Admittedly, Gravity Rush 2 can be a bit messy. The story tends to bounce in a lot of different directions, and the style switching mechanics can be a bit hard to keep track of. But I still love this game because of the improvements it makes to the Gravity Rush gameplay. One of the best parts is Jirga Para Lao, one of the best open worlds in any game. Not only is it insanely large, filled with things to find and sights to see, but if you fall down you can find an entirely new underbelly beneath it. It is huge, and masterful. This is not to mention the new characters that can be met, and the new stages and scenarios.

Absolutely gutted at how much I could not get into this game because gravity shifting is so much fun and the potential within the concept is so huge. The soundtrack is grand and beautiful and the styles and world are dope, but this game's insistence on combat and stealth drove me insane while fighting with the finicky camera and shit targeting. Technically "beat" the game after seeing the credits roll, but I doubt I'll continue with the Eto chapter as chapters 20-21 drained me and I didn't click with the story anyways. Gravity Rush 3 could fixed many of my issues with the second game, but that seems unlikely with Japan Studio's disbandment and Sony seeming more interested in funding sloppy, short-lived live service shooters and generic action games over a series like Gravity Rush.

i am so disappointed. the first gravity rush game was a flawed but thoroughly enjoyable work centered around the extremely fun base mechanic of shifting gravity, it had an interesting world with its own rules and a distinct atmosphere, and the combat felt nice. flaws included the story, characters and the repetitiveness of the game. but, hey, it was tolerable for a game that would take you about 10 hours. it was the exact type of game that was gagging for a sequel. gravity rush 2 is twice as long, and in favour of ironing out these flaws to create a truly remarkable experience it adds an entire warehouse of its own extremely pungent problems.

mind-numbing, basic missions, clunky as fuck mechanics and combat, unspeakable bosses, an extreme lack of focus storywise, my god. its a game that gets sooo tiring and when the story should finish it just keeps going and going and going and ughhhhh. AND THEN YOU GET TO WHERE THE GAME SHOULD FINALLYYYY END AND IT STILL KEEPS ON FUCKING CHOOGLIN HERE COMES MARY LOOKING FOR HARRY

the first half of the story is actually quite interesting, with some interesting (if insanely predictable) twists and turns and a very welcome commentary on the class divide (all rich people have expensive, ill-considered parties and are basically fucking stupid). then, about halfway through the game, something happens to take you out of this new world and back into... more familiar territory.

honest to god, you take out the entirety of the second half of this game, nothing changes. every single enemy is such a fucking nightmare to beat like they are just so specifically designed to irk you which would be fine if you werent being irked for 20 or so hours. overall, i am just so so disappointed that not only does this game do next to nothing to improve on its predecessor (aside from looking prettier) but the devs added in several different features to just make an entire new monster.

how this is the higher rated of the 2 on this site i will never understand. all im left wondering is if gravity rush 1 was actually ever good...

Monkey Wars 5/5

okay joking aside, I think this game is neat. Although I prefer SMB1 and SMB2, this game's on the DS which makes it automatically better than Jr.

no story mode in this one which is a shame but gameplay wise it feels pretty good thanks to the great frame rate. due to this the d pad is much manageable this time around (don't play with the touch screen unless you hate fun). the main game is handled weird though, you unlock worlds in batches as you go on, which is not nearly as cool as going through levels in any order you want. a majority of SMB1 and 2's level are here though as well as a few exclusive levels to this game so the Super Monkey Ball goodness is still here. that said the requirements for the last two worlds are dumb and stupid and I unlocked them anyway what is wrong with me

the four minigames from the console games as well as the two new ones are excellent. Monkey Race is fun, Monkey Fight is just as good, Monkey Bowling is still average, Monkey Golf is back to minigolf (as it should be), Monkey Hockey is surprisingly fun, and Monkey Wars is based and has the best music track in the game SEGA please bring Monkey Wars back and remix this theme I am desperate

oh yeah the music's cool. it's not as cool as the GameCube games and arcade original but a lot of music did end up getting remixed for Banana Blitz so that has to say something. btw 2D sprites and 3D backgrounds/worlds is one of my aesthetics and I'm glad they went this route. monkey designs are a mix between the originals and the redesigns and I think they look pretty clean here (MeeMee does have those soulless eyes though).

anyway I'd say Touch & Roll is worth checking out, especially since it has Monkey Wars. please do so if you can.

AiAi butt

My thoughts as a long time 2D Sonic enjoyer. I wanna start by saying the retail price is outrageous. This is not anywhere close to the quality of Nintendo's 2D games (which are also overpriced). Sonic games are made with lower budgets than ever but they want you to pay more for them. Releasing this in the same week as Mario Wonder is just embarassing.

