Despite never playing one, I used to always be turned off by the Metroidvania genre for no good reason. A genre that based itself around backtracking sounded like a nightmare. As I've aged I have become more open-minded to all genres, and metroidvanias were no different. About a month after Dread's announcement at E3, I gave the genre a shot for the first time with Super Metroid. After being blown away by how amazing that was, Dread instantly became my most anticipated game of the year. I thought there was no way that Dread would surpass Super Metroid but Mercury Steam definitively proved me wrong. Dread is a game with amazing exploration, a fantastic movement system, and a surprisingly good story. The exploration feels extremely authentic for the most part. Progression through Dread is anything but hand-holding, but it is very hard to get lost in this game. Unlike Super Metroid, there aren't areas of the game where you have to hit a random, unlabeled block in the wall to continue. The progression manages to be smooth and authentic, without being one-directional. My biggest complaint about the progression is it can feel a little crunchy in the end. There is a point where you are collecting ability after ability in a short amount of time which briefly ruins the natural feel the progression aims for. The EMMI's were great for the most part. It kept me at the edge of my seat during various circumstances. It fell short near the end when the EMMI's started to feel more like a roadblock than a genuine threat. Overall though the EMMI's were great. I could gush about the gameplay all day but it is definitely one of the most satisfying controlling games I have ever played. The movement system is top-notch. When I play some of the other titles It will definitely take me a while to adjust to their movement because of how fire Dread's is. I can't really describe how perfect it is, so I'd recommend you just try it for yourself. The story was really good but I won't get into that to avoid spoilers. Overall an amazing game and a new top 5 addition. I would've never expected a game from a genre I used to dread to show up in my top 5.

This game really is something special. It's no secret that SNES games have aged beautifully, both graphically and control-wise, but this game manages to be so ahead of its time that it's better than most games that have been released since its launch in 1994.

The presentation of this game manages to be a strength despite its age. Super Metroid environments are diverse and vibrant. It's hard to get bored when there's an entirely new background setting every hour or so. This game also controls beautifully. It has some movement quirks that will hopefully be fixed in dread, but besides that, its controls hold up extremely well, like 90% of the controls for games in the SNES catalog.

This game refuses to let you be bored. It introduces a new game mechanic/power up everywhere you go, which enables you to backtrack and explore optional areas. It blows my mind how perfectly this was incorporated. The last thing I'll touch on is the boss fights. They were consistently great. The last boss fight/final segment of the game is legit peak gaming and extremely ambitious. Couldn't believe I was playing a 28-year-old game at that final segment. Fingers crossed Dread is anywhere near as good as this near-masterpiece.

This is probably the most conflicted I’ve been on a game in my entire life. On one hand, this game delivers one of the best journeys in gaming and is the blueprint to one of my favorite games of all times. On the other hand, this game is extremely inconsistent and features possibly the worst rendition of turn-based combat.

The story is definitely the best part of this game. This story has Avalanche, aka the best cast in gaming, go on an epic adventure to stop Sephiroth and save the planet. Unfortunately, post midgar to Aerith’s death felt like a fever dream in this game. The middle of the story felt like cyberpunk in the sense that things were so loosely connected. You had to connect the dots to figure out a lot of things. The game has you travel to random places and talk to random people during this period until you eventually get to Aerith’s death. The story starts to pickup after this point and truly becomes what it's hyped up to be. Finally defeating Sephiroth was extremely satisfying and the payoff was great. Overall the story is what I’d classify as amazing despite it being weak in the middle. Also, this game easily has the best world building I’ve ever seen in gaming.

The gameplay is where things take a turn for the worse. This game features a strange version of turn-based combat that didn’t jibe well with me at all. It gets the job done, and I certainly can’t call it bad, but it sure isn’t anywhere near good. The gameplay is also pretty lackluster. The most enjoyable aspect of it is when I was driving a vehicle or snowboarding. The open world the game has you traverse in is great. Considering the games age, its extremely impressive, and like many aspects of this game, it still holds up great today.

Despite me vastly preferring gameplay over story, I can definitively say this game is great. It has the best cast in gaming, one of the best stories in games, amazing world building, etc. If you love FF7R half as much as me, please play this game.

