illplayit
83 reviews liked by illplayit
horsey
If you like watching obnoxious man children scream over a glitchy mess, then boy do I have the game for you
NieR: Automata
2017
i dont usually do spite reviews, but...
erm, what the sigma?
erm, what the sigma?
Lisa: The Painful
2014
out of all the games ive played, fuckin hell, even shows, movies and comics this has to be THE piece of media that has done the best job at relating, identifying and encapsulating who i am as a person. if i were to make a game that came from the bottom of my heart and my usual doodle crude art style, it would have to be this (not saying that im even capable of putting in the hard effort, witty writing and really solid level and game design into this). although celeste has some of the biggest trophies of mine; being not only the first game to make me cry but also the best indie ive played, lisa was at some point my favorite indie. but the reason its not anymore is because this game is stressful to think about (i mean that in a very good way). this has the award for being the first game to genuinely make me feel uncomfortable and mentally unable to power through. i have beaten this don't get me wrong, but theres a point where you have to kill someone, and mid battle the opponent tells you ''why are you doing this!?'' and i was like -fuck... i cant do this... so i waited until tomorrow to do it. even replaying the recent edition i felt it again. this game has emotional power, it is a fucked up work of art. out of all the games ive played this has my favorite depiction of humanity; for it has its quirks, but more often than not it is horrifying and unbelievable
This review contains spoilers
Solatorobo proves itself to be a really standout piece on the Nintendo DS with its gorgeous art and complex world and truly interesting story, but fails at what should have perhaps been its primary function - to be a fun game.
The gameplay is very same-y for most of the game. You go to an island, you select a quest and you do it. You spend the majority of your time on your robot doing very repetitive combat, usually consisting of waiting out an attack or running up to an enemy to mash A, and to throw them 3 times, and rinse and repeat, and when you're not fighting, you're usually moving boxes around, if you're not in the rare gimmick section. You might go fishing, operate a mounted gun, race in a flight section or free-roam and fly around. While it undeniably offers a wide range of activities and collectibles for the player, none of them feel particularly fleshed out or compelling to play on their own.
In the latter half of the game, you do get to unlock a few new combat abilities to make the combos a bit more interesting, but this isn't until about 10 hours in. In fact, most of the juicy stuff isn't available until about 10 hours in, which is a ridiculously high cost to enter. Sure, for a game with a story as complex as Solatorobo, it makes sense that you should spend time with the characters to understand their motivations and the world around them, but 10 hours? It's a little much.
Still, I was compelled to continue, even as quests became more of a slog to progress through, and as my distaste for the gameplay grew. The all around design of the game, narratively and artistically, is just so compelling that I needed to finish it out and see it all. I can't stress how inspired and just pleasing to look at so many of the characters, machines, and locations are. Looking through artbooks for Solatorobo, it's so clear that a great amount of thought and passion went into the design of the world, which makes it all the more disappointing that the gameplay is just so boring.
More than once did I pause and think to myself that Solatorobo could have benefitted from being a different genre than it was. Solatorobo is regarded as an action RPG, but it hardly leans into the RPG side of things - sure, you can upgrade your stats, and you can change out your fuselage for some different stats and abilities late in the game, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that it could have really benefitted from being a turn based RPG. Sometimes I even considered that it might have benefitted from being in an entirely different medium - a manga, an anime, even a film!
Still, Solatorobo is a really great experience, despite its failures with its gameplay. The world of Solatorobo, and Little Tail Bronx (the series to which Solatorobo belongs) is so rich and interesting that it certainly warrants some time spent with it. I wish I hadn't missed out on this as a kid.
TL;DR: I wish this was an anime.
The gameplay is very same-y for most of the game. You go to an island, you select a quest and you do it. You spend the majority of your time on your robot doing very repetitive combat, usually consisting of waiting out an attack or running up to an enemy to mash A, and to throw them 3 times, and rinse and repeat, and when you're not fighting, you're usually moving boxes around, if you're not in the rare gimmick section. You might go fishing, operate a mounted gun, race in a flight section or free-roam and fly around. While it undeniably offers a wide range of activities and collectibles for the player, none of them feel particularly fleshed out or compelling to play on their own.
