society was wrong. society was wrong to clockwork-orange forcefeed us mario-flavored drivel and tell us that it was the best this genre had to offer. i come to you all tonight to tell you that i have seen the face of the god of kart racing and it was spiky and orange.

if i had to sum up what makes ctr so much better than the Big N's blue-shell-blaster-dick-smasher flagship racer (rip f-zero) in 2 words, i would say "skill ceiling". fact is, high-level mario kart gameplay is b o r i n g. in the most mechanically expressive entry (which i would argue is mario kart ds), you are still getting a party game. i don't go to parties. i don't even have a social life. and there's not enough diversity in mario kart, handling OR content-wise, to warrant single-player sessions past the 30 minute mark. enter this godsend of a racer and its immaculate drifting. kart racers live or die by their drift, and this is as good as it gets. i would describe the crashperience as a semi-orgasmic trance of rhythmically tapping the bumpers and rocking the d-pad. there's no "saving up" boost here, you will use it when the game gives it to you or you won't get it at all. this timing-heavy approach is such a refreshing change from mario kart's "hold button to boost" bullshit.

there's still ONE thing i prefer in the marioid, and that's the art. i've never been a fan of crash bandicoot's 90s irreverent boyhumor cartoon shit. it's what kept me from playing this game for so long, despite everything good i heard about it. fwiw, i think the secondary characters are very cute - big titty anime bandicoot girl is a certified banger design - and the exaggerated cartoon style makes for strong visual feedback. ultimately, any complaints i could have are PALTRY in the face of how gnarly you can get with the drift boosting. my fingers are cumming, dawg. if you haven't already, go right now and buy/download/boot up a copy of crash team racing and play it like your life depends on it. my words cannot begin to do justice to its awesomeness.

edit: i spent 3 hours tonight crunching adventure mode challenges and then forgot to save before i turned the game off. i hate my life

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a tough game to review because it objectively does nothing wrong -- it’s fun, accessible, and boasts so much eye candy, you’d think the devs were on something when they coded it. But as a lifelong fan of both the platformer and Mario games, I couldn’t help feeling like it was intrinsically stuck in the past - as though there was something stopping it from straying too far from that pre-established blueprint Miyamoto wrote back in 1985.

Of course, a series should never abandon its roots, but in a world where the 3D Mario titles have consistently innovated post-64, it’s admittedly disappointing to see its side-scrolling Bros. accompaniment not do the same post-Mario World, Fans may call me crazy given that these criticisms are normally-leveled at the New SMB subset; however, the truth is I’ve always felt the macro franchise, as a whole, was just as guilty of stagnation, and unfortunately this latest release did little to quell those preconceptions.

On the surface, Wonder appears completely discrepant from its forebears, but take a closer look and you’ll see there’s actually very little in the way of genuine DNA swaps: levels are largely the same desert/water/lava/ice motif we saw aplenty in the OG trilogy; stages primarily operate on the X-Y axis; secrets are still accessible by randomly-placed pipelines; bosses remain the same lame “jump on X three times” template; and even the story continues that tiring retread of Bowser conveniently discovering a new power source (and yes, I know that latter point will come across as excessively-whiny, but compare this to other Nintendo franchises like DKC, Zelda, and Kirby which at least swapped up the antagonist every other entry).

Regarding the new power-ups, they ain’t all that groundbreaking either - bubble flowers are reskinned fire flowers, while the much-touted elephant suit is literally limited to spraying water and breaking horizontal blocks ( things that were pioneered in DKC3 almost 30 years ago…). The Drill Cap stands as the most unique addition to the game, allowing Mario to tunnel into adjacent walls & floors, but as the name implies, it’s restricted to subterranean stages, rendering it severely-underutilized compared to its brethren.

Supplementing this are several design choices I thought were outright regressive from the past, the biggest being the presence of badges. These tokens grant supplements to Mario and co.’s movements, theoretically changing-up the gameplay for better & for worse depending on which one you choose. The problem is, in creating them, Nintendo outright-stripped standard abilities you had in previous Mario games, making it a bit frustrating for older gamers used to a full set of tools - the crouch jump, spin jump, vertical wall leap, speed boost, and Peach and Luigi’s semi-floating being among the casualties. Don’t get me wrong, Wonder does have some fresh concoctions; I just doubt the majority of gamers will utilize them in light of it making the game harder than necessary (the spring hop and wall latcher coming to mind).

