A splash of nostalgia from a game I had never even played. Spongebob Squarepants: Battle For Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is a title that I had fun with but has definitely aged in some aspects. Although I didn't play this game when I was a kid, I consistantly watched the show (and still do from time to time). The characters and the world itself are instantly iconic and recognizable. Although the show did the heavy lifting in that department, the game did a fairly solid job keeping its spirit. Though the absence of Mr. Krabs' and Mermaid Man's real voice actors did distract me a bit, I found it more comical than annoying. Although none of the jokes reached a Stephen Hillenburg level of quality, most of them gave me a chuckle. The story was simple (even for spongebob) but had a nice charm to it, and keeping it that basic could help center the focus on the gameplay. I think the core mechanics are decent and probably much smoother than the original, however, there were certain parts that I would change. I believe that this game at it's core is Spongebob's take on mario 64. It is mostly non-linear levels that you can take in any order to collect golden spatulas (Stars) and shinny objects (coins). Once you get enough, you can then open new areas of the hub world in order to travel to different areas. I think Spongebob does enough differently to justify its existance but I wish it would just go a bit further. Obviously this is a remaster so the game is not going to change much, but I'm just looking at it from a critical perspective. Having three characters is enough, but I was really hoping I could buy upgrades for them with the shiny objects. Instead the shinny objects are only used to access new areas and buy golden spatulas. Also, the only character who recieved any additional moves was Spongebob, and he kind of just randomly was given them. I appreciated the Spongebob, Patrick, and Sandy all had their own unqiue moves, but I wish I could have swapped to any of them on the fly. The system of going to a bus stop to change was fine but felt a bit unnatural. Maybe it was good to force me to play all three characters because I found Sandy to be the most fun to use and would have only picked her. Her glidding alone made it so much easier to platform around the map. It did help when spongebob got his missle ability. However, I found that Patrick was the most boring character to play. His item throwing and ground pound were not as interesting as the other two characters. The boss fights were the big gameplay standouts for me. Each of them stood on their own and felt suprisingly climactic. I think the fish commentating the fight tremendously helped in creating the tone, and the final boss fight felt like the right way to end the game. Overall, I think this game is a quirky fun platforme that clearly originates from 2003.

Damn what an ending. In the last couple of hours I was getting ready to move on but the ending made it all worth it. There were hints all along, Joseph Seed was right. Holy shit though what an entertaining antagonist. I wish he was in it more, but at the same time, his few appearances that he had made them all the more memorable. The three Heralds were also entertaining too. Out of the three Faith was definitely my personal favorite (boss fight and character). The fact that we never actually technically see her in person makes her unique and feel more unnerving. Also her fucked up mind control (the biss) was both scary and a fun gameplay addition. Beyond the antagonists, I didn't find a ton of the characters too interesting, but its a far cry game so what do you expect. The side characters certainly did not worsen the experience. Having some of the characters be able to help you in combat with their own abilities and have unique dialogue with each other was a great touch. Though sometimes they made combat too easily. In many combat sections I could just comand the characters to go attack the enemies and just sit back and enjoy the show if I really wanted to. Though I was not tempted to because when used, the combat itself was very solid. The best parts to me were using a stealth style to slowly pick off enemies in creative ways. This is why I mostly carried bows, snipers, and silenced pistols. Though thanks to the game being an open-world sandbox, I would occasionally just grab a good old fashioned RPG. Splitting the game into three sections with their own identity and gameplay mechanics helped to keep me entertained and interested in what would happen next. Having resistance points (RP) at each of them also assisted in giving me the constant feeling of progresson. Every action I did gave the feeling that I was chipping away at the cult. The variety of weapons, vehicles, skills, etc. also helped me feel consistant progression. Though I do wish there were more customization options such as more attatchment choices or vehicle parts. My only major criticism of the game is the amount of glitches, specifically with the audio. An intense scene would be happening and all of a sudden the characters mouth would be moving ahead of their audio. This instantly broke my emersion and was a big distraction. It wasn't just once or twice, but probably dozens of times, though it was something I was able to tolerate most of the time. However besides this, the only other thing that affected my playthrough was my own fault. I ended up taking a break for a month or two halfway in and it created a disconnect fof the rest of it. I had forgetten most of the characters besides the main ones and some of the major plot points. To be clear this is just something that I need to work on avoiding in narrative heavy games. Overall, the game is fun throughout, if not just a little too long in my opinion. Would consider replaying again if I could get one of my buddies to buy it.

