poochy
2022
Insane game made by insane people. Playing 9 months or so after the game had launched, I've heard all about the discourse over the game's systems, over Viola, and of course the ending. Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect going into it. But as it turns out, the game is insane. And I loved every bit of it.
With a whooping FIFTY FIVE different movesets by my count, the game is constantly throwing new experiences at your face... and it pretty much always works! There's a couple of sections, particularly the spider chase in ch2 and any time Viola has to rely on witch time, that falter, but they are far between and are over in a couple minutes max.
Viola as a whole, although she's a fair step down from playing as Bayonetta, is only around for like an hour of the game. Her parry Witch TIme does suck, but its pretty easy to get by in the main game without hitting it much at all (all of the witch time reliance is in side fights), so it never got frustrating. Really, I don't understand why she's such a sticking point for a lot of people.
As for Bayonetta, she controls better than ever, one of the best controlling characters I've ever experienced. THe Demon Slave system integrates seemlessly into her existing movesets. It was so fun to pull off combos switching between Bayonetta and the demons, and I ended up using a wide variety of them throughout the game.
The story wasn't very good, unsurprisingly. It's better than Bayonetta 2's, probably 1's as well. I could actually understand what was going on for most of the plot, which is a marked improvement. I understand why people were so upset by the ending, but I was left feeling rather ambivalent to the negative parts of it. They'll be back, probably. This series hasn't suggested any reason why they wouldn't.
All the negatives were eclipsed by the one fanservicey section that made me fangirl harder than any game has in a while. It was crazy, it was a unique segment structured for like 2 minutes of gameplay, it felt great. It encapsulated everything so great about Bayonetta 3.
With a whooping FIFTY FIVE different movesets by my count, the game is constantly throwing new experiences at your face... and it pretty much always works! There's a couple of sections, particularly the spider chase in ch2 and any time Viola has to rely on witch time, that falter, but they are far between and are over in a couple minutes max.
Viola as a whole, although she's a fair step down from playing as Bayonetta, is only around for like an hour of the game. Her parry Witch TIme does suck, but its pretty easy to get by in the main game without hitting it much at all (all of the witch time reliance is in side fights), so it never got frustrating. Really, I don't understand why she's such a sticking point for a lot of people.
As for Bayonetta, she controls better than ever, one of the best controlling characters I've ever experienced. THe Demon Slave system integrates seemlessly into her existing movesets. It was so fun to pull off combos switching between Bayonetta and the demons, and I ended up using a wide variety of them throughout the game.
The story wasn't very good, unsurprisingly. It's better than Bayonetta 2's, probably 1's as well. I could actually understand what was going on for most of the plot, which is a marked improvement. I understand why people were so upset by the ending, but I was left feeling rather ambivalent to the negative parts of it. They'll be back, probably. This series hasn't suggested any reason why they wouldn't.
All the negatives were eclipsed by the one fanservicey section that made me fangirl harder than any game has in a while. It was crazy, it was a unique segment structured for like 2 minutes of gameplay, it felt great. It encapsulated everything so great about Bayonetta 3.
Cute little game with a good sense of humor. Had some fun getting creative shots and the world itself was really well done, bolstered a lot by its aforementioned humor. I was dumbfounded when I encountered the parody of the fucking pro-child labor furry youtuber???
Still, several of the levels grew a bit frustrating with one or two really hidden away photo ops, and I gave up on caring about the film canisters partway through, even if it meant missing out on several of the upgrades otherwise. It also gave me a headache playing through the game on two occasions, which I thought was unrelated but the Steam updates included a post where the developer mentioned some people feeling sick playing it so I'm blaming it on the game.
Still, several of the levels grew a bit frustrating with one or two really hidden away photo ops, and I gave up on caring about the film canisters partway through, even if it meant missing out on several of the upgrades otherwise. It also gave me a headache playing through the game on two occasions, which I thought was unrelated but the Steam updates included a post where the developer mentioned some people feeling sick playing it so I'm blaming it on the game.
The first time A Space for the Unbound caught my eye was during an Indie World presentation, almost exclusively due to its name. Is it a shallow reasoning? Sure, but you have to admit its a killer title. One that suggests an unusual and intriguing experience awaits. Thankfully, the game itself largely delivers on the promise of its title!
