Probably the biggest shock I've had in a while. Phantom Menace as a film is something I have rewatched endlessly at points in my life. I only started playing this because it came with my PS1 when I bought it and I was shocked at how fun it is. The camera chosen is questionable but the controls are solid and the gameplay is super fun, it really wasn't too hard to get hooked into the game. As far as adapting the film goes the best route with it, it expands settings that were completely unexplored and removes the heavy dialogue scenes, which work in the film but wouldn't translate well to a game. One of my favourite things about this is the ending, which employs the same intercut editing style that is in the film and it works very well here too.

A fun game, worth a go but I have a strong connection to the source material here.

Honestly very disappointed with this one. There's only so much you can do wrong with a Mario platformer but this is the worst I've encountered. The 3D gimmick of the system is integral to certain levels which would be fine if that gimmick looked good but it really doesn't in this game. I've played a bit of some other games with the 3D on and it's been fine, great even but not on this one. The level design is bland and the game gets pretty repetitive after a while but at least it's only short. Had a better time with a lot of other Mario platformers.

However it is still a Mario platformer and it is very playable, just probably the last one I'd pick up from the ones I've played. Also, my 3DS broke after this which sucks hard, I didn't get to get through the games I wanted to play yet! I will repair it, I've had some issues doing it but I'll be vigilant.

Had this game since launch pretty much, but only just 100%ed it. I'm very conflicted on a game like this it very much is that easy to pick up party game that can be played at any time and I've had some absolutely 10/10 times playing it. I just don't think this game is built as well as some of the others. For a long time I've had my issues with Mario Kart Wii but I do look back fondly on its track layouts and art style. I think this game lacks a bit of the competitive spirit Mario Kart Wii had. This game is still solid and I had a fun if not a little repetitive time 100% the base game but it just doesn't feel particularly built to be as competitive on.

Bizzare because it has a lot of solid Nintendoisms, it's cute, it's fun and there's a small collectable journey throughout which offers something more to do than just run to the finish. The game varies in difficulty sometimes far too easy and sometimes just right, the second chapter is actually really solid, it quite nicely switches up the classic story that's in a lot of these mario games and offers a bit more difficulty, nothing too hard but compared to chapter 1 it's refreshing.

The problem is this game stagnates and definitely outstays it's welcome, which is strange in such a short game. I aimed to 100% this one but once I saw the target time stuff I just turned it off, I'm not doing all of those levels again. It's just a bit repetitive.

The ending leaves so much to be desired it feels like a marvel movie with it's corny to be continued in another game. Story is here is nothing substantial and I didn't expect it to be! But what an annoying way to end it.

It's a fine game. Especially if you don't push through to the bonus segment which is abysmal. Glad I've played through it but doubt I'll pick it up again.

Phenomenal game, more so than any other game I've played it has a wonderful sense of how to utilise fixed cameras not just to work within the conventions and limitations of the era it was released but to ramp up tension and horror aspects in extremely effective ways. Not to say other games don't do this but this game in particular does it so perfectly. Paired with a terrific and well-laid-out setting that further ramps this up, it's a large combination of elements that make this game stand the test of time.

Excellent puzzles that make you think and are satisfying to figure out. A wonderfully engaging story that transitions seamlessly into its more surreal elements. Of course, the design of Pyramid Head has been spoken about endlessly but his place in the game can not be overstated, he's used very sparingly which adds to the effectiveness of his scariness. Overall this game is a horror classic for a reason a fascinating and effective game it is a shame Tsuboyama never fully sat back in the director's chair again because this was so incredible.

I will say first off that the co-op mode has certainly saved this game for me. I got to play this over the last week or so with my boyfriend and I had a wonderful time going through this game with him, if it hadn't been me and him I feel like this game would have been miserable. This game is so clearly designed with co-op in mind which is great for me but I can imagine it creates a miserable experience for others. It controls well, the first few chapters are solid and the last few at least have some fun, absurd cutscenes. However, this is about where the compliments end.

