hotpoppah
2002
A great start to a great series. This game takes what is probably the weirdest crossover you could possibly think of and blends it together to make a very fun action RPG. It's like Final Fantasy but more melodramatic, and Disney but more cartoonish. I love it.
I love how outlandish this universe is and this game is the catalyst to it. It is nowhere near as crazy as the most recent games are, but it's still practically bananas. It has an endearing plot with found family tropes and doing extraordinary things with your friends, two themes that are found very prevalent in this game's source materials. I am begging people to simply kill the part of them that cringes instead of killing the cringe, and just simply enjoy themselves.
Yoko Shimumura is a legend and this soundtrack reigns supreme. Utada is a saint, and Simple and Clean will always be a classic.
If I have any criticisms for this game, some of the level designs are bad and the game's platforming suffers because of it. I'm not talking about rope swinging in the jungle, but Sora's ass is a clunky mess and he is just unable to land on platforms without completely fumbling like an idiot. The combat can be a bit jank at times, especially aerial combat, but it's a perfectly respectable combat system for a first time entry to a series.
The Final Mix version of this game adds a ton of new content that is a worthy challenge for the most dastardly daring hard mode enthusiasts as well.
I love how outlandish this universe is and this game is the catalyst to it. It is nowhere near as crazy as the most recent games are, but it's still practically bananas. It has an endearing plot with found family tropes and doing extraordinary things with your friends, two themes that are found very prevalent in this game's source materials. I am begging people to simply kill the part of them that cringes instead of killing the cringe, and just simply enjoy themselves.
Yoko Shimumura is a legend and this soundtrack reigns supreme. Utada is a saint, and Simple and Clean will always be a classic.
If I have any criticisms for this game, some of the level designs are bad and the game's platforming suffers because of it. I'm not talking about rope swinging in the jungle, but Sora's ass is a clunky mess and he is just unable to land on platforms without completely fumbling like an idiot. The combat can be a bit jank at times, especially aerial combat, but it's a perfectly respectable combat system for a first time entry to a series.
The Final Mix version of this game adds a ton of new content that is a worthy challenge for the most dastardly daring hard mode enthusiasts as well.
Game is hard and random items, with a lot of them doing jackshit on their own, means you're getting screwed more often than not. But, then you get that one run where the stars align and your brain blasts, you finally get a level 4 item on Basement 2, slaughter everything with zero issue riding that pure adrenaline dopamine wave just to crash into the brick wall of despair when Bloat arrives.
Each character has their own little gimmick that makes them either a breeze to play through or pure cock and ball torture. Some bosses and rooms are extreme levels of bullshit, but there is literally so much in this game that they become few and far between.
The replayability is off the charts because it really taps into your Gamer brain and makes you think, "If I had just one more item, or been a little more careful I think I could have got it done". Then you realize it's now 12:00 AM and your win streak went from -7 to 1, but at least it's 1.
I only have the worst characters in the game left to do things with and it's quite the struggle, but having access to all the items from the other characters makes it less like cutting my eyes with paper.
I recommend getting all of the DLCs, but I'd play them individually since Repentance alone adds a sheer amount of content that could be very overwhelming. Been playing since Afterbirth so the additional content being added later is how I played it anyways. That being said, the amount of content is massive for a DLC and that's fantastic.
Delirium can kick rocks though. I'm not inviting him to anything ever.
Edit: Used to be a 4.5 star rating, but I stopped doing halfsies.
Each character has their own little gimmick that makes them either a breeze to play through or pure cock and ball torture. Some bosses and rooms are extreme levels of bullshit, but there is literally so much in this game that they become few and far between.
The replayability is off the charts because it really taps into your Gamer brain and makes you think, "If I had just one more item, or been a little more careful I think I could have got it done". Then you realize it's now 12:00 AM and your win streak went from -7 to 1, but at least it's 1.
I only have the worst characters in the game left to do things with and it's quite the struggle, but having access to all the items from the other characters makes it less like cutting my eyes with paper.
I recommend getting all of the DLCs, but I'd play them individually since Repentance alone adds a sheer amount of content that could be very overwhelming. Been playing since Afterbirth so the additional content being added later is how I played it anyways. That being said, the amount of content is massive for a DLC and that's fantastic.
