The hero we needed AND deserved. The one to save them all, as they say. Super Mario Bros.' legend has been retold countless times. It took part in reviving the video game industry as a whole and instantly became a timeless classic.

Super Mario Bros. is about as simple as you can get. Upon this most recent playthrough of mine, I was surprised at just how much fun I was having despite the game's simplicity. Every time I play this game, I feel a thrill that I can't say I feel with many other games. This game puts me on the edge of my seat in the best way possible.

The physics, while not seeming like much by today's standards, were revolutionary at the time. Coming off of Mario Bros., what I feel is a slippery mess in terms of its control, Super Mario Bros. controls like a dream. The advent of analog control with the jump button is a game changer. Combine that with the tight turn controls, and you set yourself up for a fun platforming adventure ahead of you. One minor issue I have with Mario's controls is how he gains speed. You'll notice that Mario goes from 1 to 100 on a dime, and if you're near bottomless pits or some other hazard, it's usually too late before you take damage, as Mario takes quite a bit to slow down/turn around.

Being one of the first of its kind, I can understand that the level designs weren't necessarily out there aiming to leave much of an impression on players save for 1-1. Most of the levels mold together in my head, due to the very small amount of level themes the game presents as well as the reusing of layouts at times. I'm also of the opinion that the inability to backtrack hurts this game a lot. There are a number of times where I'm either caught between a rock and a hard place, or I miss out on a mushroom because it ends up traveling in the opposite direction.

It amazes me just how much fun I had with Super Mario Bros. with the bias of hindsight being prevalent. It's a fun pick up and play game that can be beaten under an hour, and I rarely ever get tired of it. It's no wonder this game gets the praise and legendary status that it has, as I can only imagine how amazing it must have been to be able to play this game back in 1985.

8/10

when i think of ridge racer usually what comes to mind is smoothness (in both its mechanical and aesthetic prowess) and profound representation of real world context that races concurrently with the game’s own individual racers. even the first title as a rudimentary beginning still has the flair of that early-console-post-arcade mindset. jungly breakbeats of the era kick hard, perhaps being the only motivating factor to indulge at all.
rage racer sees this and for some reason decides to evolve the formula in ways that seem like they’d be no-brainers to AVOID implementing. was there any need for unnecessarily narrow corridors and roads that twist, turn, and bump up and down? racing is of course a test of reaction and muscle memory but this one leans way too much into the muscle memory factor. with the constant up-and-down-and-all-around attitude of the course design it’s basically down to memorization to survive these anti-racer extravaganzas. for some reason drifting also uncontrollably brings you to slower speeds and then manually tries to put you back into a fixed position while relieving you of all control. so much for perfect cornering.
look, i get what they were going for. cities lined up against waterfalls with roads along the countryside bridges etc etc; of course it works on paper but it’s failing to immerse me here especially when the track design conflicts with the logic behind it all. i understand these are “rage” racers who don’t participate in normal races, but it’s still possible to walk the ludonarrative fine line while making the gameplay fun. it’s a racing game. maybe it’s called rage racer because they knew how much people would rage at how unfun it can be sometimes. the soundtrack is nice but weirdly unfitting? i don’t know. i don’t think the actual game embraces late 90s immaturity as much as the soundtrack does.
we do get to see how the series evolved i suppose. i can definitely see where they built off of this for R4 and subsequent titles. this is just a boring and sometimes frustrating game to play. scuffed racer. jank racer. shit racer. Might Need A Remake. this is what this game is like

naked snake/big boss may genuinely be one of my favorite characters in this series behind raiden so far largely because of this game. you can very well see how the philosophy that led him to build outer heaven and zanzibar land takes root in how he was used - and how the boss was disposed of - simply to get the US out of hot water; it makes him become incredibly jaded by the end of the game and far removed from the devoted patriot to his mission and his country he was in the beginning. the events of operation snake eater turn him completely cold, contrasting with the joyful applaud of his puppeteers in the room as the president awards him his new title.
MGS3's character writing is unparalleled to the rest of the series in BB's relationship with the boss, EVA, and ocelot - who all prove to great characters in their own right - even if i still prefer MGS2's story overall. every relationship gets the time to fully develop and reach a logical endpoint, whether it be BB's struggle to open up to EVA turning into him prioritizing her dwindling safety over the mission by the time they escape from groznyj grad, or his somewhat-friendly rivalry with a young, inexperienced revolver ocelot ending in a mutual respect for each other, or both BB and the boss desperately trying to push the love between a mother and son away for the sake of the mission.
the boss could not be any more of a fantastic final fight and closer to this game - one last showdown against the woman who taught you everything you know in a bloodied field of flowers, minutes away from annihilation as the legendary vocals of "snake eater" play in the background. tight shit.

