duppy
Vice City has some great characters and an amazing story, but the controls and the gameplay ruined my experience. The lack of checkpoints in the missions was pretty annoying, especially considering you lose all your weapons upon death often making it a chore to prepare for the mission again. A lot of the 'difficult' levels like to throw infinitely spawning enemies at you which becomes quite frustrating, especially since you don't respawn with your weapons.
The map of Vice City is really cool, I enjoyed exploring the map a lot and finding rampage activities as well as hidden collectables, it was also really cool when I'd stumble across a weapon I hadn't seen before randomly in the open world. Things like this certainly push exploration more than the recent titles which I love.
I felt like the story started off pretty basic; a drug deal is ambushed and Tommy, the protagonist, must make back the money that was lost. Without going into spoilers, after a few hours, the story began to take some turns and gained a lot more character which had me hooked.
It's a shame the definitive edition remaster of this game was such a disappointment because I think with refined gameplay and modern graphics this game has the potential to be a masterpiece.
The map of Vice City is really cool, I enjoyed exploring the map a lot and finding rampage activities as well as hidden collectables, it was also really cool when I'd stumble across a weapon I hadn't seen before randomly in the open world. Things like this certainly push exploration more than the recent titles which I love.
I felt like the story started off pretty basic; a drug deal is ambushed and Tommy, the protagonist, must make back the money that was lost. Without going into spoilers, after a few hours, the story began to take some turns and gained a lot more character which had me hooked.
It's a shame the definitive edition remaster of this game was such a disappointment because I think with refined gameplay and modern graphics this game has the potential to be a masterpiece.
It took me a while to really get into Xenoblade, but once I did it became one of my best video game experiences of all time. The combat is unlike anything I've played before; it took me a while to get used to but in the end, I was in love with it. I mained Shulk for the majority of my playthrough and was able to master his moves before switching to Melia in the late game whose combat was trickier to learn but felt very rewarding once I figured it out. Chain attacks were so fun; my usual party for half the game consisted of Shulk, Reyn and Sharla, and I got into such a good flow with these characters when performing chain attacks which felt so satisfying, especially with the score and their voice lines building up the hype in the background.
Some of the boss fights were extremely difficult and required going back and levelling up a lot, which was often achievable through completing side quests from across Bionis. For the most part, the side quests provide small new stories with the people of Bionis who reward you upon completing tasks for them which were quite enjoyable, but there were a lot of filler side quests which followed the formula of 'kill these monsters' or 'find these items' which were not only repetitive and boring, but were often extremely unrewarding. The only time where I found this to be an issue when trying to level up was at the very end of the story, a lot of the side quests unlocked at this point are very late-game stuff which I couldn't complete due to simply being too low a level. This is the only point in the game where I couldn't rely on side quests to help me level up and had to go out of my way to grind experience through fighting monsters, which wasn't very fun, but I took it as an opportunity to try out different characters and party combinations after maining Shulk for most of the game.
Each character has such defining characteristics with so much charm, especially the likes of Reyn and Melia who stood out to me the most throughout the story, alongside other characters you won't meet until late-game. Everyone's gameplay differs drastically, allowing for infinite party combinations to tackle different types of enemies in different areas. The AI isn't always perfect, for example, Sharla won't always heal the party when it's crucial, but the warning feature makes up for this after Shulk sees a vision so you can command your party members to perform specific actions at the cost of a party gauge bar which saved my life a million times.
The story overall is just outstanding. I've never played anything like it. The amount of twists and turns it takes you on, it's a rollercoaster. Learning about the world and the war between Homs and Mechon throughout the story is so cool, details like being able to see Mechonis in the distance in certain areas of Bionis add so much character to the story and the world, it blew me away.
After 75 hours logged on Xenoblade, it's become one of my favourite games of all time and I can't wait to continue my journey in the rest of the series. I recommend this game to everyone for the story alone, it's a must-play.
