TheYeti
BACKER
1997
This game is the source of my love for Yoshi. I know it's unpopular but as a kid, I loved it.
This game is honestly a masterclass of storytelling. It's emotional, heartbreaking, and beautiful. Absolutely loved it. Fantastic even on a second play-through.
+ Beautiful story
+ Fantastic voice performances throughout
+ Lovely music
- Walk speed feels slow at the beginning but it ends up being a non-issue as the story gets moving
+ Beautiful story
+ Fantastic voice performances throughout
+ Lovely music
- Walk speed feels slow at the beginning but it ends up being a non-issue as the story gets moving
2021
A fun racing game that makes a really good first impression but quickly wears out its welcome.
Hot Wheels Unleashed feels like the perfect Hot Wheels game - you can collect a ton of exact replicas of Hot Wheels cars from your childhood and then take them to the courses that are made up of a bunch of orange track pieces that weave all around your basement. The driving feels surprisingly pretty good and executing a perfect drift feels great. But once the initial shock of "hey this is actually pretty fun!" wears off, the flaws become apparent pretty quickly.
While the tracks built around different environments like your basement, a skatepark, a construction site, etc. are kind of neat, it's hard to really enjoy them. The game doesn't do much with camera tricks or anything to make you feel small and you're racing through these levels so fast I don't usually notice I'm racing under a couch or driving around a kitchen sink until I crash or flip off the track. And if you’re not noticing those big background set pieces, there’s not a lot that sets one orange track apart from another orange track making the levels all feel kind of same-y and boring. The actual progression loop is built around loot boxes - loot boxes that have no problem giving you duplicates of cars you already have. Luckily, you can’t buy said loot boxes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the random car drops suck.
While the core gameplay and the idea of racing around your living room is fun, that childhood joy doesn’t last more than a couple races. Every aspect of the game feels like it’s intent on being an arcade racer but it never really hits that casual, light-hearted fun that other arcade racers have.
+ Great collection of fun Hot Wheels cars
+ It’s fun to race through tracks set up around a basement
+ Good selection of player-made content
- Loot boxes as primary form of unlocking cars
- Tracks all feel pretty samey and the environments aren’t noticeable
- Very unforgiving races
- Wonky physics
- Boring campaign
- Repetitive generic soundtrack
Hot Wheels Unleashed feels like the perfect Hot Wheels game - you can collect a ton of exact replicas of Hot Wheels cars from your childhood and then take them to the courses that are made up of a bunch of orange track pieces that weave all around your basement. The driving feels surprisingly pretty good and executing a perfect drift feels great. But once the initial shock of "hey this is actually pretty fun!" wears off, the flaws become apparent pretty quickly.
While the tracks built around different environments like your basement, a skatepark, a construction site, etc. are kind of neat, it's hard to really enjoy them. The game doesn't do much with camera tricks or anything to make you feel small and you're racing through these levels so fast I don't usually notice I'm racing under a couch or driving around a kitchen sink until I crash or flip off the track. And if you’re not noticing those big background set pieces, there’s not a lot that sets one orange track apart from another orange track making the levels all feel kind of same-y and boring. The actual progression loop is built around loot boxes - loot boxes that have no problem giving you duplicates of cars you already have. Luckily, you can’t buy said loot boxes, but that doesn’t change the fact that the random car drops suck.
While the core gameplay and the idea of racing around your living room is fun, that childhood joy doesn’t last more than a couple races. Every aspect of the game feels like it’s intent on being an arcade racer but it never really hits that casual, light-hearted fun that other arcade racers have.
