Psychonauts 2:

Developing videogames takes much more effort, time and resources than it ever did; keeping up with modern graphics, sound design, established trends and alike is getting harder and harder for a lot of smaller scale studios. This is why we have a lot of indies nowadays, breaking those traditions AAA games are setting each year with their ultra realistic graphics, trying to be their own thing. Another thing is that we see much less AA games nowadays because back then AA games were pretty
much alternative games to AAA titles, having less budgets and less people working on them but with similar aim and mostly with more creative freedom. Psychonauts 2 was one of those AA games that spent whole lot time in the oven because of the rapid growing industry and after countless doublefine updates, varying release dates , the Microsoft acquisition; I can safely say the wait was worth it for this AAA game.

As a fan of the first Psychonauts, I have to say I both had a lot of hopes and worries for this game, the potential for a game about exploring people's minds is massive and if we're talking about the presentation just wow... This game is beautiful, from the animations to the surreal visuals to the UI everything is delightful. The world Psychonauts 2 takes place in is believable and highly immersive with a lot of details like the various interactions you can participate in with your abilities and just talking with people in general. It's easy to get lost in it's world and do a bunch of side activities in the packed hubworld and suffice to say I loved exploring, platforming all over the place in it's quirky and sometimes surreal hubworld and various minds thanks to incredible presentation and great level design.

The biggest thing I and other people were looking forward to were easily the minds / levels of the game. The various and distinct themes, gameplay mechanics and visuals they can pull of with a more modern Psychonauts game was straight up hype and I'd have loved to say I adore it but I think I kinda feel mixed on it, well not entirely. Okay let me preface it like this: The original Psychonauts had clunky platforming mechanics and so this led the team to change the gameplay a lot with each mind, you had your fully action based mind Lungfishopolis, puzzle based mind Milkman's Conspiracy, exploration based mind Waterloo, platforming based mind Milla's Party and even bosses were like this. In Psychonauts 2 however since we have a much better feeling gameplay on our hands most minds are just a mix of puzzle/platforming/action and some exploration rather than being their own thing gameplay wise and so this led to mind's proggression feeling samey and made them less distinct,(I won't refer to minds with their name to avoid spoilers so it's safe to read the whole review) in one mind you need to get 4 coins so you play 4 level gauntlets, in one mind you need to get 3 seeds so you play 3 level gauntlets, in one mind you need to get 2 books so you play 2 level gauntlets and so on. Of course it isn't all like this for example the seeds one has more exploration, each one offers new mechanics and they have their own visuals and presentation so that's why I have to say I still like them a lot but the minds in the original felt more distinct both in a good and in a bad way, it felt like they played it safe here to avoid pacing issues and I am not the biggest fan of that but it's a thing I can get behind since these minds still offered a lot of narrative/mechanical things not many 3D platformers or games of this scale offer these days.

If there was one thing Psychonauts 2 surprised me with, it would be the game's story. It's about the Psychic Six and the origin of Psychonauts so we learn about how they've formed the Psychonauts, what they've dealt with and such, it's also about Raz and him getting new friends, the story is engaging with a really fun cast of characters from Raz's family to his new Intern friends to Psychic Six. The story provides a lot of twists and turns that I mostly didn't expect and adored for what they were. This game felt personal in many ways with a lot of emotinal beats while maintaining it's quirky nature, I have to say though I might prefer the writing in the original, it's still great here however. It also has themes of memory implanting, killing the past and identity disorder just saying ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

Although I wished levels felt more distinct gameplay wise Psychonauts 2 is still an amazing journey from creative level design, game mechanics to the incredible presentation and charm to the surprising and engaging narrative, I loved every bit of this journey and I don't think I'll forget this game anytime soon. I highly recommend checking out both Psychonauts games they're some of the most unique takes on 3D platformers that are inspiring and just very enjoyable in general.

Captain☆Rainbow:

I loved what Chibi-Robo offered even though I had some serious flaws with it and I definitely wanted to check Skip's next big console game being Captain☆Rainbow. It looked just like Chibi-Robo but with an amazing premise.

The premise of the game is that Nick's TV Show Captain☆Rainbow got unpopular and so he found his way to Mimin Island where obscure, unkown characters from Nintendo's past lives and wants their wish to be granted.

My favorite thing about the game are characters and how lively Mimin Island is. For example Devil from Devil World on NES wants be evil and you help him just so you can get the items he steals. His dialogue is beyond top notch and the interactions, running animation is so well done. In one of his wishes he wants you to give him 2 pies and so you make Hikari from Shin Osigami on NES make 2 pies and when you give it to Devil he goes to Lip from Panel de Pon and Hikari and throw the pies in their face. Then at night when you talk to him. He tells you how he kind of regrets what he did and might apologize later. He is also funny as hell. Most characters are wacky as hell.