while i feel MGS3 is less tightly designed gameplay-wise than 1 and 2 due to the annoyance of sneaking around in certain areas like groznyj grad, the Metal Gear Special™ of telling a beautiful, profound and thrilling story i feel more than makes up for, despite its flaws, what is still the same tension-filled and satisfying gameplay metal gear is at its core.

what a thrill indeed.

MGS2 is a hard title to write about because there are already like, several 800 page essays about the game and its themes on this site alone, I’m not even factoring in video essays and other sites and articles. So why am I writing this regardless? Well, the answer is quite simple, I can’t get this game off my mind even a week after playing it, and as possibly redundant this review could be, I need to get it out there.
Playing MGS2 for the first time, after seeing a playthrough in my earlier teens and wanting to try it myself for nearly half a decade, was cathartic. I could not be more glad that I finally got to try this. While I was pretty terrible at the stealth gameplay even on the lowest difficulty, just the satisfaction of making progress and exploring every little nook and cranny of the Big Shell made it for me. While it doesn’t have the heavy winter night atmosphere of Shadow Moses that defined the previous game, Big Shell is beautiful in its quaintness. It’s simple but has effective coloring and theming, and honestly how could anyone hate the almost tranquill outside areas with the bright skies, blue oceans, and crying seagulls?
I mentioned that I watched a full playthrough of this game several years ago, and I actually revisited it recently to see if it held up. While I still enjoyed it, it felt surreal seeing that even in 2018 many people didn’t like or respect the direction that MGS2 took with its heavier reliance on themes than sensibility. “Overshot” was the description that hit me the most. While, sure, there are things about this game that are fucking ridiculous (honestly despite my high praise for this game I do have choice words about the Liquid hand thing), I think the absurdity was intentional and defines MGS2. It’s not for everyone, which I understand, but it seems that even just a couple years ago 2 was given a lot of shit for its direction, whereas now I feel that it’s almost universally praised as a masterpiece.
Lastly what I wanted to touch up on was how much I despise the nihilistic circlejerk that surrounds this game’s final codec call. While in the moment it can be crushing and feel like something to make the player feel used, it’s like people completely ignored everything that happened after the final boss. Or even in the codec call itself, where Raiden pretty much says “nah, I’m good” despite everything he’s been told trying to devalue him and dispose of him after his “purpose” has been fulfilled. Both of Snake’s speeches afterwards are the icing on the cake. Honestly during the rewatch of them I did shed a few tears, it hits a lot harder when I’ve given more thought into it and it's an uplifting message that leaves the story on a high note after the brutality of the final codec. Snake essentially goes “hey, there’s a lot going on and misinformation will spread, but don’t freak out yet, you’re your own person and you get to decide what you do or don’t believe in,” how you could see all that and then only hyperfixate on “kojima predicted the internet and AI lol!” is not only ignorant, but blatantly disrespectful to everything else going on. There’s more meaning to MGS2 and its main gimmick was not just “predicting the future.” It’s about individuality and finding what we believe in. Becoming nihilistic and focusing on all the bad in the world is exactly what the GW wants you to think. Why can't some recognize that?
It was nice finally going through this amazing, amazing game firsthand. I’m taking a bit of a break before I tackle 3 because I wanted to dedicate more time to thinking about this game. It’s something that I don’t think will ever leave my mind anytime soon. There’s a lot I didn’t cover here, and it’s simply because many people have already said it or I don’t even know where to begin in wording it, but I am totally up for discussion if you’d like to ask.
Thank you for reading, and a happy new year.
Choose your own legacy.
It’s for you to decide.
it's up to you.

took some time to mull it over, but metal gear solid 2 is genuinely such a brilliantly crafted retort and strengthening of 1's ideas of human individuality to where yeah, i'd say this is the best metal gear game yet purely for how well written it is.