+ Great collection of fun Hot Wheels cars
+ It’s fun to race through tracks set up around a basement
+ Good selection of player-made content
- Loot boxes as primary form of unlocking cars
- Tracks all feel pretty samey and the environments aren’t noticeable
- Very unforgiving races
- Wonky physics
- Boring campaign
- Repetitive generic soundtrack
I had skipped Wind Waker when it came out, so Twilight Princess was the first Zelda game I played since Majora's Mask and man what a fantastic way to return to that world. The dungeons, tools, aesthetic, soundtrack hit so damn hard, and I even enjoyed Wolf Link and the Wii motion controls. I loved this game so much that it became the first Zelda game that I actually 100%'d on my first playthrough - every heart piece, every poe, every bug. Twilight Princess rules.
1997
It is a crime that we never got another Diddy Kong Racing. The idea that you could choose your vehicle and every track could theoretically be completed with each of the 3 vehicles was dope. Plus boss battles in a racing game!
Man this game ruled.
Man this game ruled.
2014
A flawless game that balances difficulty with a satisfying challenge so perfectly. Just as I was on the verge of frustration, I would overcome the challenge and feel the satisfaction of victory every time.
What if Pokemon Snap wasn't on rails and was more charming
This game is the exact right amount of wholesome, delightful fun that really cheered me up during a bummer of a week. Skipping around the island with Alba as she took photos of animals, cleaned up trash, fixed bird houses, etc. was a joy.
This game teases the idea of what New Pokemon Snap could've been like if it weren't on rails. And that is a game I wish we got.
+ Delightful, charming, wholesome
+ Satisfying to find and check off all the animals
+ Extremely cute animations and style
+ Relaxing
- Sometimes some of the animals or leftover checklist items were hard to find
This game is the exact right amount of wholesome, delightful fun that really cheered me up during a bummer of a week. Skipping around the island with Alba as she took photos of animals, cleaned up trash, fixed bird houses, etc. was a joy.
This game teases the idea of what New Pokemon Snap could've been like if it weren't on rails. And that is a game I wish we got.
+ Delightful, charming, wholesome
+ Satisfying to find and check off all the animals
+ Extremely cute animations and style
+ Relaxing
- Sometimes some of the animals or leftover checklist items were hard to find
A brilliant game about choice that I could write a thousand words about but I wouldn't want anyone who hasn't played the game to read any of it. It's one of the funniest and genuinely most clever games I've played in ages and I think you should go into it knowing as little about it as possible.
+ Brilliant, clever, hilarious
+ A game I wanted to play and replay to see as much of as possible
- The open-ended nature of the game means you may see some content "too soon"
+ Brilliant, clever, hilarious
+ A game I wanted to play and replay to see as much of as possible
- The open-ended nature of the game means you may see some content "too soon"
2013
Initially, 3D World feels like a step back from the extremely creative and fantastical Mario Galaxy. SM 3D World reigns it in with more contained, straightforward levels. However I'd argue that that constraint helps to focus the game into a truly perfect 3D platformer, beginning to end. (Even though the final challenge level is deranged)
2010
I couldn't quite figure out why Super Mario Galaxy 2 doesn't stick out as fondly or as solidly in my brain the way the first Galaxy does. On paper, it feels like it should be better. It's the first direct sequel Nintendo has ever done for a 3D Mario and it improves upon many things from the first Galaxy. Yet despite the improvements, it still doesn't have the same charm or joy that the first game has and ultimately ends up feeling more like DLC that they made into a standalone game.
That said, it's still a really solid 3D Mario that feels great to play and has some fun levels, fantastic visual design, another banging soundtrack, and of course the best feature of all - my beautiful boy, Yoshi.
That said, it's still a really solid 3D Mario that feels great to play and has some fun levels, fantastic visual design, another banging soundtrack, and of course the best feature of all - my beautiful boy, Yoshi.
1997
This arcade format for games doesn't really work for me now - I need something to work toward. But as a kid, I was happy playing and replaying Star Fox over and over again just to find all the secrets and beat Andross as many times as I could. I freaking loved Star Fox and 75% of the crew. Not Falco. Falco's a dick.
2017
A fantastic Metroidvania that emphasizes exploration over combat, sometimes to its detriment.