As I've mentioned the world is very lively too, for example Famicom Soldiers from Advance Wars wants to be the world's best Voleyball players. And you only can help them at day. So at night when you check them they are chatting and such. But you notice that there is a Crazy Tracy Poster who is from Link's Awakening and is the woman that everybody loves in the island. You see one of the soldiers secretly go to her castle at night sometimes. There is also Mappo who is from Giftpia, Skip Ltd.'s first game and Mappo is the police of the island and he detecs different things depending on who you help. Such as he noting down if Devil is doing something evil at night while you are helping him. Or Mappo's interactions with Birdo which is very funny where Mappo put Birdo in prison. And Birdo calls every bad word to Mappo and Mappo doesn't give a shit unless you make him to. This game feels so lively that I couldn't help but feel nostalgic the moment game finished. The ending may tear you apart if you cared about the game as much as I did.

Gameplay is simple and works for what kind of game it is. Since you help a lot of cool characters you are constantly doing new mini-games and interactions with them. You help Little Mac from Punch Out! who became fat train in a rhythm game style mini-game and train him just enough so he doesn't get too slim or fat. In one mini-game you help Ossan from Golf on NES to find his club. You see that Devil took it and you do his evil jobs to get it and play a golfing mini-game to train him to be the best golf player in the world.

Aside from character focused mini-games there is the main gameplay where you control Nick and can transform to Captain☆Rainbow. You explore the whole town and help others. There are side things to do such as fishing and catching bugs to fill the encyclopedia. You can explore the world to gain new abilites that will lead you to new places and find different shaped rocks that will tell you more about the Island and Mimins living it that are the reasons Nick is able to grant wishes. Yes there is a lore behind it, I love this place. Nick also collects sparklies to gain access to the wish star. When he collects 20 of them which can be collected by doing what residents want or just exploring. You choose the resident you gained trust in by making what they want and send them off the island in a cool way while fighting with enemies.

I also love the detail, charm and effort put into this game. Whenever you send somebody off the island you go to this secret beach to see that residents sent you letters and music which thanks you and makes you strangely emotional that you can display in your own Trailer House which is so cool and gained when you send 3 residents from the Island. I also recommend not sending more than 3 residents because the interactions between them are so so unique and charming. The artstyle is unlike anything having different shapes and an artstyle that probably will never get old. Not to mention the amazing OST that resembles the atmosphere you are in so well and has a lot of variety.

As much as I love this game and it is one of my favorite games, there is a big issue. See, this game is a Japanese only title and there is a fan translation for it with a patch thanks to Markass. But this translation is hit and miss. Sometimes it captures the humour perfectly and very well done. Sometimes it just doesnt make sense and sometimes it says " You can open this" as "You can not open this". Some of these werent a big issue and you mostly understood what it meant but my biggest issue with it is that its not completed. Only 90 percent of it is in English and Japanese parts may come as annoying at times. I sometimes searched what it meant cus I was curious.

Overall I love this game, might be one of the most charming and unique games I've ever played, I loved how lively it felt and It felt like I was living there and this game became a "part" of my life while I was playing it. I fully recommend it to you but keep in mind that the fan translation isn't the best.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury:

I've never played 3D World before and from an outsider's perspective the game looked very fun but at the same time I felt like it didn't have anything big going for it. People always brought up co-op and level design so I was thrilled to check it out, On top of that Bowser's Fury seemed like a very unique addition. This review will be in 2 sections one for 3D World and one for Bowser's Fury.

1️⃣3D WORLD:

3D World is a very fun platforming game that introduces new ideas mostly every level with unlimited fun. There are a lot of well designed levels with collectibles to collect and places to explore. I've also played the game 2 players online and while it was very fun, I very much think the game isn't designed for multiplayer but it still adds up to the experience just because its fun to try to get THE CROWN!

While the game has a lot of ideas I do think bigger levels may have been a better idea. For example the sand level with moving platforms coupled with the Plessie sand level would've made the level much more memorable and special, you would go from a new mechanic in a platforming section to a fun Plessie sliding level to end the level on a high fun note. Also please get rid of sidescroller levels!

3D World is a great game and its one of the most polished 3D Platformers out there, I love it and I would recommend it. It may not be a big thing or a must play but its definitely pure fun.

★★★★☆

2️⃣BOWSER'S FURY:

My relationship with this game is very weird. On one hand I can't help but love the idea but on the other hand I do think the curiosity element in the game that is used for open world games to surprise isn't exactly a big part of the game or rather wasn't as present as I wanted it to be.

In Bowser's Fury you are collecting Cat Shines to beat Fury Bowser and the more you beat Bowser the more of the open world opens with new islands that are basically 3D World Levels with challenges and collectibles, there are also islands that are just cool little challenges.There is also plessie for you to travel around the island and do races and challenges with it too. The concept is great even though I'd have prefered big kingdoms with gates open to them with a lot of personality and exploration but let's not forget this is a side game.

I think the game is great but I have an issue that will be hard to explain but here I go:
Remember when I said the game lacks the curiosity element I was mentioning for you to get surprised while exploring a giant big world.So yeah, I think the game has a lot of repetitive shines in its core. Now I know you may be saying Odyssey does the same and its one of my favorites hell top 3 favorites. So I will try to make a comparison. I hesitated doing a writing only review because I really want to show videos and footage to make you understand what I am saying.

