askegra
2019
I like fucking around as an evil goose. Kind of awkward controls but I guess that's sort of the point. Some of the goals are sort of a pain in the ass to do and you need some uber-specific method to cross it off. Sweet music.
Best in short bursts.
Strong 7
Best in short bursts.
Strong 7
2018
"This memorial is dedicated to those who perished on the climb."
I played Celeste for the first time when I was around 12. The themes of overcoming your anxiety really resonated with me, but I obviously never read too much into the transfem themes woven into the story. Coming back to this game, 6 years later, now a woman officially on HRT, I almost broke down crying seeing that lonely stone slab after chapter two. I wish she could have known. I wish I could have been there for her. Climbing the mountain again makes me think back to how crushed I felt as a little girl. How lonely it really was surrounded by men when I wanted anything else. I wish she could see how far we've come because I would rather die trying than give up.
I guess the gameplay is pretty good too.
10
I played Celeste for the first time when I was around 12. The themes of overcoming your anxiety really resonated with me, but I obviously never read too much into the transfem themes woven into the story. Coming back to this game, 6 years later, now a woman officially on HRT, I almost broke down crying seeing that lonely stone slab after chapter two. I wish she could have known. I wish I could have been there for her. Climbing the mountain again makes me think back to how crushed I felt as a little girl. How lonely it really was surrounded by men when I wanted anything else. I wish she could see how far we've come because I would rather die trying than give up.
I guess the gameplay is pretty good too.
10
2012
There's a lot of complaining in this review but I did really enjoy myself, so hear me out.
But it drags hard. And there are a lot of problems. It took me over a month to beat and there is so much downtime between a lot of story events - just nothing happening, with not much to keep you engaged. I do like how many random events there are with the investigation team where you just go and hang out with them and do stuff but it's still pretty far and few between. There are two whole months where literally nothing happens between story beats.
A lot of people say the characters feel the most like friends out of all the modern Persona games and I do absolutely adore the cast and the little inside jokes and interactions they have, but a lot of it is dragged down so much because of the unbelievable amount of misogyny and homophobia and transphobia (no I'm not talking about Naoto) that is so pervasive in Persona 4. It's hard to empathise with Yosuke when a lot of cute moments are interrupted with objectifying women for no reason or calling Kanji gay - it's insane how literally scared of gay people he is like all the time. Teddie's character arc is undermined by how his entire bit is just being a womanizer. It's even more frustrating that the protagonist joins in on all this and you don't get much choice in joining in on some new pea-brained scheme to spy on the girls in the group, you just have to go along with it. I wanted to close the game so many times in scenes like the bathhouse or the inn (not to mention how Hanako's character is just the punchline of countless fat jokes and Kashiwagi is the opposite end of the spectrum and a one-dimensional bitter 'slut' stereotype) because these ENTIRE sequences are so uncomfortable and cringeworthy to sit through. What really struck a chord with me the most was the crossdressing pageant. It's not nice to be playing a videogame as a trans woman and suddenly get hit over the head with the most outright bigoted transmisogynistic attack on trans women that the game expects you to be giggling at, making your existence into the punchline to a joke. Persona 4 is rife with terrible, creepy, dehumanizing jokes that sexualise and objectify women and it made me deeply uncomfortable throughout my playthrough.
That's only one part of what I think really cheapens the experience of Persona 4. This is a lot less of a rant than the previous paragraph but the dungeons are just boring. It feels like you're perpetually grinding. I changed the XP gain in the custom difficulty settings to more because I found myself so ridiculously underleveled in the first few dungeons despite fighting literally every enemy I spotted on the way to the stairs. Trudging through the same hallways and identical chest rooms is an almost joyless endeavour after you've used up your 20 minutes of excitement over a new environment - but the music is fantastic. Heaven is definitely my favourite of the bunch.