Delirium can kick rocks though. I'm not inviting him to anything ever.
Edit: Used to be a 4.5 star rating, but I stopped doing halfsies.
2016
This game is hard as balls and I still haven't even beaten it technically. I have been so close a few times and I believe it knows this, so the bad RNG luck will clothesline me right at the finish line.
I love the character customization because it has a ton of traits, most of them I still need to unlock, that could be helpful for future runs. I made a crap ton of characters just so I could see them later and say Hi :).
The combat can be annoying at times, but it's dependent on the skills of your characters; some are just better at some things, bro. There is nothing more terrifying than being stuck in a swarm, really gets your adrenaline running.
It's honestly just like any other rougelike game, I f*cking hate it when I'm losing but OH BOYYY do I love it when I'm winning.
I love the character customization because it has a ton of traits, most of them I still need to unlock, that could be helpful for future runs. I made a crap ton of characters just so I could see them later and say Hi :).
The combat can be annoying at times, but it's dependent on the skills of your characters; some are just better at some things, bro. There is nothing more terrifying than being stuck in a swarm, really gets your adrenaline running.
It's honestly just like any other rougelike game, I f*cking hate it when I'm losing but OH BOYYY do I love it when I'm winning.
2016
Everyone who plays this game is miserable. Including me. Especially me. I don't understand what you're supposed to even do in it because the players think every action you take in this game is punishable by death.
The matchmaking is atrocious, it takes 5 years to get into a match and it'll either put you with complete buffoons or people who eat rebar as a meal. The gameplay is also very repetitive and gets old very quickly. It made me grumpy.
The matchmaking is atrocious, it takes 5 years to get into a match and it'll either put you with complete buffoons or people who eat rebar as a meal. The gameplay is also very repetitive and gets old very quickly. It made me grumpy.
2019
Didn't have fun. It could be the fact that I don't like FPS Battle Royale Shooters. But, it's more likely because it's completely consumed my friend's lives and I haven't spoken to them in years.
2019
Very goofy cooking game that is made to make you feel like you have Ratatouille controlling your every move, but only after he imbibed one too many brewskis before cooking.
I did not play the campaign, and I don't dare to. I guess if you're looking for some sort of semblance of control in your life, then sure, but I think this game is best played with full access to everything immediately. It's very funny for a good few hours, but the physics can get infuriating; my plates in the pizza DLC kept shattering if I just blinked at them the wrong way.
Overall, it's the kind of game I go back to when I want to goof off with my friends, but probably wouldn't binge in one long sitting like other games.
I did not play the campaign, and I don't dare to. I guess if you're looking for some sort of semblance of control in your life, then sure, but I think this game is best played with full access to everything immediately. It's very funny for a good few hours, but the physics can get infuriating; my plates in the pizza DLC kept shattering if I just blinked at them the wrong way.
Overall, it's the kind of game I go back to when I want to goof off with my friends, but probably wouldn't binge in one long sitting like other games.
Playing this game normally: Carefully and periodically checking in on your villagers while they pick berries and learn science on Day 1, then coming home from school the next day and finding all of their mangled corpses on the ground
Playing this game like a lunatic: Changing the clock on your computer by 4-5 hours so you can speedrun this game like you're driving a semi off a cliff
Playing this game like a lunatic: Changing the clock on your computer by 4-5 hours so you can speedrun this game like you're driving a semi off a cliff
2010
I have good memories with this game, but it is lackluster to me. I think it takes 1 step forward, but 3 steps back and is the beginning of the downfall of this series to me. Like the first falling domino in the chain.
I love the survivor collecting mechanics in the first two games, but they've made them simply too easy. While they are stronger and faster, they're also basically invincible in this game which makes transporting them almost way too easy and very boring. They try to retroactively change this AGAIN in Off The Record because of this, and fumble the bag there too. I hesitate to say that they are smart, because they can still be infuriatingly stupid. They are just smarter than the previous survivors.
The time mechanic is watered down a bit, less stressful but also a breeze to do multiple things at once. If you thought the first game was too difficult, congratulations I guess.