Some of the boss fights were extremely difficult and required going back and levelling up a lot, which was often achievable through completing side quests from across Bionis. For the most part, the side quests provide small new stories with the people of Bionis who reward you upon completing tasks for them which were quite enjoyable, but there were a lot of filler side quests which followed the formula of 'kill these monsters' or 'find these items' which were not only repetitive and boring, but were often extremely unrewarding. The only time where I found this to be an issue when trying to level up was at the very end of the story, a lot of the side quests unlocked at this point are very late-game stuff which I couldn't complete due to simply being too low a level. This is the only point in the game where I couldn't rely on side quests to help me level up and had to go out of my way to grind experience through fighting monsters, which wasn't very fun, but I took it as an opportunity to try out different characters and party combinations after maining Shulk for most of the game.
Each character has such defining characteristics with so much charm, especially the likes of Reyn and Melia who stood out to me the most throughout the story, alongside other characters you won't meet until late-game. Everyone's gameplay differs drastically, allowing for infinite party combinations to tackle different types of enemies in different areas. The AI isn't always perfect, for example, Sharla won't always heal the party when it's crucial, but the warning feature makes up for this after Shulk sees a vision so you can command your party members to perform specific actions at the cost of a party gauge bar which saved my life a million times.
The story overall is just outstanding. I've never played anything like it. The amount of twists and turns it takes you on, it's a rollercoaster. Learning about the world and the war between Homs and Mechon throughout the story is so cool, details like being able to see Mechonis in the distance in certain areas of Bionis add so much character to the story and the world, it blew me away.
After 75 hours logged on Xenoblade, it's become one of my favourite games of all time and I can't wait to continue my journey in the rest of the series. I recommend this game to everyone for the story alone, it's a must-play.
1988
This game introduced some cool concepts at first, but this is easily the most repetitive Mario game I've played, every level felt the same and the boss fights were recycled in nearly every single level. One thing I love about the game though is how it gives Luigi, Toad and Peach their own unique characteristics, making them really fun to play as and switch out for each other.
After over a decade of stale and dull 2D Mario games, Nintendo delivered their most ambitious and creative project yet. Wonder is exactly what the series needed, the hype I had for this game building up to its release was unmatched, and it didn't disappoint.
The main gimmick of Wonder is the wonder flower, which changes every level in the wackiest and weirdest ways you can imagine. One of the most iconic wonder effects is in one of the first levels in the game whereupon activating the wonder flower, all the piranha plants start singing and dancing in a parade, which is just so fun and instantly gives the game so much personality. I'd love to talk about all my favourite wonder effects because there are some amazing callbacks to older games which I appreciate so much, as well as insanely outlandish effects which change the way the entire level is played, but they're something that everyone should experience for the first time on their own and I wouldn't wanna spoil that experience.
Each level offers something new, but not just with wonder flowers; another really cool concept introduced in this game is the depth and layers in certain levels. Sometimes when you go through a pipe, rather than being transported underground or to a different point in the level, you'll appear in an area behind or even in front of the normal level. I found this so cool and they utilised it very well to hide secrets among the levels, I only wish the gimmick appeared more. I often found when I was playing through a level I'd notice new enemies, even when I was so far into the game that I thought I must have seen everything by now. I found there were really no enemies that actually annoyed me in this title, unlike previous ones. For example, I used to find cheep cheeps and other fish-type enemies so annoying in other 2D Mario titles due to the fact you couldn't really kill them unless you had a power-up, and slowly swimming away from them was annoying and sometimes difficult due to slow acceleration in water, but Wonder allows for you to step on the heads of those enemies even when swimming, and traversal underwater is made faster and more enjoyable through the use of badges.