Most Metroidvanias have a pretty set path for how you have to go about exploring, and while the map in SteamWorld Dig 2 is set, how you explore and get where you need to go is partially up to you as you dig your own routes around the world. The problem with that, is if you get a little overzealous with your digging, you might accidentally dig yourself into a difficult spot to jump out of.
The loop of digging deeper, mining ore, returning to town to sell your ore, and upgrading your character is a fun loop. My only complaint is that the loop is painfully short at the beginning of the game. Rather than have to return to the surface because your bag is full, 80% of the time my limiting factor was my lantern going dark so I'd have to climb all the way back to town to refill it. Jumping, climbing walls, and running back and forth from town to the bottom of the mine is pretty dang tedious early in the game. Thankfully, as you progress and upgrade your character, you unlock a lot of fantastic mobility options and player upgrades that make your trips far less frequent and much quicker when they do happen. Your main resources for upgrading your character are gems to purchase better versions of your tools, and cogs to unlock specific skills or abilities for said tools. It's an extremely rewarding system that does a good job of making every upgrade feel worthwhile.
Combat isn't really a thing in the game. There are a handful of enemies scattered around the world, but those mainly exist as obstacles for your mining. The problem with that, is because combat has been so deemphasized, that the combat itself is pretty weak. You've got your pickaxe with extremely limited range or a small amount of bombs; and neither of those options feel particularly good or fun.
Overall, after playing a lot of Metroidvanias that are so combat-focused, I really enjoyed just exploring, digging, and solving puzzles, as I worked toward upgrading my character to becoming a mining power-house.
+ Fantastic exploration-focused gameplay loop
+ Rewarding upgrade system
+ Great mid-to-late game traversal options
+ Excellent puzzles and platforming challenges
- Early game exploration limitations can be annoying
- Combat is not fun
Most Metroidvanias have a pretty set path for how you have to go about exploring, and while the map in SteamWorld Dig 2 is set, how you explore and get where you need to go is partially up to you as you dig your own routes around the world. The problem with that, is if you get a little overzealous with your digging, you might accidentally dig yourself into a difficult spot to jump out of.
The loop of digging deeper, mining ore, returning to town to sell your ore, and upgrading your character is a fun loop. My only complaint is that the loop is painfully short at the beginning of the game. Rather than have to return to the surface because your bag is full, 80% of the time my limiting factor was my lantern going dark so I'd have to climb all the way back to town to refill it. Jumping, climbing walls, and running back and forth from town to the bottom of the mine is pretty dang tedious early in the game. Thankfully, as you progress and upgrade your character, you unlock a lot of fantastic mobility options and player upgrades that make your trips far less frequent and much quicker when they do happen. Your main resources for upgrading your character are gems to purchase better versions of your tools, and cogs to unlock specific skills or abilities for said tools. It's an extremely rewarding system that does a good job of making every upgrade feel worthwhile.
Combat isn't really a thing in the game. There are a handful of enemies scattered around the world, but those mainly exist as obstacles for your mining. The problem with that, is because combat has been so deemphasized, that the combat itself is pretty weak. You've got your pickaxe with extremely limited range or a small amount of bombs; and neither of those options feel particularly good or fun.
Overall, after playing a lot of Metroidvanias that are so combat-focused, I really enjoyed just exploring, digging, and solving puzzles, as I worked toward upgrading my character to becoming a mining power-house.
+ Fantastic exploration-focused gameplay loop
+ Rewarding upgrade system
+ Great mid-to-late game traversal options
+ Excellent puzzles and platforming challenges
- Early game exploration limitations can be annoying
- Combat is not fun
What an absolutely delightful end to the trilogy. What a fun, silly little game. A joy. Some fun new mechanics, a great story, some good jokes and commentary. Great stuff.
A spectacular game that helped define a genre for decades to come but maybe felt more perfect in 1997 than it does in 2023.