Lol first and probably only review on here for this game. Kill The Plumber is a cute little indie title that I randomly bought when I was like 12, played for 20 minutes and never touched again for 8 years. The idea of reverse Mario is actually really cool and has more potential than the game takes it to. I thought it was kinda amusing that the game frames him as a creepy stalker desperately trying to get the princess and killing anything in his way. Playing the different "enemies" and using their abilities to solve puzzles is unique and fun. Its nice that on a lot of the levels there are different ways of beating it. The game is generally fairly easy, but there were random levels with difficulty spikes that I think were just poorly designed. I could finish most of the stages in under a minute but there was the random one or two that straight up took 20 minutes. This was because some of the levels were janky and designed to just barely be able to be beaten in time. I'm talking frame-perfect jumps and trial and error. It took away a lot of the fun and soured some of my overall enjoyment. Also, not sure what I was expecting, but the final level felt very anticlimactic. It felt like any other level, and I didn't even know it was the last one until it was over. I do appreciate the extra levels that they offer for more content, though I do not see myself coming back to it. The kind of game you play once for a few hours at most, and never touch again. Maybe could recommend this game if it is on sale, but playing it through a browser is probably a better than spending a couple bucks.

Out of all the games I have beaten so far this year, this is the one in which my thoughts are the most scattered. I started playing it very casually around a year and a half ago. It was perfect for something that I could pick up and play on-and-off while in between my classes and when I had a little bit of free time at my dorm. Maybe (most likely) it's just a classic case of 'skill issue,' but around 3/4's of the way in, some of the levels would take an hour or two just to complete. This is not necessarily a straight criticism as I think challenge can reward those sweet dopamine receptors even more when a level is completed, but it is definitely something to keep in mind. (Just to clarify, I am not a Gamespot reviewer playing 'Spongebob: Battle For Bikini Bottom'.) You can't just pick up Super Meat Boy for 5 minutes and expect to make genuine progress. One of my favorite things about the game is what happens when a level is completed. It plays back all of your past tries at once to show your progress in real time. It highlights your mistakes and what methods and paths you eventually ended up using to complete the stage. It is an ingenious feature that I honestly wish more platformers utilized. I looked forward to it every time and it even worked as a motivator for me to finish the level. The controls were pretty good as the felt just floaty enough that imprecise jumps wouldn't completely punish the player, but you would still have to be very careful. I also liked how there were multiple unlock-able characters that would have unique physics/abilities. I only beat the main story and barely dove into the extra levels but I appreciate that they are there and may consider giving them a shot in the future.

From a goofy start with creative puzzles, to a meta narrative, to an unsettling/nearly horror section, to reality bending, to unabashedly profound, Superliminal is a wild ride. I had no idea what to expect from this game other than it's unique use of perspective. On that front, it delivered. I would say 80-90% of the puzzles were very strong. Though there were a few that I thought were a little bit confusing and/or janky (however I might just a dumbass). The game had pretty much the perfect length as it did not wear out its welcome. Each chapter of the title brought something unique and kept me on my toes. Just when I thought I had seen everything, it threw something unexpected into the mix. I loved how most of the puzzles could be solved in a few different ways. As mentioned before, the perspective mechanic really sets this game apart and makes it fun and worth playing. I didn't fully grasp every little bit of the story but I thought it was full of character and memorable. Honestly one of my favorite puzzle-centered indie titles. I may reconsider a second playthrough at some point.