Chuck is an okay character but is a bit cringe, not in the same good way as Frank, but not nearly as bad as Nick. They humanize him a lot more by giving him side motivation in keeping his daughter safe, but ends up making him a bit of a Serious Sally in a universe where you can fight zombies with dildos.
The map is larger with more to do, but adds in silly post-apocalyptic money mechanics, which can be broken. Terror Is Reality multiplayer is effectively dead today, but all it really offered was button mashing mini-games that could net you more cash if you needed it.
The combo weapons are fun and all, but they end up overshadowing the base mechanic of utilizing anything to kill zombies, which starts to tear cracks into what I think is the identity of this series. Chuck is also extremely fragile and his hitbox is massive for no reason other than to annoy me. Certain items, like skateboards, have been ruined in this game. The plot remains as nutty as ever, which is fine.
The PC port is atrocious and controller support needs to be modded in. There are bugs all over the place, which can make for a miserable experience. In co-op some bosses just straight up go off the rails, and start acting more feral than they're supposed to. Snowflake and her memory leaking numbskull head can suck my balls.
The game's been effectively abandoned on port release, which is terrible on Capcom's part. It sits as a 3 star for me because I can have fun with it, but it's by no means the best game in the series and it's also nowhere near the worst. Play it with a friend, if it'll work on PC.
I love the survivor collecting mechanics in the first two games, but they've made them simply too easy. While they are stronger and faster, they're also basically invincible in this game which makes transporting them almost way too easy and very boring. They try to retroactively change this AGAIN in Off The Record because of this, and fumble the bag there too. I hesitate to say that they are smart, because they can still be infuriatingly stupid. They are just smarter than the previous survivors.
The time mechanic is watered down a bit, less stressful but also a breeze to do multiple things at once. If you thought the first game was too difficult, congratulations I guess.
Chuck is an okay character but is a bit cringe, not in the same good way as Frank, but not nearly as bad as Nick. They humanize him a lot more by giving him side motivation in keeping his daughter safe, but ends up making him a bit of a Serious Sally in a universe where you can fight zombies with dildos.
The map is larger with more to do, but adds in silly post-apocalyptic money mechanics, which can be broken. Terror Is Reality multiplayer is effectively dead today, but all it really offered was button mashing mini-games that could net you more cash if you needed it.
The combo weapons are fun and all, but they end up overshadowing the base mechanic of utilizing anything to kill zombies, which starts to tear cracks into what I think is the identity of this series. Chuck is also extremely fragile and his hitbox is massive for no reason other than to annoy me. Certain items, like skateboards, have been ruined in this game. The plot remains as nutty as ever, which is fine.
The PC port is atrocious and controller support needs to be modded in. There are bugs all over the place, which can make for a miserable experience. In co-op some bosses just straight up go off the rails, and start acting more feral than they're supposed to. Snowflake and her memory leaking numbskull head can suck my balls.
The game's been effectively abandoned on port release, which is terrible on Capcom's part. It sits as a 3 star for me because I can have fun with it, but it's by no means the best game in the series and it's also nowhere near the worst. Play it with a friend, if it'll work on PC.
2014
Been keeping my eye on The Sims 4 since it released, partly because I do play it for a week straight every couple of months and also partly because EA seems to want to run with this one forever.
When this game was released it was as bare bones as games can get. It came off the back of The Sims 3, which had big and bold ideas that weren't executed properly. To say that I wasn't disappointed with what was shipped out, would definitely be a lie. They never fixed or modified those ideas in The Sim 3 and also cut a lot of things back, giving us not even a skeleton but more like a single left toe bone in comparison. It was absolutely NOTHING like it is today and that sucked ass.
The cutting of all those large features and furniture options did however open up the door for better simulation gameplay, which is why I play the Sims. I've never been interested in the interior designing; only the life simulation aspect. The addition of different emotions benefiting certain aspects of gameplay is a nice feature, and Sims being able to multi-task should be a basic function moving forward. However, I do wholeheartedly agree that removing items to later sell them for more money is an atrocious practice from EA. Remember though, The Sims series has been doing this since its inception and EA has always been like this.
