When it came to the world of video games back in the day, in their initial stages, things were always going to be pretty restricted. Since most games sold were primarily made on cartridges, not too much could be done to further enhance the experience of playing a video game past the primary gameplay, with elements like story, characters, and cinematics either being used with text boxes, or kept primarily on the back burner to focus more on the game itself. However, that all changed with the introduction of CD based technology, and all of a sudden, video games were changed forever. No longer were developers held back by the limitations of developing games for cartridges, being able to produce much higher quality content, process more information at once, and produce them at a much quicker rate then ever before.

This has been the standard used ever since the early 90s, and while not everyone jumped on the bandwagon immediately, and despite the age of CD-based games seemingly coming to an end, this is how video games have been able to produce much bigger and better content over the years, and not much has changed to keep this line of progression from stopping. However… back in the early days of CD based games, there was one type of game that were quite commonly made on CDs back in the day, which made them seemingly undesirable just for how low the quality on these products can be… FMV games.

For those who are unaware, FMV games are where they take actual “movie-quality” footage of real people, and incorporate gameplay around it, making the events seem more real, and to get you more invested with the game. These kinds of games are still being made to this day, and despite how there have been much better and more valuable products made with this style nowadays, back in the day, they were anything but valuable. If you were to want to see what kind of waste was made using this format, look no further then what was made for the Sega CD, an add-on for the Sega Genesis that was able to play CD-based games. For all of the games that couldn’t just be regular ol’ Genesis titles with some added flare, most of these titles suffered from extremely poor video quality, terrible performances and story from the videos themselves, and extremely confusing gameplay surrounding it, making you most likely give up on the game before trying to properly figure it out. And out of all of the FMV games that plagued the Sega CD, none of them are as noteworthy or as infamous as the one and only Night Trap.

When you take a look at what Night Trap has to offer nowadays, you gotta admit, it looks pretty fucking stupid. With it’s terrible acting, poor quality footage (at least with the original version of the game), and it’s sillier moments that can be seen throughout, most would probably write it off as nothing more then “the funny FMV game”, which would be an appropriate assumption to make. However, back when the game initially came out, it had a bit more of an… infamous reputation. Violence in video games had been becoming more prominent at this point, not only with the plethora of games already out there that could be classified as violent when looked at from a specific angle, but also with newer titles like Mortal Kombat, which made “realistic” graphic violence and extreme kills one of its major selling points. Needless to say, these kinds of games caused a bit of a negative reaction from the United States Senate, with Night Trap being no exception.

Now, is Night Trap really all that violent? Honestly, no, or at least, not in the general sense. As one can clearly see, it is pretty damn goofy, what with the way that the enemies move around, the way they get trapped, and even with how the characters react to them. Although, there are some scenes that did cause a bit of an uproar, specifically with one of the character’s deaths, and while it, again, does look somewhat goofy nowadays, you can kinda understand why kids shouldn’t see it without some proper warning. Therefore, due to this, along with what both Mortal Kombat, Lethal Enforcers, and Doom offered, this lead to the development and creation of the Entertainment Software Rating Board, or ESRB, a ratings system that is still being used on video games even to this very day… even though most people would agree it doesn’t mean jack shit half of the time.

So, with a reputation like that which the game carries with it to this day, an outsider would likely suspect that a game that was able to do that should be one that must really be a sight to behold, and one that must still hold up even to this day. However, in reality… it really doesn’t. I wouldn’t consider Night Trap to be a bad game, or at least, not one that would fall under the same hatred as games like E.T. or Superman 64. Rather, it’s a bad game in the sense that it really is the prime example of what these shitty FMV games were like back in the day, with terrible video footage and weird-as-hell moments and acting, barely any gameplay to go alongside it, being needlessly frustrating for newcomers, and leaving you feel empty inside when you actually do manage to complete it. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to play an experience. I would say this is almost on the same level as something like The Room, where the experience is so goofy, weird, and stupid, that it is very fun to experience, and if you don’t take any of it seriously, you can have a good time with it.