Chances are you’ve heard of the eponymous Wonder Seeds laden in most levels, their touch causing all manner of psychedelic changes within, and look, I’d be lying if I said the visuals weren’t dope (you really do wonder what manner of drugs Mouri distributed to his staff during development); however, I personally never felt like you were undergoing some radical gameplay change during these sections, the lion’s share of them being either imagery swaps of standard templates, Mario Maker-esque rail levels, or transformation stages wherein you turn into an enemy like a poor man’s SM Odyssey.

Again, I don’t want it to seem like the game is bad - Wonder is, equitably-speaking, a great title, and considering every generation gives us a new batch of potential Mario fans, it’ll definitely serve as a wonderful (no pun intended) introduction to the franchise. But for longtime enthusiasts like myself expecting something different from Bros.-past, I think it’s fair to say, at this point in time anyway, that Nintendo has no interest in doing that. This is their, for lack of a better term, “safe” series where, much like GameFreak and Pokémon, they want people to know what you see is what you get - a modernized, but ultimately nostalgic, rendition of the classic SMB template.

Ironically, the one area where more was done that I actually felt would’ve actually benefited from a regressive set-up is the story as I kid you not when I say this game has more dialogue than every single Mario Bros. game combined, and it’s as trivial & repetitive as you can imagine. I get that you need a basic framework, but the way Wonder constantly reminds you about its pointless story or pointless characters, it honestly comes across like someone at Nintendo actually thought highly of the writing.

Outside of running-and-bounding across levels, Nintendo has thrown-in three additional stage types to peruse in each world: first are Break Times, or short excursions built around a gimmick; second are KO brawls, in which you’re tasked with clearing out squads of enemies; and third are Badge Challenges, wherein you, as the name implies, try out a badge in a handcrafted course. They’re fun enough diversions, but understand you’re maybe getting a couple minutes of enjoyment from each.

Graphically, Wonder is a phenomenal game, building on the HD palette New Super Mario Bros. U pioneered back in 2012 via brighter hues, motion-based environments, and even some well-done dynamic luminescence around fire. Much like Daedaelic, Mario games have always had a distinct art style, and Wonder continues that trend whilst evolving some of my favorite aspects from the franchise in the process ala superb facial expressions and minor animation work that’ll unfortunately be underappreciated (i.e., seeing a goomba’s scared reaction to his friend being eaten by a Yoshi!).

Voice acting in the Mario titles has always been restricted to the grunts & giggles of its cast, and here it’s as fine as it’s ever been. My only complaints would be Yoshi’s inflections appearing higher-pitched than normal, and all the Popplins sharing the same VA (and, you know, sounding & looking like discount Toads).

SFX is kind of disappointing given the strange decision to both use instrumentals for most actions and rehash standard stock noises Nintendo concocted long ago. With the former, static pounds are rendered as drum riffs; leaps, string plucks, and fireballs some sort of bleated note amongst others. With the latter, expect Starmen and Goalposts et al. to resound like they always have since Super Mario World.

Thankfully, the OST by Shiho Fujii, Sayako Doi, Chisaki Shimazu, and the legendary Koji Kondo remains exceptional. Going in, I expected nothing but a platter of classic Mario themes (i.e., your orchestral motifs & proud horns), and to be fair there are a good chunk of those in here; however, there’s just as many, if not more, unique tunes crafted for the game, with some of my favorite ones including: the snake charmer melody of Sunbaked Dessert, pan flutes of Shining Falls, the alternating xylophone & digitized blurts of Fungi Mines, the seafaring voyage of Lava Theme, the 80s synth revamp of Bowser’s Castle, and the masterpiece that was A Night at Boo’s Opera. The more nostalgic among you may recognize short callbacks to prior titles, like Isle Delfino in Bouncy Tunes, Slider in Coins Galore, or Super Mario World in Wonder Token Tunes, all of which add-up to a thoroughly-enjoyable medley of tracks for old and new ears alike.