the patriots' ideas of an overabundance of information and conflicting and personal so-called "truths" are very well laid out and incredibly topical years later as most have pointed out, backed up by multiple events throughout the game. it's why the patriots being revealed to be long-dead is such a harrowing whammy of a reveal - solidus and ocelot were fighting against an idea that doesn't even fully and tangibly exist anymore.
and that is exactly what the patriots sought to prevent through the GW system, creating one singular "truth" through justified censorship so as to eliminate humanity from spelling its own doom in the confusion.
but i would actually heavily disagree on MGS2 being as cynical as most make it out to be.
thatmagicalmage couldn't have said it any better in their own review where laser-focusing on MGS2's prediction of a misinformation-ridden future misses how it is incredibly hopeful and loving of the human condition in spite of the negative consequences of free will - evidenced by snake's speech in the post-credits scene describing the importance of our works now that we pass on to the future, and raiden's own decision to live his own life not giving a damn about whether or not he's played into the patriots' hands as he's found his own purpose and what gives him satisfaction - and that is the ultimate triumph he could have ever had over the patriots. it's why i bring up MGS1 because it's very reminiscent of the lesson snake learned about choosing his own life to lead and the antithesis he and raiden play to the gene-devout liquid snake. and yet it doesn't feel like a rehash of MGS1's themes of the importance of individuality, it feels like an extension.
snake and otacon choosing to make their own impact through the anti-metal gear "philanthropy" organization in spite of their forefathers' warmongering efforts shows your path in life isn't beholden to the deeds of your ancestry, and raiden's inability to fall into despair by the hands of the patriots shows no matter how much one may try, no force in this universe has the ability or the right to control how you think or feel. the only person who can decide how you want to live your life is you and you alone, and there's no point in living without that individuality. because it's how we connect with other people.

fuck me, MGS2 is awesome. metal gear is awesome.

You ever end up writing a 3000 word rant on your biggest ever gaming disappointment?



It's August 19th, 2019. My last summer break before I go to high school.

My 15th birthday.

It was an ok day. Some trouble arised and I wasn't able to go to my grandpa's house with some friends like we were planning to, and as such I just spent the day at home with some family members coming over after dinner, nothing special (to the point where some old messages might lead me to believe something bad might've made me think it was my worst birthday ever? Honestly I can't remember, and it doesn't matter).

That is, until around 11PM. While I wasn't aware, gamescom was also taking place at around the same time, and one of the projects announced there would go on to impact me in a way nothing else has since.

As I was wiping out my phone, a youtube notification popped in. "Kerbal Space Program 2 Cinematic Announcement Trailer". I was ecstatic, to say the least. Literally the best birthday gift that I, someone who has always been a bit of a space nerd, at the time thought I had and would ever have. A sequel to one of my little gaming obsessions. A sequel with all the features I could ever want! Colonies? Interstellar travel? MULTIPLAYER? All out of the box? Quite literally the game of my dreams, and it's releasing NEXT YEAR? Holy cow that is amazing!...

3 years, 6 months, and 6 days later. It's February 24th, 2023. I'm now 18 years old, and the second semester of college (and what would then be the lowest period of my entire life up until the moment I'm writing this) had just begun, and as I'm watching the game of 15 year old me's dreams release in real time in early access, what had seem inevitable to me since the system specs had been released is now actually happening.

If you've heard even a single thing about it, you probably know. It's a mess. Hell I'll even say that "mess" is downplaying it. It was awful, actually horrendous. Probably the worst release of an early access game I've ever seen. Content wise? Worse than KSP1 in its beta stage almost a decade earlier. Performance wise? You might as well just break into actual NASA to get one of their supercomputers and even THAT probably wouldn't be able to break 60 fps with a 1000+ part ship. Stability/bug wise? Literally hundreds of bugs found right at release. From locations done by mesh just spawning in completely random locations near the ship, to clipping through the ground constantly, to wings literally falling off planes when spawning into the most noodliest rockets known to man. To the maneuver creator barely working, from orbits just... decaying over time??? I don't think I need to keep spewing hyperbole here, it was truly a mess.