Since this game likes to treat itself like an interactive movie, I feel it is only appropriate that I do the same for now. The story is basically every single generic horror “slasher” film ever made, which was probably intentional, given how goofy it is presented, so it makes sense, the characters are all incredibly generic archetypes of what you would typically see in those films, but there are some stand-outs among the bunch, like some of the girls and Eddie, the acting is, again, pretty bad, but much like The Room, a good number of the performances and delivery of these lines make it much more entertaining, the way that the augers fall into traps is very over-the-top and exaggerated in the best possible way, and it has moments throughout that are pretty stupid, but again, pretty memorable at the same time.

Obviously, it’s not meant to be a proper film through and through, so there are plenty of moments throughout that don’t make sense, and you will constantly be taken out of it whenever characters talk directly to the player, but that was the intention, so I can’t really complain too much about it. And in all honestly, treating this game purely as a film and nothing else is probably the best way that you can experience it, given that the main game itself is all focused primarily on one aspect of the footage, that being trapping the augers. This does lead to one of my problems with the story though, which is more so the game’s fault, but it is still an issue: if you play through the game the way it was intended, you will barely experience the story at all.

Right after getting the instructions on what you are supposed to do, you are thrown right into the game, and you have to start going around and trapping augers immediately, or else risk missing them and getting a game over. However, while all of this is going on, the live-action footage is being played in other parts of the house, meaning that while you are doing all this, you are pretty much going to miss most of the plot. Yeah, you can chime in every now and then whenever nothing is going on, but trust me, if you plan on making it through the game, then there will be very few moments for you to do this, which does really suck, as again, the dumbass live-action moments are the best parts of the game. It’s not a complete deal breaker for those who just wanna play the game, but it is still an issue overall.

In terms of the gameplay, this is where things start to go from being the pretty fun kind of bad, to just being flat out bad. If I were to describe the main gameplay of this title in a way that makes sense, I would say that this is basically Five Nights at Freddy’s before that series existed (I know, I’m sorry for making that comparison, feel free to laugh at me). Throughout the whole game, you will be surveying the house the game takes place in via security cameras placed throughout, looking out for augers that will be creeping about through the night, making sure to trap them whenever you can so that not too many end up infesting the house, and changing codes whenever you can so that the traps will still work. It all may seem very simple, and yeah, it really is, but trust me, whenever you are actually taking control yourself, it is anything but simple.

For the original Sega CD release anyway, you have no idea where any of these augers can be, so you will be constantly switching these cameras around in a panicked rush, hoping to catch them before they escape, and 9 times out of 10, you are guaranteed to miss at least one of them, making you even more stressed out, and rush through the cameras even faster. It is really a test of memorization and reflexes, making sure you memorize where augers can appear, what part of the screen can they appear on, where the traps are, when to set off the traps, and when they actually start to interact with the characters themselves, then that just opens up a whole nother can of worms to deal with. Needless to say, this is NOT easy whatsoever, because if you aren’t familiar with what you are getting into, you will have almost no idea what you are doing, relying only on the instructions that you are given at the beginning, and even then, that may not be enough to fully take the augers down, causing you to have to start over again and again and again, all in the vain hope of maybe, just maybe, you won’t screw up this time. It also doesn’t help when there are plenty of instances where you will encounter moments where you MUST take down a specific auger at a specific point in order to keep going, and if you don’t do it correctly, well then tough shit, back to the start with you.

But fear not, as there is a bit of a method to the madness, because despite how random and fast the augers come at you whenever you play the game, you then start to realize something: everything is all predetermined. All the locations of the augers, when they will show up, what order they show up in, it is ALL set in stone from the very beginning every time. The only randomized aspect of the game is the color of the code that you will need to change it to throughout the game. So, if you want to get a leg up on the game after it screws you over after so long, just look up a guide, follow it exactly as it says, and you will manage to get through the entire game without missing a single auger whatsoever, and trust me, getting through the game like this after I trial-and-errored my way to death many times… it was cathartic, to say the least.