The previous games also has $2 bajillion dollar DLC and almost never goes on sale because they're older. There are definitely some packs I think people should get if they want the most bang for their buck (City Living, Seasons, Growing Together), but there is no reason to purchase the entire library unless you just simply want everything you could possibly have. This game has been out for years and naturally has an ass ton of DLC because of it, and it'll be the same for The Sims 5, which I don't see coming anytime soon.
This game is a much more pleasant game now with all the added free updates and the inclusion of some mods/CC. Most of the packs I've bought were in bundle discounts, but I haven't had a Sims binge since the Star Wars pack. I really just use the basic UI and Master Controller mods that make the game run better when it sometimes falters, easy emotion management, and adds better story progression for my neighbors.
This game is more accessible on lesser hardware and no amount of sending hate to the developers for anything is going to make you less salty about this game. The price of the packs and how much gets put into them are decisions made by EA, not the developers. Within the last two years, they have added so much content that has been requested by fans who think making a game is the easiest job ever. They were getting so much unwarranted hate thrown at them around the Island Living era, it really put me off of the series for while.
I don't think it's better than The Sims 2, the GOAT, but I'm glad it looks better and runs better than The Sims 3 at it's basic gameplay mechanics. There's different ways to get chaotic, which I love, and I prefer the cartoonish style of the Sims as opposed to the more realistic looking ones.
I would love nothing more than to see a potential Sims 5 that mixes the greatest features of each game into one, but we'll have to see. That would be quite a beefy game, but it would be a great one.
When this game was released it was as bare bones as games can get. It came off the back of The Sims 3, which had big and bold ideas that weren't executed properly. To say that I wasn't disappointed with what was shipped out, would definitely be a lie. They never fixed or modified those ideas in The Sim 3 and also cut a lot of things back, giving us not even a skeleton but more like a single left toe bone in comparison. It was absolutely NOTHING like it is today and that sucked ass.
The cutting of all those large features and furniture options did however open up the door for better simulation gameplay, which is why I play the Sims. I've never been interested in the interior designing; only the life simulation aspect. The addition of different emotions benefiting certain aspects of gameplay is a nice feature, and Sims being able to multi-task should be a basic function moving forward. However, I do wholeheartedly agree that removing items to later sell them for more money is an atrocious practice from EA. Remember though, The Sims series has been doing this since its inception and EA has always been like this.
The previous games also has $2 bajillion dollar DLC and almost never goes on sale because they're older. There are definitely some packs I think people should get if they want the most bang for their buck (City Living, Seasons, Growing Together), but there is no reason to purchase the entire library unless you just simply want everything you could possibly have. This game has been out for years and naturally has an ass ton of DLC because of it, and it'll be the same for The Sims 5, which I don't see coming anytime soon.
This game is a much more pleasant game now with all the added free updates and the inclusion of some mods/CC. Most of the packs I've bought were in bundle discounts, but I haven't had a Sims binge since the Star Wars pack. I really just use the basic UI and Master Controller mods that make the game run better when it sometimes falters, easy emotion management, and adds better story progression for my neighbors.
This game is more accessible on lesser hardware and no amount of sending hate to the developers for anything is going to make you less salty about this game. The price of the packs and how much gets put into them are decisions made by EA, not the developers. Within the last two years, they have added so much content that has been requested by fans who think making a game is the easiest job ever. They were getting so much unwarranted hate thrown at them around the Island Living era, it really put me off of the series for while.
I don't think it's better than The Sims 2, the GOAT, but I'm glad it looks better and runs better than The Sims 3 at it's basic gameplay mechanics. There's different ways to get chaotic, which I love, and I prefer the cartoonish style of the Sims as opposed to the more realistic looking ones.
I would love nothing more than to see a potential Sims 5 that mixes the greatest features of each game into one, but we'll have to see. That would be quite a beefy game, but it would be a great one.
2019
Yikes. I won't get into the cutting of the Pokèdex or Gamefreak's reasonings for it here because it's irrelevant, but this game is just pure dog piss. It's almost like as soon as the Switch came out, everything produced on it has to be so mind numbingly babified by default and this game was the catalyst for that.
Every step of the way this game is just death gripping your hand with never-ending tutorials and constantly spoon feeding you one of the worst plots of the series. The most punchable rival is constantly waiting around every corner to just explain to you how to do the most mundane, basic shit that's in every Pokémon game before it. I wouldn't complain about it if it was optional, but it ISN'T. There's no way to acknowledge that you're not a 4 year old holding the joycons, and so, you suffer because of it.