In previous Mario games, each playable character would have different characteristics, For example, playing as Luigi would allow you to jump higher than normal, but his movement on the ground was more slippery. Wonder replaces that concept with badges, which I was kinda iffy on at first but it's actually so much better because it allows them to add so many more different ways to play the game due to the fact they aren't tied to certain characters. There are 3 types of badges; one which slightly alters movement, like using your cap as a parachute, being able to swim faster underwater or using a vine as a grappling hook. Another type is more utility-based, like gaining the ability to sense flower coins and wonder seeds or turning every power-up into a fire flower. The final type is more like a challenge, such as turning your character invisible throughout the level or making you jump continuously like a spring. These badges really make the game so much more fun, at first I thought a lot of them were pretty useless, and I was gonna stick to the parachute cap badge for most of the game, but I actually found myself switching between them way more than I ever expected. In the end, I was really glad they made each character play the same to make room for more badges.
The character roster is awesome. We can finally play as Daisy in a mainline Mario game! I can't believe they haven't done this sooner, I mean it feels weird to say we had playable Rosalina before playable Daisy. The roster consists of: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yellow/Blue Toad, Toadette, Green/Red/Yellow/Light-Blue Yoshi and... Nabbit. I have no idea why Nabbit was a character in NSMBU, and I have no idea why he still is in this game. The only characters who don't have the same playstyle are the Yoshi's and Nabbit, as they're easy-mode characters who can't take damage, and the Yoshi's can flutter jump. I was kind of disappointed to learn Yoshi was easy mode because I would've loved to play as the guy without having a massive advantage, but it's understandable that if Nintendo had to make any characters easy mode, that it be those ones. There are some really cool accompanying characters throughout the game too, like the talking flowers which comment on things you do in the game, sometimes hinting at secrets or reminding you to turn back if you missed a wonder flower. I honestly don't know how they managed to make these guys hilarious when they sound annoying in concept, but I'm so glad they're in the game. As I mentioned before, the enemy variety in the game is very impressive, constantly throwing new enemies at you to adapt to in each course. This is why I was so disappointed when it came to the boss fights.
Each boss fight in Wonder takes place in a palace, where at the end you enter a pipe into a square room with Bowser Jr. Every single time. When I saw that there were no Koopalings in this title, I was relieved, but I'm not sure if having just 1 boss repeated every time is much better. Bowser Jr. uses wonder flowers to mix up the fight each time, which is pretty cool, but the concept still remains the same; wait for him to exit his shell and jump on him 3 times. I really miss the bosses in the original New Super Mario Bros on the DS, they were always unique and relevant to the world in which they resided, but Wonder completely lacks that, and the fact that enemy variety is so strong in every other level makes me wonder what went wrong. As well as this, the airship levels are just boring. They recycle the same wonder effect each time and there is no mini-boss fight or anything, there's just a switch you have to jump on at the end and it's extremely easy every time. This is the first of two drawbacks that stop Wonder from being a masterpiece in my opinion.
The second drawback is the post-game content. I won't go into detail for this as to avoid spoilers, but Mario games are well-known for having a lot of post-game content, but after 100%ing the game, I found Wonder was quite lacking in that regard.
Despite a couple of drawbacks, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of my favourite Mario games of all time and I truly believe it will pave the path for a very bright future for the 2D Mario series for the first time since 2006.
The main gimmick of Wonder is the wonder flower, which changes every level in the wackiest and weirdest ways you can imagine. One of the most iconic wonder effects is in one of the first levels in the game whereupon activating the wonder flower, all the piranha plants start singing and dancing in a parade, which is just so fun and instantly gives the game so much personality. I'd love to talk about all my favourite wonder effects because there are some amazing callbacks to older games which I appreciate so much, as well as insanely outlandish effects which change the way the entire level is played, but they're something that everyone should experience for the first time on their own and I wouldn't wanna spoil that experience.