The best way I can describe A Space for the Unbound is similar to the way in which I describe OMORI (which if you know me, is a very good thing). The first 80% or so of the game is a rather simple point-and-click-adjacent adventure game in a cozy Indonesian town absolutely brimming with charm. The pixel art and music are gorgeous, there's plenty of great characters to talk with, and it's all wrapped in a beautiful nostalgic feeling for an experience I never had.
However, unlike OMORI, the adventure aspect does wear itself really thin towards the end. The gameplay itself is entirely milquetoast: picking up objects to take them to other places and a threadbare "combat" system that really , REALLY did not need to be repeated the dozens of times it is. It's compounded by a scope creep that makes the game feel like it's flying off the rails. I was deeply confused, was the game really going to be able to stick the landing and fulfill the emotional promise both the game itself and so much talk around the game presented?
It sure did.
Without getting deeply into spoilers, the last section of the game delivers a beautiful, heartfelt, incredibly well written experience that was well worth reaching. I was brought to the edge of tears and so much of its imagery in the final act has stuck with me vividly. It punches so far above its weight class and is just such a sight to behold. A Space for the Unbound is able to deliver on the promise of its title, a strange, truly remarkable title.
The best way I can describe A Space for the Unbound is similar to the way in which I describe OMORI (which if you know me, is a very good thing). The first 80% or so of the game is a rather simple point-and-click-adjacent adventure game in a cozy Indonesian town absolutely brimming with charm. The pixel art and music are gorgeous, there's plenty of great characters to talk with, and it's all wrapped in a beautiful nostalgic feeling for an experience I never had.
However, unlike OMORI, the adventure aspect does wear itself really thin towards the end. The gameplay itself is entirely milquetoast: picking up objects to take them to other places and a threadbare "combat" system that really , REALLY did not need to be repeated the dozens of times it is. It's compounded by a scope creep that makes the game feel like it's flying off the rails. I was deeply confused, was the game really going to be able to stick the landing and fulfill the emotional promise both the game itself and so much talk around the game presented?
It sure did.
Without getting deeply into spoilers, the last section of the game delivers a beautiful, heartfelt, incredibly well written experience that was well worth reaching. I was brought to the edge of tears and so much of its imagery in the final act has stuck with me vividly. It punches so far above its weight class and is just such a sight to behold. A Space for the Unbound is able to deliver on the promise of its title, a strange, truly remarkable title.
1992
“Poochy, aren’t you being really hard on an original Game Boy game?”
Yea.
I was hoping to say something about how interesting it is to go back to the first game in the series but, wait… the interesting thing about the game is how uninteresting it is! You travel through five stages mostly just moving forward and sucking up enemies sometimes, fight a few bosses, fight them again, fight Dedede, then you’re done. It feels difficult to call the game “chill” when it feels moreso like a nothing game. The movement just isn’t really fun at all, and the floating feels just finnicky enough to be a little annoying (particularly during the Lololo/Lalala boss fight).
The mid-level and before-level cutscenes are pretty cute, and clearly where most of Kirby’s appeal originates from. The game still felt like a waste of time though, ultimately. But such is life.
Yea.
I was hoping to say something about how interesting it is to go back to the first game in the series but, wait… the interesting thing about the game is how uninteresting it is! You travel through five stages mostly just moving forward and sucking up enemies sometimes, fight a few bosses, fight them again, fight Dedede, then you’re done. It feels difficult to call the game “chill” when it feels moreso like a nothing game. The movement just isn’t really fun at all, and the floating feels just finnicky enough to be a little annoying (particularly during the Lololo/Lalala boss fight).
The mid-level and before-level cutscenes are pretty cute, and clearly where most of Kirby’s appeal originates from. The game still felt like a waste of time though, ultimately. But such is life.
2023
The last game I finished—Mother 3—I felt enamored with just about everything besides its combat system. It feels right that the next game I beat is something that rides primarily on its combat system.
Okay, that's not entirely fair. Hi-Fi Rush is a game with a fuckton of style. The way the entire game moves to a singular beat: attacks coming out, the environment, the UI, the actions of the cutscenes. It all works together so seamlessly to keep you constantly on the beat. The way some of the cutscenes are choreographed around the music are genuinely impressive.
