta, Viola is a gimmick and really could have used at least a second moveset.
Jeanne is playable as well, but only for 2D side-scrolling stealth sections that are not very well put together. Her sections feel like a PSP game that would have gotten a 6/10 in 2005 and turned an otherwise cool idea to break up the action and level traversal into needless filler.
Speaking of level traversal, each level of Bayo 3 is now a pseudo open-world full of hidden fights, collectibles and objectives that require use of all your abilities to collect everything. It's tedious and boring for the most part and serves to pad the gameplay out that much further. Though collecting certain items gives you a sneak preview for a new game. It's much easier and no less rewarding to just look up the teaser on Youtube.
The level design is lacking due to the limitations of the Nintendo Switch so much so that it's becoming a major problem for every big Nintendo release. Every environment feels relatively empty and simple. Most large boss fights take place in a different dimension where there's hardly any objects or textures to save the frame rate from spiraling.
Also the new enemies and villain sucks tremendously. They are bad in a way where their motivations are dumb and they look generic and they are not all that fun to fight. In a game series that embraced weird religious imagery and sorcery you'd think Platinum could come up with something better than seafoam green AI bots that look like Twilight Princess rejects, but they didn't.
No spoilers, but the single worst thing about this game is that the ending of an already weak and far-to-serious story -- and is an ending so fucking awful that i cannot believe it's real. If you have played this game, you know what I mean. It's the special kind of bad that I cannot think of a single game that sabotages itself more. According to the credits, Hideki Kamiya himself wrote this game and he really should not have. It is devastating how much this game's plot from start to finish sucks.
The sexy, zany character action icon had a rough time here. Many highs, with just as many lows. I do not feel compelled to go back and perfect every Verse on the hardest difficulty and find every collectible because I do not find any joy in any gameplay outside of combat. It's truly a bummer and I cannot recommend this game to anyone who has played previous Bayo or Platinum games because you will most surely feel it's not up to their standard in delivering exceptional video games.