Each level offers something new, but not just with wonder flowers; another really cool concept introduced in this game is the depth and layers in certain levels. Sometimes when you go through a pipe, rather than being transported underground or to a different point in the level, you'll appear in an area behind or even in front of the normal level. I found this so cool and they utilised it very well to hide secrets among the levels, I only wish the gimmick appeared more. I often found when I was playing through a level I'd notice new enemies, even when I was so far into the game that I thought I must have seen everything by now. I found there were really no enemies that actually annoyed me in this title, unlike previous ones. For example, I used to find cheep cheeps and other fish-type enemies so annoying in other 2D Mario titles due to the fact you couldn't really kill them unless you had a power-up, and slowly swimming away from them was annoying and sometimes difficult due to slow acceleration in water, but Wonder allows for you to step on the heads of those enemies even when swimming, and traversal underwater is made faster and more enjoyable through the use of badges.
In previous Mario games, each playable character would have different characteristics, For example, playing as Luigi would allow you to jump higher than normal, but his movement on the ground was more slippery. Wonder replaces that concept with badges, which I was kinda iffy on at first but it's actually so much better because it allows them to add so many more different ways to play the game due to the fact they aren't tied to certain characters. There are 3 types of badges; one which slightly alters movement, like using your cap as a parachute, being able to swim faster underwater or using a vine as a grappling hook. Another type is more utility-based, like gaining the ability to sense flower coins and wonder seeds or turning every power-up into a fire flower. The final type is more like a challenge, such as turning your character invisible throughout the level or making you jump continuously like a spring. These badges really make the game so much more fun, at first I thought a lot of them were pretty useless, and I was gonna stick to the parachute cap badge for most of the game, but I actually found myself switching between them way more than I ever expected. In the end, I was really glad they made each character play the same to make room for more badges.
The character roster is awesome. We can finally play as Daisy in a mainline Mario game! I can't believe they haven't done this sooner, I mean it feels weird to say we had playable Rosalina before playable Daisy. The roster consists of: Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yellow/Blue Toad, Toadette, Green/Red/Yellow/Light-Blue Yoshi and... Nabbit. I have no idea why Nabbit was a character in NSMBU, and I have no idea why he still is in this game. The only characters who don't have the same playstyle are the Yoshi's and Nabbit, as they're easy-mode characters who can't take damage, and the Yoshi's can flutter jump. I was kind of disappointed to learn Yoshi was easy mode because I would've loved to play as the guy without having a massive advantage, but it's understandable that if Nintendo had to make any characters easy mode, that it be those ones. There are some really cool accompanying characters throughout the game too, like the talking flowers which comment on things you do in the game, sometimes hinting at secrets or reminding you to turn back if you missed a wonder flower. I honestly don't know how they managed to make these guys hilarious when they sound annoying in concept, but I'm so glad they're in the game. As I mentioned before, the enemy variety in the game is very impressive, constantly throwing new enemies at you to adapt to in each course. This is why I was so disappointed when it came to the boss fights.
Each boss fight in Wonder takes place in a palace, where at the end you enter a pipe into a square room with Bowser Jr. Every single time. When I saw that there were no Koopalings in this title, I was relieved, but I'm not sure if having just 1 boss repeated every time is much better. Bowser Jr. uses wonder flowers to mix up the fight each time, which is pretty cool, but the concept still remains the same; wait for him to exit his shell and jump on him 3 times. I really miss the bosses in the original New Super Mario Bros on the DS, they were always unique and relevant to the world in which they resided, but Wonder completely lacks that, and the fact that enemy variety is so strong in every other level makes me wonder what went wrong. As well as this, the airship levels are just boring. They recycle the same wonder effect each time and there is no mini-boss fight or anything, there's just a switch you have to jump on at the end and it's extremely easy every time. This is the first of two drawbacks that stop Wonder from being a masterpiece in my opinion.
The second drawback is the post-game content. I won't go into detail for this as to avoid spoilers, but Mario games are well-known for having a lot of post-game content, but after 100%ing the game, I found Wonder was quite lacking in that regard.
Despite a couple of drawbacks, Super Mario Bros. Wonder is one of my favourite Mario games of all time and I truly believe it will pave the path for a very bright future for the 2D Mario series for the first time since 2006.