I've played Pokémon my entire life like a typical Chad, and also the ones that have come after this one, and I just really hate this game lmao. It looks and runs like ass, the Wild Area seems expansive but is actually very limiting. It's really just a giant field of small pockets of Pokémon, with level 40 Pokémon body blocking certain areas that they don't want you to access yet. Raids are okay but can be annoyingly time consuming.
They've also made it harder to challenge yourself in this game by removing the ability to turn off the easy features, making every playthrough basically the same. The difficulty is so trivial and I stampeded everything even without my starter and with a team of all gimmick Pokémon. (It's the only way I could make it harder for myself.)
This generation probably also has the weakest setting for me, it's just simply not as interesting as other regions in the series. I don't really use the combat gimmicks, like Mega Evos and Tera Types, unless the game forces me to.
That being said, Dynamaxing gotta be like lamest gimmick yet. It looks incredibly stupid and only a handful of Pokémon get their own designs around it. You can still one-shot Dynamaxed Pokémon without being Dynamaxed yourself, it's just pointless. Didn't bother with the post-game or DLC. The Pokémon designs in this generation are okay. Some of them are some of my all-time favorites and others are kinda icky.
After having played Legends Arceus and Violet, I do think they are taking steps in the right direction to execute these new open world ideas properly, but Jesus Christ, it's highway robbery having people pay $60, sometimes $120 for both versions, so they can take literal baby steps getting to a good three dimensional console game.
On a positive note, music in these games still reigns supreme. That gym battle theme goes hard.
Every step of the way this game is just death gripping your hand with never-ending tutorials and constantly spoon feeding you one of the worst plots of the series. The most punchable rival is constantly waiting around every corner to just explain to you how to do the most mundane, basic shit that's in every Pokémon game before it. I wouldn't complain about it if it was optional, but it ISN'T. There's no way to acknowledge that you're not a 4 year old holding the joycons, and so, you suffer because of it.
I've played Pokémon my entire life like a typical Chad, and also the ones that have come after this one, and I just really hate this game lmao. It looks and runs like ass, the Wild Area seems expansive but is actually very limiting. It's really just a giant field of small pockets of Pokémon, with level 40 Pokémon body blocking certain areas that they don't want you to access yet. Raids are okay but can be annoyingly time consuming.
They've also made it harder to challenge yourself in this game by removing the ability to turn off the easy features, making every playthrough basically the same. The difficulty is so trivial and I stampeded everything even without my starter and with a team of all gimmick Pokémon. (It's the only way I could make it harder for myself.)
This generation probably also has the weakest setting for me, it's just simply not as interesting as other regions in the series. I don't really use the combat gimmicks, like Mega Evos and Tera Types, unless the game forces me to.
That being said, Dynamaxing gotta be like lamest gimmick yet. It looks incredibly stupid and only a handful of Pokémon get their own designs around it. You can still one-shot Dynamaxed Pokémon without being Dynamaxed yourself, it's just pointless. Didn't bother with the post-game or DLC. The Pokémon designs in this generation are okay. Some of them are some of my all-time favorites and others are kinda icky.
After having played Legends Arceus and Violet, I do think they are taking steps in the right direction to execute these new open world ideas properly, but Jesus Christ, it's highway robbery having people pay $60, sometimes $120 for both versions, so they can take literal baby steps getting to a good three dimensional console game.
On a positive note, music in these games still reigns supreme. That gym battle theme goes hard.
2010
This game is for gooby woobies.
This was my first and only Fallout game so far, so I wouldn't know how it compares to the rest of the series. It was very, almost scarily easy, to roleplay as the worst character you've ever created. The options given to you for building your character are expansive and almost never-ending, which means it's very easy to adhere to your specific playstyle.
The only issues presented here is that you may miss out on some quest rewards for putting stats in some areas as opposed to others, but there are always different ways of completing quests. Because my character was so god damn stupid though, I literally couldn't get the best outcome for some important quests; but I was into the roleplay so I didn't particularly mind.
