This was... fine? The voice acting and cutscenes are a huge downgrade from MGS1. Mechanics from 2 are added very sloppily, like the random noisy spots on the floors and nearly useless lockers in odd corners. The controls map kinda strangely to the GameCube controller imo, the Z button sucks for aiming and I would accidentally equip and unequip weapons/items a lot while adjusting my aim in first person. I appreciate that they cut down on the backtracking but I'd MUCH rather play the original compared to this, even with the improvements it brings.

Holy kino. If you ignore the story drop off, this plays incredibly. It’s also really fun fanservice. I just mention the story as this is a direct sequel to the Zero games, which have a very good overarching narrative. Wouldn’t mention otherwise; playing a Mega Man platformer for the story is like watching porn for the setpieces. But this game is stellar. I don’t really get the complaints about the minimap, if only for the fact that it’s one of the most straightforward Metroidvanias I’ve played, with 3 warps that serve as central hubs so it’s impossible to get lost. Could the map be labeled better? Yeah, but doors are also kind of loudly screaming zone locations at you, so there’s that.

New Super Mario Bros. U is in my opinion the best of the series when it comes to level design.
The approach of introducing one element per level and exploring each idea to its fullest extent is executed to perfection, while the focus remains on building satisfying environments to move around in.

Outside of that, this game only has few new ideas and doesn't really do much that its predecessors haven't already done, which is probably why most people were burnt out on the series at this point.
Most things that are great about this game were already great in the others, but I do want to mention some of my favourite aspects.

I enjoyed the interconnected overworld a lot, especially how the music changed when entering a new world and discovering how the secret exits translated to the overworld.

The multiplayer is a great and chaotic time and offers some nice options for people who don't play very often.

The baby Yoshis and Nabbit were also a nice addition to the gameplay, as they offered some variety to the standard routine.

What dragged this game down for me the most, however, were the long loading screens.
Getting back into the action after dying just takes way too much time, which made the more difficult late-game stages more of an endurance test than a challenge.
It's a good thing that this game is more of an easy-going experience since difficulty would've only exacerbated this problem.

I'd like to reiterate that I think the main game is a great time, despite being part of a very samey series.

Luigi U:
Luigi U on the other hand is possibly the most innovative game in the series and I'm glad it was included in this package!

Everything is designed to encourage you to speed through these levels: A stricter time limit, shorter levels and controls that punish you for course correcting, combined with the level design perfection of the main game, make for such a different experience that still manages to retain the feeling of a Mario game.

These changes also allow for more of a challenge, which was unexpected from a title in this series.


New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is probably my favourite "New" game and definitely worth playing if you're not looking for innovation.

Easily the best single player Call of Duty campaign, and quite possibly one of the best FPS games ever. It does not get 5 stars though, simply because it still struggles with the kill boxes that all CoD single player campaigns struggle with, where regardless of what you try, you get repeatedly surrounded and gunned down by enemies you never see coming.

That said, the story and the pacing, as well as the gun play, are all top notch. I don't care for multiplayer, so I haven't touched it, but the single player is well worth the time.

I think this is definitely one of those games where a majority of the players that played, allowed the negative reviews to impact their judgement...
This game was honestly fine. Redfall delivered quite a bit of really good stuff. The level designs were great, along with sick boss fights, a really fun combat system and a fairly decent story.
It definitely had some flaws but none were bad enough to the point it made the game feel "completely broken" like the general public put it out to be?

I definitely say give this game a go, especially in co-op if you can... I played this with my man @ConnerW and we had a blast from start to finish, and made some funny and great memories here!

When it comes to my experience with the shoot-em-up genre, a lot of it consists of me playing one of these kinds of games when I came across them in an arcade or as a minigame in something much larger rather than going out of my way to play anything specific. Most of my familiarity with the genre involves classics from the late 1970s and 1980s like Space Invaders, Galaga, or Gradius, as well as a few 90s gems like Pop'n TwinBee or Space Harrier, and while I had my fun with them, they never had me playing for very long. The first one of these games that I actually wanted to play from the beginning to the end, though, would be Ikaruga, as its basic gimmick and supposed high difficulty were enough to pique my interest, and thanks to my familiarity with its developer Treasure through Gunstar Heroes and Sin and Punishment, I became even more excited to check it out. My time with the game was quite short, but it was able to leave a huge impression on me, and while I still consider Sin and Punishment to be Treasure's best game, Ikaruga is a very close second.

Ikaruga is easy to understand, difficult to do well in, and even harder to master, but because the game took full advantage of its core mechanics, it ends up being an entirely rewarding experience rather than something rage-inducing. In this game, your ship can switch its polarity to not only do more damage to enemies of the opposite color, but also to absorb the attacks of those with the same polarity as you in order to fill up your energy meter and fire homing shots, as well as to simply not get killed instantly. While the game does still feature the knee-jerk reactions and fast pace that the genre is known for, this one mechanic adds a puzzle-like layer to its gameplay, as having the screen get coated head-to-toe in bullets and enemies of different polarities makes it so that you're less concerned with killing everything on the screen and more about knowing when to shift colors, where to go in order to fill up your energy meter as quickly as possible, and when to shoot out your homing attacks. The deceptive simplicity of Ikaruga meshes perfectly with the tough-as-nails level design, because the chapters and setpieces not only get harder as you go, but they also get more demanding of you and your skills, and having everything click as you figure out what moves to make in order to survive through a combination of memorizing enemy firing patterns and muscle memory is one of the most satisfying feelings I've ever felt in a video game. Despite how hard it can be, Ikaruga never resorted to cheap deaths or unfair tactics and instead made every single death feel like it was my own fault rather than that of the game, and that sense of refinement in both the game's mechanics and its level design made actually getting past that one hurdle and moving on to see what other crazy obstacle the game had in store for me made me immediately want to try again as soon as I ran out of continues rather than getting angry with the game and quitting for the day.