The game definitely stagnates towards its conclusion. Boss fights are needlessly convoluted and underexplained, for a game in which the puzzles are basically the equivalent of telling a baby to put the round shape in the round hole it really does not care to give you a guess at how to deal with the penultimate Wesker fight. It does a really strange job of balancing resources and the endless amounts of guns it gives you especially in the latter portion of the game is confusing considering the guns are usually worse than the ones you have already had a chance to upgrade.

I think the latter frustration is what I'm left with here but the early game is legitamately quite fun and I wouldn't dissuade anyone from playing it I'm just glad I got to play through it with my boyfriend!

After finishing 5 me and my boyfriend went straight into this one and my lord what a bizarre one this is. Its insane over-the-top ambition is only matched by its terrible gameplay and dry writing.

The game is structured in a fairly unique way. Instead of being a straight-shot campaign, it comprises of 4 separate campaigns all with a different lead character mainly comprised of returning characters from previous entries in the series. The stories weave into each other often overlapping at certain points but with the different contexts that the stories bring. The problem with this is you often end up doing something boring and painful multiple times. It also doesn't feel like you're taking enough new context into these levels, especially the Ada Wong campaign since it feels set up to answer questions sprung by previous campaigns, judging from how often she shows up in them. However, this promise doesn't come to fruition. Ada's campaign is dull, short and feels just like a retread rather than something interesting, you end up doing boss fights over again without feeling like you're adding anything new to it.

This game just feels like it has all the right ideas and absolutely no idea how to execute them correctly, you quite often die just by moving into a new style of gameplay. Say you're in a boss fight and have to start running away from it, it might move from a typical third-person camera to a forced perspective. This might not be a massive problem, hell excellent games like Silent Hill 2 jump between these perspectives seamlessly, however, this game struggles to maintain its breakneck momentum often leaving you jumping back over something you've already jumped across or running back towards the boss killing you almost immediately. This might sound like a small issue but it's a frequent problem in this game, not this specifically but the lack of attention to how the gameplay is designed will constantly trip you up and ruin the immersion of the game, leaving me frustrated.

Also, every campaign is designed for co-op except Ada. That's dumb.

This is a game that seriously has a lot going for it, it's big and kinda stupid, a far cry from the simple explorative nature of the first game but seems like a natural de-volution after the ok Resident Evil 5. This game is long, and a slog to get through but my lord does it have some interesting moments.

I am a huge fan of the Trackmania games that use formula-style cars like Trackmania: Nations Forever or Trackmania (2020). This game takes a lot that I find impressive about those games and utilises them here, the simple, addictive playing loop and the great car control. So what's the problem?

The track design is abysmal, and the game does not flow well. The tracks are confusing, sometimes where the driveable area starts and ends barely exists resulting in you crashing out on an invisible wall or a tiny bush. Tracks that have enough difficulty to them can grow even more difficult by annoying multi-laps, getting gold on E05 was a miserable time. The game feels purposefully designed to stump you at certain points, especially on some of the road tracks where you have to watch the ghost's line to see where you even have to go in the first place.

Unfortunately, this game is just overlong and horrifically irritating at points which is a shame because its base gameplay is great classic Trackmania. Avoid this one play Nations Forever.

This game is great and it all starts with setting. It's asylum setting stays fresh and interesting while never letting up the creepy horror atmosphere and fun exploration. I haven't done it in this playthrough but I imagine 100% completing this game is a tonne of fun just because of how cool the setting is. I'm so glad it leaned into that 2000's horror aesthetic because it does give the game that added little edge of tension.

The pacing here is incredible and the game absolutely flies away. Almost unsure as to how it managed to make 9 hours just melt away, the game spreads out its mechanics enough that you never feel like you're stagnating on one.

The story is very engaging, the action is phenomenally fun and the character designs are on point. Great game.

