Well, I played every damn game on here, and it's once again time to celebrate Digital Eclipse for making compilations like this. Nobody touches them when it comes to this stuff - nobody even comes close.

The games themselves are fine. It's fun to look at the early history of the Turtles in video games and chart the progress (or lack thereof) of Konami's approach and how they evolved it based on the smash hits that were the arcade games, specifically. There's nothing earth-shattering in here, but that's not really the point, at least for me. This is a historical document.

And actually, that brings up this compilation's weakest aspect. It's got all the options and save states and rewinds and filters you could ever want, as well as a huge amount of behind-the-scenes documentation (translated design docs!), but it's all just kind of barfed out at you and you have to sift through it. Some of the other Digital Eclipse packages had interactive timelines and other elements that put the games into a bigger context, and all the pieces of that are here, but you have to put them together yourself. That's fine, but I really enjoy a more guided experience.

I will continue to buy all of this company's output, even when, as in this case, the subject matter isn't something I'm all that invested in.

It is very early Game Boy so you can't be TOO too hard on it, but this is an extremely simple and unambitious little game. Imagine a quarter-speed, single-plane version of the 1989 arcade game. You inch a few steps to the right, enemies pop out on either side, you kill them with one hit from your one attack, and then repeat. Occasionally there is some light jumping. The final level introduces an enemy that takes two hits. There are very simple bosses.

The priority here was obviously the art - put big bold sprites of the characters kids love on the screen. But at this stage in Konami's GB work, that limited them significantly in what they could make from a gameplay standpoint, and the result is a couple steps above a Game & Watch game, or one of those Tiger handhelds. It's inoffensive and very easy, but there is truly not much of anything going on here.

I was of the age to have played this when it came out, but knowing my tastes with regards to Game Boy games, I am certain that I would have been bored by this.

Disappointingly inept for a Konami platformer. The side-scrolling gameplay is absurdly difficult, with a punitive design that mostly boils down to flooding the small levels with endless waves of aggressive enemies and expecting you to keep up with your sluggish turtle, all while the performance buckles under the weight of the chaos. In short, it's not very fun. The open-ish levels with overworld maps are cool in concept, but don't add much besides general confusion and a lot of optional areas. It is nice that the four turtles have somewhat distinct uses, though, and switching between them at will feels good. Aside from that it's just a really frustrating platformer with very few interesting moments.

Reviewed on 07/26/21

Weird, Bend says they don’t want to live in the shadow of Naughty Dog by being forced to make a new Uncharted, and yet here they are making a budget Last of Us? There wasn’t much polish on cutscenes, audio design, textures, or other things like that to begin with, but they still all take a huge hit in the last act anyway. I was pretty sure I was in the last mission of the game like three times early on and there were still 15 hours and a large section of the map left, so yeah, pace your absurdly long game better please. Also, why is every character outside of Rikki completely unlikeable? Like, including Deacon? Alright. Airing of grievances over. Glad I finally played this to have an opinion on it, but I really did not like this at all. Hopefully Bend’s next project is a little more focused…and good.

Xenoblade 3 picks both 1 and 2 and makes the best game in the franchise by using all the best elements of both games while also doing his own thing.

The story works as a stand-alone but fans of the franchise are going to go crazy with previous story beats and elements from previous games.

The ending left me crying and screaming.

I went into Outer Wilds slightly sceptical. I'm generally not a fan of games with a "loop" and no set progress outside of "now you have a little more knowledge than you did before" and I felt daunted from the outset by not knowing where to start. Thankfully, the game's ship computer is invaluable at helping you keep track of which new pieces of information are worth remembering and what areas you haven't cleared out yet.

Protip if you're equally daunted before you've even taken your first spaceflight - just pick any planet and go to it. Everything is so interlinked that any thread can be pulled on to help guide you along your journey.

From a slow start, the game eventually became a genuinely awe-inspiring experience that will stick with me for a long time. From the very first ending of a full loop to a final run that is filled with equal parts dread and acceptance, it's the kind of game that comes along once in a generation if you're lucky.

One or two locations in the game are honestly better at atmospheric horror than any real horror game I've ever played. On that note - if you're playing the DLC do yourself a favour and turn on the "reduced scares" toggle. It loses none of its atmosphere and, if I had known to switch it on right away, it would have prevented me from being entirely soured on the new area.