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I'm a video game clown on the internet; pay money to throw tomatoes at me.
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Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
NieR: Automata
NieR: Automata
Bloodborne
Bloodborne
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action
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Mother 3
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Sleeping Dogs: Year of the Snake
Sleeping Dogs: Year of the Snake

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Metroid Fusion
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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

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Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest

May 27

Recently Reviewed See More

Let's say that I've had a contentious relationship with the Jet Set Radio franchise. I would argue that those games are the epitome of Style Over Substance, with phenomenal aesthetics and mostly great soundtracks; however, the gameplay itself always rubbed me the wrong way. In the original, it felt like a rough draft of a neat idea with it's rough controls and even rougher camera. In Future, they ironed out a lot of the controls, but there was just something with the level design and enemy encounters that I couldn't get past.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is a game which almost entirely overcomes all of those shortcomings it's influences fell victim to. The soundtrack is front to back amazing, the aesthetics are still great, the controls are tight as all hell, and the level design compliments it's more Tony Hawk Pro Skater style of combos perfectly.

There's just one issue for me: Combat. Any time I'm faced with an enemy who's counter strategy isn't just "maneuver up it's body and spray paint the weak spot" is a slog. These kind of games do not and have never needed traditional boss fights like the spider tank, in which you have to Super Mario Bros style hit a big guy three times. Moments like the aforementioned fight take away from the free movement the game focuses on for 85% of it's play time and it's a frustrating detour that doesn't add anything of value to the overall experience.

Those harsh words aside, Bomb Rush is a fantastic ride in spite of said shortcomings and, if Team Reptile decide to make a direct follow-up, I can only imagine it'll be one of the best games ever made.

This review contains spoilers

Splitting this score straight down the middle just like J.J. does multiple times throughout the game.

"Good intentions" is the phrase that describes how I feel about basically the entire game, from the narrative to the gameplay. The puzzles/platforming mostly work fine, but, during the moments in which things get a bit more obtuse or demanding, I would get immensely frustrated. Also, the check pointing in this game is actually awful, like I felt like I was playing a game from the mid-2000s.

The narrative is a mixed bag as well for me. It's well-intentioned and I definitely understand the importance of having a Trans Narrative that doesn't shy away from the uglier parts of being a closeted trans woman, but there's parts of it where you can tell that it was absolutely written by a cis man. Particularly, as the story wraps up, it feels muddled on how Swery himself views the womanhood of J.J.. Emily creepily delivers dialogue about if we're just born to have sex, which feels like someone conflating gender-identity with sexual preferences, and vague platitudes about how "real" this is for J.J.. Upon returning to reality, J.J. gets a call from her mom where she ends the conversation by saying she loves her, despite the implication that her mom was actively trying to send her to a counselor specializing in "curing" queer youth. And it all ends off with the question of whether J.J. finally found who she was. It doesn't answer the question of who she was and, while I have nothing against an ambiguous ending, this feels like one of those few instances where it absolutely needed to answer that question to make all of the suffering that J.J. endures throughout the game worth it.

It was...good? Easily the best part of Inside as an experience is, much like Limbo, the atmosphere. The puzzles are decent except for the ones with the drowner, which allows me to segue into saying that the story really didn't do much for me. While the drowner bit is more of a bullshit Cinema Sins type nitpick about why it functions one way until it suddenlly doesn't, the overall story has a more dire issue in that it's just kind of boring. The allegory of humans being treated like farm animals in the factory of capital isn't a bad idea and there are some moments where the visual metaphor shines through, but it's just...not as impactful as I think the team wanted it to be. The soundtrack and atmosphere does it's damnedest to pull the rest of the game across the finish line, but it just doesn't quite get there.