Okay so Odyssey has a lot of ground pound moons for example and people love to complain about these types of moons in particular. In my opinion ground pound moons are very fun, its more of a reward for exploration and curiosity you had with something rather than a filler. Throughout the game groundpound moons are getting harder and harder to find, from a shining spot in Sand Kingdom to Lost Kingdom's butterflies are here gathered up with a butterfly image on that platform you've found to Metro Kingdom's rumble cafe moon. That type of moon not only changes how its done but also still makes you feel very happy for the observation and reward you got, the moons are the main reward for the exploration you've been doing after all and player always encounters a moment that makes them proud and surprised for their exploration. Not only that but it also fakes some of the shining spots.

While I would like to give more examples just like this moon types and praise Odyssey more but lets focus on Bowser's Fury. So every island is like a 3D World level rather than a Odyssey level, it makes sense since the game is a side game and a cool addition. But why does every island have 5 shines. And most of the island has its "cat shine pieces", "find the key", "blue coin bustle!", "blast the fury blocks!" shines. Some of them are cool ideas like blue coin bustle but putting it to most islands wasn't that good of an idea considering you are replaying the level , oh wait no key shines makes you play litterally again just to keep the key safe so you play the same damn level thrice.These doesn't change the mechanics of the level, level design of the level and only changes the play style. Again I don't think key shines or blue coin bustle shines are a bad idea I just think putting it to most islands takes the surprise elements, the parts where I was surprised were litterally just playing the island levels and probably the final boss rather than having very cool easter eggs, sense of wonder.You know what I didn't even mention the small islands that might just be a get in the cloud again ones. The same issue I had with Sunshine having it's "red coin shine!", "catch the dark mario shine!". But even worse because unlike sunshine this is a full on open world that executed the idea like this. I hope I actually made sense with this review, I also don't want this to sound like a rant cus I liked this game, I just didn't feel like it executed what it wanted or rather what I wanted well.

Bowser's Fury still is a very good game, the levels are well built, exploring with Plessie was a brilliant idea and those Fury Bowser bosses were so much fun, using the ideas on 3D World was a cool idea too, I just couldn't help but wish it was more with surprise elements and curiosity driven gameplay simillar to Odyssey with easter egg like shines.

★★★✫☆

Overall the package is amazing and contains great platforming games and experiences.

★★★★✫

Okaeri! Chibi-Robo! Happy Richie Oosouji ( Chibi-Robo: Clean Sweep ) :

Before I start, I want to mention that you should check my first chibi-robo review because I tell the basics of a chibi-robo game there and I will talk mostly about how this game improves on it and what it adds.

There are so many franchises that deserved much better and if I had to choose my favorite it would be Chibi-Robo. The game's are beyond unique experiences with a lot of character, exploration and an incredible amount of detail and charm.

Clean Sweep as fans call it is a direct sequel to the original but now on DS and it geniunly fixes most of the issues of Plug into Adventure and even expands some characters from the original like Jenny the daughter from the first game became a mom and bought us because knew about our duty on the first game, the rangers from the first game are also back and they are still amazing here. The setting is now about a poor family so now you try to make and gain money and they see you as a family member rather than a robot that helps in the first game which is such a unique setting for the game, you take part in savings tournaments to get new furnitures and items for the house and family, you help cook the dinner and help washing the dishes and such. The story takes a strange turn in the later game and thats the place where you know the story is gonna be sweet and heartwarming just like the first game.

The gameplay improved soo sooo much more, you finally don't take fall damage anymore and you can now choose from 5 options on how long you want to make the day last instead of 3 which is more flexible and a welcome change. The proggression in the story isn't a slog and you don't get lost easily like in the first game because of savings tournaments being always there, better direction and that was my biggest problem with the first game. The new cleaning mechanic is very fun and the whole making your cord longer so you throw it and reach to the bigger areas mechanic is also very fun and a fresh way to traverse the area. The upgrades, new chips are cool and still a good way to keep you doing more things. The items and costumes chibi-robo uses are much better and more useful than the first game. Watts and vehicles from Park Patrol are a great change it adds a little strategy to the game and finally vehicles are an amazing way to travel around the house that the original game lacked. You also now use the phone to buy stuff which is a cool change for people that came from the original because its a surprise for everyone and there are a lot of things like that in the game.

Lastly the characters and charm is still amazing. The new toys are great, Ketchup, Iberico, Habanero are now amongst my favorites in the franchise and the family members are great too, Lucky is a good dog and an older boy Keith is also a good one of course along with Jenny who is such a sweet character and another character I don't want to spoil.

You really need to play Chibi-Robo: Clean Sweep, its a fun time, playing it when you are chilling and vibing was so much fun when you just wanted to explore and collect, the charm is incredible and I couldn't recommend the game enough; belive me the translation is so well done, such an underrated gem on DS.

Chibi-Robo: Plug Into Adventure:

If there was one Gamecube title I wanted to try the most it was definitely Chibi-Robo. The game looked weird and unique, it was just up my alley. Recently I discovered Lov-de-lic legacy titles, community so it was the best time to give the game a shot and it didn't dissapoint.