The first few zones are genuinely good. It's not in the same league as older games and feels messy, but there's KINDA original level theming, a lot of cool fresh new concepts and enemy designs, a new 3D special stage. Its level design is more akin to the erratic CD than 3K but I initally didn't mind that. Control and physics are fairly close to Mania and felt natural to get into. Bosses can go on for way too long but I initially found that they were surprisingly creative and challenging. It's after you reach halfway that all of this takes a nosedive and the jank becomes too much. The last zones feel thrown together to make the 12 total and have you constantly stopping and dying to random unreactable shit. Golden Capital is the worst. This is what YouTubers THINK classic Sonic is. Anyone who's not usually good with Sonic gameplay is probably going to detest the whole experience, which confuses me as this entry seems to be so casual oriented. I can't even imagine how 4 player multiplayer is supposed to work.

The lamer half is not helped to make more exciting by the lacking aesthetic in comparison to CD or Mania's striking art styles, and the most forgettable OST of the entire series. A few tracks sound like Tee Lopes, but a lot of them sound straight up repurposed from Sonic 4. A forced fake "RETRO" sound that doesn't fit. There is a single standout that sounds like a lost Saturn era song, that would've been a way cooler direction for the OST. Sonic music used to be the one thing you could rely on! I can tell there was at least some passion put into this from its animations and so on, and it's easily better than Frontiers, but it's still unbelievable how a series so well known keeps feeling so amateur.

All in all it's okay if frustrating, and might become more fun after more plays to adjust to the bullshit - if I even find it to be replayable. 3K and Mania obliterate it and it also pales in comparison to most 2D titles. I am legit heartbroken that Mania 2 died for THIS. I would rather get more 2D adventures like Rush if we have to lose the sprites. Wait for a big price cut

Less than 3 months after Bayonetta 3, Platinum Games surprised everyone at TGAs of 2022 with the yet another game starting the Umbran Witch, and this time, not only is it a prequel, but a cute, family friendly action adventure game with a story book presentation and art style.

And last March, it was finally released exclusively for the Nintendo Switch...with barley anyone talking about it, which is a shame, because more people need to spread the word about how good it is!

First thing, the story, like I said, this is prequel set before the events of the first game, and it starts a 15 year old Cereza, a banished young witch, who, thanks to a recurring dream she sees whenever she went to sleep, goes to Avalon Forest to find a boy in it, who promise her "great power" if she frees him, something she seeks to increase her power as a witch, so she can be strong enough to free her mother Rosa, who was locked away by her clan, the Umbra Witches, for violating the rule of the Clan that forbids them from "Getting intimate" with a Lumen Sage, their male equivalents.

Little Cereza is not alone, though, as she's also accompanied on her quest to the forest by an unnamed demon she accidentally summoned, and because he ended up possessing her stuffed cat, Cheshire, she simply ended up calling him "Cheshire", he's not happy that he got summoned to the human world, and wants to go back to Inferno, the realm of all demons, but due to Cereza's lack of summoning skills as a witch, she doesn't know how to send him back, but she did promise him to do so if he helps her on her quest to free the mysterious boy, and get that "Great power" she seeks, reluctantly, he agrees, and both of them go into the forest, which is inhabited and ruled by Faeries, creatures that were barely mentioned or explained in Bayonetta 3, but, their nature and lore is heavily fleshed out in this game through many journals that you find scattered around the forest.

The story is a classic "coming of age" tale, about Cereza overcoming her fears and her upbringing as a pariah in the eyes of her clan, and gaining the confidence to become the powerful Umbran Witch she would later grow up to be, her relationship with Cheshire is a major element of the story throughout their journey as well, Cheshire starts as an aloof, selfish beast, who's forced to serve Cereza as a means to an end, with little care in the world, other than going back home, this obviously changes through the many hardships they endure together, there's also Cereza's relationships with Morgana, her caretaker and instructor, who also happens to be a banished member of the Umbra Clan, and the lost boy in the forest, but, I'd rather not spoil anything about it any further.

The game has 12 chapters starring Cereza, but, there's an extra 13th chapter that unlocks after the end credits starring Jeanne, Cereza's long time childhood friend/rival, without spoiling too much, it tries to loosely connect this game to Bayonetta 3, but it leaves more questions than answers, imo, and it didn't really need to exist, but, it does have a few cute character moments, though, especially from ol' Chesh.

So, unlike the previous entries, Bayonetta Origins is not a character action, hack n slash game with complicated combos to pull off, rather, it's a simple action adventure game, where you explore Avalon Forest, and it's many areas on the map, and while the game is mostly linear in progression (you're constantly guided to your current objective), there are plenty of hidden areas and extra goodies that you won't be able to reach or access without upgrading and leveling up Cheshire & Cereza, (more on that later), so, in a way, it has some light Search Action (or, "METROIDVANIA") elements going on.