1990
Super Mario World is a masterpiece, a blueprint for all 2D platformers to come after it. When I first played through the game, I didn't put much time into exploring the map or diving deep into the levels. I still enjoyed the game very much and completed it by defeating Bowser, but I didn't look far beyond the surface level. Upon picking it back up, I was told there were 96 levels to beat, and I had only found 45 in my original save. This was when I realised Super Mario World had so much more to offer.
One of the main things I think this game does well is the world map. The excitement of finding secret exits to levels and the mystery when discovering Star Road is something they haven't been able to replicate in any 2D Mario games to come after it. The way switch palaces are presented on the map is really cool because, if you don't find the switch palace in the first area, you'll progress through Yoshi's Island and notice missing blocks, outlined in yellow. When progressing from Yoshi's Island to Donut Plains, you can see the yellow switch palace peaking out on a hill from Yoshi's Island, encouraging the player to go back and get it to fill in the missing blocks, not only encouraging map exploration but also encouraging the player to go back, replay levels and find their secrets.
The emphasis on secrets in this game is amazing, my favourite world is the Forest of Illusions because it is entirely based on finding unconventional routes through the levels to progress. Each level in this area has a secret exit that leads somewhere new and is even required to progress onto the next world.
Looking back on this game, it's insane to see how many concepts were introduced here that became a staple to the series that I just hadn't noticed because I'm so used to seeing them in every title. The main one is Yoshi, who I think peaked in this game; I love how you can bring him from one level to another, allowing for more complex secrets. As well as this, Yoshi can gain different abilities when holding Koopa, different per colour. These concepts seem to have been abandoned in the later games though sadly.
Overall, Super Mario World is a must-play for any fan of platformers as it completely redefined the genre and still holds up well to this day.
One of the main things I think this game does well is the world map. The excitement of finding secret exits to levels and the mystery when discovering Star Road is something they haven't been able to replicate in any 2D Mario games to come after it. The way switch palaces are presented on the map is really cool because, if you don't find the switch palace in the first area, you'll progress through Yoshi's Island and notice missing blocks, outlined in yellow. When progressing from Yoshi's Island to Donut Plains, you can see the yellow switch palace peaking out on a hill from Yoshi's Island, encouraging the player to go back and get it to fill in the missing blocks, not only encouraging map exploration but also encouraging the player to go back, replay levels and find their secrets.
The emphasis on secrets in this game is amazing, my favourite world is the Forest of Illusions because it is entirely based on finding unconventional routes through the levels to progress. Each level in this area has a secret exit that leads somewhere new and is even required to progress onto the next world.
Looking back on this game, it's insane to see how many concepts were introduced here that became a staple to the series that I just hadn't noticed because I'm so used to seeing them in every title. The main one is Yoshi, who I think peaked in this game; I love how you can bring him from one level to another, allowing for more complex secrets. As well as this, Yoshi can gain different abilities when holding Koopa, different per colour. These concepts seem to have been abandoned in the later games though sadly.
Overall, Super Mario World is a must-play for any fan of platformers as it completely redefined the genre and still holds up well to this day.
2002
I found the first half of Red Faction II to be pretty awful; most of it was set indoors which made the destructible environment feel very scripted and kinda unnecessary. As well as this, the characters were quite corny and not very likeable. However, in the second half of the game, I found a lot more charm in it. There were more outdoor settings which made the demolition aspects way more fun and intuitive, the characters started to grow on me, especially Repta who is easily my favourite character in the game, and there were some really cool boss fights towards the end, although the final one was a bit disappointing.
There's something about the gunplay in this game that I really like, I can't really put my finger on what it is because I think on paper it's extremely basic. I love the variety of different weapons you can find throughout the game, at first it felt like they were throwing a lot at me in terms of weapons, especially after coming straight from the first Red Faction game which didn't have too much variety, but by the end I found it so fun to switch between weapons and learning which weapons were effective against each enemy.
The story was very weak in this game. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you what was going on 90% of the time, it felt quite messy while simultaneously feeling very lacklustre. While some characters grew on me by the end, there were still some like Echo and Molov who I just didn't really care about at all.
