duppy
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.
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.
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.
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.
2013
Not my favourite Pokémon game but not my least. Most of the content here is pretty average, nothing too praise-worthy except the animations which were awesome. Cool legendaries too.
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.
I really wish I got to play Modern Warfare's multiplayer in its prime since I often hear people praising it for that, but I was able to play through the campaign and I really enjoyed it. The gunplay in the title is incredible. I love how raw it feels, making landing shots feel extremely satisfying; this is something that I feel is lost in later titles.
As for the story of the campaign, there isn't a whole lot that stands out to me aside from the iconic ending. This isn't to say the story is bad at all, I really enjoyed it when playing through the game and there wasn't a dull moment, but in retrospect it just doesn't stand out among the other Call of Duty campaigns to me.
Overall, there's a lot of fun to be had with this game and I believe it's a perfect entry point to the series.
As for the story of the campaign, there isn't a whole lot that stands out to me aside from the iconic ending. This isn't to say the story is bad at all, I really enjoyed it when playing through the game and there wasn't a dull moment, but in retrospect it just doesn't stand out among the other Call of Duty campaigns to me.
Overall, there's a lot of fun to be had with this game and I believe it's a perfect entry point to the series.
2022
Every time I play Vampire Survivors, I find myself playing for hours per session. Each time, I'm amazed by how this game takes such a simple concept and makes it so addictive and enjoyable with so much content that you would never expect upon starting the game. I love the simplicity so much, all you do is move around; you do absolutely nothing but so much at the same time. The amount of freedom you have with how you strategise each round with upgrades and characters can completely change your experience playing the game every single time, and it's constantly evolving through unlockables and updates.
1996
Very enjoyable game and really cool to play to see where the franchise started, but hasn't aged amazingly and there are many things future games improved on greatly. I recommend any Pokémon fan to play this if you haven't already, but it's probably not the best place to start if you're just getting into the series.
2023
The only reason I haven't rated this game higher is because the world tour mode drags it down a lot. I feel like Street Fighter 6 fell into the trap of game studios thinking all modern games need an open-world aspect to them to succeed, but it achieves the opposite in this game. The world tour does serve as a good introduction to the new mechanics and controls in the first chapter, but it eventually felt like a chore to complete. I got about halfway through the story before abandoning the game due to the boring and hand-holdy missions and terrible writing.
However, the actual fighting mechanics in this game really stand out in the franchise. I played with friends for hours trying out different fighters and learning how to use the drive mechanic and we had so much fun which brought my opinion of the game up a lot. There are also some really cool modifiers you can apply to your fights which change the way you play, which really kept the game fresh whenever we started to get bored.
However, the actual fighting mechanics in this game really stand out in the franchise. I played with friends for hours trying out different fighters and learning how to use the drive mechanic and we had so much fun which brought my opinion of the game up a lot. There are also some really cool modifiers you can apply to your fights which change the way you play, which really kept the game fresh whenever we started to get bored.
I don't think this game is necessarily bad, it just lacks content and gets very repetitive. I can play like 2 or 3 levels of Captain Toad before getting bored. The puzzles are fun enough, but it feels like once you've played 1 you've played them all.
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.
2021
Really cool and unique approach to a Mario game with beautiful graphics and a fun open world map. Only thing I didn't really like about the game is the over-usage of the cat power-up, we already had enough of that in 3D World but Bowser's Fury takes it to a whole new level.
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.
2022
I think the idea of this game is more fun than the game itself. It's severely dragged down by the awful performance issues and insane number of bugs. Given more time in development, I think this would be an amazing game to bring Pokémon fully into open world. That said, once I got used to the performance and bugs I was able to find a lot of enjoyment in the game and it very quickly became my most played game on Switch for a while. The feeling of a new Pokémon game releasing and knowing all your friends are grinding it alongside you is just unmatched and seeing that you could play co-op with your friends was so exciting, but honestly I found that I barely ever actually used the feature since it was just kinda boring, I was in the same world as my friends but it didn't really feel like we could do a whole lot of stuff together after the 5 minutes of showing off our Pokémon to each other. Overall, fun game released way too early and felt unfinished.