And even ignoring the issues that I just listed given that admittedly those can be solved, what was there was just, very underwhelming? Take the art direction for example, it is genuinely baffling. Everything is way too damn reflective. The parts look like they're made of plastic. The kerbals themselves look more Minionized than ever before. The UI looks hideous and near unreadable (I get it it's supposed to emulate how modern cockpits look, but I think they just took the aesthetic without actually knowing why it is that way? Like the text is all pixelated because it's just cheaper to have low pixel count displays on those, that shit is NOT meant to be on an actual video game UI, and this is just one aspect of it). I guess shit like the clouds and the atmospheric scatter look alright? But I reckon even they know KSP1 mods did it better because they literally hired a modder that was doing a volumetric clouds mod for KSP1. What a shock. And god don't even get me started on the Kurzgesagt-lite tutorial videos like god I'll have plenty to say about the tutorials later trust me.

Needless to say, it was all very disappointing. Especially for me, as up until the system specs were released I was literally IN THE FRONTLINES defending the team from every naysayer, and deflecting every red flag thrown at me left and right with what I can only describe now as excuses. "Oh the Take2 takeover was mostly the fault of Star Theory's management! Most of the dev team still went through to the new team!", "Oh the game getting delayed more and more is a good thing! It's just COVID that messed everything up! (Even though by this point most video game companies have already sorted their shit together)", "Oh the game will not actually run this awful at launch! It's just the Unity Debug Mode that runs worse!". All excuses that I remember spewing to this day. And even after the system specs were released, even after the mess of the launch, I was still willing to give the game a chance, albeit now with cautious optimism instead of blind defending, but even that didn't last very long.

9 months and 27 days later. It's December 20th, 2023. I'm now 19 years old, writing this paragraph in the college hall as I wait for the last class of this semester, as the impending deadline at the beginning of January for the main project and the following exams loom over. I'm a different man. I've played a lot of games. I've read some VNs that might've affected me emotionally in ways they had no right to do. Life could be better but... heh, it also could be worse. Even with all the new worries and things I have to think about, despite all the times I've told myself I would move on from this game, I just... cannot. It persists in my little noggin. I mean, it's no wonder I've decided to write this now, given that the For Science update just released, and like, am I supposed to think it's good?

Like, I haven't played it. Even with all the alleged performance improvements and the nice graphs their twitter account shared, I still doubt the game would break 60 at the lowest settings, so why even bother trying? And as I see ksp youtubers celebrating this update like the greatest thing to ever happen since sliced bread, I can't stop thinking to myself... is the bar that low?

Like, as far as I am aware the update is just... heating that as far as I am aware is worse than it was in KSP1 in certain key aspects (like visually for example, the heating effects look hideous), a "story mode" that is just the missions in the original career mode without the testing part missions and with """"""""""funny"""""""""" dialogue, and a progression system that is just... what the original's was 10 years ago (oh, but now some experiments take time! truly revolutionary and not at all a minor feature of many in the Kerbalism mod of the original, truly impressive Intercept).

And yes, there were a ton of bug fixes and optimization updates too, but there were also allegedly some regressions regarding other issues and... I'm gonna be for real, how much more can this game even BE further optimized?

One of the reasons I stopped defending this game at all is when I found out about something truly shocking, at least for me. One of the main appeals this game as a concept had was the fact that, well, it was an entirely new game! New game then, means new codebase, and if you know anything about the first KSP game, then you know a complete rewrite of the codebase was not only expected, but necessary for this game to run well, let alone handle multiplayer. HOWEVER, THAT WAS NOT THE CASE! As it turns out, data mining an Unity game is piss easy, and everyone quickly found out most of the codebase for the backend stuff was taken straight from a beta version of KSP1 (NOT EVEN THE MOST RECENT VERSION), so I guess this new game is at the end of the day just a glorified KSP1 mod, OOPS! A decision that was surely made at the time to cut cost on hiring actual engineers, has now backfired immensely given that now whoever poor bastard is working on this game over at Intercept has to worry about a decade of tech debt on a codebase made by a guy who wasn't even a programmer by trade at the time, fucking amazing! Amazing gambit sir Nate! Like are we seriously expecting the game that can barely handle a current late game save file at an acceptable frame rate (given a review from a KSP youtuber that I watched that got the new update early) will be able to handle shit that will be expected in a late game save of the game in its planned final state like:

- A lot of colonies running at the same time with multiple logistics paths of resources being transported left and right.
- A ton of interstellar mother ships which will probably have THOUSANDS OF PARTS EACH, WITH EACH PART BEING SIMULATED INDIVIDUALLY ALL THE TIME because yea thats a thing that totally should've been carried over from the first game (and not even mentioning that at the moment every single ship is being fully simulated at the same time regardless of what you're focusing on)
- And on top of all that, MULTIPLAYER, because yea THIS GAME, THAT IS BUILT ON TOP OF A CODEBASE THAT IS INCAPABLE TO HANDLE SUCH THING WITHOUT DOING A REALLY HACKY JOB, IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE MULTIPLAYER REMEMBER???