However, while it may be cathartic, this also raises up another issue: once you know everything is predetermined, the game also loses its replayability. If you know where everything is every time, then there would be no point to actually reexperiencing the game again, unless you wanna do so for the goofy-ass story, in which case, you can just look up a YouTube compilation of all the scenes and call it a day. This may seem like a random point I am making that means nothing, but to that, I refer to a title made by the same developers as this one, Double Switch. Gameplay wise, it is almost the exact same as Night Trap, although what sets it apart from this game (aside from everything else) is the fact that all of the normal enemy trappings happen at complete random, meaning that with each new playthrough, there will be a new set of people going in a new order that you have to figure out, which makes things more satisfying, especially when you manage to conquer the challenge for yourself. Unfortunately though, this game doesn’t share that similar quality, and suffers because of it.

Overall, despite it’s extremely goofy and enjoyable story and acting, as well as that feeling when you finally manage to get everything down just right, Night Trap is the poster child for FMV games for all the wrong reasons, providing frustrating gameplay with no true reward for conquering it, terrible visual quality (at least with the original version), strict punishments for messing up just once at specific points, and carrying a legacy that it certainly could never live up to. I would recommend it solely to experience the so-bad-its-good performances and story, or maybe for those nostalgic for this age of games, but for everyone else, then there is no reason for you to come back to this. Although, at the end of the day, no matter whether you agree with me, disagree with me, or you want me to shut up, I think we can at least all agree on one thing… the Night Trap song is a fucking banger.

Game #311

It's not a secret Stern are dominating the pinball business of the last 20 years, so giving them their own treatment just like Farsight did with Gottlieb and Williams wouldn't seem weird, if Pinball Arcade wasn't in-between. That framework for plenty of awesome pinball table DLCs did the job and tied a brilliant arcade together, well, until they started losing their licenses, which now makes Stern Pinball Arcade a great opportunity, so hear me out.

I've mentioned in my Zaccaria Pinball review that I'm again late to the party, so I've missed Pinball Arcade's golden era and though Zen did something right at sometime, I'm not entirely convinced by the recent Pinball FX plus they're missing out on Stern so far, even doing their own licensed versions of the same franchises and it might be a matter of taste if you prefer Zen's fantasy tables. I rather like simulations of existing pincabs with fundamental physics.

Anyway, noticing some previously released Stern tables missing from the eShop versions of either Pinball Arcade and Stern Pinball Arcade of which I at least wanted the missing AC/DC pincab, I understood why the retail version of Stern Pinball Arcade was actually a good idea to conserve those contents beyond the DLC availability. This also causes the Nintendo Switch cartridge to be offered between 45 and 110€ though, so I was willing to experiment if an Italian code in box version would work for me as well.

Good news is it does, so for 16€ shipped I got all the 11 tables of Stern Pinball Arcade unlocked as the retail version, which I think is a splendid deal considering Zen asks 15€ for the Indiana Jones table separately. The question though is, if it's something you'd be happy with as there are many gaps ranging from Lord of the Rings to Metallica or more recent Deadpool, Stranger Things and Godzilla that will probably never be available. I for sure would trade these against the Harley Davidson or Mustang licenses from this package and even Star Trek in a way is just a poor man's Attack From Mars, though all of them are entertaining for at least a while.

The highlight of this collection undeniably is the still available Ghostbusters Premium pincab, which is as challenging but fun as found in the wild when still running the unrevised 2016 code. It's a perfect representation of how Stern at best teaches you how to pinball these days, because it's easy to lose the ball without ever touching a flipper if you've got no idea how to play, but if you do, you'll hit over 100 million in bonus on one ball alone. It's a journey to activate the stages, toys and wizard mode, so don't be discouraged as an inexperienced player. Pinball is a game of skill after all and Stern learned to embrace that for the enthusiasts, making the games increasingly rewarding rather than just producing unfair moneymakers.