There's something about the gunplay in this game that I really like, I can't really put my finger on what it is because I think on paper it's extremely basic. I love the variety of different weapons you can find throughout the game, at first it felt like they were throwing a lot at me in terms of weapons, especially after coming straight from the first Red Faction game which didn't have too much variety, but by the end I found it so fun to switch between weapons and learning which weapons were effective against each enemy.
The story was very weak in this game. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you what was going on 90% of the time, it felt quite messy while simultaneously feeling very lacklustre. While some characters grew on me by the end, there were still some like Echo and Molov who I just didn't really care about at all.
Despite my love for the base game, I struggled with this expansion. The story is one of the few things I enjoyed about it, it's relatively generic overall but it's centred around Melia who was my favourite character in the base game so I enjoyed it a lot for that reason. As for the gameplay, while it's almost identical to the base game, they removed chain attacks for some reason which was one of the most fun parts of Xenoblade's combat system for me. The new characters are two Nopon who are gameplay-wise identical to Reyn and Sharla. I found them fun at first but the novelty wore off fast and by the end, I just found them annoying. Finally, the last boss was one of the most frustrating bosses I've ever fought. I genuinely considered giving up because of how much I hated that fight but I remember casual mode exists; I'm not the type to lower the difficulty for the sake of a boss in games, I usually have too much pride for that, but I really didn't care with this boss and was just glad it was over.
I'd only recommend this expansion for the story, it's worth it for the Melia content but not much else outside of that.
I'd only recommend this expansion for the story, it's worth it for the Melia content but not much else outside of that.
2001
Red Faction's main gimmick is the destructible environment which was really cool and fun to mess around with but it wasn't utilised within the main story enough, I can only recall one time where it was actually necessary to destroy the environment to progress. The story was enjoyable; as a Saints Row fan, it was really cool to see where Ultor originated.
My main issue with the game was the level design. There were some moments where I found it impossible to progress without using cheat codes. For example, at one point in the story, you're limited to only a pistol and no armour; I had run out of ammo on my pistol and there was no way to stealthily progress through the next section of the game so I just kept dying to guards. There were a couple of moments like this which really brings the game down for me because I hate having to fall back on cheats. As well as this, the game was extremely buggy and I had to download a mod just to fix these bugs and allow me to progress through some parts. I assume this is just an issue with the PC port of the game. Another thing that really bothers me about the game is how awful the boss fights are. The combat in the game is pretty average, and the boss fights don't have any unique gimmicks or concepts to them, it's literally just shooting them until they die.
My main issue with the game was the level design. There were some moments where I found it impossible to progress without using cheat codes. For example, at one point in the story, you're limited to only a pistol and no armour; I had run out of ammo on my pistol and there was no way to stealthily progress through the next section of the game so I just kept dying to guards. There were a couple of moments like this which really brings the game down for me because I hate having to fall back on cheats. As well as this, the game was extremely buggy and I had to download a mod just to fix these bugs and allow me to progress through some parts. I assume this is just an issue with the PC port of the game. Another thing that really bothers me about the game is how awful the boss fights are. The combat in the game is pretty average, and the boss fights don't have any unique gimmicks or concepts to them, it's literally just shooting them until they die.
Insomniac managed to create one of the best video game sequels I've ever played; taking everything from the original game, building upon it and making it infinitely better.
Spider-Man 2's story is masterful, filled with amazing moments and iconic characters. The relationships between each character throughout the game and seeing how they change under the symbiote's influence is so cool and it really allowed the voice actors to thrive, especially Yuri Lowenthal who did an absolutely amazing job as Peter once again in this game. One thing I disliked about the first game was the MJ missions which were improved so much in this title by giving her an actual weapon to use rather than just sneaking around enemies.
