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.

I tried playing The Last of Us a couple of times in the past and I always struggled to get into it, but I finally decided to give it a proper chance after hearing everyone praising it so much. And wow. I'm so glad I did.

This is one of the best stories I've ever played; the characters are so well-written and so deep, the game starts with a tragic prologue that brings a tear to my eye, setting the tone for the rest of the game and instantly building up Joel's character. Ellie's character is so cool, and watching the way their relationship develops throughout the game is incredible. It's also worth mentioning the amount of characters you learn about solely through the notes found around the map, particularly in abandoned homes. The world-building here is cool and I found it so fun to learn about these people's lives.

The gameplay was something I struggled with at first, I'm not much of a stealth-enjoyer but I really enjoyed it in The Last of Us. I think the fact you don't have much to work with at the start of the game is what put me off for so long, but once you start unlocking more weapons and craftable items, it gets so much more interesting and fun. The items allow you to make the stealth a lot more interesting, and having more weapon variety later in the game provides more options for how you approach enemies, meaning you don't have to rely on stealth at all a lot of the time. When I realised I didn't have to use stealth I was super excited, but I ended up using it all the time anyway because of how fun it got, especially in the final mission. The puzzles throughout the game were a good difficulty, I feel like so many games hold your hand too much with puzzles but it didn't feel that way here; they weren't too difficult, but the solutions weren't shoved in your face which I appreciate.

The world is horrifically beautiful, it looks and feels incredibly run-down while capturing the beauty of nature that has overgrown in the world they once lived in. This adds to the dynamic between Joel and Ellie too, as Joel remembers what the world used to be like while Ellie never experienced it and is filled with curiosity.

Overall, I think The Last of Us is a must-play for everyone. I can't believe I overlooked this game for so long, it's a masterpiece.

I really wanted to finish this one but oh my god it's so terrible. It's laughably bad. I expected the story to be either a retelling of the 2002 movie or some sort of tie-in but it's neither, it's a whole new story that I guess is just like an 'alternate' to the movie story, which would be fine if it didn't suck. The voice acting is awful, you'd expect Tobey Maguire to be good at voicing Spider-Man, maybe it was a matter of bad direction. The worst part of the game is the gameplay, it's so clunky and difficult, I had to restart missions so many times because inputs just weren't inputting, and the missions have no checkpoints which doesn't exactly help. After a month of chipping away at this game, I'm finally giving up.

Firewatch starts with a few minutes of text providing context for the story for the rest of the game, allowing you to choose certain aspects of Henry's life and his relationship with his wife. Something I love about this game is that the impact these options have on the story is purely in the mind of the player; the story doesn't change based on what you've picked, but your perspective and feelings towards each character do. In the forest, you meet Delilah, a faceless character you only talk to through the radio. The voice acting in this game is amazing; I was always excited at every chance to talk to Delilah because the interactions were always super engaging, it sometimes made me want to pick the most dramatic dialogue options just to see how either character would react.

The world of Firewatch is really impressive, the story takes you on a relatively linear path through the forest even though it's an entirely open world. It was somehow extremely easy and intuitive to navigate the forest based on the directions given by Delilah, there were very few moments where I felt like I was going the wrong way but when I did, I just brought out my map to put myself back on track. The UI is so seamless in this game; rather than viewing the map by pausing the game or a minimap in the corner of your screen, Henry actually has a physical map and compass, further immersing you in the feeling of hiking through the forest. I love the way this is done because so many games can have an overbearing UI but Firewatch keeps it as minimal as possible which allows you to enjoy the beautiful scenery even more.

Nidhogg is one of the most enjoyable and addictive couch co-op experiences I've had. The simple tug-of-war concept brought to life through fencing makes the game super easy to pick up and understand which is perfect for playing with friends. The retro-style graphics and simplistic gameplay mechanics give the game a charm that I think is lost in the second title, which introduces more weapon types and more detailed graphics.

The singleplayer campaign to Nidhogg is alright, it's pretty repetitive except you fight a slightly harder AI each level. The game is definitely designed to be co-op and fighting a computer just doesn't feel the same as fighting your friend because a lot of the fun comes from human error and outplaying your friend which just doesn't translate well against AI.

Arkham Asylum perfectly simulates the immersion of being Batman through thrilling combat, gadgets, and stealth. The characters in this game are incredible, the most notable being the illusive Scarecrow who drags Batman through traumatising exploitations of his fears. The main thing that drags this game down for me is the final boss fight; I found every boss up until this point really fun and unique, but this one just throws waves of regular enemies at you with little interaction with the actual boss.