God what a fucking mess. And like I keep coming back to how they kept the old code base from the og game because... that's just a mentality that permeates throughout the entire game! Remember the noodly rockets bug I mentioned earlier? Well I LIED because it wasn't a bug actually it WAS A FEATURE. Local genius Nate Simpson apparently thought that the noodly rockets of the original game were... part of its identity!! So they kept that! And made it even worse! Together with a bunch of other flaws that really shouldn't have been in this brand new shiny game!! INCREDIBLE!!!

It's like these people are so scared of doing an actual sequel that they instead just default to doing everything the way the old game did, although maybe that's more due to laziness and lack of actual direction and not them just loving the og game that much. And the stuff they change/add... isn't that good either!!! Like the UI, forget how it looks, it's just so clunky and cluttered. Like what was wrong with the part info window? Why does everything need to be locked in a fucking list now that I have to scroll through instead of being able to organize everything the way I want across the screen? Why is the navball in a corner??? Isn't one of the big principles of UI/UX design that the most important elements always need to be at the center of the screen? If you wanted to make space to make it easier to see the rocket you could've just put it slightly to the side but still at the center! Why is the SAS assist command this ugly ass circle with a 3d model representation of your ship's orientation??? I already know what these symbols mean! Put these on a list that takes up less space like in the original! And if someone doesn't know what those symbols mean, then find a better way to do so because honestly i don't see how the way they've done it helps either. It's a goddamn mess.

And the priorities are just so all over the place. Even disregarding the fact that this game was very clearly not meant to be released in Early Access given that they've been working on every feature at the same time until close to launch instead of just building a good foundation first??? There's just so many... baffling decisions. Why are there so many simple QOL features missing? Why did we have to wait so long for a TWR reader in the VAB even though, as far as I am aware, that's literally something you can do in a spreadsheet in like 5 minutes. Or god the tutorials... why are there even tutorials in this early access release??? You know, the period where anything can change at any moment's notice??? Why not do those close to the full launch when everything is already set in stone?? Why waste resources on animations you might not even use by the time the game is feature complete??? And regarding the tutorials themselves they just suck. Disregarding the annoying ass YT Kids sounding narrator they are literally just .mp4's followed by the KSP1 tutorials again. No innovation, might as well just watch a Scott Manley video and learn the game that way instead (which some dudes from the PR team have LITERALLY SAID TO DO WHEN PEOPLE WERE COMPLAINING ABOUT THE TUTORIALS like god have I already mentioned how bad their PR team was throughout this entire ordeal? Genuinely such a lack of professionalism that I rather not get into it). You literally have the opportunity to do... idk?? Cool interactive lectures on physics concepts? You know?? Taking advantage of the fact that this is a VIDEO GAME?? But nah youtube videos have worked up until now let's just do that inste- GOD THIS GAME SUCKS THIS GAME REALLY SUCKS SO MUC

...ok I guess I could talk about stuff I like?? Uhhhh the sound design in general is excellent, props for that. Uhhhh the planets look nice? Not as good looking as some mods I've seen of the original but you know, they still look alright. And I guess being able to build multiple ships in the same workspace regardless of orientation is a good QOL concept? Wish it worked better tho...

... Look, I don't like to be negative, just look at my rating graph in my profile. Like god I literally gave UDG a 6/10 despite the fact that that game by all accounts sucks really fucking bad. Whenever I hate, I'm most likely just being deeply ironic at the main discord server I talk in, it's just not my thing to do unironically most of the time.

So... Why am I even giving more energy towards this game than seemingly its entire management team did? Why am I even bothering writing this 3000 word review about a game in a series that only I care about in all the friend circles I frequent? How many likes is this even gonna get? Five? If that?...