In the latter half of the game, you do get to unlock a few new combat abilities to make the combos a bit more interesting, but this isn't until about 10 hours in. In fact, most of the juicy stuff isn't available until about 10 hours in, which is a ridiculously high cost to enter. Sure, for a game with a story as complex as Solatorobo, it makes sense that you should spend time with the characters to understand their motivations and the world around them, but 10 hours? It's a little much.
Still, I was compelled to continue, even as quests became more of a slog to progress through, and as my distaste for the gameplay grew. The all around design of the game, narratively and artistically, is just so compelling that I needed to finish it out and see it all. I can't stress how inspired and just pleasing to look at so many of the characters, machines, and locations are. Looking through artbooks for Solatorobo, it's so clear that a great amount of thought and passion went into the design of the world, which makes it all the more disappointing that the gameplay is just so boring.
More than once did I pause and think to myself that Solatorobo could have benefitted from being a different genre than it was. Solatorobo is regarded as an action RPG, but it hardly leans into the RPG side of things - sure, you can upgrade your stats, and you can change out your fuselage for some different stats and abilities late in the game, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that it could have really benefitted from being a turn based RPG. Sometimes I even considered that it might have benefitted from being in an entirely different medium - a manga, an anime, even a film!
Still, Solatorobo is a really great experience, despite its failures with its gameplay. The world of Solatorobo, and Little Tail Bronx (the series to which Solatorobo belongs) is so rich and interesting that it certainly warrants some time spent with it. I wish I hadn't missed out on this as a kid.
TL;DR: I wish this was an anime.
Blockland
2007
these days its full of nazis
Omori
2020
the soundtrack makes me so cry hard i gag. also, sometimes i forget how high the volume of triggering content in this game is. it feels like every day i discover something terrible about this game and its development, 10/10
update: listened to the omori 3 year anniversary concert today. crying to good morning and then getting hit with an ENTIRE CHOIR for tee-hee time was a hell of an experience
update: listened to the omori 3 year anniversary concert today. crying to good morning and then getting hit with an ENTIRE CHOIR for tee-hee time was a hell of an experience
Drakengard
2003
everyone treats caim like a twisted Fucking psychopath and there he is the whole game blank faced like😐
Drakengard
2003
Score raised by one point because being so bad it leaves me speechless is a great use of ludonarrative
Kirby Air Ride
2003
Sakurai is one of those gameplay auteurs who manages to showcase absolute mastery of how to challenge himself and then still bring out a great sense of depth and fun at every turn. This time it's, "hey what if we literally made a racing game around ONE button (and an analog stick i guess)"
That's the beauty of Kirby Air Ride, it's a rip roaring time with 3 solid game modes that utilize the most of the depth of its mechanics while also being a solid party game to play on the side. Whether you play on the well structured and designed race tracks in classic Air Ride with a multitude of different but very distinct karts, the minigame nature although probably weakest component known as Top Ride, or the total stat-grind rush and general party randomness structure of City Ride, you will have a shitton of fun to experience.
It manages to be more interesting than most racing games in general, especially with racing powerups that don't rely on luck factor as much as they do knowledge of the game (even the "random" obtaining powerups actually just come down to timing) and have more depth to show. It's also just incredibly accessible to jump in on, with a skill floor low enough that anyone can enter in.
It's a crazy good time that I'd recommend playing at any point you can, especially with friends through Parsec.
That's the beauty of Kirby Air Ride, it's a rip roaring time with 3 solid game modes that utilize the most of the depth of its mechanics while also being a solid party game to play on the side. Whether you play on the well structured and designed race tracks in classic Air Ride with a multitude of different but very distinct karts, the minigame nature although probably weakest component known as Top Ride, or the total stat-grind rush and general party randomness structure of City Ride, you will have a shitton of fun to experience.
It manages to be more interesting than most racing games in general, especially with racing powerups that don't rely on luck factor as much as they do knowledge of the game (even the "random" obtaining powerups actually just come down to timing) and have more depth to show. It's also just incredibly accessible to jump in on, with a skill floor low enough that anyone can enter in.
It's a crazy good time that I'd recommend playing at any point you can, especially with friends through Parsec.