I asked for this for years and to be able to play it, whether docked on TV or sitting in bed, was the most perfect experience I could have asked for. Despite the frame rate not being as high as the original release, this was the ultimate package for Nintendo's best work. It takes everything I love about video games and consolidates it all into one beautiful remake. The new OST was tremendous. It made battles more engaging depending on the environment and gave each chapter additional charm and wonder that I didn't know the game could provide. Despite having the option to use the original classic soundtrack, the new tracks added a new flare to the experience I did not want to lose out on. Backtracking was never a major issue to me but to be able to jump in and out of key areas with ease was monumental. That on its own is a significant enough QoL change to push this over the original but there was so much to love. All of the new animations were in-character and added so much life to what otherwise were emotionless character segments. To release this at the end of the life cycle has secured the console as my favorite system. I could not be happier with what Intelligent Systems accomplished.

Nintendo’s most under appreciated series put out one of the best games Nintendo has ever produced. Pikmin 4 took everything great from the first 3 games and put them together to make a special game that is easily the class of the series, which is really saying something. This is one of the most just pure fun game that I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing.

The return of caves, 9 types of Pikmin, the greatest surprise/Easter egg in gaming history (imo of course), and my favorite addition dandori challenges. I honestly would buy a Pikmin spin off game that is just a ton of dandori challenges. Also the Easter egg added about halfway through the game blew me away and made me so happy.

The art is my favorite in all of gaming. It is absolutely beautiful. The Pikmin are beautiful, the characters have a unique design, moss and Oatchi are adorable, the world is beautiful and put together so well. The feeling it gives of making you feel so small, it really makes you feel like you’re viewing the world from a bugs perspective. It’s unbelievable how good the art is.

Pikmin is one of the most replayable series ever and I cannot wait to replay this game again. If you have a switch please do yourself a favor and buy this masterpiece. It’s the first game in the series that is killing it in sales but it deserves even more to bring light to this fantastic franchise.

This game easily made my top 100. Check out where here.

https://www.backloggd.com/u/DVince89/list/my-favorite-100-video-game-of-all-time/

I need to preface this review with the fact I ADORE Alan Wake 2, as well as the first game and Control, but this DLC pack was absolutely middle of the road, totally fine but nothing greater. Thematically and symbolically it’s doing what Alan Wake always does and that’s all pretty good. Each one is better than the last with the 3rd being a standout concept with presentation that was genuinely fun to explore and allows greater context to the Remedy Universe and the previous episodes. But one episode being pretty good doesn’t make up for the others being pretty throwaway scenarios. None of it is as meaningful or insightful as their other stuff, especially the base game of AW2, but not bad by any means and allows for a reassessment of what these games are doing. The use of particularly characters for particular theming, especially in the context of Alan Wake is great and like I said the concept explored by Episode 3 is particularly tantalising.

However, it’s mechanically dull, just shy of 2 hours in total and amounts to shooting stuff with no sense of tension because all your weapons and gear is super over powered, and level design that’s ultimately boring and shallow in areas we’ve visited before in the base game. There’s just nothing about it that makes it significantly worth playing as opposed to just watching online or reading about. With AW2, the experience was the thing, it was tense, thrilling, mind bending and beautiful. And that’s not even to mention the challenge of solving puzzles whilst surviving. These DLC chapters are just stuff happening, interesting concepts with tasks that are the most basic and amount to walking with pressing buttons with little thought, it’s incredibly passive, and while the stuff happening does have narrative merit, it’s not deep enough and, with design this shallow, it’s really not worth playing at all to be totally honest. Which is a shame.

I played Tri Force Heroes with my two friends in anticipation of the 3DS online servers closing in a few months. When this game released in 2015, I connected with random players online, and it was difficult to coordinate efficiently enough to complete the game. I had a much better experience playing over voice chat with people I knew. We laughed a lot and had fun throwing each other around and working together.

The game definitely isn't without its faults, and it isn't as high-quality as the other multiplayer Zelda titles. Some levels were needlessly frustrating, and it would be a miserable experience to play it single player. That being said, I'm glad I finally completed every level in a way that I could have fun with it.