The game's charm is incredible, every type of floor you walk on has a different sound, when its day you see the dog Tao walk to the kitchen and when its night you see the footprints of Tao and clean them, every character you talk to are very unique and fun to see what they are aiming in life. The story is so emotional for a game like this but it works a lot in its favor. Its genious because they aimed at the theme of "divorce" and since you are a robot that work for the house seeing all of them and changing people's choices are so touching. Incredible charm as I've said.

The case of gameplay is weird there is a day and night cycle you get to do different things at night and day it might sound tedious but its fun since you can buy times to make them longer though I would've lied if I said it never annoyed me. Main collectibles are happy points and moolah(coins). Happy points gets you more battery life and you can get them from well making people, toys happy. Coins gives you upgrades and items you can buy. You can get them from cleaning floors, collecting garbage and such but those are distractions and extras while you don't know what else to do and they work great though I wish they did a bit more with them.

The main story quests are mostly mixed, sometimes you are training with the egg soldiers and climbing up a huge tower solving puzzles, sometimes its just get this item from that corner of the house and bring it back. There are a lot of fun and frustrating missions and it may bother some people more than others, personally it was okay at first but it gets on your nerves after a while.

It's one of the most charming games I've ever played and seen, it has a lot to offer and its unlike anything you have ever played but it can also have frustrating moments. I would wholeheartedly recommend the game. If you think it looks unique and fun, go for it you will have a blast with it and the experience will stay with you. It's one of the best experiences ever, if only the gameplay was a bit better or was engaging enough you to play more but you can easily not finish the game because you got lost.

moon:

Videogames can not only be impactful, fun and emotional but also inspirational. Games like moon makes me want to create something unique wheter it's a little videogame or even just a video.

Moon is very hard to decribe, but it essentially is an anti-rpg which you live in this amazing little JRPG town to gain love by talking to people or catching spirits simillar to bugsnax, discover and wander around it. There is a day and night cycle and there are 7 days from echoesday to the coinsday you need to adapt to it's nature, everybody has their own routine in this town which makes it lively and magical. This might make the game sound tedious but it actually motivates you to check in on some places you've been to while also having a lot of more ways to gain love or just interact with the world.

Since the whole game is taking place in a town, there are a lot and I mean a lot of things to flesh this place out and make it feel all the more special and lively, so many characters have their backstories and motivations for them to live. For example you go to an American house one time and one guy there is a comic writer but he doesn't know what to write about and searches for an inspiration, so there is this one time where The Hero who is the person that kills "enemies" to get exp to beat the "final boss" comes around and you fight him with a burning costume and he gets the inspiration there, then several days later you come back to his house and you can read the comic you inspired. This isn't even close to being some of the best moments of this game but these little things make this town and the game stand out amongst so many other places in videogames, the game just feels very magical and I can't help but love it for that.

I also want to touch on some other things that makes the game unique, for example there aren't any music playing in most areas of the game only environmental sounds. So you have your "Moon Disc" with you which you can get and buy discs for to play music on your own, and these songs are sooo good I can't stress this enough. Apparently the music were composed by over 30 independent musicians which makes sense because there is a huge diversity in this soundtrack which also makes sense because there is so many strange and different places in this town. Your Moon Disc not only is amazing because you control it and you have your own program and such but it can also affect people and environment in the world. For example this one time I was just wandering around the town with a music I thought was fitting for the place then I talked to this woman and she reacted to the music and made me gain love, again this just makes the game feel so magical, I've never been immersed this much in a game's world.

A game that has been recently localized after 23 years was worth the wait, I can't thank Onion Games and people who helped to make this come true enough. Please experience moon, its just 19 dollars on the switch eshop and you don't want to miss out on one of the most magical, unique experiences of all time.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle:

In many ways No More Heroes 2 is a huge middle finger to the first game but it's also pretty fun at times.

No More Heroes didn't really need a sequel, it was a story that ended well and didn't need to come back in any form but because of it's popularity a weird sequel came out in 2010 and it just throws one of the biggest parts to the first game's story to the garbage bin because if UAA doesn't come back technically NMH2 can't happen which is just dumb to start the game with in the first place. The overall story here is about revenge and while it has cool moments I wasn't as engaged with it as I was with NMH1. The characters and bosses in NMH2 were more over the top and wacky than the first game which surpsingly made them less memorable for me, NMH1's bosses felt real and more like a human which was important to the first game's story and their personalities and writing was excellent. NMH2's bosses are mostly cool when it comes to gameplay but the personality and writing is not as good as NMH1.

Since it wants to tell a story about how revenge is unnecessary and not worth what you're going through, the gameplay gets incredibly tedious and the level design is one of the worst I've seen. Most of the levels are litterally full of enemy spams, you think you killed them all and then they come back from a car, there aren't any interesting mechanics too. For example there is a stealth level and I actullay got caught very early on and it just became another level with full of enemy spam and it still was faster than the stealth section itself and don't even get me started on the Shinobu levels... Aside from the level design they also removed the ability of controlling the camera for some reason. NMH2 also removes the open world and I think I kind of liked NMH1's open world even though it took a lot of the game's time it was pretty cool, I would've liked it back tbh but I don't think NMH2 not having a open world is a huge issue.