The last of my really big problems I think is the buildup to the killer. It came out of nowhere even though I was already spoiled a while before I started the game. Not in a "oh wow I'm so shocked and surprised" kind of way but more in a "what?" kind of way. They just became evil and started calling women worthless bitches. There was literally no reason to suspect them other than the way the game basically tells you who to choose when you're outside with Naoto. Really had zero emotional impact because they just spontaneously became evil. Didn't even do much killing if you've also played the game and know all the details of the story. Persona 4 just kind of throws villains at the wall to see what sticks and ends up with God. None of them are really an effective foil or anything to the MC (which I will take this opportunity to say right now is given about as much personality as a wet sock).
All this complaining does make me sound really miserable and you expect me to give it a super low rating. But I really enjoyed this game. The misogyny is really hard to ignore. Flaws and all, Persona 4 is heartfelt and you grow very close to the cast and all your social links. Battles are actually very fun and I enjoyed min-maxing my personae. I would recommend you play it rather than not - but go in expecting it to be a bit of a drag sometimes, and to be more than just insensitive to a number of minority groups. Overall I still really liked this game and it was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself more than not.
Pretty goddamn good.
Decent 8
But it drags hard. And there are a lot of problems. It took me over a month to beat and there is so much downtime between a lot of story events - just nothing happening, with not much to keep you engaged. I do like how many random events there are with the investigation team where you just go and hang out with them and do stuff but it's still pretty far and few between. There are two whole months where literally nothing happens between story beats.
A lot of people say the characters feel the most like friends out of all the modern Persona games and I do absolutely adore the cast and the little inside jokes and interactions they have, but a lot of it is dragged down so much because of the unbelievable amount of misogyny and homophobia and transphobia (no I'm not talking about Naoto) that is so pervasive in Persona 4. It's hard to empathise with Yosuke when a lot of cute moments are interrupted with objectifying women for no reason or calling Kanji gay - it's insane how literally scared of gay people he is like all the time. Teddie's character arc is undermined by how his entire bit is just being a womanizer. It's even more frustrating that the protagonist joins in on all this and you don't get much choice in joining in on some new pea-brained scheme to spy on the girls in the group, you just have to go along with it. I wanted to close the game so many times in scenes like the bathhouse or the inn (not to mention how Hanako's character is just the punchline of countless fat jokes and Kashiwagi is the opposite end of the spectrum and a one-dimensional bitter 'slut' stereotype) because these ENTIRE sequences are so uncomfortable and cringeworthy to sit through. What really struck a chord with me the most was the crossdressing pageant. It's not nice to be playing a videogame as a trans woman and suddenly get hit over the head with the most outright bigoted transmisogynistic attack on trans women that the game expects you to be giggling at, making your existence into the punchline to a joke. Persona 4 is rife with terrible, creepy, dehumanizing jokes that sexualise and objectify women and it made me deeply uncomfortable throughout my playthrough.
That's only one part of what I think really cheapens the experience of Persona 4. This is a lot less of a rant than the previous paragraph but the dungeons are just boring. It feels like you're perpetually grinding. I changed the XP gain in the custom difficulty settings to more because I found myself so ridiculously underleveled in the first few dungeons despite fighting literally every enemy I spotted on the way to the stairs. Trudging through the same hallways and identical chest rooms is an almost joyless endeavour after you've used up your 20 minutes of excitement over a new environment - but the music is fantastic. Heaven is definitely my favourite of the bunch.
The last of my really big problems I think is the buildup to the killer. It came out of nowhere even though I was already spoiled a while before I started the game. Not in a "oh wow I'm so shocked and surprised" kind of way but more in a "what?" kind of way. They just became evil and started calling women worthless bitches. There was literally no reason to suspect them other than the way the game basically tells you who to choose when you're outside with Naoto. Really had zero emotional impact because they just spontaneously became evil. Didn't even do much killing if you've also played the game and know all the details of the story. Persona 4 just kind of throws villains at the wall to see what sticks and ends up with God. None of them are really an effective foil or anything to the MC (which I will take this opportunity to say right now is given about as much personality as a wet sock).