The game's story and characters are completely forgettable, and the game's writing is quite often eye-rolling. It feels like they were obligated to construct a story with some attempt at emotional resonance despite not wanting to and ended up constructing the most generic plot imaginable. I don't even want to get into how the game flaccid utilization of cyberpunk and anti-capitalist aesthetics. But it's fine. That's not what the game is about. It's about trashing robots to a beat.
The combat is absolutely divine. Very few games nail getting into the zone as much as Hi-Fi Rush does, helped in large part by the rhythm elements. Stringing together chains of attacks, launching the enemy into the air, summoning your allies to keep them up there, destroying them, then grappling to a new enemy to repeat the process, racking up a massive combo meter. It's the classic character action game feeling, and the game pulls it off perfectly.
The combat does have a few issues, namely the enemies with shields requiring you to use your allies' moves. This wouldn't be so much an issue if not for a trinity of issues: most shields take 2 ally attacks to take down, ally attacks are on a cooldown, and there's no lock-on system. If there aren't any other enemies at play, you're forced to awkwardly run around waiting for the meter to refill, ruining both your combo meter and the pace of the gameplay. And god forbid, Macaron's physical attack misses the enemy (since there's no lock-on), forcing you to wait longer. Once the shields are down, however, the gameplay is back to feeling like pure butter.
Outside of combat, the game consists mostly of "running around" sections where you're solving small puzzles, doing light platforming, talking to NPCs, etc. None of it is bad per say, but the running around:combat ratio is way too high and after the first level, most of the time in these sections I was wishing to be fed another treat that is the combat sections. Fortunately, the game strikes focuses more on the combat sections towards the end of the game, and really ends up shining with a set of 2 incredible levels at the end. Also, the jump sucks. I don't know who thought it was a good jump, but they should never be allowed to design a jump in a videogame ever again.
Despite honestly being pretty middling for most of its runtime, Hi-Fi Rush's combat elevates the rest of the experience a lot. The rhythm of the battles still flows within me even a couple hours after finishing the game, and I suspect it will continue to do so for the next few days. I would love to see the team be able to take a second crack at the formula with a bit of a higher budget. I think they have something special sprouting here, and if they do things right, they could have an all-time great on their hands.
Okay, that's not entirely fair. Hi-Fi Rush is a game with a fuckton of style. The way the entire game moves to a singular beat: attacks coming out, the environment, the UI, the actions of the cutscenes. It all works together so seamlessly to keep you constantly on the beat. The way some of the cutscenes are choreographed around the music are genuinely impressive.
The game's story and characters are completely forgettable, and the game's writing is quite often eye-rolling. It feels like they were obligated to construct a story with some attempt at emotional resonance despite not wanting to and ended up constructing the most generic plot imaginable. I don't even want to get into how the game flaccid utilization of cyberpunk and anti-capitalist aesthetics. But it's fine. That's not what the game is about. It's about trashing robots to a beat.
The combat is absolutely divine. Very few games nail getting into the zone as much as Hi-Fi Rush does, helped in large part by the rhythm elements. Stringing together chains of attacks, launching the enemy into the air, summoning your allies to keep them up there, destroying them, then grappling to a new enemy to repeat the process, racking up a massive combo meter. It's the classic character action game feeling, and the game pulls it off perfectly.
The combat does have a few issues, namely the enemies with shields requiring you to use your allies' moves. This wouldn't be so much an issue if not for a trinity of issues: most shields take 2 ally attacks to take down, ally attacks are on a cooldown, and there's no lock-on system. If there aren't any other enemies at play, you're forced to awkwardly run around waiting for the meter to refill, ruining both your combo meter and the pace of the gameplay. And god forbid, Macaron's physical attack misses the enemy (since there's no lock-on), forcing you to wait longer. Once the shields are down, however, the gameplay is back to feeling like pure butter.
Outside of combat, the game consists mostly of "running around" sections where you're solving small puzzles, doing light platforming, talking to NPCs, etc. None of it is bad per say, but the running around:combat ratio is way too high and after the first level, most of the time in these sections I was wishing to be fed another treat that is the combat sections. Fortunately, the game strikes focuses more on the combat sections towards the end of the game, and really ends up shining with a set of 2 incredible levels at the end. Also, the jump sucks. I don't know who thought it was a good jump, but they should never be allowed to design a jump in a videogame ever again.
