Really good character work, really pretty world. The pacing is all off, but once you get to actually play the game maybe a few hours in beyond all the tutorials and cutscenes, it strikes a lowkey level of fun. The amount of stranger encounters makes exploring the world exciting. Not a fan of the morality system, which was in LA Noire, too, and all it did was force me not to experiment with the mechanics because then I become an uber-murderer jerk. The notoriety system was also a bit wonky. Sometimes I'm out in the middle of nowhere and somehow a witness or policeman will find me. I get it's to start the 'chase' element of the gameplay that's kind of inherent to criminal stories in GTA/Red Dead, but it didn't fit as well here. It apes a lot of good westerns, but generally does it well and without being too on the nose with it, and I like good westerns, so I enjoyed this all things considered.

The first passable EA Star Wars game in a while, so I suspect people's love for it may be overstated. It's got a good foundation, though, and I hope they improve upon it further. The Souls-like battles are good, as are the Jedi force and sword mechanics. I did not appreciate the confusing map design, but maybe that's another thing they took from Souls. In any case, I found it tiresome to be walking back and forth on a map, but I also don't like Metroidvanias, so maybe that's just me. Oh, and I would've liked some more vibrant environments. I recall a lot of grassy areas, jungles, and mountains, but Star Wars can be fun in space! How about putting some of this on a space ship?

Another fine open-world game like H:ZD with some unique mechanics sprinkled in that break up some monotony. The haiku mini game is fun, and the swordfighting starts to get fun once you get upgrades, but even then I felt the repetitiveness of the fighting within maybe 2 hours. If GTA is mostly driving, and Red Dead is riding a horse, then this is mostly stabbing and slicing people. That sounds like a lot of fun, and it is occasionally, but the situations/styles of fighting are too similar to warrant a 20+ hour game for me. I will admit the story won me over by the end. The climax was pretty great, and more nuanced than I anticipated with these meh characters.

I think this game sacrifices whatever unique style it had (have not played the others) to earn some Mainstream cred. It's got the Last of Us dynamic fit with somber dad and bratty kid, but the story works fairly well I will admit. The pacing helped a lot--I can't remember a section that dragged too long, either in cutscene or in gameplay. The father and son dynamic develops very naturally. It keeps the story moving forward, even through the oddly shoehorned open-world/multi-world design, which I didn't appreciate. If it wanted to be serious and bring the camera down so it's less of a gamey game and more of a Work of Art, a linear design (which the game admittedly has for most of it) is all you need to push people along. The bosses are mildly repetitive and the puzzles so easy/simple I wonder why they need to be there, but the axe mechanic is so satisfying I sat through a number of more meh stuff enjoying the feeling of swinging the axe.

Great level design, and some fun extra power ups like the bee one. I did not like Spring Mario. Half the time I pressed jump he didn't jump, and the timing always felt off. Moving him around always felt more cumbersome than fun. But onto the rest of the game--I really dig the space theme, and I even like the hub even though there's little to interact with. The way the orchestra fills out in the hub area the more you collect stars is a nice touch. I also liked how getting those same stars allowed you to hear more of Rosaline's story, which was a point of curiosity for me while playing. I'm not a huge fan of a lot of Mario level structures, where you have to roam around to the level and star you want--it feels a bit old-fashioned at this point to go through several menus to start playing a level--and this has some of that issue for me. I appreciate the more open approach to Odyssey where levels are almost map-wide, but at the same time that can prove awkward, too. That's part of my current issue with Sunshine. But ultimately that stuff doesn't get in the way too much. In the end, there's a lot of fun and varying kinds of levels to enjoy, even if you have to use a WiiMote to fully interact (which I'm not a fan of). Perhaps my favorite Mario theme, and one of my favorite Mario games, but not THE favorite.

I liked this even more than 3D World, and this is only a DLC for that! Every song is so catchy, and all the levels are fun to play. Very few of them are actually annoying for me, though I will say the frequency of Bowser's Fury (or whatever you call his evil state) gets tiresome when you're trying to still trying to complete a certain level. Short, but honestly just the right amount of game for me right now. I don't need a 10 or 20 hour game. 5 max seems like a proper amount of time (though for 60 dollars not so much).