mchearn
That was a fun day.
2019
A fun metroidvania of the Hollow Knight influence in atmospheric lore, having to experiment with equippable items to see effects, and building its varied and impressive boss fights out of your rudimentary moveset. Vague enough that its backtracking and having to figure out where to go next became a little tiresome.
Practically on-rails linear action-platformer that keeps turning into an arena shooter of spongy enemies, but gonna admit I was surprised how involving the story and humor was at times.
2020
Fun weapons and DOOMy level design and enemies, but the early access and spread out design of it is a little tell-tale, with easier and gimmicky levels in the latter half padding it after a more naturally ascending level of difficulty. I still liked it enough that a future episode could be potentially interesting.
As glad I am that it didn't go back to the SW2 well for big open level design and "endless play" elements like loot and challenges, its short linear design is mostly appreciable because otherwise it's very monotonous. A lot of obnoxious and slippery action-platforming in between Madworld-y arena battles of simple weapons, dumb as usual but without the same inspiration of the OG and the first reboot.
2006
Plays a little weird through the port but otherwise minorly fun top-down shooter with some tricky AI-buddy scenarios.
Thankfully updates the great PS2 format of R&C action-platforming and checklist exploration with enough fun minigames and weapons, kept it breezy.
2023
Laidback enough in the main game to be breezy, genuinely difficult and strategy-heavy post-game even with its quality of life updates and some real cheap items you can buy, and while some of its side games are clearly better than others the variety is certainly welcome and kept me hooked. Missing 3's co-op, but otherwise the best Pikmin since 1 in terms of coalescing all its new elements while still being screamingly fun.
2022
Fun 3D puzzle-platformer with some clever usage of the limited Pikmin-esque army of different abilities you get, though sometimes loopy level design. Frustrating for perfectionists, and not quite enough variety in puzzles especially in the last couple of levels.
The worst controls and levels in Mario Kart history, but technically playable.
2003
Probably not better than the SSX series for snowboarding representation but as a relatively straightforward racer with challenge modes is very fun and controls well. Certainly better than the barebones N64 version.
2017
Was starting off pretty into its smaller, sci-fi flavored Souls-like take with a pretty dynamic combat system and ingenious customization, but had to admit after some remarkable open-air areas it starts to get more and more confined and the loopy nature of the shortcuts is a lot less clever than how Souls games would approach it. So many vent-corridors. Still cool enough that I played it through and even enjoyed its relatively easy-to-master boss fights, but hoping the sequel fine-tunes this and has more inventive level design.
2023
Could've been a mere Intelligence Qube meets Lemmings (which is a very fun concept) but a few chapters in does add some disparate mechanics for varied difficulty peaks, but also in thematic progression. The more stealth/action-based last couple of chapters are a little less on the clever puzzles and more on Pikmin-y combat but with some flips, though not enough to make it easier in the final stretch than before.
More rudimentary an RPG than the first two Paper Marios but makes up for it in a distinctly different sense of charm and setting, and one can appreciate the smaller scale for the smaller system.
Some fun at first but then a lot of save-scum reliant trap laden levels and confined settings lose its luster. Picks up in the last chapter especially well before ending on a very simple final boss.