All this complaining does make me sound really miserable and you expect me to give it a super low rating. But I really enjoyed this game. The misogyny is really hard to ignore. Flaws and all, Persona 4 is heartfelt and you grow very close to the cast and all your social links. Battles are actually very fun and I enjoyed min-maxing my personae. I would recommend you play it rather than not - but go in expecting it to be a bit of a drag sometimes, and to be more than just insensitive to a number of minority groups. Overall I still really liked this game and it was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed myself more than not.
Pretty goddamn good.
Decent 8
Much more fun than I was expecting. Loved Tyr's boss fights. This was my first introduction to anything rogue-lite and I enjoyed it a lot. Great continuation of the story, great ending. Feels like stealing that this is free.
Light 9
Light 9
2022
Despite a less focused goal, Ragnarok manages to weave a sprawling web of story threads across the nine realms that all come to an amazingly coordinated conclusion by the end of the game, with the performances being just as outstanding and the characters fleshed out with well organised personal arcs.
The combat is tighter and less messy, managing Kratos' build is less confusing, the UI overall has seen an incredible improvement over the tiny hard to read text and cramped inventory screen in GOW4. The activities across the map feel much less tedious - Odin's ravens are far easier to spot and actually give you a reward. The post-game is practically oozing with actually fun things to do that don't just feel like chores to get your platinum trophy. All of this content is also a lot more spread out, not all shoved into Midgard and the lake of nine, the other realms don't just act as the setting for a story mission with like 3 things for you to come back and do including some lore marker you can't find for the life of you in some secret area you didn't spot the first time.
Everything in this game is even more amazing than GOW4 and I am extremely excited to see how they can possibly improve on this in the next game.
Strong 9
The combat is tighter and less messy, managing Kratos' build is less confusing, the UI overall has seen an incredible improvement over the tiny hard to read text and cramped inventory screen in GOW4. The activities across the map feel much less tedious - Odin's ravens are far easier to spot and actually give you a reward. The post-game is practically oozing with actually fun things to do that don't just feel like chores to get your platinum trophy. All of this content is also a lot more spread out, not all shoved into Midgard and the lake of nine, the other realms don't just act as the setting for a story mission with like 3 things for you to come back and do including some lore marker you can't find for the life of you in some secret area you didn't spot the first time.
Everything in this game is even more amazing than GOW4 and I am extremely excited to see how they can possibly improve on this in the next game.
Strong 9
2018
This is probably the best written videogame story I've ever experienced. Despite the mythical setting, everything feels so incredibly real - managing to craft this beautiful story with such poignancy and no wasted moments takes an immense amount of talent. There are so many little things I noticed in each scene, especially during a replay, the attention to detail is ridiculous. The combat is insanely fun, the post-game content feels like a DLC almost there's so much to do, I have had a blast 100%-ing this game.
My only complaints - puzzles can be a bit frustrating and clunky at times, have sat there raging for like a good five minutes on multiple occasions. Traversal is a bit sloggish and can be a pain when you're trying to bounce around the map to do stuff in post-game.
Absolutely beautiful. I almost cried during the ending.
Decent 9
My only complaints - puzzles can be a bit frustrating and clunky at times, have sat there raging for like a good five minutes on multiple occasions. Traversal is a bit sloggish and can be a pain when you're trying to bounce around the map to do stuff in post-game.
Absolutely beautiful. I almost cried during the ending.
Decent 9
2013
Pikmin 3 was my first and I'll never forget it. But playing it again, there are a lot of problems I never saw when I was a babe (13 years old) and I had no other Pikmin experience. The environments are beautiful, the music is amazing, but this is a short experience.
Despite being roughly the same length as the first game, the linear storyline structure of the main game and the much greater presence of an actual story in general makes it feel more like you're on a theme park ride than playing a videogame at times. Do this thing, go to this area next, fight this boss. It's not like you're restricted from visiting the other areas but apart from gathering fruit there isn't much incentive for exploration and completion until you finish the story.