In the end, though, the best music wouldn’t change what I said at the beginning - if you’re tired of the Mario Bros. formula, Wonder won’t amend things for you. It’s a terrifically-constructed enterprise ripe with multicolored energy and hallucinogenic fervor, albeit wrapped in an overly-familiar skin. Make your decision accordingly.


NOTES
-I genuinely don’t understand why Nintendo continues to put lives in the Mario games when losing them does nothing save forcing someone restart a level (a facet that, itself, is rarely going to happen). Can they really not think of any substitute purpose for collecting coins?

-Much has been made about the Talking Flowers, and they’re surprisingly not annoying, often having a singular line before disappearing from view. Still, I couldn’t get over Mick Wingert giving them a Petey the Pistol-esque voice (for you younger readers, basically he sounds like the Map from Dora the Explorer).

-Speaking more on the music, I loved how the majority of Wonder Flower shifts had their own leitmotif rather than just an altered version of the base level’s cues.

I‘ve admittedly taken a break from gaming this past month. My mental health has been quite all over the place & I really lacked the energy to start something new as a result. And while I haven’t abandoned any of the games I’m currently playing through, I definitely have been demotivated as a result to continue them. Normally I’m not one to open up about this sort of thing but I do feel like it’s very important to give some context on where my mindset is at the moment when it comes to gaming.

Hi-Fi RUSH is exactly what I needed at this time. This game is absolutely fantastic & as someone who loves Devil May Cry & Bayonetta, it was pretty obvious this game would be up my alley. But I didn’t expect it to make this big of an impact on me. This is the most fun I’ve had in a very long time & it’s one of the most unique experiences I’ve had with a game in years.

I’m not usually someone who cares much for graphics in games but I have to start off with talking about just how gorgeous this artstyle is. It’s vibrant, it’s colourful, it’s just so varied in its design making every single level stand out & feel so alive. I also loved how this game transitions from its beautiful animated cutscenes into the gameplay itself, it really is so seamless. This feels like a title from 15-20 years ago & I mean that in the best way. If you told me this was a game from the early days of the PS3 I would believe you it just has that kind of vibe to it & I absolutely love that. It’s so different to everything else we see nowadays where so many developers are focused on making realistic cinematic experiences & I honestly miss seeing this amount of creativity from game developers.

Let’s talk about the combat. At first glance, sure this looks like a fun action game but a big part of the gameplay is the music. Now I will admit I’ve never really played a lot of rhythm games. I can see they certainly have their audience but for me, it’s never been something I’ve delved very deep into. That being said however, THE COMBAT IN THIS GAME IS SO DAMN SATISFYING. Managing to time your attacks to the beat of the song is one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had playing a game in my life. You have a bunch of attacks in your arsenal such as light & heavy attacks, a dodge & a parry & the amount of combos you can unlock to pull off too as well as special attacks, partner beat attacks & parry counters, there is so much depth to the combat it’s unreal. But here’s the most interesting part. It’s not just your attacks that time to the music but the enemies & the world too. And that is truly one of the coolest aspects of this game to me. It’s definitely difficult to master but when you actually do, the feeling really can’t be described.

And how could I talk about this game without mentioning the soundtrack itself, OH THE SOUNDTRACK. This is no exaggeration one of the greatest OSTs I’ve ever heard, every single song fits so perfectly not just with the gameplay but the vibe of the entire game itself. There’s a number of licensed songs but a lot of original ones made too. So many moments throughout my time playing through Hi-Fi RUSH I just had a massive grin on my face. I can’t exactly put into words just how much serotonin I felt with one battle sequence late in the story but if you’ve played this game, you may already have an idea of what I’m referring to.