Despite honestly being pretty middling for most of its runtime, Hi-Fi Rush's combat elevates the rest of the experience a lot. The rhythm of the battles still flows within me even a couple hours after finishing the game, and I suspect it will continue to do so for the next few days. I would love to see the team be able to take a second crack at the formula with a bit of a higher budget. I think they have something special sprouting here, and if they do things right, they could have an all-time great on their hands.
2006
This review contains spoilers
MOTHER 3 — A Beautiful Song in the Gashes of Attrition
I played Mother 3 after reading a nearly decade-old Starman.net thread titled “Does Mother 3 say something about capitalism?” with several capitalism understanders™️ within saying that it wasn’t. I called them “fucking idiots” at the time—even as someone who hadn’t played the game I could tell its about capitalism—but now that I’ve finished the game, I can provide a more nuanced take. Those guys are MASSIVE fucking idiots.
Mother 3 is a game about the ways capitalism and fascism work together to destroy society. It is not subtle about this in the slightest. It literally has a long, slow text crawl about how consumerism has corrupted people and made things start to get worse! Not that its bluntness is an issue, clearly some people need to have it shoved straight through their thick skulls. Its genuinely impressive how realistically and thoroughly the game covers these themes, from the gradual corruption of Tazmilly Village you get to experience over the course of the game, to the eugenic experiments of Chimera, to Pigmask’s hijacking of the village’s religious beliefs as a front for their lightning strikes. Even the game’s use of the “everybody is colorblind” trope effectively shows how the fascist power of the Pigmasks isn’t built out of some rigid structure. It cannot be said enough how well-constructed of a story Mother 3 is, elevated even further by the pinnacle of Nintendo’s spritework and animation.
The game is also ridiculously funny. The throughout bits are incredibly well done and always a delight to see play out. My favorite one remains the Dog-Like Dude at the entrance to Club Tittiboo (I will die knowing I missed the chance to get a plush of him 😔), though the entire climb up the Empire Porky Building with a dozen fake 100th floors was also a good ass time. I was surprised how much of a straight line I can draw this game’s humor to the indie rpgs inspired by the series, even moreso than Earthbound.
Underpinning all of this is the emotional core of the game, a family ripped apart by the Pigmasks and a young boy trying to find something in the tattered remains. Overall, I felt the game could’ve done more with its characters. Despite me having become a big Kumatora-head, it’s hard to ignore that I can summarize more or less everything the game tells you about her in two sentences. (She is a redheaded masculine girl who came to the islands as an orphan and was raised by the Magypsies. She has PSI powers and will kick your ass if you mess with her.) I think I could tell you even less about Duster. From what I understand, the intent behind the main characters’ relative lack of dialogue stems from having the their emotions reflect the player’s, much in the same way the first two Mother games handed it, but it ends up conflicting with Mother 3’s much more structured story enough that i wish they gave the core cast of characters some more character.
Despite this, the game still nails its ending with a wonderfully personal and emotional final battle. The framing between Lucas and Claus, the music, their parents’ desperate intervention, Lucas’s struggle being portrayed through the gameplay, Claus’ dying words; it’s all so beautifully done, I struggle to say more about it. The culminating awakening of the dark dragon was mesmerizing and felt like the perfect bittersweet sendoff to the world. And then, as someone who has just changed her name, to get to talk with the characters one last time, with them talking directly to me, thanking me directly, wishing me the best returning to my own world felt incredible.
This entire sequence felt special, a testament to Itoi’s incredible skills as a creative. It’s incredibly easy to see why many people consider Mother 3 one of their favorite experiences of all time, it’s definitely a 10/10 story for me.
But ah—
Mother 3 isn’t just a story. It’s a videogame.
Mother 3 is the sequel to the 1994 probably-too-popular-to-be-considered-a-cult-classic SNES JRPG Earthbound. Those close to me may know that my thoughts on Earthbound amount to “everything about the game is pretty good except the gameplay”. The general vibe I got from hearing about Mother 3 in the years before playing it was that its gameplay is an improvement from Earthbound. It definitely is. Doesn’t make it good though.