On that, the more 'official' bosses compared to the plonk them down somewhere and let the player find it strategy of 1 + 2 is quite nice, and as usual the local fauna are so impeccably designed and brought to life, but due to the very low difficulty of the entire game they don't really pose much of a threat or a challenge. Something 3 absolutely does right here is being able to haul back every single one of the big bosses' corpses to base after you slew them.
I replayed this game on the hard difficulty (which is actually just the normal version of the Wii U game in deluxe) but still managed to beat it 10 days shorter than I did the first time round. There are a lot of things removed and brushed up on in 3 that actually added a lot of strategy and satisfaction in combat from 1 + 2 - auto-lock (not toggleable) is intrusive and can get frustrating during a tense situation when you're trying to aim at a specific enemy and you end up cycling through his friend's corpses a hundred times before you throw a single Pikmin. This whole ordeal which happened to me an unimaginable amount of times during my playthrough was very annoying considering I'd just come from 2 where the strategy is just aiming it yourself and spamming A. Another thing I noticed related to that is that the amount of spamming you can do is greatly reduced which was also very annoying.
These features are meant to sort of 'refine' the combat experience for newer players but all they did for me was get in my way, especially when there is literally no possible reason I can fathom for limiting the rate of Pikmin able to be thrown in a row. Both of these things make it harder to play a little more cautiously, holding back with your squad and taking out a bulborb with a single red Pikmin, and make it stressful in combat situations when you have to press B to try and back out of auto-lock (still not toggleable) just to be able to aim yourself at an enemy. It's annoying.
One thing I think Pikmin 3 absolutely excels at more than any other game in the serious is the atmosphere - coming from the low-fidelity smooth bulblax in the previous games to the beautiful and ridiculously high-polygon beasties and environments in Pikmin 3 is staggering. Everything in this game is absolutely stunning, and it's why I fell in love with Pikmin in the first place.
Another is the final boss fight - the Plasm Wraith. Probably in my top 3 favourite final bosses ever, absolutely terrifying and a testament to the tightly designed gameplay which is especially present in 3. Like the Water Wraith on steroids, it takes that concept and makes the Wraith following you much more of an active threat, through an interconnected labyrinth with multiple routes and shortcuts, with the actual fight at the end making you utilise all of the Pikmin types just like the Titan Dweevil. This is the best fight in the entire series, and I wish 4 took a similar route rather than making the Ancient Sirehound a watered down version of the Titan Dweevil.
I love this game, but it sucks a little.
Strong 8
Despite being roughly the same length as the first game, the linear storyline structure of the main game and the much greater presence of an actual story in general makes it feel more like you're on a theme park ride than playing a videogame at times. Do this thing, go to this area next, fight this boss. It's not like you're restricted from visiting the other areas but apart from gathering fruit there isn't much incentive for exploration and completion until you finish the story.
On that, the more 'official' bosses compared to the plonk them down somewhere and let the player find it strategy of 1 + 2 is quite nice, and as usual the local fauna are so impeccably designed and brought to life, but due to the very low difficulty of the entire game they don't really pose much of a threat or a challenge. Something 3 absolutely does right here is being able to haul back every single one of the big bosses' corpses to base after you slew them.
I replayed this game on the hard difficulty (which is actually just the normal version of the Wii U game in deluxe) but still managed to beat it 10 days shorter than I did the first time round. There are a lot of things removed and brushed up on in 3 that actually added a lot of strategy and satisfaction in combat from 1 + 2 - auto-lock (not toggleable) is intrusive and can get frustrating during a tense situation when you're trying to aim at a specific enemy and you end up cycling through his friend's corpses a hundred times before you throw a single Pikmin. This whole ordeal which happened to me an unimaginable amount of times during my playthrough was very annoying considering I'd just come from 2 where the strategy is just aiming it yourself and spamming A. Another thing I noticed related to that is that the amount of spamming you can do is greatly reduced which was also very annoying.