The updated graphics of anniversary are rough and lose a lot of the fun style of the original in exchange for a fairly soulless modern sci-fi look. The props I'll give it are its lighting is significantly better, still knowing when to go darker for drama but holding it at a playable level. I can't really get too salty at these graphics considering how piss easy it is to toggle between them and the original style.

Combat Evolved has quite an interesting story that misdirected me at certain points. At the start it felt like it was going to something hyper-militaristic with the marines invading Halo out of fear because they believe it's a religious idol for the covenant. However once you meet the Sparks and the Flood it's more sinister existence becomes clear. I was over the moon with a story that didn't feel overly predictable, it was really fun to watch those cutscenes.

Core gameplay is awesome and the level design has a natural flow to it. All the weapons and vehicles feel so nice and can easily be thrown around, the floaty jumps are also a great time. Level design is very solid, there's clearly some limitation imposed on them likely by the system it was originally designed for although I don't know that for sure, resulting in you going back through places you have already gone through. The game doesn't make this feel unnatural, it feels pretty good and makes the settings feel a lot better explored.

However The Library remains utter garbage. It's a shame that a level that's set up to answer a lot of questions falls so flat. It's just an extremely bland circle you run around for far too long. This is just a sore moment in an otherwise great game.

Played with my boyfriend, Master Chief Collection has excellent co-op that worked pretty much flawlessly.

Honestly, this has all the roots of a good game but a few things make this kind of annoying and gutting. It has a fun pixel art style and a simple but fun sense of progression, it's a quick game and while I'm not convinced the power scaling is right the enemies are fun to go against.

The issue comes in the form of bugs, we couldn't even get into versus mode, admittedly we didn't try very hard but it just black-screened and left us stuck. This also occasionally happened when we moved to the next level. Another issue I have is that the game doesn't incentivise changing characters, it gives you the option to throughout but if you do you will just get instantly fucked by it, I wish it did more to motivate this during the game.

It's worth a play, but not without its issues. I think me and my boyfriend are going to maybe 100% it, we will see if we get that far. It's been nice to play on a busy week.

Set just after the beginning of The Clone Wars as shown in Attack of the Clones this is primarily a game set in vehicles as you seek to destroy a BDO that's under the control of Count Dooku. The story is lacklustre but serviceable for this game.

However the gameplay is a mixed bag, sometimes it's fine and fun shooting in a fun sci-fi tank but it wears thin as the game goes on. It gets repetitive and dull towards the end it's never introducing enough that's different to keep you fully engaged. The other style of this game is the hand to hand sections where you take control of a jedi who's boots on the ground. These sections are awful mainly because they're trying to keep the gameplay (that should be drastically different) in a similar style to the rest of the game and it just ends up this clunky mess with rough controls.

Some of the locations are cool the last missions are quite fun as a result of that but this ultimately isn't that fun a time. It's perfectly passable and I got through it all but doesn't scratch any itch for me.

Extremely disappointing, played through this with my boyfriend and we both came out extremely baffled by some of the choices in this game. I will say right off that the gameplay is a tonne of fun most of the time, the environments are beautiful and the tasks are extremely enjoyable. The mini games scattered through out add a competitive nature that we had a lot of fun doing while we played this.

However this writing is completely abysmal and tough to watch/play. A couple going through a divorce with a one-dimensional child trying to keep them together. The couple comprises of two completely unlikeable, selfish and horrible people who are constantly at each others throats. It's really difficult to play as them sometimes because their actions are just so difficult to comprehend. The ending falls especially flat for me because it almost seems like a lightbulb moment has changed the dynamic of their relationship without any of the development you would hope to justify it narratively.

So the game is a tonne of fun if you can ignore the story which is woven very heavily into it. There's much better co-op games out there. Can't comprehend how this won game of the year.

The Force Unleashed has fun components and does a good job of staying fresh over its pretty short runtime. It weaves pretty close to the films but never feels like it's pandering to a Star Wars audience and does feel like a pretty substantial expansion on the post-Episode 3 era of Star Wars. The combat is fun and offers a strong challenge although sometimes it does feel like spamming force lightning is just an easier alternative to playing properly.