The combat itself is mostly fun just like the first game, they added a new tiger ability and you now can attack by swinging your wiimote while running which is pretty useful and fun but they removed the time slowing dodge which I liked a lot. The combat itself is good but enemies are pretty annoying, they keep making you fall and it just gets incredibly tedious coupled up with the terrible level design overall. Even though I may sound like I didn't like the gameplay, I actually enoyed most of the bosses and there are 15 of them, most of them have their own unique abilities and they have pretty fun fights overall.

Other than boss fights, I found the soundtrack incredible. From the amazing Philistine to the killer Kill or Be Killed the soundtrack was hella memorable. I thought the interactions between Sylvia and Travis was better here and I am glad Travis is mostly the guy I know from No More Heroes 1, he is still one of the best protagonists in a videogame.

Overall it's an unnecessary sequel with a lot of flaws but I kind of recommend the game if you loved the first No More Heroes because it can geniunly get very fun and has some cool moments but sadly it rarely gets very fun and has cool moments, you can easily understand that this game wasn't really directed by Suda himself.

GOD HAND:

Clover Studio ended STRONG with God Hand's releas- ...alright joking here's the actual introduction:

Difficulty in videogames is a topic I rarely talk about, for me a game being piss easy like Super Mario Odyssey doesn't really matter since it has a lot of challenging parts later on and it has a very in depth movement and level design so much so that I replayed it over 15 times. But I also love straight up hard games like Sekiro where if you don't master the game you simply can't beat it and God Hand is an incredible example of that.

The combat and the overall gameplay of God Hand is breathtaking, its essentially a 3D Beat 'em up game with a unique difficulty system and a satisfying combat with lot of in depth customization which has tank controls and they are actually great !!!! First of all you have your own techniques which are well tecniques/moves you use while fighting enemies and there are over 110 of them you can buy and gain in the game, you'll want to change them constantly since some are significantly better or more useful depending on the enemies and level design which is a great way to encourage the player to spend their money on these techniques. There is also the God Hand mechanic which is this game's Devil Trigger but way more complex. So there are roulettes you can buy which are the stronger moves you can perform thanks to your God Hand and there are a lot of stylish and complex ones, some do area damage some are long range but has low efficenty but they are harder to obtain in the game so you'll need to choose precisely and such which again encourages experimentation and I just love it. You can also permanently power yourself up just like in other action games, gaining more HP, more space to put techniques and such all around cool stuff.

Now since we covered the combat system let's actually talk about what makes God Hand one of a kind, the difficulty system. It goes like this:
The easier you beat people up without getting damage the more you level up which makes your enemies stronger and even gain newer moves but if you get a lot of damage your level will go down by 1. For example a level 1 enemy can beat you up with its normal moves cool, a level 2 enemy can group attack with other enemies and is also stronger, a level 3 enemy has moves you've never seen on level 2 and 1 and also makes more enemies spawn, a level die(4) enemy is the strongest and the most brutal form an enemy can get and OH BOYYY YOU DON'T WANNA TOUCH THESE. The catch is sure the game gets harder the better you do in combat but you'll also have more chance of health items/fruits dropping from vases and boxes which is a cool risk and reward system you'll appreciate and wonder why any other game I've played has never used this kind of system before its genius.

Of course the level and enemy design is a combat system's best friend and they are also very well done here. From simple but well used puzzles and obstacles to enemies that'll change their moves and test your skills without feeling unfair to side challenges, they really nailed this aspect; it always brings new ideas to the table while still being fun. In contrast to Devil May Cry 3 for example which I love by the way it has better level design, there aren't any backtracking and bring this item to there to open the door like fetch quests. Replaying DMC3 made me notice a lot of missions in that game had backtracking and I just liked how God Hand never got repetitive by it's level design.

Let's talk about bosses, we all love bosses they are some of the best parts of any videogame and in the case of God Hand they are 🤤🤤🤤 that good. They test your skills to your most; they are crazy, brutal, satisfying as hell to beat and fucking incredible. You might just have to fight a bug that can transform into a fly which holds 2 lightsabers and has a face that also acts like a mouth just saying, becareful if that ever happens. Bosses are also full and I mean FULL of personality, they are both memorable gameplay and personality wise and I couldn't have wanted something more, it just has the perfect balance.

Aside from the general combat and stages, you also have a cool hubworld like place to chill out in where you have your shop, casino, fighting ring, training area and you can even race chihuahuas (Stagivian tip that everybody knows so its not a Stagivian tip tip: always bet on Lucky Clover trust me you'll make as much money as Wario in the end). There are some challenges in the fighting ring and overall a cool place that I don't see in many other action games and games alike, it just adds a flavor to the already amazing game.