These features are meant to sort of 'refine' the combat experience for newer players but all they did for me was get in my way, especially when there is literally no possible reason I can fathom for limiting the rate of Pikmin able to be thrown in a row. Both of these things make it harder to play a little more cautiously, holding back with your squad and taking out a bulborb with a single red Pikmin, and make it stressful in combat situations when you have to press B to try and back out of auto-lock (still not toggleable) just to be able to aim yourself at an enemy. It's annoying.
One thing I think Pikmin 3 absolutely excels at more than any other game in the serious is the atmosphere - coming from the low-fidelity smooth bulblax in the previous games to the beautiful and ridiculously high-polygon beasties and environments in Pikmin 3 is staggering. Everything in this game is absolutely stunning, and it's why I fell in love with Pikmin in the first place.
Another is the final boss fight - the Plasm Wraith. Probably in my top 3 favourite final bosses ever, absolutely terrifying and a testament to the tightly designed gameplay which is especially present in 3. Like the Water Wraith on steroids, it takes that concept and makes the Wraith following you much more of an active threat, through an interconnected labyrinth with multiple routes and shortcuts, with the actual fight at the end making you utilise all of the Pikmin types just like the Titan Dweevil. This is the best fight in the entire series, and I wish 4 took a similar route rather than making the Ancient Sirehound a watered down version of the Titan Dweevil.
I love this game, but it sucks a little.
Strong 8
2004
Pikmin 2 is a janky and broken piece of shit of a game and takes a completely different approach to the micromanaging gameplay than Pikmin 1 does, and it still manages to be goddamn amazing.
The issues with the Pikmin and their awkward pathing has been improved upon greatly, but it still shits the bed in a lot of places. I found my guys getting stuck on edges or falling off bridges still occasionally, especially when they trail behind more, but generally you don't experience a mass extinction event from your entire squad falling off a bridge anymore.
I fell in love with Pikmin 2's amazing soundtrack - it especially shines through the cave music being assembled piece-by-piece like a jigsaw puzzle, and retains the masterful transitions and mood changes utilised when what you're doing in the game changes. This is some of the best music I have ever heard in a videogame and it will be stuck in my head for the rest of my life.
Despite there only being one actually new full-size area in this game, the refreshed versions of the Pikmin 1 areas still manage to fill different enough to keep the joy of exploration that was so integral to the first game. The real meat of the gameplay is in the caves - little collectathon gauntlets where the game really tests your Pikmin chops. A lot of people say too much time is spent in the caves, and while I must agree I think more unique settings and themes would have made them more visually appealing, I never got bored of spending the majority of my time underground.
Pikmin 2 is definitely my pick for the hardest game in the series, with the caves providing tightly designed resource management mixed with a lot of the pressure the original game enforced but through rationing exits and breaks, but also because of how ridiculously stupid it is. I can't count on my hands the amount of times I got nuked by a volatile dweevil or a boulder ran over my entire squad. The purple Pikmin are obscenely powerful and broken and yellows continue to be basically useless. This game is rushed and unbalanced to its core - but I think that's a huge part of what makes it so fun. It's a stupid piece of shit and I raged so many times when a cannon beetle threw all of my purples off the side of the map or an anode beetle vaporised my entire squad, but this almost unintended unforgivingness makes it so fun.
Playing this after Pikmin 4, I can see how heavily it laid the groundwork for it, and how 4 improves upon 2 in so many ways, but something about how broken this game is really brings me joy. The characters and the lore are greatly expanded on, fueling my love-hate relationship with Louie even more, and the letters from home are lovely.
The Titan Dweevil is probably my second-favourite boss in the entire series next to the Plasm Wraith. A huge step-up from Emperor Bulblax, actually required skill, and the music was amazing as usual.
This game is so stupid and almost perfect.
Decent 9
The issues with the Pikmin and their awkward pathing has been improved upon greatly, but it still shits the bed in a lot of places. I found my guys getting stuck on edges or falling off bridges still occasionally, especially when they trail behind more, but generally you don't experience a mass extinction event from your entire squad falling off a bridge anymore.