The core issue of Mother 3’s gameplay is that everything battle feels like a brutal war of attrition. Enemies hit extremely hard, so you always have to be healing someone, which costs PP or healing items, which are always in limited supply, so you better hope you can defeat the enemy before you run out. And hopefully you’re fighting something that takes a reasonable amount of damage from normal attacks, because 2 of your party members have no other options. PP-restoring items are few and far to come by. You do not have a reliable way to revive party members until at least 3/4ths through the game, and a full party heal option until even later. Sometimes the game will force you to go through an enemy-filled mini dungeon, beat the boss in there, then backtrack through said enemy-filled dungeon without a single hot springs to heal at. It’s all such a pain in the ass. And before you try to “skill issue” me, yes, I made liberal use of stat buffs and debuffs, especially during bosses. They feel essential for giving you a remote chance in several battles.
That’s just when you’ve finally got the whole party together. In the earlier chapters, when you only have 2 party members, you’ll often be lacking much options in
combat, which makes things even more of a drag. There were two separate instances in chapter 4, where you’re playing as Lucas and Boney that I would’ve straight up dropped the game if not for emulator features: the boss in Club Tittiboo and the train tunnel where you have to fight wave after wave of enemies without any respite. The game’s corridor-filled level design means any trip through an area means fighting almost every single enemy makes a beeline towards you, and of course respawns every time you reenter an area.
My gameplay frustrations started to boil towards the end of chapter 7, which a friend has affectionately called “Earthbound 2”, where the game’s structure turns into a series of vignettes where the gang travels around to find the needles and (largely) get punked by the Pigmasks each of them. Even if I was no longer as frustrated as in chapter 4, it started to feel very tedious going through each needle’s section, even if there were good moments along the way. The game’s biggest strength is its well-crafted story by far, and I wish the game didn’t put it to the wayside for such a significant chunk of playtime. A thought crossed my head when I reached the fifth or sixth needle, along the lines of “the story wouldn’t really be any different if we weren’t finding these needles, since I end up getting beaten to most of them anyways”, which I don’t think is a super great criticism in general, but speaks well to where the game was leaving me at that point.
I do feel bad that so much of this review reads negatively. It’s a piece of art that is definitely worth the experience, in spite of its gameplay. Its one of those games that feels special. I rant so much about its gameplay because I suffered through it to see what the game had to show me, and it was well worth it.
I played Mother 3 after reading a nearly decade-old Starman.net thread titled “Does Mother 3 say something about capitalism?” with several capitalism understanders™️ within saying that it wasn’t. I called them “fucking idiots” at the time—even as someone who hadn’t played the game I could tell its about capitalism—but now that I’ve finished the game, I can provide a more nuanced take. Those guys are MASSIVE fucking idiots.
Mother 3 is a game about the ways capitalism and fascism work together to destroy society. It is not subtle about this in the slightest. It literally has a long, slow text crawl about how consumerism has corrupted people and made things start to get worse! Not that its bluntness is an issue, clearly some people need to have it shoved straight through their thick skulls. Its genuinely impressive how realistically and thoroughly the game covers these themes, from the gradual corruption of Tazmilly Village you get to experience over the course of the game, to the eugenic experiments of Chimera, to Pigmask’s hijacking of the village’s religious beliefs as a front for their lightning strikes. Even the game’s use of the “everybody is colorblind” trope effectively shows how the fascist power of the Pigmasks isn’t built out of some rigid structure. It cannot be said enough how well-constructed of a story Mother 3 is, elevated even further by the pinnacle of Nintendo’s spritework and animation.
The game is also ridiculously funny. The throughout bits are incredibly well done and always a delight to see play out. My favorite one remains the Dog-Like Dude at the entrance to Club Tittiboo (I will die knowing I missed the chance to get a plush of him 😔), though the entire climb up the Empire Porky Building with a dozen fake 100th floors was also a good ass time. I was surprised how much of a straight line I can draw this game’s humor to the indie rpgs inspired by the series, even moreso than Earthbound.