Best advertisement is probably Farsight giving away Frankenstein with the free download version, so you can already try one of the top titles. The remaining tables are Phantom of the Opera, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Starship Troopers, Last Action Hero and High Roller Casino. The latter is a bit odd, incorporating the gambling aspect pinball was criticized for, but despite the chance element the real table is a joy with its toys and the representation gives a good impression.

Being based on the aging Pinball Arcade engine, Stern Pinball Arcade does the job quite nicely, though for vertical play on the Switch screen I'm missing my favorite angle from Pinball FX3. It's also unfortunate the B button is used for the angle and as well to exit the score screen, so don't press too early in an impatient rush or your settings change between plays.

You could of course argue if the ball physics are really 100% accurate or if there should be more precise hd rumble, but Stern Pinball Arcade on the other hand is far away from detailed settings available in Zaccaria Pinball anyway though it's also not as keen on challenges or upgrade systems as Pinball FX3 is, that I've learned to love as my sole key to play Bally/Williams classics on my Switch. There's a rudimentary challenge mode nonetheless and table achievements as well, but I'm not yet very interested.

In the end it's a substitute until I will be able to revisit some of the original Pincabs on my next arcade trip in a few weeks and for that it does the job perfectly. I'm not a kid that's got to be lured into playing pinball by things I wouldn't find on the cabinets. Gee, I'm old enough to have enjoyed Space Cadet on Windows as a welcome throwback to my past, when despite not thinking of myself as a pinball wizard I still frequently found sponsors paying credits to watch me play.

These days I really want to play, but it's gotten even harder to find any pinball machine in the wild, so either Pinball Arcade, Pinball FX3 or Zaccaria Pinball are the closest I can get and all of them offer me basically the same satisfying use of the Pro Controller I'd like to add. So much at least, that I'm thinking of how to padhack the rumble into my planned pinball controller, something I hadn't considered when randomly buying leaf switches to add to an arcade stick project before even finding out all these games are available on the Switch.

Whilst I love building those controllers, it's not an ideal world for being a pinball aficionado due to those licensing issues that make the standalone Stern Pinball Arcade relevant at all, because the tables should just be available to one of the engines, not even dreaming of having a single framework to feature all pincabs ever produced. Right now it doesn't look like the virtual situation for Stern is getting better, so to purchase this set is the only chance to still get them.

You maybe want to at least have Attack from Mars and Medieval Madness before expanding into the cabs featured in this selection, but with AC/DC as a representation of a decent rock license and Ghostbusters as one of the best recent Pincabs plus a nice selection of other fun tables Stern Pinball Arcade is a must have package for any good pinball collection.

It's always been a niche with the best sales for a real table more than often produced in Chicago being hardly over 20k units, more commonly 3-6k, usually at a price of a couple of thousands bucks and even if I wish, I'm not amongst the collectors having space and money for a manager man cave, so I'd sure love to add Metallica as my favorite music pinball or look forward to a coming Godzilla adaptation to Stern Pinball Arcade, but this is as good as it gets until maybe things sort out - possibly for a newer platform to come.

Perhaps you're interested in other of my related backloggd reviews like
Psycho Pinball
Pachinko Challenger
Puzzle Uo Poko

Atelier Ryza 3 suffers from a lot of the known problems with sequels, but it is at the end of the day still a Ryza game. I would easily rate this as the weakest of the Ryza trilogy, as while it has more of everything, it feels a lot more bloated and aimless than the previous two entries.

There are more areas that are even larger than the past two games that are very expansive in scope, however that doesn't necessarily make them better. Whereas in Ryza 1 and 2, it was common to be searching through every single nook and cranny of a new zone to find new ingredients, ingredient variety is extremely limited in these giant landscapes in 3. You will be exploring all of the Kurken Islands from the first game, and nearly all of the areas will give nearly identical ingredients apart from three locations, and this is repeated in the other new regions added into this game where the visuals for these locations are very nice and even the hidden treasures are placed well, but it feels like they have very little purpose other than to fill space. Treasures are also significantly weaker and I felt like there was no point in getting them very early on, making treasure hunting pointless.