I don't normally rate sports games this high but Mario Golf Super Rush sticks out as an outlier in the genre. As someone who plays Golf irl multiple times a week and has played multiple PGA video games, I can definitely say Mario Golf is surprisingly one of the better simulation golf experiences that exist. Speed golf and Battle mode bring variety to those who don't want to stick to the traditional turn-based game of golf and they are both really well-done modes. Speed golf with irls is some of the most fun I've had in any online Nintendo game. The courses are also extremely well polished and the character selection is fantastic, with each character having their own unique "move set" for speed golf. Extremely happy Nintendo delivered with this game.


PS: If you don't like golf and still bought this game just to inevitably dislike it and complain you're a loser

PPS: If you like Mario Golf 3DS but don't like this game you are bias and a liar because this game is objectively better in every way

Honestly not sure why I had the sudden urge to play this game but I'm really glad I did. I wasn't sure what to expect going into it but I certainly wasn't expecting a masterpiece, which is what it ended up being.

The gameplay and exploration of this game is really good. Headspace is a lot of fun to explore. The combat is deeper than I initially expected. The emotion system is somewhat complex but not complex enough to confuse anyone. Its very well balanced. There are plenty of bosses that can give you a run for your money but no overly hard impossible bosses. The difficulty is almost perfect imo. Overall the gameplay and combat are really good.

The story and cast are straight up amazing. I'm not going to get into the story too much to avoid spoilers but the ending literally blew me away. I love how headspace coincides with the real world and vice versa. There are no bad characters in this cast and the cast is definitely top 2 for me rn. The art style is also beatiful. Nice 10

To be honest, I don’t even know where to begin. This game is one of the best pieces of fiction ever created. It’s journey was magical. Almost everything about it is perfect. P5 is the textbook definition of a masterpiece.

Something I wasn’t expecting going into this game was the combat being a strength. As someone who normally gets turned off by the sight of long JRPGS with turn based combat, I was anticipating the same normal, boring, and generic turn based combat you’d find in games like DQ, Pokemon, or even past persona games like P4G. The combat proved me so wrong. Its fast, flashy, and most importantly so much fun. The baton pass system is fantastic. All out attacks are a blast. I also loved the teamwork attacks. Other than bosses, you’d never spend too much time on one enemy. The combat is always engaging and always keeps you moving. Easily one of the best combat system’s I’ve ever experienced.

The story/journey itself was straight up magical. Despite the game’s horrendous length, the story manages to be mostly engaging during its duration. This game’s story was so carefully crafted and it shows. It felt like everything you did mattered. The foreshadowing was brilliant. The story’s peak, for me, was definitely post palace 6. Being completely clueless to what was going on while slowly learning the devise plan the Phantom Thieves came up with was fire.

My biggest issue with this game is definitely the length. There are plenty of ways this game could’ve been a whole lot shorter. It should’ve been a lot shorter. I hope P6 is about 30 hours shorter. By the time I got to the third semester I was so done with this game. Luckily the third semester was an incredible experience.

The last thing I want to touch on is the cast. I wouldn’t consider any of the Phantom Thieves bad characters. My personal favorite characters, looks aside, were Akechi, Futaba, and Ryuiji. They will definitely be one of my, if not my favorite cast ever for the foreseeable future.

I was initially skeptical on this game because I had never played a level-based 3D Mario game. It ended up being everything I could've asked for in a Mario game and more. Fantastic level design, great co-op, great music, and overall an extremely fun experience that had me wanting to come back to it 24/7. The co-op in this game was surprisngly flawless. I played the last 3 worlds on my save file co-op and it was overall a better experince to play this game with someone else. Certain levels are better off played solo though. I also absolutley love how the levels in a world do not follow the theme of their level select screen. The game would've gotten stale quick if they went that route.

Bowser's Fury is incredible. It was a brand new, albeit short, sandbox mario experience with 3D World mechanics. Bowser's Fury was an absolute blast to play. Incredible final boss fight too.

A game with wacky/inconsistent gunplay, a somewhat enjoyable story that has no real direction, and fantastic sidequest. Way too ambitious considering the amount of development time spent on the game. Could've been so much better if not rushed. The sidequest being significantly better than the main story is a real issue to me. It sucks that they focused on them rather than the story. Also, my score will remain unchanged even if they patch every single bug, as they had no effect on my enjoyment of the game.