Underpinning all of this is the emotional core of the game, a family ripped apart by the Pigmasks and a young boy trying to find something in the tattered remains. Overall, I felt the game could’ve done more with its characters. Despite me having become a big Kumatora-head, it’s hard to ignore that I can summarize more or less everything the game tells you about her in two sentences. (She is a redheaded masculine girl who came to the islands as an orphan and was raised by the Magypsies. She has PSI powers and will kick your ass if you mess with her.) I think I could tell you even less about Duster. From what I understand, the intent behind the main characters’ relative lack of dialogue stems from having the their emotions reflect the player’s, much in the same way the first two Mother games handed it, but it ends up conflicting with Mother 3’s much more structured story enough that i wish they gave the core cast of characters some more character.
Despite this, the game still nails its ending with a wonderfully personal and emotional final battle. The framing between Lucas and Claus, the music, their parents’ desperate intervention, Lucas’s struggle being portrayed through the gameplay, Claus’ dying words; it’s all so beautifully done, I struggle to say more about it. The culminating awakening of the dark dragon was mesmerizing and felt like the perfect bittersweet sendoff to the world. And then, as someone who has just changed her name, to get to talk with the characters one last time, with them talking directly to me, thanking me directly, wishing me the best returning to my own world felt incredible.
This entire sequence felt special, a testament to Itoi’s incredible skills as a creative. It’s incredibly easy to see why many people consider Mother 3 one of their favorite experiences of all time, it’s definitely a 10/10 story for me.
But ah—
Mother 3 isn’t just a story. It’s a videogame.
Mother 3 is the sequel to the 1994 probably-too-popular-to-be-considered-a-cult-classic SNES JRPG Earthbound. Those close to me may know that my thoughts on Earthbound amount to “everything about the game is pretty good except the gameplay”. The general vibe I got from hearing about Mother 3 in the years before playing it was that its gameplay is an improvement from Earthbound. It definitely is. Doesn’t make it good though.
The core issue of Mother 3’s gameplay is that everything battle feels like a brutal war of attrition. Enemies hit extremely hard, so you always have to be healing someone, which costs PP or healing items, which are always in limited supply, so you better hope you can defeat the enemy before you run out. And hopefully you’re fighting something that takes a reasonable amount of damage from normal attacks, because 2 of your party members have no other options. PP-restoring items are few and far to come by. You do not have a reliable way to revive party members until at least 3/4ths through the game, and a full party heal option until even later. Sometimes the game will force you to go through an enemy-filled mini dungeon, beat the boss in there, then backtrack through said enemy-filled dungeon without a single hot springs to heal at. It’s all such a pain in the ass. And before you try to “skill issue” me, yes, I made liberal use of stat buffs and debuffs, especially during bosses. They feel essential for giving you a remote chance in several battles.
That’s just when you’ve finally got the whole party together. In the earlier chapters, when you only have 2 party members, you’ll often be lacking much options in
combat, which makes things even more of a drag. There were two separate instances in chapter 4, where you’re playing as Lucas and Boney that I would’ve straight up dropped the game if not for emulator features: the boss in Club Tittiboo and the train tunnel where you have to fight wave after wave of enemies without any respite. The game’s corridor-filled level design means any trip through an area means fighting almost every single enemy makes a beeline towards you, and of course respawns every time you reenter an area.
My gameplay frustrations started to boil towards the end of chapter 7, which a friend has affectionately called “Earthbound 2”, where the game’s structure turns into a series of vignettes where the gang travels around to find the needles and (largely) get punked by the Pigmasks each of them. Even if I was no longer as frustrated as in chapter 4, it started to feel very tedious going through each needle’s section, even if there were good moments along the way. The game’s biggest strength is its well-crafted story by far, and I wish the game didn’t put it to the wayside for such a significant chunk of playtime. A thought crossed my head when I reached the fifth or sixth needle, along the lines of “the story wouldn’t really be any different if we weren’t finding these needles, since I end up getting beaten to most of them anyways”, which I don’t think is a super great criticism in general, but speaks well to where the game was leaving me at that point.
I do feel bad that so much of this review reads negatively. It’s a piece of art that is definitely worth the experience, in spite of its gameplay. Its one of those games that feels special. I rant so much about its gameplay because I suffered through it to see what the game had to show me, and it was well worth it.