It's very fun and goofy until you find yourself soft-locked in an endless loop where you died right as the game auto-saved during a typical Cazador mauling. Then it got annoying. This game is buggy as all hell and crashes often. Some are funny as fuck and others outrageously aggravating, so just keep this in mind.
I only played one playthrough of this game where I found one of the strongest weapons almost immediately and had a blast destroying everything I saw with it. I did however only do 1 DLC, but didn't bother with the rest. I had enough fun with it to potentially try it out again fully later and with a different ending, but long games kind of need to be scheduled into my life for me to dive into them properly.
If there's one thing I took the most from this game is that Boone is the ultimate bestie. That dude's got my back before I'm even aware of it. Also, if you stream this game on Twitch you will get the absolute worst chatters you have ever seen in your life.
This was my first and only Fallout game so far, so I wouldn't know how it compares to the rest of the series. It was very, almost scarily easy, to roleplay as the worst character you've ever created. The options given to you for building your character are expansive and almost never-ending, which means it's very easy to adhere to your specific playstyle.
The only issues presented here is that you may miss out on some quest rewards for putting stats in some areas as opposed to others, but there are always different ways of completing quests. Because my character was so god damn stupid though, I literally couldn't get the best outcome for some important quests; but I was into the roleplay so I didn't particularly mind.
It's very fun and goofy until you find yourself soft-locked in an endless loop where you died right as the game auto-saved during a typical Cazador mauling. Then it got annoying. This game is buggy as all hell and crashes often. Some are funny as fuck and others outrageously aggravating, so just keep this in mind.
I only played one playthrough of this game where I found one of the strongest weapons almost immediately and had a blast destroying everything I saw with it. I did however only do 1 DLC, but didn't bother with the rest. I had enough fun with it to potentially try it out again fully later and with a different ending, but long games kind of need to be scheduled into my life for me to dive into them properly.
If there's one thing I took the most from this game is that Boone is the ultimate bestie. That dude's got my back before I'm even aware of it. Also, if you stream this game on Twitch you will get the absolute worst chatters you have ever seen in your life.
Man, I like Kingdom Hearts music as much as the next weirdo but this game is kind of like getting spit in your coffee.
It's a rhythm game that "develops" the plot further after Kingdom Hearts III, by forcing you to re-listen to the entire Kingdom Hearts Youtube playlist with work attached to it and sending you straight to the hospital with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. For all of this you get 1 measly cutscene and even worse representation for the one character that needs the most development in the entire series. This is supposed to be "Kairi's game" yet you still play as everyone else who gets to have all the fun instead.
As a rhytmn game it works mostly fine, but I found myself needing to play this game on Proud Mode because Normal mode was simply too easy and it felt as though a lot of the tracking was watered down. This made the game have more of a challenge for me, with some of the songs becoming absolute wrist destroying gauntlets.
All the visual noise gets annoying after a while. Sometimes there is so much going on in the background and on screen that it's hard to focus on the task at hand, especially during the movie and boss levels where they just show cutscenes and loads of particle effects until the song ends.
It's great if you like Kingdom Hearts music and if you want to celebrate how far the series has come to this point, but aside from that I'd honestly just look up the ending and move on.
It's a rhythm game that "develops" the plot further after Kingdom Hearts III, by forcing you to re-listen to the entire Kingdom Hearts Youtube playlist with work attached to it and sending you straight to the hospital with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. For all of this you get 1 measly cutscene and even worse representation for the one character that needs the most development in the entire series. This is supposed to be "Kairi's game" yet you still play as everyone else who gets to have all the fun instead.
As a rhytmn game it works mostly fine, but I found myself needing to play this game on Proud Mode because Normal mode was simply too easy and it felt as though a lot of the tracking was watered down. This made the game have more of a challenge for me, with some of the songs becoming absolute wrist destroying gauntlets.
All the visual noise gets annoying after a while. Sometimes there is so much going on in the background and on screen that it's hard to focus on the task at hand, especially during the movie and boss levels where they just show cutscenes and loads of particle effects until the song ends.
It's great if you like Kingdom Hearts music and if you want to celebrate how far the series has come to this point, but aside from that I'd honestly just look up the ending and move on.