I fell in love with Pikmin 2's amazing soundtrack - it especially shines through the cave music being assembled piece-by-piece like a jigsaw puzzle, and retains the masterful transitions and mood changes utilised when what you're doing in the game changes. This is some of the best music I have ever heard in a videogame and it will be stuck in my head for the rest of my life.
Despite there only being one actually new full-size area in this game, the refreshed versions of the Pikmin 1 areas still manage to fill different enough to keep the joy of exploration that was so integral to the first game. The real meat of the gameplay is in the caves - little collectathon gauntlets where the game really tests your Pikmin chops. A lot of people say too much time is spent in the caves, and while I must agree I think more unique settings and themes would have made them more visually appealing, I never got bored of spending the majority of my time underground.
Pikmin 2 is definitely my pick for the hardest game in the series, with the caves providing tightly designed resource management mixed with a lot of the pressure the original game enforced but through rationing exits and breaks, but also because of how ridiculously stupid it is. I can't count on my hands the amount of times I got nuked by a volatile dweevil or a boulder ran over my entire squad. The purple Pikmin are obscenely powerful and broken and yellows continue to be basically useless. This game is rushed and unbalanced to its core - but I think that's a huge part of what makes it so fun. It's a stupid piece of shit and I raged so many times when a cannon beetle threw all of my purples off the side of the map or an anode beetle vaporised my entire squad, but this almost unintended unforgivingness makes it so fun.
Playing this after Pikmin 4, I can see how heavily it laid the groundwork for it, and how 4 improves upon 2 in so many ways, but something about how broken this game is really brings me joy. The characters and the lore are greatly expanded on, fueling my love-hate relationship with Louie even more, and the letters from home are lovely.
The Titan Dweevil is probably my second-favourite boss in the entire series next to the Plasm Wraith. A huge step-up from Emperor Bulblax, actually required skill, and the music was amazing as usual.
This game is so stupid and almost perfect.
Decent 9
2023
My second favourite Pikmin game so far, next to Pikmin 3. A massive wealth of content that was a joy to experience all the way through to the end.
Pikmin 4 is definitely less challenging than the other games (yes, even 3), but I don't think it cheapens the experience much. I would have liked to have seen a harder difficulty mode or some sort of way to play the game through again with a new challenge but the way Pikmin 4 is laid out it's sort of allergic to repeated playthroughs to achieve perfect dandori. Definitely more a one-and-done after you do everything rather than play 3 times in a row to beat your best time kind of game.
I was very disappointed with the actual final boss - not insanely easy, and I enjoyed the cave gauntlet leading up to it, but very lacklustre. Coming after the masterpiece that was the Plasm Wraith in 3, it's a little sad that all we got was what could have been just a long normal boss in any of the previous games, but I still enjoyed myself heaps.
The environments in this game are absolutely STUNNING and they run beautiful on the Switch, although I slightly prefer the aesthetics of 3. The level design is tight and immaculate, every area feels like it's been paid the upmost attention to by the very small developer team. A lot of the music doesn't stand out to me too much, definitely not as memorable as the previous games, but there are a lot of bangers, and the title music is beautiful.
Oatchi is definitely a welcome addition, combining the multiple captains from 2 and 3 with a lot of very cool new abilities that add a sort of platforming aspect to the environments. Being able to carry all of your Pikmin together is incredibly useful and I don't think it really makes too much of a difference in difficulty.
There are so many quality of life improvements in this entry, more than I could possibly count, the Pikmin are a joy to send to do your bidding. Looking back at how far they've come since 1 it is insane how much more intuitive they are, controlling my little army is easier than ever.
The return of treasures is definitely a 1-UP on Pikmin 3, I read literally every single one of the entries, and getting them from multiple characters as you progress is so fun and cute. The characters are so alive in Pikmin 4, it's so lovely to see more worldbuilding and insightful little nuggets of information about each character through all their interactions.
Definitely one of my favourites. Hopefully the next one won't take a decade.