Story and characters really surprised me, there isn't a genius plot or whatever but characters are really really well written and the game is overall pretty hilarious, from the crazy Four Devas to other boss characters to the interactions between Gene and Olivia the game is just full of hilarious dialogue and storytelling. Gene is also an expressive and cool protagonist which is what I mostly am looking for in this kind of game.

God Hand is possibly the best action game I've ever played, from its tough but rewarding difficulty to its complex combat system and even other aspects like side activities and characters it delivers the perfect action game experience as far as I'm concerned, shoutouts to IGN for giving this shit game a 3/10 btw I highly agree they should've added the option to pet chihuahuas smh.

MadWorld:

PlatinumGames started strong with Shinji Mikami's Vanquish and Hideki Kamiya's Bayonetta but there was one more game called MadWorld most people glossed over however they didn't know about it's director, Shigenori Nishikawa and who were actually in charge of it, even though that was the case with MadWorld; it's a well crafted action game with unique elements that honestly surprised me with how fun and original it was.

The gameplay is simple you are thrown mostly into an open area and in there you need to kill people/enemies in the most stylish ways to get a lot of points so you can fight the bosses and reach the top of the rankings, huh where have I heard that one before? In every open area you are tasked to use the enviroment to it's fullest Dead Rising style but you also need to get a lot of combos to earn points easier so in order to do that for example you will grab a bamboo and stick it up someone's head then slam a barrel into their body and lastly throw the enemy to a plane turbine and there's your 37000 points sir. The more points you get the more things will happen to each area for example bloodbath challenges will open and they are various different well "challenges" for you to tackle to get a lot of points, in one of them you throw your enemies into a dart board with a spiked bat, in one of them you will shove your enemies into a barrels then fire those barrels to make bloody fireworks, these challenges are fun and keep they the pacing fresh.

Every Area has their own gadgets and bloodbath challenges to mess around with, some are themed after the same thing like an Asian Town but discovers some other parts of that same theme very well and all of them are pretty memorable but not all of them have the same quality, for example I didn't really enjoy the area for Shamans fight. (ehmm.. and the boss) Aside from open areas there are also 2 motorcycle levels which are mostly fun and a bit repetitive, while they may be repetitive they are pretty fast paced and don't appear much in the game so they don't really leave a bad taste overall.

Bosses in the game are mostly pretty fun, there are 13 of them and most of them are pretty distinct when it comes to their look. While they are pretty fun I wish they showed more personality, they don't really talk and when they do its just a single line all about beating our ass, they still manage to be memorable however with their incredibly stylish quick time events and ohh god with those amazing finishers. Lastly the camera can sometimes be a pain to control but I got used to it pretty quick. Overall the core gameplay of MadWorld is pretty unique it's more of a 3D Beat em up than a Hack and Slash for sure, and I prefer hack and slash more but man since most of Platinum's games are already hack and slashes this game stands out amongst them all.

Speaking of standing out and being unique the art style is gorgeous, it's so gorgeous in fact that even in my childhood I've played more than 100 Wii games but I only remembered 10-20 of them after I was done with them and even though I've played MadWorld for only couple of minutes at the time it was one of them because of it's original art style, the clash of black and white and blood's red, it's so well thought out; it's like a canvas for blood to show how cruel this game can get and I just love it a lot. The sound design and soundtrack in general also is a delight, it fits Madworld's "mad world" incredibly well, apparently the soundtrack were composed by several hip-hop indie bands and composers and it's surprising how well it turned out.

The overall presentation is top notch from the menu to it's comicbook like animations it's just as original as it gets. Characters and story overall is also great, Jack is a well done protagonist, story was engaging and offered cool moments and twists and man those commentators were the most hilarious thing ever, they comment differently depending on what you are doing in the most over the top way and they don't get repetitive at all because every boss and area has it's own lines for these motherfucking bad bitch commentators, thanks to them this game also has the funniest fucking credits sequence in a videogame. Okay I need to stop talking this game's language.

MadWorld in general was a delight to playthrough, some levels weren't as good as others and I wished bosses showed more personality but man this game is unique in almost every way and it's a ton of fun. I'm a whole lot glad I experienced this madness and I wholeheartedly recommend it if you have a Wii to boot up and play this game through.

Silent Hill 4: The Room:

I have a lot and I mean a lot to say about this one, it's mostly spoiler free and I didn't give some huge spoilers but beware if you wanna go in fully blind

After Finishing Silent Hill 3, the existence of 4 didn't make much sense. Silent Hill 3 was an amazing end to Silent Hill as a franchise and 4 didn't really need to happen, and originally this was the plan; the game was actually going to be it's own horror title but ended up becoming a Silent Hill game and while it doesn't have a lot of things present in a Silent Hill game (you litterally don't even go to Silent Hill) it's extremely experimental and unique and this is what makes it a horror game worth experiencing.

The gameplay at it's core is what makes this game unique, you are in your own apartment room in first person and here you can save, deploy items you've gathered and explore what this room has to offer. You can look at windows to see what's happenning outside since you are locked, you can look at your neighbour Eileen from a small hole and even look out of the locked door. Oddly enough this room felt like the core element of P.T. since the room has weird things to offer and the more you play the more other things appear, some things you couldn't use before can be used and new things might appear and change outside and this makes the game immersive and interesting but I still need to admit needing to come to this room to save your game can kind of get tedious but it personally didn't bother me that much since there aren't really any loading screens.