The new gameplay addition of keys are quite confusing and only serve to be a weaker more complicated version of essences, which only even become worthwhile once you reach the end game and can craft higher rarity keys. In combat, they are often too gamebreaking that I didn't even bother with them, which is also a problem with the game's balancing where I found the end game content was far too easy even when playing the game on hard mode. The beginning of the game with hard mode feels like a long trek as battles take too long, but there is some challenge, only for that to be blown apart once you start unlocking higher quality material gathering tools. The only new addition to a gathering tool is the water and land beasts which feel so much like side content and unnecessary for most of the game that I barely even feel the need to bring them up at all. With the only final thing to mention being super traits which some items you gather may have and that are stronger than regular traits. Though, as I said before, even with regular traits your tools will get too strong once you get to the midway point making the rest of the game too easy.

There are also too many party members in this game, while I do enjoy Dian and Kala (With Federica being my least favorite party member in the entire series by a large margin...), I found the bloated cast had too much screen time to share amongst them and took up too much of every scene. Often times it was like characters were fighting to stay relevant especially in the last third of the game. With so many character events feeling a lot weaker and less filled with character than the last two games. I did enjoy some aspects such as Lent, Tao and Bos's stories, but many other character events felt significantly lacking as the characters had to share so much of them with the rest of the party.

The story itself from this is also bloated, and even more nonsensical than the last two games. Ryza games are known for their lighthearted stories that don't take themselves too seriously but this went beyond that. Ryza often would go on weird side adventures despite the giant risks that are presented to her at the start of the story, as though she herself forgot all about these problems as she chased a new shiny red ball, made really terrible given how little the Cleria region ultimately had to do with the actual plot. All themes about being an 'honest alchemist' were watered down into Ryza good, old alchemists bad, with absolutely nothing set up to suggest that Ryza's absolute recklessness and wanton uses of alchemy in this game are not resembling how overly ambitious the old alchemists were in the past. Ryza could create a nuclear bomb, and Empel would still say she is an honest alchemist because she did it the 'right way', and not the 'wrong way' like the old alchemists did. Its like we had forgotten entirely that the old alchemists even did any good things at all and were completely irredeemable from the very beginning. Furthermore, the plotline involving them feels so haphazardly strung together that I was wondering where the plot was going for most of the run time. With a ridiculously long and drawn out final third to this game that makes use of obscene amounts of backtracking and pointless time wasting to meander about filling up screen time when all the mcguffins could have just been given and mixed together way earlier on to cut down the tedium. Ending in an absolutely baffling way that had Ryza magically solving all the problems in a very unsatisfying way. The only redeeming part being that the actual ending motivations for the party are a lot better than Ryza 2, where it felt like Ryza found herself stuck in a rut. Now in Ryza 3 in the ending, it finally seems like she and the others found their way and will be moving on to bright futures ahead of them. Even setting up a sequel to this setting for a future Atelier game with Ryza as a mentor.

I'm honestly conflicted, I did enjoy the game mostly due to it being a relaxing collection grinding game like the past two which I really like with very in depth alchemy mechanics. However, this game suffers from too many bloated and tied in mechanics that feel like the development team did not know what they were doing. It was an aimless sequel where they knew the ending, but had no idea what to do for everything in between and were trying to make it feel bigger than the last two games. I do have to give the game credit for not gaybaiting given that was a concern going in, and I did like getting to see where all these characters I liked grew and moved forward. Still, in the end, this game just makes me want to return back to Ryza 2. Ryza 3 gets 3/5 stars.

Despite how awkward it feels to control at times, as well as the length and weirdness of the game, the original Super Mario Land was still a decent enough game, and it proved that a Mario game could work just as well on a smaller system as it does on a console. So, as one would expect, a sequel was going to be made, and for this sequel, the development team wanted to create something much more unique compared to the other Mario games that have been made so far………… only to then go back on this decision to create a game very similar to that of Super Mario World. However, some of this uniqueness would carry over, not just with the game itself, but also with the plot being changed from what players were used to seeing from these games. So, after almost a year of development, they then released the sequel to the original Mario Land known as Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.