I guess it just comes down to what I said in the beginning. Even after this long, the space nerd kid still inside of me still wants... well not this game but the idea of this game to come to fruition. I want to be able to build giant complexes in distant moons. Building giant motherships which part towards far away stars, as I awe at both the immensity of the cosmos, and the beauty of the small specks floating through its milky vastness of nothing. For some people space might be frightening, but for me it's not. For me this setting itches that primordial instinct of mine that urges me to go out, find things, explore the unseen, and that makes me both afraid, and utterly attracted by the unknown. It's something I really wished to have but, this game ain't it. And I know about games like Outer Wilds and No Man's Sky that are kinda like that (if anyone uses NMS as a counter argument towards my sentiment that KSP2 has no future I'm crushing your skull with my bare hands btw), but... I guess there is simply nothing quite like Kerbal Space Program... I do still need to play those games at some point tho lmao.

Well, I guess there's that, if any aspiring dev teams want to make a name for themselves, maybe make the coop aerospace sim everyone wants! If you start now, maybe you'll be able to announce it in the same week as the inevitable apology from Nate about how multiplayer just "aint possible" and how they're instead just releasing the game as is (aka, soft canceling it and moving on to another fandom to grift).

And to any low level Intercept Games developer that just read through this, I really am sorry. I am sorry that you probably have to tolerate a bunch of passionless, directionless managers as you try to salvage whatever you can of this mess. In a way this is really what's wrong with the current industry. Not predatory microtransactions or buggy early access releases. Nah those are just symptoms. What is truly wrong is how much of this industry is led by people that just do not care for this medium, and only care about filling their pockets while the low level developers pull 24 hour shifts in order to pull yet another broken mess through the finish line. But while I could continue to wax poetic about the systematic problems of capitalism, I guess that's a bit out of the scope of this review.

I think that's everything I have to say about what is undoubtedly my least favorite game of all time, and I really hope I don't need to talk about it ever again (unless they somehow manage to turn this ship over, which as I elaborated, I don't think they will). May y'all have a pleasant day, and to end this review, and I mean this completely sincerely...


Fuck off Nate Simpson

This is by far the most unique and interesting horror game I have ever experienced. It's criminally underrated, tough as nails, and best of all, it's genuinely scary. Easily the best horror title I've played yet.

The permadeath system is fantastic. I love that when you get bitten, there is no coming back. All of the weapon skills you have obtained, and your survivor score are completely reset, which creates huge tension when you want to avoid failure. It makes death actually mean something, and it makes even the most common grunt zombies a legitimate threat, something I don't think any horror game has done before or since. With the combat, you're capable of dealing damage and getting the job done, but you aren't superhuman. The combat system makes you feel vulnerable, but not to the point where combat becomes a repetitive mind numbing slog like in Silent Hill 2. This ties into the survival part of survival horror: you need to plan ahead, take it slow, and use the resources you have wisely because they're very scarce, and I think this is ingenious design coupled with all the other mechanics I mentioned. Not to mention, when you die, you need to track down your previous now infected survivor to get your stuff back, which is a really cool and interesting fresh spin on these typical zombie games, almost like a roguelite esc take on survival horror.

The Wii U gamepad is what really sells this however. You need to constantly glance down at the gamepad screen to do a whole myriad of tasks: check radar, scan for potential loot, inventory management, picking locks and hacking doors, and so on. The thing is when you do this, the game itself doesn't pause, so the infected can easily have a chance to sneak up behind you and try to kill you, forcing you to multitask different things at once. This adds huge amounts of tension to the game, as while you're doing anything with the gamepad you're vulnerable at all times. It really does feel like an experience you can only get on Wii U.

As for the rest of the game, the atmosphere is top notch, and really sells the feeling of complete ruin and isolation. The fog penetrating certain areas, the crows flapping all over, the screams echoed in the distance of far off infected, the grunge of the decaying London subway system and sewer tunnels, it's all handled wonderfully, and areas that take it one step further (such as Buckingham Palace and The Nursery) are done even better. The music is surprisingly very well made as well, more of a somber soundtrack with a few instances of heavy tense techno. On top of the main campaign, there's also a fun multiplayer mode that has the gamepad user control a hoard of zombies, spawning them and leveling up and gaining new perks as the match continues, while the pro controller player plays a survivor, killing the infected in a variety of game modes.