The combat in Spider-Man 2 is even better than the previous titles. One major change that I didn't expect to like was removing the gadget wheel and instead being limited to only 4, but I found I actually used these 4 gadgets way more in Spider-Man 2 than I ever did in the first game. I think this is because the fact that there are only 4 gadgets allowed Insomniac to beef each of them out a bit more, giving them multiple purposes when fully upgraded. I found it really fun to mix the gadgets together in combos as well. The main new addition to combat in this title is heavy attacks, which I really struggled to adapt to because the normal dodge move doesn't work on these attacks, instead, you have to either jump or parry using L1. Even after beating the game, I still accidentally press circle to dodge instead of L1 to parry because I'm just so used to it. Again, I like this feature in theory I just really struggled to adapt to it in gameplay.
The traversal in this game is amazing. I remember hearing that the previous titles were restricted by PS4 hardware on how fast web-swinging could be, and the way Insomniac utilises the PS5 hardware to let us fly through New York makes for the most fun traversal in any game I've ever played. There is a fast travel feature in this game which is really impressive due to its instant load times but I literally never use it because of how fun traversal is. They also added web wings to this game allowing you to glide as well as swing, which initially I was sceptical about because I thought it'd take away from the swinging but instead, they work really well alongside each other.
One thing that annoyed me a lot about this game is how much it holds your hand. I remember being 70% through the story and being hit with "Hold R2 to swing" as if I didn't already know how to do that. It really takes you out of the flow of the game when it constantly gives you tutorials for things you already know. The handholding is also present in missions where you're required to zip to walls or roofs to progress through a building; rather than having to discover the path yourself, it normally points your camera directly at the zip point, removing any opportunity for potential exploration.
Overall, this game is an absolute must-play in my opinion, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for Insomniac's Spider-Man games.
Spider-Man 2's story is masterful, filled with amazing moments and iconic characters. The relationships between each character throughout the game and seeing how they change under the symbiote's influence is so cool and it really allowed the voice actors to thrive, especially Yuri Lowenthal who did an absolutely amazing job as Peter once again in this game. One thing I disliked about the first game was the MJ missions which were improved so much in this title by giving her an actual weapon to use rather than just sneaking around enemies.
The combat in Spider-Man 2 is even better than the previous titles. One major change that I didn't expect to like was removing the gadget wheel and instead being limited to only 4, but I found I actually used these 4 gadgets way more in Spider-Man 2 than I ever did in the first game. I think this is because the fact that there are only 4 gadgets allowed Insomniac to beef each of them out a bit more, giving them multiple purposes when fully upgraded. I found it really fun to mix the gadgets together in combos as well. The main new addition to combat in this title is heavy attacks, which I really struggled to adapt to because the normal dodge move doesn't work on these attacks, instead, you have to either jump or parry using L1. Even after beating the game, I still accidentally press circle to dodge instead of L1 to parry because I'm just so used to it. Again, I like this feature in theory I just really struggled to adapt to it in gameplay.
The traversal in this game is amazing. I remember hearing that the previous titles were restricted by PS4 hardware on how fast web-swinging could be, and the way Insomniac utilises the PS5 hardware to let us fly through New York makes for the most fun traversal in any game I've ever played. There is a fast travel feature in this game which is really impressive due to its instant load times but I literally never use it because of how fun traversal is. They also added web wings to this game allowing you to glide as well as swing, which initially I was sceptical about because I thought it'd take away from the swinging but instead, they work really well alongside each other.
One thing that annoyed me a lot about this game is how much it holds your hand. I remember being 70% through the story and being hit with "Hold R2 to swing" as if I didn't already know how to do that. It really takes you out of the flow of the game when it constantly gives you tutorials for things you already know. The handholding is also present in missions where you're required to zip to walls or roofs to progress through a building; rather than having to discover the path yourself, it normally points your camera directly at the zip point, removing any opportunity for potential exploration.
Overall, this game is an absolute must-play in my opinion, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for Insomniac's Spider-Man games.
I love all the RPG elements in Skyrim, there is an infinite amount of things to do in the game and the main questlines are really fun and provide a very strong story. My favourite thing about RPGs is learning about the world and lore through the people you meet and places you discover, and Skyrim mastered this. The only thing that holds this game back for me is the combat, it feels quite one-dimensional, even after improving it through skill trees.