It's fairly short and quite fun. It is a bit bizzare, the story doesn't always work for me and the PC port isn't very well thought out, especially in one particular sequence which is extremely difficult on PC compared to the gameplay I've seen on other systems. However, it's still worth a go and I'm looking forward to playing the sequel.

I hold the old LEGO Star Wars games in such high regard and started playing this game as a way to go through The Phantom Menace again instead of just watching the film and honestly, I was so baffled by this game. I will start with the major positive and that is that this is trying something completely different to the old games. It is a bold stab into this sort of open-world RPG-style experience with side quests and collectables to find. This is to the point where I think I'd enjoy 100% completing this game more than I enjoyed going through the story because some of the exploration and settings are pretty cool. The combat system is also pretty fun at times especially the flying missions which are usually solid.

However, this is where my positives end because I thought this game was really bad. I'll start with the adaptation of the story because this game does something the previous ones didn't, attempting to adapt the full story. The Skywalker Saga has this strange thing where it goes through the serious story beats of the film without comedy but also isn't willing to tell the full story, meaning certain elements don't make any sense. They'll also reshuffle the order in which the films unfold which also means certain elements make no sense, a huge example of this is in The Phantom Menace where the Gungans go into battle AFTER Newt Gunray has been captured. It might seem weird to rag on this but there are points where the gameplay slows significantly to tell the story. There are moments in this game where you will come out of a cutscene, fly to a planet, walk slowly to a point in the planet where there will be another cutscene, and then walk back to the spaceship and go somewhere else. All this serves is the story but if that story is starting to become nonsensical what's the point in telling this much of it?

The yellow paint is also strong with this one but it comes across more as a necessity than something you'd want to turn off. The structure of levels doesn't lend itself naturally to turning off objective markers, sometimes you have to go to very specific places to proceed in the story but it also babies you aggressively when going through levels telling you specific things to break and where you need to go next. It's annoying that these markers are quite all or nothing, you'd get the best experience in this game by turning them on and off throughout.

This also ties into the puzzles just being far too easy. Nothing feels like it stretches the use of the mechanics in the game, you get this strange scavenger mechanic at the end of Return of the Jedi that lasts all through the sequel trilogy but it never actually gets utilised interestingly. If you think of an interesting way to do something it's probably wrong and the answer is much easier and simpler. I don't think the kids' game argument holds up for this either, kids are most certainly capable of more challenging things than this.

Combat is a mixed bag for sure and I like some of it. The shooting works quite well and is a fun third-person perspective with a cover system and everything. This game doesn't nail lightsabers though. The combat with them is bizarre and inconsistent at points, sometimes it forces you into the defensive stance which doesn't play well at all. Everyone seems to have the same lightsaber mechanics other than Finn which while I guess makes sense contextually just makes Finn's fight feel clunky when you've played 6 episodes the other way already. It also messes with the UI sometimes, the way the health bar works for the Praetorian Guard fight isn't the same as any other health bar in the game, this is more an attention-to-detail thing which I just find more annoying than actually damaging to the game.

The writing is pretty rough as I already discussed with the adaptation but it has its moments mainly in the original trilogy which it seems the team cared about more so than the other films in the series. Comedy is pretty bad but again has its moments in the OT.

Lastly though the bugs. I played this on Nintendo Switch and if you take anything from reading this DO NOT PLAY THIS ON SWITCH. It is buggy it plays awfully, it is laggy and it crashes. I don't know if this is the case on other platforms but avoid it at all costs here, I might have tried some of the more completionist elements if it wasn't already playing so badly.

I will just round this off by saying I am slightly biased towards the old games, I grew up playing them and I think they're great. They're funny, work in tandem with the films instead of trying to replace them and have great gameplay. This works completely against that here and that's not necessarily a bad thing like I said at the start but it just doesn't work for me whatsoever.