2020
A short, but very fun creature collecting game that is always surprising you with how funny the bugs are.
Different tools will become accessible to aid you in catching the creatures, and there are in fact bosses. I don't quite remember how many Bugsnax there are in total, but it's enough to keep you on a quest to find each one.
Aside from the collection challenge, you just HAVE TO know what kind of abominations you can build by feeding your Wumpus friends different kinds of ungodly foods that change their appearance limb by limb.
Don't get me wrong, the plot is a weird one and just saying that line above is odd, but just trust me, bro. It'll be hard to explain without spoiling, but what you see in the art style is simply just a sweet candy coating; once you dive deeper into this game you will soon realize that it's dripping with thought-provoking existentialism that gets amplified by your relationship with your neighbors, as well as their interpersonal relationships with each other. THIS GAME HAS GOT SOME DRAAAAAMAAAA before you even show up, and it's up to you if you want to help them figure that out or not.
There was also a free update about 2 years after the release of this game that added much more to explore and many more Bugsnax, but only further develops about half the cast. It seems to me though that it's setting up for more Bugsnax on the horizon and you will see me on the frontlines, Captain. God bless, Bugsnax.
Edit: Used to be a 4.5 star rating, but I stopped doing halfsies.
Different tools will become accessible to aid you in catching the creatures, and there are in fact bosses. I don't quite remember how many Bugsnax there are in total, but it's enough to keep you on a quest to find each one.
Aside from the collection challenge, you just HAVE TO know what kind of abominations you can build by feeding your Wumpus friends different kinds of ungodly foods that change their appearance limb by limb.
Don't get me wrong, the plot is a weird one and just saying that line above is odd, but just trust me, bro. It'll be hard to explain without spoiling, but what you see in the art style is simply just a sweet candy coating; once you dive deeper into this game you will soon realize that it's dripping with thought-provoking existentialism that gets amplified by your relationship with your neighbors, as well as their interpersonal relationships with each other. THIS GAME HAS GOT SOME DRAAAAAMAAAA before you even show up, and it's up to you if you want to help them figure that out or not.
There was also a free update about 2 years after the release of this game that added much more to explore and many more Bugsnax, but only further develops about half the cast. It seems to me though that it's setting up for more Bugsnax on the horizon and you will see me on the frontlines, Captain. God bless, Bugsnax.
Edit: Used to be a 4.5 star rating, but I stopped doing halfsies.
2008
This game made me realize that I am completely unbothered by survival action horror games. I suppose I am much too desensitized to endless waves of flailing arm monsters and repulsive explodey boys because I found myself getting way more annoyed every passing minute as opposed to terrified and pooping my pants.
This isn't really the game's fault so I'm not going to ding it too harshly for that, although I didn't really feel any tension at all. I always knew that when I entered a big room, it would result in the classic jumpscare stinger noise and then hordes of the same 3 enemies would start pouring out from the ceiling again.
It was made competently well and had a pretty thorough line of mystery from start to end, which was at least enjoyable. The act of cutting off limbs is a creative way of dealing with constant droves of enemies and their varying types you run into.
I do blame this game for having obnoxious, unskippable death scenes though that definitely inspired other games to do so. After the first three deaths and past the initial "POGGERS, I GOT DISEMBOWELED!!!!!", it does start to wear off pretty fast. (I know it's inspired by RE4 OG, but they just went nutty here.)
If your response to this criticism is to just "get better" at the action horror survival game, I'll have you know that your Mom is great in bed.
The PC port also has terrible audio mixing where Volume 10% is actually like 4,000% and I am deaf now, so I won't be hearing anymore horror jumpscare stingers at all anymore. Thanks for that.
This isn't really the game's fault so I'm not going to ding it too harshly for that, although I didn't really feel any tension at all. I always knew that when I entered a big room, it would result in the classic jumpscare stinger noise and then hordes of the same 3 enemies would start pouring out from the ceiling again.
It was made competently well and had a pretty thorough line of mystery from start to end, which was at least enjoyable. The act of cutting off limbs is a creative way of dealing with constant droves of enemies and their varying types you run into.