When playing an old game for the first time, I never know if I should try to judge it based on how it would be to play it the year it was released, or how it is to play it now. I'm sure this game was a mind-blowing masterpiece in 1997, and honestly it's truly remarkable what it does given when it came out, but at the end of the day, I am playing this game in 2023... and in 2023, this game has some flaws that hold it back from perfection.
After years of playing Metroidvania games, it's incredibly cool to go back to the roots of one of my favorite genres and see the origins of so many of my favorite mechanics and gameplay loops. I think one of the things that impresses me the most with Symphony of the Night is how good it feels to play. Going back and playing old games 20-30 years after their release can be a gamble but SOTN feels about as good as any modern game in this genre feels.
Where Symphony shows its weakness is mainly in the refinement that modern games have taken years perfecting. The inventory in SOTN is horrible; Aria of Sorrow improves upon it. The distance between fast-travel points is far too large which leads to a lot of backtracking; said backtracking wouldn't feel as bad if Symphony had the fantastic dash mechanic introduced in Harmony. Save points are often too far away from boss encounters meaning a lot of replaying sections when you die. There are no frames of invincibility after you get hit which often leads to you getting stun-locked by enemies as you helplessly bounce around from hit-to-hit. The combat difficulty isn't particularly well-balanced - I died several times in the beginning of the game but by the end of the game I was literally just walking through enemies. These little things resulted in more than a few moments of either frustration or boredom.
Symphony of the Night is a brilliant game and I loved playing it to finally see the origins of one of my favorite genres in gaming. But even though some of my favorite games might not exist without this, I was often left wishing I was playing a modern game while struggling through some dated game design.
+ Fantastic game that helps invent a genre and still holds up
+ Cool weapons to find and equip
+ Great overall world design
- Save points and fast -travel point placement not ideal
- Easy to get stun-locked by enemies
- Difficult balance not consistent
- Poor inventory organization
When playing an old game for the first time, I never know if I should try to judge it based on how it would be to play it the year it was released, or how it is to play it now. I'm sure this game was a mind-blowing masterpiece in 1997, and honestly it's truly remarkable what it does given when it came out, but at the end of the day, I am playing this game in 2023... and in 2023, this game has some flaws that hold it back from perfection.
After years of playing Metroidvania games, it's incredibly cool to go back to the roots of one of my favorite genres and see the origins of so many of my favorite mechanics and gameplay loops. I think one of the things that impresses me the most with Symphony of the Night is how good it feels to play. Going back and playing old games 20-30 years after their release can be a gamble but SOTN feels about as good as any modern game in this genre feels.
Where Symphony shows its weakness is mainly in the refinement that modern games have taken years perfecting. The inventory in SOTN is horrible; Aria of Sorrow improves upon it. The distance between fast-travel points is far too large which leads to a lot of backtracking; said backtracking wouldn't feel as bad if Symphony had the fantastic dash mechanic introduced in Harmony. Save points are often too far away from boss encounters meaning a lot of replaying sections when you die. There are no frames of invincibility after you get hit which often leads to you getting stun-locked by enemies as you helplessly bounce around from hit-to-hit. The combat difficulty isn't particularly well-balanced - I died several times in the beginning of the game but by the end of the game I was literally just walking through enemies. These little things resulted in more than a few moments of either frustration or boredom.
Symphony of the Night is a brilliant game and I loved playing it to finally see the origins of one of my favorite genres in gaming. But even though some of my favorite games might not exist without this, I was often left wishing I was playing a modern game while struggling through some dated game design.
+ Fantastic game that helps invent a genre and still holds up
+ Cool weapons to find and equip
+ Great overall world design
- Save points and fast -travel point placement not ideal
- Easy to get stun-locked by enemies
- Difficult balance not consistent
- Poor inventory organization
More Frog Detective! Same silly vibe I enjoyed from the first game. I enjoyed the journal mechanic a lot but felt myself getting a bit impatient with the animations whenever Frog Detective went to add something to his journal.