This review is for Act 1 of the game Snatcher.
Act 1 is a standout experience, receiving top marks across several aspects. The balance of puzzles is just right, offering a challenge without being overly difficult. The pacing, both in gameplay and story, is well-executed, keeping the player engaged. While the shooting controls may feel strange at first, they eventually become enjoyable.

The art in Act 1 is particularly impressive, considering the limitations of the hardware. Technologically, Snatcher pushes the limits for its type of game, showcasing innovation that sets it apart. Despite some minor tedium with backtracking, the overall experience is very enjoyable.

The music and sound design are top-notch, with clear and non-intrusive sound that complements the game well. Clarity in gameplay is mostly good, though the "look" vs. "investigate" system can be a bit confusing at times.

Act 1 of Snatcher's innovation extends beyond just gaming, making it a unique experience. While there are some repeated actions, they don't detract significantly from the overall experience. The game leaves players wanting more, with a high level of replayability.

The X-factor of Act 1 of Snatcher is evident from the start, and the game keeps players engaged throughout, making it a very satisfying experience. Fairness in gameplay is also notable, with the game feeling reasonable in its challenges. Overall, Act 1 of Snatcher stands out as exceptional.

Castlevania: Bloodlines is a decent game, playable and enjoyable, but it doesn't quite stand out. The balance feels standard, and the difficulty progresses steadily without becoming too extreme. The controls are okay, but the whip and staff jump mechanics feel underutilized compared to previous games in the series. The first half of the first levels can be a bit boring and repetitive. The art is mostly fine, but the second stage's first half feels bland compared to the rest of the game.

Technologically, the game suffers on the Sega Genesis, showcasing the hardware's limitations compared to other platforms. It doesn't bring much new to the table, lacking innovations seen in previous titles. Despite these drawbacks, the game is still somewhat fun to play, with music being a standout feature. However, the game feels like a step back for the series, lacking certain features and improvements. The boss reuse adds some repetitiveness, but it's not overly frustrating. Overall, Castlevania: Bloodlines may not be the best in the series, but it leaves players feeling somewhat satisfied, with some desire for more. replayability is decent, especially with the other character. While it has its moments, it lacks a special factor that would make it truly memorable.

Truly a great game. Fun, smooth innovative and has that special sausce that makes a great game. It never feels to tedious and I found myself replaying levels to 100% without any sense of time wasted. Music is great but not the best the series has to offer. The remixes are better than Super Castlevania IV. I got a little confused first when I didn't realize that in the main menu you could go back to levels to try different paths and I was woried of a repeat of Castlevania 3 and having to replay the whole game to get the full experience.
What I really liked:
The multiple endings and cut scenes were really nice.
What I wish was different:
A way to go to change levels and characters mid game without a system restart.
What I didn't like:
I didn't like the movement controls going backwards. No whip tricks, crawling.
I felt the backflip was cool but Maria proved they could have had a cool movement set for both characters.
Next review I am going to try a new format.

Castlevania Perfected. If your familiar with the original Castlevania this game is a treat. It starts out quiet for you to collect your bearings, you realize how slick the whip is now and the improvements to stairs. The game feels like sutch an improvement without making it to easy.

What I felt could have been better. The sound track, while nice and I did like it didn't hit as hard as past games. Felt like a more chill version of the tracks vs the exciting adventure we got used to. Also stage A and B had sutch a jump in difficulty, I went from killing bosses in 2 seconds to to actually having to figure them out. The bosses were never unreasonably dificut except maby the stages themselves but they were very unforgiving and I felt the difficulty could have been ramped more insted of this spike.

It's a realy cute game. I found it fun magical and whimsical. The game had great controls that made it quite enjoyable. It's filled with many different weapons but under utilizes the need to switch them making it feel uninovative. The last level is a bit obnoxious and ruins the pacing. Probably the worst thing about the game is the sound effects in the final boss. The boss isn't to difficult but the sound makes the experience unbearable. As fun and cute as the game is it's not great objectively.
I have a personal doc with some notes that I am working on refining my game reviews this is the first on this system. I pro will start versioning them and adding that to them.

The game would be fun but it has a few big issues. It clear wants you to fail everything that has the slightest difficulty to it so you can restart and make the game not take 20 minutes like it could. That becomes so much more worse because the game runs super slow the second 3 moving things are on the screen and every movement feels sluggish and off while most jumps are barely posible. Also some encounters require frame perfect precision to not get hit. Also not to forget the one section where it seems like if you take a wrong turn it's game over...