I do blame this game for having obnoxious, unskippable death scenes though that definitely inspired other games to do so. After the first three deaths and past the initial "POGGERS, I GOT DISEMBOWELED!!!!!", it does start to wear off pretty fast. (I know it's inspired by RE4 OG, but they just went nutty here.)
If your response to this criticism is to just "get better" at the action horror survival game, I'll have you know that your Mom is great in bed.
The PC port also has terrible audio mixing where Volume 10% is actually like 4,000% and I am deaf now, so I won't be hearing anymore horror jumpscare stingers at all anymore. Thanks for that.
2019
Originally I had played the 2011 version for Xbox 360 and that is what most of my review will be about.
At a core gameplay level, Catherine has a very complex puzzling system with actual stakes. The act of physically manipulating the level map while avoiding obstacles is very fun, and at times reasonably challenging! It'll make you feel like an absolute champion having waded through some of the cock and ball torture that is some of these levels.
The mystery of the plot and why things are happening are carefully sprinkled in-between the slower portions of the game that focuses much more on relationship building between your two, or three in this case, girlfriends. Multiple endings encourages you to seek out different options and find out for yourself which path you truly want Vincent, the main character, to take. The small side objectives help build so much tension when you meet other people in your dreams that you may or may not be able to help, only to be punched in the gut later when you've realized you've made irreversible mistakes.
In the original, I completed the game and saw all of the endings where most were thought-provoking at best and pure fan/ship service at worst. It is a very intriguing game and I do like it for the most part, but it's also pissed on with some transphobia that just gets even more amplified in this remake of it.
Most of my review is on the original mainly because most of the puzzles don't change, aside from the inclusion of a 3rd romantic option; Rin. This is the only route I took while playing the remake, because it was new.. and uh, hmmmmmm. Without spoiling, there's some themes going on in here that they fumble completely. I will say it was an easy route to take since it's kind of difficult to get the questions leading that way wrong so I never felt as though I needed to look anything up to get there. But, I don't think I learned really anything from doing this route, nor did it honestly add anything to what was already going on in the plot. It's just kinda there for the sake of being kooky crazy and that's really it. If you're into that fine, but I can just open the trending tabs on Twitter and get the same transphobic jokes on there for the same exact experience.
I did not play any of the other endings in this. Supposedly some were changed or modified in some way for the worse so I probably won't bother. It's a great example of a game made well and made to be fun but if I want to go back to it, I'm more likely to play the original without Rin, and I'd probably recommend that version over this one if anyone asked.
At a core gameplay level, Catherine has a very complex puzzling system with actual stakes. The act of physically manipulating the level map while avoiding obstacles is very fun, and at times reasonably challenging! It'll make you feel like an absolute champion having waded through some of the cock and ball torture that is some of these levels.
The mystery of the plot and why things are happening are carefully sprinkled in-between the slower portions of the game that focuses much more on relationship building between your two, or three in this case, girlfriends. Multiple endings encourages you to seek out different options and find out for yourself which path you truly want Vincent, the main character, to take. The small side objectives help build so much tension when you meet other people in your dreams that you may or may not be able to help, only to be punched in the gut later when you've realized you've made irreversible mistakes.
In the original, I completed the game and saw all of the endings where most were thought-provoking at best and pure fan/ship service at worst. It is a very intriguing game and I do like it for the most part, but it's also pissed on with some transphobia that just gets even more amplified in this remake of it.
Most of my review is on the original mainly because most of the puzzles don't change, aside from the inclusion of a 3rd romantic option; Rin. This is the only route I took while playing the remake, because it was new.. and uh, hmmmmmm. Without spoiling, there's some themes going on in here that they fumble completely. I will say it was an easy route to take since it's kind of difficult to get the questions leading that way wrong so I never felt as though I needed to look anything up to get there. But, I don't think I learned really anything from doing this route, nor did it honestly add anything to what was already going on in the plot. It's just kinda there for the sake of being kooky crazy and that's really it. If you're into that fine, but I can just open the trending tabs on Twitter and get the same transphobic jokes on there for the same exact experience.
I did not play any of the other endings in this. Supposedly some were changed or modified in some way for the worse so I probably won't bother. It's a great example of a game made well and made to be fun but if I want to go back to it, I'm more likely to play the original without Rin, and I'd probably recommend that version over this one if anyone asked.