This is genuinely one of the better throwbacks to the genre I've played in years. I really enjoy how it feels less like a PS1 game and more like a classic DOS/Win 3.1 game like Ecstatica or LittleBigAdventure. It's such a peculiar styling that it genuinely got me more into the atmosphere than if it were just wiggly polygons on wonky vertexes and overloaded dithering.

Control is top notch as well, not a missed note in terms of giving the player enough options to maneuver in combat (and avoid it entirely if you want). Only real thing I have is I'm not huge on the waving of the aim reticle when doing more precise aiming, but that's moreso a me thing if anything.

Really my one big misgiving with recent Survival Horror titles often being too heavy on the Key-Door-Switch puzzles, especially when it feels like it goes against the world the puzzles are in. This one definitely had moments where I had to grab a guide and it kinda sucked me out with some of the longer tasks.

Thankfully the game is short, about 5 and a half hours in a single sitting for what I played and it's still very much well worth your time if you're hankering for a throwback survival horror game that actually makes an attempt to do it well.

I did the exact same thing with this game that I did with the previous one, which is go insanely hard for about 50 hours before burning out hard. This game is incredible but oh my god it's so dense and it just KEEPS going.

I will say, as someone who only got into the franchise at 7, it's a bit of a bummer that at a certain point in the plot you start having to spend every other chapter hanging out with Kiryu and essentially just going through Yakuza fanservice that means literally nothing to me. I thought switching the protagonist to Itchiban was an intentional way to start fresh guys?

The stupid Animal Crossing island mode kicks ass

Mother 3 is a quirky and emotionally resonant JRPG that defies expectations. Beneath its charming pixelated exterior lies a surprisingly mature narrative exploring themes of loss, growth, and the impact of modernization. The combat system is classic turn-based with a unique rhythm-based twist, adding engaging flair to battles. Its cast of oddball characters and bizarre humor balance against profound moments of heartache, making Mother 3 an unforgettable journey that will linger in your mind long after you finish.

It is pretty astounding how effortless Nintendo made it look to transition from 2D to 3D. This game feels almost exactly like playing a 2D Metroid game despite all the extra design and gameplay considerations that come with a 3D, first-person experience. There are so many amazing little touches, like Samus’s face reflecting off her visor when there are bright flashes of light (definitely startled me the first time it happened) or the x-ray visor showing Samus shifting her hand in her gun to select the different beams. Just very cool, very immersive, very engaging.

I will say, I think the back half of the game loses its shine just a bit. The scavenger hunt for the Chozo Artifacts just feels like unnecessary padding, especially because traversing the map never really stops being a little slow and clunky. If you’re going to have us scour the entire world for the last few of these artifacts, I would have appreciated some kind of limited fast travel a la Symphony of the Night, or even just something like the space jump / screw attack combo you get at the end of Super Metroid that simultaneously eases the monotony of traversal and makes you feel immensely powerful.

I know there’s an argument to be made that having no fast travel makes it a more immersive experience, but personally I don’t think trudging through those first few rooms of the Chozo Ruins or Magmoor Caverns 40 times is any more immersive than doing them 20 times. You reach a point where you’re just slowly walking through a dozen huge rooms with basically no threats, which I just found to be pretty tedious, and tedium generally ruins immersion for me.

I feel like I’m being really down on this game, so I’m gonna try to end on a positive note. The exploration is some of the finest that I’ve seen in the series. For the first few hours, the game feels absolutely bottomless, and the rate at which you acquire new items sets a pretty much perfect pace of drip-feeding you new ways to open up more and more of these giant areas. Going through the Phazon Mines for the first time was a highlight, as the jump up in combat difficulty made me actually desperate to find a checkpoint, a pretty rare feeling in an age of autosaves and scripted near-death experiences.

So yeah, maybe unsurprising, but the game did in fact pretty much live up to the hype. It really reminds you why there’s a whole genre named after this series. Check it out if it passed you by like it did for me.

Alright fellas we got the whole Twitter starter pack squad over there. The MC's strongest soldier, the guy who's inexplicably racist at times, asshole who just insults everybody equally, the dog pfp who's just as bad as the rest but gets zero traction... they really burying the stars... actually that really is the plot they couldn't be more blatant about it. Bury me like one of your french girls! To be honest, I thought collapsing buildings would be a bigger part of my life as a kid.