In terms of mainline handheld Mario games, this entry in particular is usually held in pretty high regards, not just with delivering the same timeless and fun gameplay that we have all grown to love, but also with implementing worlds and elements never seen in any other Mario game before or since then. And I am gonna have to agree with that general consensus, because taking inspiration from Super Mario World was definitely the right choice, rather then whatever it was that they originally had intended. As a followup to Super Mario Land, this is a MASSIVE improvement over what we were given in that game, and as a game on its own, it is fantastic. Is it anything too special compared to other titles in the series, and it is absolutely flawless? No, but for being a simple handheld Mario game, it is pretty damn impressive, especially for 1992, and it holds up very well to this day.

The story is NOT about saving any damsel in distress, but instead taking back your castle from a mysterious new foe, which is probably more important to Mario then saving a princess for the millionth time, the graphics are Game Boy graphics, with the artstyle and sprites being much better and more detailed then what we got in Super Mario Land, the music is very catchy, bouncy, and enjoyable, with some very replayable tracks out of the bunch, the control is what you would expect for a Mario game, and it is as tight and seamless as ever, and the gameplay is, again, what you would expect from a Mario game, but in comparison to the last game, it is a significant step in the right direction.

The game is yet another 2D platformer, where you go through many different side-scrolling levels, defeat many of the enemies that stand in your way, avoid dangerous platforming hazards, gather many different powerups, coins, and extra lives along the way, and take on easy, yet creative and enjoyable bosses. It is what you would expect from a 2D Mario title, but it still remains pretty fun and imaginative to this day. In terms of new features to this game, there aren’t really that many new powerups, except for one known as the Magic Carrot, which turns you into Bunny Mario, who can… flutter down very slowly when you push the button. So basically, it’s just like the Tanooki Leaf from Mario 3, except you can’t fly upwards or attack enemies. That’s kind of lame, but hey, it is still fun to use. Not to mention, this game takes plenty of inspiration from, like I said, Super Mario World, where there is an overworld map, you can tackle levels in any order you want (for the most part), and there are several secret levels that you can find by reaching alternate exits in specific levels. These levels aren’t really all that spectacular, and they don’t last long at all, but they are a nice bonus for those who are wanting more out of the game.

One of the best aspects that this game has going for it, like I mentioned earlier, is the amount of creativity that was put into this game. Sure, the main gameplay mechanics aren’t changed up significantly whatsoever, but everything around the gameplay does stand out as being unique to this day, such as with the worlds and the enemies in levels. I’m sure we are all familiar with the types of worlds Mario games have you go through: Grass World, Desert World, Beach World, Forest World, Snow World, Cliff World, Sky World, and Hell World. These world themes aren’t bad by any means, but we have seen them so many times in Mario games, you tend to get sick of the lack of variety.

However, in Mario Land 2, there are plenty of interesting world themes, with some pretty unique levels to go along with them. We have the usual shit, like your regular grass levels and a world inside of a tree, but then we have a world in space, a world inside a spooky Jack-O-Lantern, a world where you get shrunken down and have to traverse through a regular house, and even one where you climb through a giant mechanical Mario robot! Sure, most of these themes aren’t too creative, but they are ones that we have never seen in any other Mario game before and since this one, and they are very memorable and fun to traverse through. And in terms of the enemies, there is a great variety of old and new ones, like ants, moles, angry stars, Cow-Fish things, Goombas wearing hockey masks like Jason Vorhees, and even a tiny little Dracula that is adorable. Again, like with the worlds, you don’t see these types of enemies in most other Mario games, making this one stand out much more, and in turn, being even more fun and memorable.