2009
This game kicked off the massively successful franchise that we have today and it's really cool to look back at where it all started. I really enjoyed my time with the first 2/3 of the game; the story was gripping, the characters were interesting and the puzzles were challenging. However, towards the end of the game, its enjoyability begins to suffer. Without going into spoilers, the focus on gameplay seemed to shift from puzzles to platforming, and the platforming was nowhere near as engaging as the puzzles were. As well as this, the enemies and boss fights were pretty awful. Throughout the game, you'll encounter mini-bosses who reward you upon defeating them, and then they'll begin reappearing as regular enemies, providing a lack of enemy variation and devaluing the mini-boss fights. The final boss fight feels extremely scripted, I didn't feel like I had much control over how the fight went, as long as I attacked the boss when the game allowed me to, and the gameplay throughout this whole segment is just lacklustre and can get really annoying at some points.
The combat in God of War is quite enjoyable, you can upgrade your weapons to unlock new moves which are fun to try out and learn. You also unlock magic abilities granted to you by different Gods throughout the game which I think is a really cool concept since it constantly freshens up the gameplay, however, the balancing between each ability is poor as you'll find yourself sticking to the same couple weapons/abilities as they're infinitely more useful.
The combat in God of War is quite enjoyable, you can upgrade your weapons to unlock new moves which are fun to try out and learn. You also unlock magic abilities granted to you by different Gods throughout the game which I think is a really cool concept since it constantly freshens up the gameplay, however, the balancing between each ability is poor as you'll find yourself sticking to the same couple weapons/abilities as they're infinitely more useful.
Super Mario Land 2 takes the first game and makes it better in every way. I love the world map and how Wario's castle is one of the first things you come across despite requiring all 6 golden coins to enter. The level design and boss variation was awesome and the bunny power up is still peak to this day.
2004
Faithful remake of the original Super Mario 64 with some cool new levels and bosses. I like how different characters have their own unique power-ups making levels approachable in different ways, but I'm not a big fan of how you start off as Yoshi; he feels kind of useless which I feel is proven by the fact most levels are only progressable as Yoshi if you use the caps to transform into a different, more useful character. The controls also really suck in this game.
2022
As someone who's been a Saints Row fan since 2014, I had hope for this game despite the marketing being pretty poor prior to release. However, this game just doesn't feel like a Saints Row game at all; the other Saints are boring, unlikeable and uninspired, the antagonists have absolutely no depth or personality to them except for maybe The Nahualli, and this is the first Saints Row game where I've genuinely disliked the boss that you play as in the game.
The only good thing about this game is the customisation, which has really peaked here compared to every other entry in the game. It's just a shame they couldn't put as much effort as they did in customisation into the other aspects of the game.
The only good thing about this game is the customisation, which has really peaked here compared to every other entry in the game. It's just a shame they couldn't put as much effort as they did in customisation into the other aspects of the game.
Everything about this Wario Land game is so fun, I only wish it was longer because I beat it with only an hour of playtime.
This title keeps mostly everything from the first game but the movement feels smoother and the level design is infinitely better and much more enjoyable. The 3D aspects of the Virtual Boy were shown off well in this game through the ability to jump to and from the background of the level. This feature was so much fun and used well in each level to hide cool secrets. The boss fights were also cool in this title but were a bit too easy; the only one I didn't beat first try was the final boss.
I highly recommend this game to fans of the Wario Land series!
This title keeps mostly everything from the first game but the movement feels smoother and the level design is infinitely better and much more enjoyable. The 3D aspects of the Virtual Boy were shown off well in this game through the ability to jump to and from the background of the level. This feature was so much fun and used well in each level to hide cool secrets. The boss fights were also cool in this title but were a bit too easy; the only one I didn't beat first try was the final boss.
I highly recommend this game to fans of the Wario Land series!