Our scooby-gang kpop edition, by a stroke of luck that one of these Twitter folks would probably come up with in a fanfic, are the only ones to make the cut after a terrible accident on set. Too busy singing their hearts out they couldnt escape on time, and being addicted to drama they immediately go at it within the ruins of the studio, checking twitter at times and being reminded why they want to die everyday. In that regard the game displays things accurately, as much as the minimalist (= amateur) translation can portray. Sometimes you get rapport events where everytime the character gets a flashback cg they look unrecognizable. These guys have alt accounts irl frfr.

Due to said translation, it can feel as if you're a contestant in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire once you're hit with any type of choices. You want to comfort someone and suddenly you're badmouthing their mother. I know Do-yoon really feeling like the betrayer when that happens +_+ he doesn't have that masters degree in rizzology!

Characters ordered by who I'd bark for: Inha, Juyong, Do-yoon Gyu-hyuk, Hyesung, Seil. I should have been buried with them ong

The second metroid game I've ever played and the only one I've ever beaten. I understand the appeal of the series. I love the exploration and steady pacing of upgrades. The combat, movement and graphics are all unbelievably good. The bosses are truly hit-or-miss, and only about 5 of them are actually unique and as a result quite challenging. The backtracking was overall minimal, mostly left to re-exploring areas in new rooms you haven't been to, or a new environment. The game teaches you a lot through trial and error, which can be frustrating if your general catalogue has been much more forgiving like I feel mine has.

I think the amount of upgrades was baffling. Late in the game you have about a dozen abilities you have to remember at any given moment. They pile on quickly because the game is fairly short. The weapon and damage upgrades are odd because the minute you get something new, there is now an enemy that's somehow immune to it. This game and I'm sure the franchise as a whole don't really coddle you or hold your hand in many ways - not a critique or a complaint. As someone basically new to this specific franchise it took some time to adapt to and by the time I was done adapting the game was already over.

The EMMI sections are thrilling at the beginning of the game, but there are so many of them that by the end it was just exhausting. In two specific instances this was very annoying because you are trapped under water moving at a snail's pace.

Story - 7.5/10 With writing that expanding on cool lore.
Gameplay - 9.5/10 The moment to moment movement and combat are great. The unique bosses are incredible. The number of times you repeat some bosses takes off that last .5
Presentation - 10/10 The game looks stunning, the suits Samus has in this are incredible. Every area has great unique vibes and an attention to background detail that kept making me genuinely say wow.

This was my first game in the mainline Shin Megami Tensei series. I don't think I could have asked for a more comfortable entry to the franchise. This game took a lot of time for me to adapt to, but I think all of the challenges it presented were enjoyable for the most part. The core loop of making progress and constantly updating your team of demons took some getting used to as a long time pokemon veteran. I really enjoyed the fusion system and how it allows you to create unique versions of demons.

I think some of the dialogue choices that lead to a fixed reaction is something I didn't really enjoy, especially in a game that allows actual dialogue choices that impact the end of the game. Especially because in some moments it's very unclear if those conversations will or won't have any actual impact. But that's a very personal take.

I've had some distance from the game prior to writing this, so I've lost a lot of my general thoughts to the ether. I had fun and it was challenging. Visual presentation was generally good, but 75% of the open world areas are genuinely hard to look at. The combat is incredible when it's going your way, and can turn on you in an instant which was brutal to get used to - again a pokemon fan, I come from games that let you just steam roll your opponents 24/7. I hope SMTVV fixes balance issues and damage scaling, and I can't wait to see this game on something other than 7 year old hardware. 4/5 because there's no Hee-Hobino in this one.

This game is so full of heart and charm. It's so clear to me that the team that worked on it understands not only how to make a fun platformer, but also definitely have a grasp on what makes something a souls-like.

The combat is challenging until you get a solid grasp on it. The use of a skill tree that helps expand the basic combat loop was great. The general stats were a bit bare bones, and you can just power level Attack/Strength/Damage and just hit like a truck. The creativity of the shell system was so fun to explore and find what works for you.
I had an absolute blast from beginning to end. I truly wish there was more to explore because I just had so much fun running through this game and getting every shell.

My only complaints are the general lack of enemy and some music variety, but the unique bosses make up for that in my opinion. There were some performance issues during my playthrough, but it's clear that Aggro Crab is working on releasing some fixes.