The humour in this game is honestly on point. There’s so many tongue in cheek moments & I can tell that the writers had a lot of fun with crafting the narrative. The amount of references too don’t feel forced either & they really serve the narrative quite well. As for the story itself? Yeah it’s really good. It’s not going to win any awards for being complex or deep but it’s executed in a way that’s really hard for me to complain about & the actual story beats really worked for me & kept me intrigued & wanting to keep going forward. The characters were incredibly likeable especially main protagonist Chai who is given so much life from the performance of the always excellent Robbie Daymond. It was very hard not to root for him against the bad guys & the other characters are pretty great too like Peppermint, Macaron, CNMN & one other that I’ll let you discover for yourself if you haven’t played the game yet, though if you’re this far through my review & haven’t picked it up, what are you doing?

Honestly the fact this game exists just amazes me. In an industry with so many narrative driven experiences that AAA devs insist on churning out every year for frankly ludicrous amounts of money, Hi-Fi RUSH stands as something completely unique & fresh. It’s a reminder that above all else that at the end of the day, video games are meant to be fun & if there’s anything that I could wish for? It’s that by the time the credits started rolling, I just wanted more. Yes 10 hours is a more than fine length for a game such as this but I think it would’ve been cool if we got some kind of story expansion or even a sequel which unfortunately will never see the light of day because Tango Gameworks were shut down (thanks for that Microsoft.)

Despite all that though, Hi-Fi RUSH is an excellent game & more than worth your time & money. And I really really hope that with the more people that support it, we can somehow show that when a dev team is allowed to just do something completely different & pour so much love & passion into a project, it can create something not only truly magical for them but for gamers itself. If you love video games, you absolutely owe it to yourself to play Hi Fi-Rush. I’m not asking, I’m demanding. It’s one of the best games I’ve ever played & I adore it with every fibre of my being.

Final rating: 9/10

I had always held the belief that Yakuza 0 marked the perfect entry-point into this franchise but after spending over 100 hours beating this behemoth of a game to 100% completion, I can safely say Yakuza Like A Dragon has taken that mantle. YLAD is dripping with genuine adoration for not only the previous Yakuza entries but for the medium of video games as a whole. It creatively took huge risks which paid off immensely, changing from the classic beat-’em up action to an interactive turn-based JRPG. Additionally, they pivot significantly from what came narratively before this release, choosing to follow the story of a brand new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, that genuinely rivals the iconic Kazuma Kiryu. The charismatic performance of Kaiji Tang skyrockets Ichiban to the forefront of my mind when it comes to my favourite video game protagonists of all time. He isn’t alone here either, 99% of the entire cast is absolutely goated and they’re able to demonstrate genuine emotional impact, humorous moments, and portray the relationships between characters with authenticity. The soundtrack is absolutely incredible too, this game has some absolute bangers

Of course this wouldn’t be a Yakuza game without the iconic worldbuilding and Isezaki Ijincho is filled to the seams with boundless content to enjoy. Whilst some familiar locations will undoubtedly return later in the game, this new city is perfect for a brand new start to the franchise and I have come to love all aspects of this diverse location. The draw of these games is the heart-wrenching, dramatic, and intense narrative juxtapositioned against the ridiculous, zany, and oftentimes slapstick humour. Whilst the previous games in the series have definitely had it’s emotional moments, YLAD genuinely made me cry with it’s beautiful story about loyalty, dreams, oppression, and friendship and it’s themes and story arcs felt much more impactful than it has ever been. I was blown away by the witty writing and insane scenarios Ryū Ga Gotoku Studios were able to implement into the story whilst keeping it cohesive.

As always with this franchise the characters were the highlight of the experience. Ichiban’s genuineness is sincere and embodies what it means to truly be a good person. His positivity is infectious and his journey has personally shaped my own life and I can't pay a greater compliment to a piece of media than it having a profound effect on my own character. Kasuga’s party were also incredibly fantastic, I found it difficult to decide which characters I wanted to accompany me and oftentimes found myself switching between 5/6 of them. The weakest party member is by far Eri Kamataki who’s narrative influence is entirely absent and exists primarily for the business management game mode, whilst she shines during this she is not involved at all in Kasuga’s personal journey nor the party’s greater motives which led me to neglecting her throughout most of my playthrough. The supporting characters and antagonists supplemented the story masterfully and safely cemented themselves to feel as important to the narrative as the main cast did.