Of course, how could I forget about one of the defining features of this game, that being the brand new villain of the game. This villain was created specifically out of spite for working on a game that the developers didn’t primarily create, which is ironic, considering this character would come to be one of the best characters in the entire franchise, as well as one of the greatest and most iconic characters in video game history. I am, of course, talking about Wario. He may just be a bad version of Mario (quite literally), but he has become so much more than that over the years. He is fat, he is rude, he is insanely greedy, and he cares about nobody other than himself, stomping anyone down in his path to get whatever the hell he wants…….. and I absolutely love him for all of those reasons. There is a reason why he has gotten multiple series of his own games, even all the way to this day.

I know I have been raving on and on about this game for this entire review, but honestly, there aren’t really that many complaints that I have with the game overall. It is an immensely solid title that I had an absolute blast replaying for this review, and it does still hold up very well. I guess if I did have some complaints I could give, I would say that the game is kind of short, as well as kind of easy, but considering all of the levels you can play through, with some being pretty challenging, I don’t really see this as much of an issue. This could also be said for the fact that, if you get a Game Over, any of the 6 golden coins you have gathered at that point are taken away from you, and you have to get it back. That does kind of suck, but again, the game is somewhat easy, as it gives you lives a plenty, so even then, you probably won’t get a Game Over in the first place.

Overall, despite there being some very minor issues that I can see with it, Super Mario Land 2 is an almost perfect follow-up to the original Super Mario Land, one with a great amount of creativity for a Mario game, and one that is still very fun to blast through even to this day. I would definitely recommend it for anybody, as well as Mario fans in general, even if you didn’t like the original Mario Land at all. Trust me, it is definitely worth it. Now I just can’t wait to see what Super Mario Land 3 has in store next! someone whispers into my ear....... Whassat? Oh… well… that didn’t take long at all.

Game #302

This game is a bit uneven in terms of quality. Its expertise is surprising the player and put a smile to anyone who plays it. The levels are varied and you have no idea what to expect. It’s not really a golf game even though it’s a golf themed one. Its uneven quality comes due to its variety. Not all levels are good, there is a lot of experimentation involved, sometimes luck is involved, sometimes you feel like the game is wasting your time. You can tell the devs were learning as they were developing the game because the 4 extra episodes they added later are definitely better at what they do best. Also, this is more of a casual experience. Even though there are harder challenges, don’t expect deep gameplay. It’s all superficial. I almost wanted to quit near the end with story mode but I’m glad I persevered and gave the 4 episodes a try. With them, it feels like the game has ended on a good note. It’s fun while you play it, but don’t expect too much and don’t take it seriously!

Rabi-Ribi is very uneven but still good.
To start with the elephant in the room I don’t really like the moé art style. It’s not a deal breaker but it’s definitely not helped by the boring story and weak characters. Outside of that major part the gameplay is pretty fun, some of the bosses are cheap and have way too much health but I respect the challenge and how it forces you to truly learn all the game mechanics. It was definitely frustrating sometimes and I don’t think the progression works well with it but overall the gameplay is solid, and if you like Touhou or other metroidvanias you’d probably like this to some degree

It's really, really, really, REALLY weird that this game exists.

It's an interesting experiment. What if your actions in the game affected the real-money price of microtransactions? Of course, if every game unlock has a lowest possible price, then that is its value. Anything higher is just a waste of money.

...... It's REAAAALLY WEEEEEIRD that this game exists.

Took me ages of playing it, putting it down, forgetting about it, remembering I wanted to keep playing months later, picking it back up and repeating the process. Happy to say though, that after 2 years of that I finally finished it and it was great! The platforming was fun, the levels were imaginative, and its overall personality was pretty charming. Having each level be a character's subconscious made exploring each level gratifying as you felt like you were constantly learning more about each character. Some of the boss designs did feel unintuitive and its collectathon nature did make trying to 100% it a pain as finding 1 missing collectible in a level sometimes took me more than an hour, but the core gameplay and story were pretty fun so I can't fault it too hard. Very excited to finally try out the sequel now!