Of course aside from the first person room gameplay you also have the third person more Silent Hill-like gameplay with puzzles and a strange combat system which emphasizes on melee combat hence the amount of melee weapons in the game and the reason only 2 guns can be found. Now you can charge every melee weapon to do a stronger and longer attack and every weapon has their own qualities which I am glad still exists, there is also a dodge move which is nice but I don't think the combat feels as good as it does in Silent Hill 3 and it's not as fun to mess around with it either. As mixed as the combat can be I thought the puzzles were brilliant, sure most of them were simpler than the puzzles from the first 3 games but I love how it used the room and the ones that didn't use the room were great too.

I wanna briefly touch on the game's difficulty, you no longer have seperate difficulty options for puzzles and combat but they do change depending on the difficulty you choose which is a weird change. Aside from that I thought Silent Hill 4 was the toughest game in the franchise, for example now the resource managment is not only about using the items at the right time and right places to not run out of them but you can only have 10 items with you not including your weapon of choice which I first didn't like but the more I played the more I appreciated the system and thought it was a great way to challenge the player and it also puts more reason to coming back to the room since you can deploy your items in your room and the whole system is pretty well done, not the best maybe but I thought it was great.

Now Let's touch on the most controversial part of the gameplay being the second half of the game where you go back to every area you've been to and revisit them with the added new elements, puzzles, areas, story and as an escort mission. People often forget to realise how these areas we've been to had some things to them we didn't learn about and they weren't as fleshed out as the first 3 Silent Hill games, and since the 2nd half is all about revisiting those places I was both scared and thrilled to see if I could get what I wanted and I am glad I did. For example in your first visit to the Forest World you see a lot of red writings written on graves and several places and you can't read them in your first visit, in your second visit however you can read them thanks to Eileen's study on History and such and learn more about the story, every second visit also has bosses which weren't present the first time around. Also first to the series since you have Eileen with you and every area is an escort mission you can find weapons for her too which motivates exploration.

In the second half, the room also changes from a safe but lonely place to an incredibly dangerous place with hauntings surrounding the place and this was one of the scariest things ever, it's incredibly terrifying how your safe room is no longer the safe place you once had. Hauntings are also some of the scariest enemies in all of gaming, there are a lot of them and they are either hiding in for example the fridge or there looking at you coupled with the most uncomfortable noises thankfully you can get rid of them with the items you find on your second visit to every place which again motivates exploration.

The story seems to be the most beloved thing about the game and I have to agree, I loved how the more you played the game the more you understood the story behind Walter Sullivan and the storytelling was as great if not better than some parts of the first 3 Silent Hill's, I don't wanna go into too much detail but it's definitely a story only games can tell and that's all I want from a Silent Hill game. The atmosphere is still great but I felt 2 and 3 had better atmosphere but I loved the symbolism behind every "dream" world you went to resembling things about Walter. The monsters are some of the scariest ones yet, the first time I encountered a Twin Victim my heart pounded really hard. As much as I liked the monsters I thought the designs weren't as profound as the ones in the first 3 games but I might be wrong since this game didn't have a main monster like Pyramid Head or Valtiel but had Walter instead which is my favorite amongst those 3 but I can't really count him as a monster, I just didn't feel other existing monsters that much this time around.

One last thing I want to touch on is how the game handles being a sequel to Silent Hill 3, thankfully unlike No More Heroes 2 (which I touched on in my previous review) it doesn't ruin the story present in Silent Hill 3 and it mostly references Silent Hill and connects some parts we didn't know before rather than solely focusing on it, I loved the amount of references and the usage of it. Slight spoiler but James's father is in the game and he plays a cool role in the story, there are also lore pieces that further expand on the things we learnt from the first 3 games for example a magazine about Joseph was in Silent Hill 3 mentioning Ashfield and he is in this game, these little things were handled incredibly well.

In general Silent Hill 4 is an exceptionally unique and intriguing experience when it comes to horror and the classic symoblism the Silent Hill franchise is known for, it's pretty different compared to the first 3 games but I'd still easily recommend the game, just be aware that this game is different and I'm sure you'll at least have an interesting experience you won't easily come accross in this industry.

It's safe to say Silent Hill became one of my favorite franchises of all time.

Flower, Sun, and Rain:

Oftentimes, I like to mention how much I can tolerate a game's flaws if it can deliver the experience it really wants you to be a part of, these flaws mostly occur due to the fact that the game's narrative is trying something rather different and so the gameplay will mostly be unique but flawed while having the needed connection to it's narrative. One of the biggest examples of this is Flower, Sun, and Rain (FSR).