It’s evolution from an action brawler style of video game into an entirely turn-based JRPG is not only the boldest move I have seen from a studio in recent times but also the correct move to breathe new life into the series. Inheriting the job class system from other JRPGs like Dragon Quest, it allows user variety and preference in their team composition, build, and playstyle to encourage creativity. Unfortunately this shift in gameplay style did lead to moments where I felt vastly overpowered at times and underpowered at other times. This required a lot of grinding which definitely slowed the pacing down but I wouldn’t detract this from the overall experience (except for the grind for the True Millennium Tower because that is insanely difficult and ridiculous).

The iconic humour previously demonstrated in limited scripted fight scenes or special heat moves in previous titles is now pervasive in every department. Whether you’re witnessing Adachi perform a Sonic The Hedgehog inspired spin-dash attack or Ichiban summoning an orbital laser strike on his enemies, the bar in it’s creativeness and hilarity is raised throughout the entire game. The enemy variety is also fantastic as the world is extenuated through Ichiban’s insane imagination which is an ingenious way of freshening up the rather mundane and unimaginative enemies that would be present otherwise.

I could write about this game for as long as I’ve played it, the music is outstanding, the side content is widespread and well-crafted, the environments are beautiful and feel as lively as ever. It’s balance in tone attaches you to the characters so deeply, you’ll be with them in their best and worst times. YLAD establishes itself as it’s own experience, carving a new path forward for the franchise whilst respecting it’s forefathers. Whilst you do not need to have played the previous entries, if you have committed yourself to this world you will be rewarded with a tonne of cameos and greater plot threads being tied up, thrusting this decade-long series into the modern era in a stylish way.

Buddhist philosophy intersecting Mesoamerican/African mythology (sort of shares a property with the Star Wars prequels in which some of these fictional cultures definitely feel racially undertoned but trying to place a finger on what specific race makes YOU the racist one. Current working theory is that the Zora are either Swedish or Korean.) in a game that's so good it doesn't make sense it exists. Escapes the humongous shadow OOT casts over the franchise by unashamedly bogarting every single asset that game had and becoming an unimpeachably weird, sombre but never maudlin, beautiful freak of a sequel. One sidequest of love and tragedy that spans 3 days and 3 nights ends a minute and a half before the moon crashes into the earth, forces you to rewind the clock, and 10 seconds later, it's like it never happened at all. Memento mori - remember you will die. You loop through Samsara, you do it all again.

Link becomes the de facto sin-eater of Termina, coming and going without a trace. You can't be everywhere. You can't save everyone. You loop through Samsara, you do it all again.

First off, I got this game from this perpetual Steam game giveaway which I highly recommend checking out!

Anyways this game is...not great. It just doesn't feel too good. I'm not super good at kart racers or racers in general really, but I wanted something to fill the Mario Kart gap on my Steam Deck and this works kinda. I also will say the I consider playing every track beating the game which is what I did.

The game has some incredibly uninspired level design with only one being kind of memorable being one Egyptian themed level which there are a weirdly high amount of? Anyways, the levels as a whole just are very uninteresting. They have very basic twists and turns and no map to see what they look like overhead, making them seem more arbitrary and bland. Yet this isn't the main issue as I think that belongs to the general feel of the game.

Overall the acceleration and turning feels pretty good, actually. Some of the items are pretty decent as well, though definitely not all. That's more or less where the positives end however as the game has some weird issues. If you drive into another kart you kinda just attach to it and stay behind it as opposed to how it feels like there's a wedge in front of you in something like Mario Kart that keeps that from happening. You can also just get stuck on a wall, forcing you to have to back away from the wall the start accelerating again afterwards. This bit is mostly fine actually, just not what I'm used to in a kart racer and feels very punishing. The 'checkpoints' are also very odd. For example, if you drive off the track, instead of the game putting you forward away from the obstacle you will be put at the beginning of it and forcing you to attempt it again, breaking the pace of the race. Finally, the drifting feels super odd to me. There's times the game will just randomly stop you from drifting if you nearly drive off a ledge. It can feel very frustrating and feel like you don't have proper control over your kart when things like this happen.