Side Order is Nintendo's second outing in DLC for the Splatoon franchise; its first, Octo Expansion, is a tough act to follow. Octo Expansion had been my personal favorite gaming experience of the year when it had released as the Splatoon 2 DLC, 50 I had high expectations going into Side Order. This time, the DLC is designed with rouguelite gameplay. The player must ascend a tower one floor at a time to get to the top, with each floor presenting a challenge. It feels intense to climb to the highest floors with so much at stake; if you fail a challenge and run out of lives, you start back at the first floor, even after you reach the final boss at the highest floor. Of course, each run gets easier than the last because you get to make permanent upgrades to your character and partner between attempts. The challenge comes from clearing the tower with all of the different weapons. Some of the weapons are tough to clear certain floors with due to lack or range or specials, so it can still be difficult to complete even with a lot of upgrades. My main criticism of Side Order is the minimal variation it provides in the challenges. There are only three different boss encounters (apart from the final boss), and you'll face two of them each full run. Additionally, there are only five types of objectives on each floor: Defeat the fleeing foe, sink the ball, destroy the portal, protect the zone, and escort the turbine tower. With 30 floors in a full run, the objectives and bosses get extremely repetitive. I would have appreciated more variability in a game designed to be played over and over again.
Regardless of this repetition, I appreciate the lore that Side Order provides through the Marina logs and dialogue with Pearl. I'll probably pick it up and attempt a run every so often when the mood strikes, but I don't feel captivated enough to grind for 100% completion.

It’s rare for a game, especially an RPG, to be top-tier in everything they do, but Final Fantasy VII Rebirth still managed to do it. From the side content to the main story, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with every aspect of this game. After taking 112 hours to beat the game, I still find myself constantly thinking about it and itching to go back to the world of Gaia.

In terms of story, this isn’t the most insane plot due to this only being part two of three, but this still contains some very powerful and hard-hitting moments. The segments from the original game that are covered here are more impactful than ever. There are certain changes that I was unsure of at first, but slowly grew to like them and I trust in part three to utilize them in satisfying ways. The overall story isn’t a major focus of this part, but it instead is centered around the characters. This completely pays off, as all members of the main cast are fantastic and are some of the best-written characters I’ve ever seen.

Remake’s combat was already fantastic, but Rebirth adds even more layers and options to it, making it all that much better. Even Aerith, a character that I didn’t particularly enjoy playing as in Remake, feels a lot better to control with her new abilities. On top of the combat, there are plenty of other things to do. Side quests are really well done, as they have interesting character interactions and often involve unique content such as mini-dungeons. Also, I’m not usually a big fan of minigames in games like this, but I found a majority of the minigames here to be pretty fun (and there are a lot of them). Queen’s Blood in particular proved to be extremely addicting. I would buy an entire spinoff based on it.

One of the biggest changes in Rebirth compared to Remake is that it is a lot more open, with multiple expansive areas. They’re fun to explore, but I like that there are also markers for areas of interest to help you find important things without too much work. It’s also nice that there are linear segments spread throughout the game, providing a lot of variety to keep things fresh. Speaking of variety, it's insane how many unique music tracks there are. It's always a treat hearing a new song, because you never know what style or genre they'll pull from next, and they're always magnificent. This results in a spectacular soundtrack that I can't wait to be officially released.

It’s been nearly a week since I beat Rebirth, but I still find myself unconsciously thinking about how much I adore this game. It truly is an extraordinary adventure, one of the best I've had the pleasure of experiencing, and I cannot wait to see what the final part of this series has in store.

Oracle of Seasons is a fun adventure, but it is unfortunately rather cryptic and tedious. The mechanic of changing seasons is cool and leads to some interesting puzzles, although I do feel like it could've been utilized to a greater extent. Holodrum's map is intriguing to explore with lots of secrets to find, but sadly it can become a slog to get from place to place. The dungeons here are nothing fantastic due to their lack of satisfying puzzles, but luckily they do provide some fun items. Overall, this experience contains some enjoyable parts but also some rather dull parts.