However, I do still have some issues even with a game as great as this. The game is a tad on the short side (only about 10-15 hours for a single campaign), the loading times can be frequent and pretty bad, and the game visually could stand to be improved even though I think it looks great as is. Regardless, please consider checking this game out on Wii U, it is an extremely underappreciated gem.

Replayed this on hard/classic and this is NOT it bro
The one that everyone feels obligated to mention “saved the franchise” which sure, I appreciate, but I’m ngl Awakening only saved this series financially, from a gameplay perspective that credit goes to Conquest easily, replaying this game on hard mode with permadeath just made it apparent how weirdly and/or badly the maps and enemies are designed. Hard mode in this game just straight out sucks, stat bloated enemies and same turn reinforcements in a game where it feels like terrain bonuses don’t even matter is the absolute worst, not helped by the GBA emblem level amount of enemy spam. Map design doesn’t help either, as a lot of them aren’t even maps and are just “big open field with enemies” or “indoor map with enemies,” and objectives that mostly comprise of “KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM”.
Around chapter 5 I had the realization that all of these units pale in comparison to the sheer snowball of a unit that is Robin. Yes, you can solo Awakening with any character if you want, just like FE4 or FE8, etc, but at least in those games, it felt like your non Sigurds or your non Seths could still contribute and still had a nice unit feel. And while that still sorrrta works on normal mode, it really doesn’t on hard mode because of the aforementioned stat bloated enemies. So, clearly the solution to this is to snowball all your squishy, non Robin or Frederick units up by grinding in the skirmishes, right? WRONG. Because, in hard mode, skirmishes comprise of ridiculously strong enemies, we’re talking like maps FULL of prepremoted enemies as early as chapter 5 which SUCKS. I really wanted to train up a whole team for this game but I absolutely did not have the patience to grind through all this, so I had my ultimate solution.. The Robin Juggernaut. 2 units deployed every map, class change Robin to sorcerer and around mid-game stock up on nosferatu and simply watch. I did not deploy a single other character for the rest of the entire game after chapter 10-ish, because I didn’t feel like grinding in my fire emblem game. Also worth mentioning how Robin becomes even more busted by using the game’s pairup mechanics which by itself is an insanely unfair advantage to have over the enemies (Fates would fix this by having enemies also be allowed to pairup), have Robin and Chrom pairup and you will basically never have to worry about the latter’s safety.
My play time this run totalled at 4 hours. How? Because I simply became so bored by the end, I turned off all battle animations and just started skipping enemy phase because what was there to see? And before you tell me that I wouldn’t have been bored if I did full deployment and used all my characters, I’ve done that before in my first run of the game, and my thoughts were IDENTICAL around the same point. It’s not a strategy game. It’s a JRPG on a grid, which I just don’t like outside of Sacred Stones and Echoes to an extent. The game tries to trick you into thinking it’s a TRPG with side objectives on maps by throwing in treasure chests on some maps but don’t fall for that, they’re just meant for you to waste your turns and be murdered by same turn reinforcements. It’s all just pointless.
Skipped the story too. I usually don’t reread story in a replay of an FE game unless it’s FE4 but even if I usually did I would’ve skimmed over this one most likely. I don’t hate the story of Awakening but it’s just not my thing, and lacks any sense of cohesion or interest outside of one thing: Lucina. I love Lucina fire emblem. Other than that? Plot that is trying WAY too much and saying WAY too little. It’s got the FE7 problem where shit just kinda happens and you roll with it but without the genuine feeling of going on an adventure like that game. I think the inclusion of the world map ultimately hurts giving the story a proper sense of scale, it’s fine in Echoes but in this game I feel that it takes away the feeling of being on a long journey with these characters, earlier entries usually had no map and it cemented a feeling that you can’t go back, only forward. Idk how else to describe it, but yeah Awakening doesn’t really have that.
My score for this review is more reflective of playing on hard mode or above, I’d drop a 6 at the highest in the context of normal mode but like- Awakening purely lacks anything I like about fire emblem other than the characters (which this game does have quite a few I really like!) I understand why IS went this direction for the sake of general appeal and hey, if you like this game, I’m happy for you! I’m sure if this was my first FE especially if I was like 13-15ish I would’ve loved it, but it wasn’t, and I don’t. It’s just kinda okay at best for me, and I can’t see myself replaying this unless it’s out of spite or seeing more of the gen 2 kids. Not for me.