(HISTORY RECAP)
FSR came out back in 2001 for the PS2 for Japan as the second Kill The Past game, it wouldn't make much sense to release a somewhat direct sequel to The Silver Case in the west since it was also Japan only back in the day. Nowadays however it was inevitable for us to see ports and remakes of the original Kill The Past games after the success of No More Heroes in the west. Since these games were text based adventure games, DS seemed like the best platform for them with the added portability and the crazy new feature the console offered "the touch screen". And so the quirky, charming and problematic DS remake of FSR was born. They didn't release a remake of Silver Case for some reason even though Suda kept mentioning it, so yeah nobody understood the story it tried to tell back when it came out...

Flower, Sun, and Rain takes place in the LossPass and the Eleki Island and there is a huge mystery behind these places and to solve the mystery so called "searcher" Sumio Mondo was called by the FSR Hotel Staff Edo Macalister. Sumio is a weird dude, he has a puzzle-solving briefcase which he calls Catherine and refers to it as her partner, he also named his car Giggs. We the player and Sumio don't have any idea what's actually going on. On the first day, our room was revealed to be haunted, on one other day the huge hotel sign drops for no reason, there are quirky and weird characters like a 4th wall breaking son and his father to a VIP guest football fanatic who keeps making puzzles on his own for us to solve for no reason; this island is full of weirdness and mystery that is waiting to be explained later on.

Mondo's days in the hotel both end and start the same, almost like we are in a loop somehow. As the days go by we learn new details mostly connected to the Silver Case but the game also gets weirder than ever, the things I mentioned like wall breaking father and son is nothing compared to what happens in the late game, it feels like we learnt cool details but the game just keeps getting weirder where I was like "Okay Suda how tf will you make sense out of this?" and boy was I wrong, this game is like an acid trip with a finale that will caught you so offguard it's not even funny... The story has both a personal and a general story to tell just like most Suda games and I have to say Mondo might just be one of my favorite protagonists ever with how well he progresses throughout the game, his highly mysterious past personality and (spoiler alert) him actually being Kodai and trying to escape from what he have done isn't going to solve anything and returning back to the real world is the only choice (spoiler done). The mystery behind the island is shockingly well done with a lot of foreshadowing and connections to The Silver Case.

The presentation and the style overall is just as unique and blast as Suda's other games, the soundtrack in general is full of chill music that goes well with the atmosphere of the Island and also a lot of cool remixes thanks to Masafumi Takada and Akira Yamaoka, again not surprised coming from these 2 incredible composers. There aren't as many details I noticed(foreshadowing) but things like 4th wall breaking dialogues and the smaller references and connections between FSR and The Silver Case were well done and definitely showed the Suda magic. BUT and a big BUT the DS version of the game which is currently the only available version for English speakers is pretty much a demake, visuals look blander and Sumio's hands are spaghetti👌, the soundtrack is downgraded to fit into the DS hardware which is a shame. It still managed to show it's charm but I can only imagine how better the experience might have been on PS2 even though DS has some benefits like the touchscreen and portability.

One of the biggest things I hate in videogames is walking, I hate walking for a long time just to reach to the next story part and FSR will make you walk a lot like a lot, there is even a pedometer in the game to reward you for walking more with X-Scan upgrades, increasing your speed and even a run button you probably won't get because you'll be done with the game by the time you come just a bit close to getting it, the camera is also terrible, it makes the already tedious walking even more incomprehensible which was unexpected. Even though I kinda hated walking in the game, music and the atmosphere really helped making it easier to get used to, you mostly walk a lot in later chapters and not the earlier ones so thats something I guess and there is definitely a narrative reason behind it and it's tediousness in general but did they have to make them take longer in the DS version😐 so its kinda bad but not horrendous and I mean there is a really engaging narrative so I don't see people dropping the game that easily despite it's gameplay.

Other than walking you'll mostly talk to people sometimes in a very spesific order to progress which is kind of dumb, like you won't be able to go to a room you are supposed to if you haven't talked to an npc that tells you to go to the room you already knew you needed to go. The core gameplay however is solving puzzles, there are 2 types of puzzles: main story puzzles and the side Lost-Found puzzles which are much more tedious and timeconsuming than the story related puzzles and are useless. The gameplay is simple you have a guidebook which "for some reason" has every answer to these puzzles and you'll mostly look through that book to solve puzzles, this was kind of fun at first learning about the hotel and solving puzzles but the more I did these the more I got tired, they don't really change at all and all of them are numerical puzzles so you'll also come across a lot of math problems which I wasn't really a fan of either. This isn't as huge of a complaint since I vibed with the game in most areas but I felt like more could've been done here.

In the end we have a game with one of the best and most unique stories I've ever experienced and incredible writing coupled up with amazing presentation and charm and a gameplay that might feel tedious but will be worth it in the end. While the PS2 version is much better I still can't help but adore it, if you enjoyed The Silver Case this is a huge MUST PLAY, it's as weird and as unique a videogame gets, it's an experience you won't like to miss out on.

I- I- I want to give this game a 5 star rating. This game tells one of my favorite stories ever, the protagonist is my favorite character in fiction and despite DS version's limitations this game still manages to delivers the crazy mind bending, hard to digest storytelling I deeply adore and urge you to check out.