Strong 9
Pikmin 4 is definitely less challenging than the other games (yes, even 3), but I don't think it cheapens the experience much. I would have liked to have seen a harder difficulty mode or some sort of way to play the game through again with a new challenge but the way Pikmin 4 is laid out it's sort of allergic to repeated playthroughs to achieve perfect dandori. Definitely more a one-and-done after you do everything rather than play 3 times in a row to beat your best time kind of game.
I was very disappointed with the actual final boss - not insanely easy, and I enjoyed the cave gauntlet leading up to it, but very lacklustre. Coming after the masterpiece that was the Plasm Wraith in 3, it's a little sad that all we got was what could have been just a long normal boss in any of the previous games, but I still enjoyed myself heaps.
The environments in this game are absolutely STUNNING and they run beautiful on the Switch, although I slightly prefer the aesthetics of 3. The level design is tight and immaculate, every area feels like it's been paid the upmost attention to by the very small developer team. A lot of the music doesn't stand out to me too much, definitely not as memorable as the previous games, but there are a lot of bangers, and the title music is beautiful.
Oatchi is definitely a welcome addition, combining the multiple captains from 2 and 3 with a lot of very cool new abilities that add a sort of platforming aspect to the environments. Being able to carry all of your Pikmin together is incredibly useful and I don't think it really makes too much of a difference in difficulty.
There are so many quality of life improvements in this entry, more than I could possibly count, the Pikmin are a joy to send to do your bidding. Looking back at how far they've come since 1 it is insane how much more intuitive they are, controlling my little army is easier than ever.
The return of treasures is definitely a 1-UP on Pikmin 3, I read literally every single one of the entries, and getting them from multiple characters as you progress is so fun and cute. The characters are so alive in Pikmin 4, it's so lovely to see more worldbuilding and insightful little nuggets of information about each character through all their interactions.
Definitely one of my favourites. Hopefully the next one won't take a decade.
Strong 9
Super Mario Wonder is by miles the best 2D Mario game. It takes the best parts of 3D World, breaks the boring mold created by New Soup, and makes something actually unique for the first time in over a decade.
The progression gating with wonder seeds, akin to the other 3D games and especially reminiscent of 3D world. The free-roam map mixed with dotted-line paths. The crazy fun wonder flower abilities. This game is different, and that's all it needed to do for a lot of people, but it goes above and beyond. The level design is impeccable, there are new enemies and items everywhere. There are ACTUAL WORLDS instead of just boring biome templates! Each world actually feels like a place in the Flower Kingdom, not just a bridge between the carousel of levels. My personal favourite was definitely the beautiful Shining Falls. The map is riddled with secrets, ones you actually search for rather than secret exits that just give a slightly faster path to the castle.
My only complaint about this game is the complete letdown the bosses were. Literally just Bowser Jr. over and over with slightly different affects. Really disappointing, but the castles weren't really a crazy big part of the game. The design of Bowser's whole new aesthetic was interesting and cool to see something different, but it just kind of feels like they made him green and called it a day. The whole "world concert" thing was a little reminiscent of 3D world's Bowser, but they didn't really explore it much, although the final boss was actually very fun. The final special world levels being this lacklustre theme was also a little disappointing, but it didn't really matter much.
I absolutely loved my time with this game and it was practically begging me to come back after finishing the main story - this is the type of game you have to keep going with and 100% because it's just addicting. I got literally everything in every stage. So fun.
Hopefully a new standard for future 2D Mario outings.
Strong 9
The progression gating with wonder seeds, akin to the other 3D games and especially reminiscent of 3D world. The free-roam map mixed with dotted-line paths. The crazy fun wonder flower abilities. This game is different, and that's all it needed to do for a lot of people, but it goes above and beyond. The level design is impeccable, there are new enemies and items everywhere. There are ACTUAL WORLDS instead of just boring biome templates! Each world actually feels like a place in the Flower Kingdom, not just a bridge between the carousel of levels. My personal favourite was definitely the beautiful Shining Falls. The map is riddled with secrets, ones you actually search for rather than secret exits that just give a slightly faster path to the castle.
