2020
Real good beat 'em up right here. Great combat, sufficiently challenging, and a lot of fun unlocking all the extra characters. Still feel like this visual style missed the mark for Streets of Rage, though.
A really solid game that holds up remarkably well. Though I generally am a pixel-preferrer, the hand-drawn graphics here were done really well.
This review contains spoilers
The audacity of making the pressure of delivering a remake of your game an antagonistic force within said remake, only to have your characters defy fate and forge a new path. As a total mark for FFVII, I was delighted and bamboozled by what this game ended up being. I hope it truly goes off the rails from here.
A strong contender for one of the best remakes of all time. An unmatched dedication to showcasing an intimate understanding of what made the original games work, and then making them better. My only real complaint is that the level progress is tied to you rather than the individual skaters, which takes away the incentive to replay as everyone for completeness.
An absolute criminal crime that we never got a 3+4 remaster and that Activision dismantled Vicarious Visions after this.
An absolute criminal crime that we never got a 3+4 remaster and that Activision dismantled Vicarious Visions after this.
A pretty enjoyable followup to one of my favorite games. Doesn't hit the highs of the original, but I enjoyed my time with it.
It's fine. Mechanics all felt undercooked, and it's a little janky, but it captures the feeling of hanging out with your team pretty well. Overall narrative is ok, moment-to-moment dialogue was pretty good. Had to be reminded by my notes that I'd even played it though.
A game in which you fight heavy, laborious physics trying to jump off a slide onto the next platform until you find the exact right point at which it will suddenly work.
I love a dead simple beat 'em up. Less celebrated than its SNES counterpart, but it's just as good. Better even, in some ways. The addition of a dedicated button for running is a nice upgrade, and I find the music and visuals more to my taste on Genesis. The boss rush at the end is a bit of a drag, though.
2020
I didn't like it as much as the first DLC. I personally did not love some of the narrative implications here, but I've softened to them with time and having played Alan Wake 2 since, which clarified some things for me. Not as strong as Foundation, but it's still more control. Brutally challenging boss fight, which really felt like they made up for the lack of a sufficient end-game challenge in the base game.
It's more Control! A little torn whether this felt more like an epilogue, or whether it was the ending the base game needed. Narratively, more of an epilogue/side story, but the end boss was a more compelling final fight than the base game.
2019
This really rocketed up to become one of my all-time favorite games. From the setting, to the lore, to the narrative, everything about it is right up my alley and it's all executed with Remedy's trademark, unimpeachable styling. One of the only games I can think of where I tracked down every single collectible not for any 100% reward, but because each document and video clip was worth reading and watching — each it's own compelling ghost story. Loved almost every second of it, though the ending was a little anti-climactic and some of the boss fights were a real pain.
2023
A stunning example of realized ambition. Sets a new bar for storytelling in games, and carries with it tremendous style. The writer's room mechanic especially is a great example of tying the narrative hook of Alan Wake's story to the gameplay. If I had to find a complaint, it's that the game is unfortunately a little held back by clumsy, sometimes frustrating combat, and there's more than one sequence that demands you know exactly how to solve it before attempting it. In the grand scheme of what this game has to offer, those frustrations are well smoothed over, though. Remedy has delivered a real triumph here, and I can't wait to revisit the game when the DLC lands.
The Mario Kart that feels most like a sequel to the original, and that's neat. It's good, but it's not pretty. I found it generally difficult, which would be a fun challenge and would keep me occupied if this was one of a few GBA carts I had in 2001. In 202X, completing it and unlocking all of the extra tracks is just asking a little too much of me given my backlog though.
Much as I love Super Mario World, Mario 3 will always be my favorite in the series. I really love (and prefer) the aesthetic of the NES original, but the GBA version is also a great way to play it. Playing an old favorite with new-to-me additions in the e-reader levels was such a treat.
Hot take alert: You don't need me to tell you Super Mario World is a 5-star game, but maybe you do need me to say the GBA version might be the best version of the game. Reduced visibility is a thing, but it's not that bad. The ability to play as Luigi is a lot of fun and his floatier physics will challenge your muscle memory. And it tracks your dragon coin collection! Play it with a palette improvement hack on an Analogue Pocket.