Arkham City manages to take everything Asylum did and improve on every aspect. I love how simple the combat seems even though it actually has a ton of depth to it due to the finishers and hotkey system which allows you to use any of your gadgets in combat without having to switch between them and break the flow of the combat. The boss fights in Arkham City were really fun, after the final boss in Asylum was disappointing it was very reassuring to see a consistent level of quality in City. Even some of the boss fights in side missions were incredible. This game is home to some of the best side missions I've ever played, with different characters from Batman's catalogue of villains giving each story so much personality and identity. The range of characters throughout the game makes the city feel so alive and exciting, I only wish that some of them were a bit more fleshed out. Traversing through the city was a highlight of the game for me, especially upon unlocking a certain upgrade which makes it infinitely more fun.

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.

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.

I really struggled to get into Wario Land 3 because of how his abilities are progressively unlocked throughout the game. I think going straight into this game after beating Wario Land 2 was quite jarring since you begin with barely any abilities at all, which just put me off playing for ages.

However, once I did start unlocking more abilities, I found the game a lot more enjoyable and started to appreciate the level design and how they introduced new ways to approach each level once you unlock new abilities and power-ups. Although I feel like this concept just isn't really for me, I love the feeling of realising a power-up I got will allow me to reach something I noticed on a previous level, but I think I prefer when that's used for secrets as opposed to required level progression. Also playing the same level 4 times just feels a bit repetitive sometimes, even though the level is slightly different each time.

The boss fights were pretty hit or miss, I especially disliked the ones where it only took 1 hit for you to get thrown out of the fight, then have to climb all the way back up just to try again, those were very annoying, but there were definitely some stand-out ones that I really liked, like the football match against the rabbit which was very reminiscent of the basketball boss in Wario Land 2.

Overall, I appreciate and respect what Wario Land 3 is and how the series is constantly trying new things resulting in there never being a stale moment, but it just wasn't really for me.

Injustice 2's story is amazing and I had loads of fun with it, despite the fact it's basically just a movie with an occasional fight (there are over 2 and a half hours of cutscenes). I loved the fact that you could choose which character to use in scenarios where multiple people were teaming up, especially at a certain point in the final act.

As for the gameplay, it was fine. Not bad, but also not too much to praise. The special moves for some characters are really cool and well-animated; the animation throughout the game as a whole is just super impressive. Would definitely recommend this game to DC fans.

Yoshi's Island is a prequel to Super Mario World, in which you take the role of Yoshi and must reunite baby Mario and Luigi after Luigi is kidnapped by Bowser. The story is complemented by the hand-drawn art style which is one of the best things about this game, it almost feels like you're playing the game from baby Mario's perspective since the whole world feels like a colouring book.

A highlight of the game for me was the boss fights, each one was super unique and really fun, especially the final one. Each boss follows a similar structure where they look like regular enemies except they're abnormally large due to Kamek's magic, which is a little bit gimmicky but I liked it a lot and found it charming. The final boss might be one of the best boss fights in any Mario game, it provides a decent challenge as well as fun gameplay while being extremely visually impressive.

Another highlight in my playthrough was the 2.5D effect that some levels have. This didn't happen much at all, but there was 1 level towards the end where it did, and it just looked so cool and worked so well with the wonderful art direction of the game.

However, the game did fall short for me towards the end. The last couple of worlds had some really cool levels but a lot of the enemies you encounter are just frustrating. The worst offenders of this are Tap-Taps, who are literally impossible to kill unless something is rolled into it, I found a lot of enemies like this very annoying and it definitely made me enjoy the end of the game less, although the final level made up for it.

Another thing that bothered me about the game was how long each level is. At first, I thought this was a nice change of pace and I really enjoyed each level, but then I started noticing secrets that I'd missed in certain levels, and the thought of replaying the entire thing just to get that 1 secret felt like such a waste of time. If the levels were shorter I definitely would've been more motivated to replay levels and explore them more.

Overall, despite the few flaws I encountered, I found Yoshi's Island to be very enjoyable with an amazing art style and incredible boss fights.

Such an amazing improvement from the first Wario Land game, I really felt Wario Land becoming its own thing and moving away from the SML series in this game. Instead of having multiple lives, Wario is immortal and the only penalty to being attacked by enemies is losing money. Instead of power-ups coming out of blocks that Wario breaks, enemies can give the power-ups to Wario when attacking him, however these power-ups have pros and cons to them. This was such a cool and fun way to freshen up the series and give it so much life and personality.

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.