My only complaint about this game is the complete letdown the bosses were. Literally just Bowser Jr. over and over with slightly different affects. Really disappointing, but the castles weren't really a crazy big part of the game. The design of Bowser's whole new aesthetic was interesting and cool to see something different, but it just kind of feels like they made him green and called it a day. The whole "world concert" thing was a little reminiscent of 3D world's Bowser, but they didn't really explore it much, although the final boss was actually very fun. The final special world levels being this lacklustre theme was also a little disappointing, but it didn't really matter much.
I absolutely loved my time with this game and it was practically begging me to come back after finishing the main story - this is the type of game you have to keep going with and 100% because it's just addicting. I got literally everything in every stage. So fun.
Hopefully a new standard for future 2D Mario outings.
Strong 9
Somehow manages to be more masterfully written than the first game. Being able to make me feel sympathetic for the person I was despising with Ellie for the first 10 hours of the game is incredibly hard to pull off, but it does. Gut-wrenching. Disappointing to learn what the inspiration Neil Druckmann had for the story is but his art outdoes him by miles.
Strong 9
Strong 9
Incredible, heartbreaking game. Beautifully written characters.
Light 9
Light 9
2016
Exhuasting and unfun. Boring combat. Makes me want to never even just check out the sequel.
Very boring.
Decent 4
Very boring.
Decent 4
Definitely lived up to my expectations. The traversal is greatly improved upon, I feel a million times faster. Although they removed most of the web gadgets from the first game, the more ability focused combat is very fun, and the new gadgets are decent even though I just spam all of them instead of making a specific decision. The UI is different, again, which isn't really a weakness but it does feel a little harder to understand from being less boxy and more thin.
The gameplay is overall much more focused, which I think is definitely an improvement over the tedium that could arise from the map activities from the first game, but it was never anything more than slightly annoying and easily avoidable. I like how all the side-missions and activities have some kind of narrative payoff, like The Flame and the Bird data things. Lots of heartfelt FNSM requests, Howard's was definitely the most touching. Also the inclusion of more gay characters and people of colour making lots of people really pissed off is very funny.
The story is just as compelling as the previous game, albeit with a lot less going on it does feel less like a culmination of events and more like an obvious progression. All of the boss fights were amazing and I feel done better than the previous game, especially with the crush attacks and the ability to parry. The final boss fight with Venom was much, much better than in the first game, giving as much emotional release as Peter defeating Doc Ock but with a more elaborate and tough fight.
Very, very good game. A little moreso than the original.
Decent 9
The gameplay is overall much more focused, which I think is definitely an improvement over the tedium that could arise from the map activities from the first game, but it was never anything more than slightly annoying and easily avoidable. I like how all the side-missions and activities have some kind of narrative payoff, like The Flame and the Bird data things. Lots of heartfelt FNSM requests, Howard's was definitely the most touching. Also the inclusion of more gay characters and people of colour making lots of people really pissed off is very funny.
The story is just as compelling as the previous game, albeit with a lot less going on it does feel less like a culmination of events and more like an obvious progression. All of the boss fights were amazing and I feel done better than the previous game, especially with the crush attacks and the ability to parry. The final boss fight with Venom was much, much better than in the first game, giving as much emotional release as Peter defeating Doc Ock but with a more elaborate and tough fight.
Very, very good game. A little moreso than the original.
Decent 9
This is a pretty good DLC for a very good game. Feels a little disjointed and more like a series of missions than a continuous story, but that also helps to make it feel like you're just Spider-Man dealing with more stuff post-main-game. Definitely serves to set up a lot of stuff for Miles Morales and the second game and minimize a storytelling gap.
The Screwball challenges are annoying. Robocop Hammerhead made me piss myself.
Light 8
The Screwball challenges are annoying. Robocop Hammerhead made me piss myself.
Light 8