And while you do by default control Cereza with the left Joycon syick, you also get to control Cheshire with the right Joycon (which means, for the most part, you can play this with a friend using two separate Joycons) Cheshire is the brawn to Cereza's brain, he does most of the combat, and helps with certain environmental puzzles the game throws at you, while Cereza is mostly helpless (she is still a child, after all), she can use her magic to tangle enemies, and activate certain doors and switches, and, story wise, her magic is what's keeping Cheshire alive in the realm of Chaos (AKA; the world of humans), which is why Cheshire has to revert to his stuffed animal form (Called "Hug Mode") to charge up his magic gauge, since he also needs it filled to maintain his demonic "Unleashed" form, and to able to use Elemental Powers, abilities he later gains throughout the game, that are based on earth, fire, leaf, and water, that comes in handy during in combat, and helps him access certain areas in the forest that wouldn't be accessible by normal means.

One criticism that I do hear about the game is that when it comes to the combat, it is a bit on the repetitive and simplistic side, which I guess was kind of a deliberate move on Platinum Games, as they wanted this game to be more accessible to the younger and more casual audiences compared to the main series, and it does have plenty of accessibility and difficulty options to make the game as casual friendly as possible, if the player chooses.

Oh yeah, let's talk about leveling up, so, both Cereza and Cheshire can unlock and upgrade their abilities by leveling up their Skill Trees, each represents a character, and each skill can be unlocked by spending a required number of collectibles, Onyx Roses and Moon Pearls for Cereza, and Avalon Drops and Inferno Fruits for Cheshire, all these collectibles can be found all over Avalon, while Onyx Roses and Avalon Drops are infinite, and can be found literally anywhere, Moon Pearls and Inferno Fruits are finite, and can only be located in certain areas in the forest, some of them are impossible to reach without a guide on standby, despite being marked on the map, as the paths to reach them sometimes aren't clear on the map, speaking of the map, you can only view it when you pause the game, which can be cumbersome, if you ask me.

Presentation wise, this game is pretty to look at, it goes for a faded, but still colorful cell shaded, cutesy storybook aesthetic, complete with flipped pages and everything, the voice acting is great, kudos to whoever voiced Cereza, she sounds adorable, and also the sweet sounding English (or should we say, Vigridian) grandma, who's not only narrating the game's story, but also provides the spoken voice for Cheshire, by reading his lines while doing a tough, grumpy voice whenever he spoke, it's so cute.

The soundtrack is mostly orchestrated, with occasional Gaelic and Celtic sounding tracks that fits the tone of the game perfectly, some later tracks even has ques and motifs that reference the earlier games in the series, a neat piece of fanservice for longtime fans.

There's a lot more I could talk about this game, but I don't want this to be as long as my Bayonetta 3 review (looking at the essay, it probably is, lol), but yeah, whether you're a longtime fan of the series, or a complete newcomer who've never touched a Bayonetta game in your entire life, I can easily recommend checking out this game, considering barely anyone is talking about it, this may end up in a lot of people's "Top 10 overlooked games from 2023" (This is something AntDude recently says, btw, a sentiment a I totally agree with), after the disappointment of Bayonetta 3, this game was what I really needed to play afterwards, and it reminded me of why I like this series, keep in mind, this is a fairly comfy entry compared to its older siblings, so, don't expect too much bombastic, high tension action moments from it till the very end.

If you're still on the fence about the game, there's a demo for it on the Nintendo Switch eShop that gives you a taste of what to expect from it, and if you complete it, your progress carries on to the full game if you decided to buy it, more companies need to do stuff like that.

So, yeah, don't sleep on Bayonetta Origins, go play it!

Oh, and ℌ𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔶 ℌ𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔬𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔫, Witches, Sages, and Faeries! 🎃
(Even though I was planning on posting this review a couple days earlier, but hey, I guess it was meant to be, lol)

Cereza and the Lost Demon sticks out with its own kind of charm as a companion piece to the main trilogy, more sincere and modest, but not without its bang of booms.

Being fundamentally split into both combat and puzzlesolving, both new innovations and elements gradually comes and goes with the intent to break the stale as the chapters walts you through the wondrous scenery of Avalon Forest.

It is a comfy and forgiving game, less bombastic than what you would expect from a Bayo game, save some spectacular bossfights sparingly placed past the slow ascent through the early chapters.

As it unfolds the puzzlesolving is oriented towards the new abilites you gain and whatever is new never fails to entertain.
Combat is fluid and very managable, extorting enemy weaknesses and pulling of finishers feels great as everything seams together in visual and melodic prowess.

By the pull of the curtains, the game wraps up with a deviated focus on its strong narration and awesome final bosses, and less so on setting the final deck for what puzzle elements the earlier chapters introduced.

In the end, I think Cereza and the Lost Demon is a stylish visual dazzle in execution, exuding of narrative charm and identity, comfortable to play despite keeping itself in restraint with its creative core ideas.