In all three of the games from Treasure that I've played so far, there's been at least one moment where the game fully leans in on the spectacle of its action and allows you to do something really impressive, and what's great about Ikaruga is that practically every moment of its five chapters has the potential for you to achieve that, and pulling one of these moments off rewards you with both a higher score and an unmatched sense of accomplishment. Since the game's central gimmick puts a strong emphasis on its visuals, it would only make sense for Ikaruga to be as stunning to look at as it is fun to play, as the gorgeous artstyle and effective compositions made the bullet hell moments and enemy formations into visual marvels. This especially applies to the game's hectic and immensely creative boss fights, with the battle against Tageri being my favorite moment in the whole game thanks to both how cool it looked and how satisfying it was. Ikaruga also features some amazing music from the game's director, Hiroshi Iuchi, and I especially loved how it was directly tied into the pace of each level. Ikaruga was an absolutely masterful game that not only became one of my favorite efforts from Treasure, but also my favorite shoot-em-up by far, and I really hope that I can check out the game that this served as the spiritual successor to, Radiant Silvergun, at some point.

Going into A Short Hike, I expected just a cute and quick visual novel. But no, it is so much more than that. Game developers take note, because this is just about the most perfect small videogame you can create. It has something for everyone: cute characters and character development, amazing art, exploration, challenges, rewards, emotion, finetuned controls, gorgeous OST that develops during your hike and a beautiful and touching ending. I am so incredibly glad to have played this! It deserves all the praise it has gotten over the years.

Oh my god
i get it now
The reason why I wasnt having much fun with Metal Slug was because i was trying to play it solo!!!! co-op slaps with this shit!!!!! Aside from the menagerie of tasty ass spritework in this shit and how satisfying literally Everything feels, you get a pretty short and sweet romp through some hectic as FUCK levels and some pretty foreboding ass bosses
they even got vulcan raven in here i guess, for some reason

this Definitely made me more open to the thought of playing more of the series!! Just...hehe yea not solo.. ill definitely need to call up a friend to do this again with otherwise id probably start gnashing my teeth and clawing the screen again.

I have officially decided to drop this game because "completion" is a terrible, terrible grind I wouldn't wish on anyone. this game has a lot of cool stuff and offers some reasons to keep playing if you hate that games like this often feel like you're done with 'em once you've chosen someone to marry... but it's all so incredibly grindy and it takes multiple years in the game to unlock the different farm animals. there is a very large variety of stuff to grow... but annoyingly, you cannot grow it all on your own farm. everything grows faster on the special fields, this makes a difference with the stuff that takes more time, like wheat. and rice, lotus roots, and wasabi have to be grown in the paddy. sure you don't really need to grow them, but still! it's still goofy that you can't unless you get the special field to do it!
ultimately, if you don't mind procedural unlocks and like to play these games for a very long time, this one will be great for you.
it's not a bad game at all, but not easily recommended.

I played through this when it first came out, but never played any of the improvements they made or the DLC, even though I had purchased it at the time. While waiting on FF16's price to come down, I decided to finally replay this and it's safe to say that I now adore this game. Is it perfect? No. It is flawed and at times frustrating, but I love it anyway.

It's a weird contradiction of a game where different ideas that are all great on their own never really come together. The idea of going on a chill road trip with your friends, going camping, fishing, hunting, exploring, all of that is so great and it works so well in this game, if you ignore the fact that the world is ending and Noctus is in a rush to find and save his childhood friend turned fiancé Luna.

The improvements and changes to the game are vast. I love being able to swap to different characters during combat now and really enjoy the fact that they all played differently. The DLC for each of the retainers was a lot of fun, and changed the retainers from a group of guys into people with depth and character. In particular, I loved Ignis's DLC. He went from being the pretty boy chef/driver to my favorite character in the game. They also expanded on some of the shorter endgame chapters. Instead of rushing to the palace in chapter 14, you now have the option to explore the city and do side quests, as well as a new optional hard boss. They showed this game a lot of love post launch and it made my second playthrough a very enjoyable experience.

That said, there are still some quirks. For some reason they mapped the jump button to the same button as the command prompt. I can't tell you how many times Noctus would jump when I was trying to pick up an item or interact with an NPC because it happened nearly every single time. Also, they didn't expand the final chapters enough. Right after the time skip, you run into an old friend and he tells you all about your old allies and what they're up to. You never see them though. That is a huge disappointment to me. I want to see an interact with these people, not just hear about them.

All in all, I really enjoyed this game and am glad I got to sit down to play it again.