This is a pretty slapshot review I'm aware but there's just so much wrong with this game that it's hard to organize my thoughts. Overall, this game just isn't great and I recommend you play another Kart racer even if you're a Garfield fan or something. Hopefully if they make a third game it's better than this one.

Didn't even play BR but I'm gonna complain anyway because this game has been going down the gutter fast. They introduce a brand new season theme for the first time since like C2S7 and all they do is add more boring mythics, bosses, and fill the season with random collabs then call it a day.

Yearly chapters sucked any hope left out of this game and it's just unenjoyable now. Creative has all this new shit and the most boring copied maps get made, LEGO is so boring after 1 session, racing is a flop, and festival I just don't personally care for but at least it has content.

Bog-standard Fortnite.

A couple cool new skins, more very okay skins. Two new, pretty POIs. Medallions got fleshed out or ruined depending on who you ask. And that's... about it.

Oh, they also removed cosmetic item rarities to obfuscate the pricing scale and locked Aang behind a terrible mini-pass to make him more expensive. I guess the machine printing their unlimited money wasn't printing fast enough.

truthfully, i finished this game weeks ago, and truthfully i still find myself stunned on what to say.

the final stretch of this game is so absolutely magnificent that so much of my gut wants to rate this a 5/5. the final two chapters, and the post credits scene, are beyond stunning. they encapsulate the story beyond measure, leave me full of love and melancholy and feelings so full i don't know what to do with them.

but my brain knows this is not a 5/5. there are some biiiig flaws to this game that i just can't deny. some, if not most, of the new characters feel a little underdone, their stories rushed or cut off or just not as good as i know they could have been with a longer story. the engine's combat is just not for me, there's only so much ragdolling hilarity before i wish enemies would just sit still whilst i crush them LMAO

some bigger feelings i would have towards this game would realm too into spoilers for this review, but all in all, this and yakuza 5 are, to me, the Ultimate Kiryu Kazuma games. they are so good at dissecting him and showing him to be a man so full of flaws, and a man you just want to be happy. he is so beautiful, and after Y6 i think about him a worrying amount. he used to not be in my top5 yakuza characters and now he's battling it out for number 1. he really did it. i love him. he is the reason my heart screams for this to be 5/5 stars!!! kiryu!!!! !! aaaaaaaaaa!!! !!!! !!!

im gonna start doing the individual season logs cause i'm a lil goober like that! these won't be like super in depth, just kinda basic cause that's all that fortnite deserves!

anyways! this season kinda blows lol
it's, not better than the last season, but the addition of the mythological powers was a fun addition!
...that ultimately got ruined by the addition of waterbending! the biggest thing that all these powerups do is to add a fun sort of variation to how to fight people in the game, but waterbending tends to be a bit overpowered in every single instance that it's in. that being said, it's mostly balanced, except the icarus wings are not as useful as they should be

on the 'story' front, though, it's so inconsequential and i have no clear idea of what's actually going on, even though i am reading along with what's happening. this is my least favorite aspect of these seasons, because the story never matters in the long run, and never really makes sense in the moment. i know it didn't always used to be this way, and god i wish it was better...

star wars crossover was mid as hell, with overpriced packs and not very fun stuff that went along with the gamemodes overall, and the skins were fine, and it's really just a fine season. once again, the second season in chapter 5 where the train does absolutely nothing for the gameplay. i can't believe i've played so much of this shit lmao

The only thing holding me back from giving this game a higher rating is due to this being in early access, so some features are obviously missing. But with that being said though, this is a fantastic follow up to Hades and the framework is definitely there.

As per usual, Supergiant has crushed both the character and world design. The soundtrack is stellar and even more incorporated into the game with the second boss and the combat is as buttery smooth as ever. Having not only one but two paths was also a welcome surprise and I absolutely love the environments they incorporated.

I am curious to see how the story will play out though because as is, It feels like it’s about 75% of the way there but sort of ends abruptly once clearing for the first time. So besides that and a few balancing issues, I know we’re in good hands. Overall, I’m excited to see how this game fully evolves as we get closer to a final build!