Even after countless playthroughs, this game still rules. As a kid, Paper Mario's alluring charm and cartoony aesthetic drew me in, and to this very day it holds up astonishingly well. The vibrant world is brought to life by the colorful cast of characters (shoutouts to the NOA localization team), this game is really just bursting with creativity and charm. While some may think that the gameplay is pretty shallow for an RPG, I believe Intelligent Systems nailed it--we're talking about a JRPG in the Super Mario universe, after all. While the amount of options you have inside of in-game battles feels limited, the flexibility of Paper Mario's gameplay comes from the Badge mechanic. There are plenty of unique badges that can be equipped, keeping things fresh and engaging throughout Mario's adventure.
In summary, Paper Mario is a fun little romp, an essential experience for all fans of Super Mario and a great choice for those looking for a simple, pick-up-and-play RPG. Highly recommended.

I'll begin by expressing my appreciation for Persona 3 Portable. Not my first foray into the world of Megami Tensei, but one that resonated with me greatly. So much charm, so much character. It shined in a sea of JRPGs, a genre I was only knee-deep in. It's phenomenal story would cement its place in my memory for years to come.
For this reason it's easy to ramble about my opinions of this remake, so much so that I find it difficult to narrow down my thoughts and write a cohesive review of this remake. In short, it's great: it checks all the boxes of what you'd expect from a remake, but is it the second coming of Christ that the new-gen Persona fans have made this out to be? Not quite; I found it to be perhaps a little too faithful to the original, with flaws that cannot be ignored. But don't let that dissuade you from playing this, it is an exceptional title through and through, one demanding of your time and attention entirely.
My biggest problem with the game was how easy it is. While I may be a more experienced player in the Megami Tensei franchise, this has to be the most undemanding title in the franchise, at least in terms of skill and gameplay comprehension. Physical attacks are unbalanced, and the introduction of Theurgy skills strip the game of any remaining challenge. There are maybe one or two bosses that are balanced around these Theurgy attacks, with the rest of the game being an easy feat because of them. I cleared the game on the "Hard" difficulty setting without any significantly challenging moments, save for the optional Reaper fight.
While MegaTen (and JRPGs in general) aren't games that I play for the graphical fidelity, I found this entry to be pretty underwhelming in visuals. There are scenes in the game where it looks arguably worse than Persona 5 (2016). That being said, I think it's important to stress that this is all subjective to the player and that for maybe 90% of the game the visuals are plenty serviceable. Again, underwhelming would be the best term to describe the visuals.
The gameplay borrows quite a bit from previous entries in the Persona franchise, namely Persona 5 Royal, which stood out in a crowd of JRPGs for it's unique and ground-breaking gameplay. As such, playing Persona 3 Reload felt like reuniting with a long-lost friend, with it's iconic cast of characters and tight gameplay to boast. Despite my aforementioned grievances with the title, I greatly enjoyed the time I spent just playing the game; from exploring Tartarus and grinding out battles against shadows, to just kicking back and watching the story unfold, there is plenty of fun and enjoyment to be had here.
In summary, this is an exceptional JRPG and a worthy entry to the Persona/MegaTen franchise that both newcomers and returning veterans can--and should--enjoy. In my 96 hours with the title, I found that while the developers may have played it a little too safe in this remake, returning to the world of Persona 3 was delightful, and I'm glad I was able to reunite with the its wonderful cast and experience the captivating story once more.

In short, this is one of the best 3D platformers to release in the past decade, founded by it's unique and innovative movement system and perfectly crafted level design, unfortunately plagued by game-breaking bugs. I've loved every minute of my time spent with this game so far, but through the crashes, clipping and collision issues, and overall lack of polish, this is a tough game to recommend.
I think it's important to begin with the positives of this game, plenty of which make this game sound like the best $30 anyone could spend right now. Like I mentioned previously, the controls and movement of this game make it stand out from any other platformer of recent memory; it embraces quick movement and jumping through the various techniques that can be performed right from the very start of the game. Moving and speed-running your way through levels and racking up a high score is the bread and butter of this title, it's simply loads of fun. Not to mention the level design; each stage is bursting with creativity, something I haven't seen in a 3D platformer since Super Mario 3D World. Lastly, the graphical design and music contribute to the overall aesthetic of this title, painting itself to be something of a late Sega Genesis or Saturn era game; it's simply beautiful in every aspect.
Unfortunately, this game is also the product of perhaps a rushed launch, lacking polish overall with bugs and crashes to supplement this theory. In my time with the game, I experienced plenty of moments where I would randomly clip through the world, causing many unlucky deaths. Not to mention the times where Yo-Yo, the protagonist's sidekick and means of movement, would randomly clip to objects and get stuck on them, leading me to have to restart levels often. Also, this game seems to crash on me every time a cutscene appears in-game or when a tutorial pop-up would appear on screen. This would happen every time I tried to view a cutscene or a tutorial pop-up, without fail, and unfortunately is what led me to making this review. Oddly enough, however, this would not happen when played on my Steam Deck, indicating that it seems to run perfectly on SteamOS? So if you do own a Steam Deck or some other handheld PC capable of operating on SteamOS, maybe that's the way to go if you're interested in this game.
At the time of writing this review, the game has only been released for a total of 4 days, and I'm sure plenty of these bugs and issues will be patched shortly. However, I feel it's important to spread awareness of these issues, as they lead to a much less enjoyable experience and could make-or-break someone's decision to purchase future titles from this developer. While I've greatly enjoyed my time spent with this game so far, I can't help but feel hesitant when recommending this. While it is only $30, a small price to pay for such a charming and delightful title, the bugs and issues I've experienced hold this back from what could have been an astonishing overall product.