AngryExpo
2022
I-I. I cant believe it? After around 11 years, Sonic Team finally made not just a good game, but a great game? Seems a little hard to believe, but it's true!
Going into this game, I was expecting to play a generic, boring open world game with little to no platforming and challenge. But I'm happy to report, this was wrong. Exploring the open zone was a blast. Each collectible felt fun to collect, and you can collect a lot if you're fast enough. You can sequence break platforming challenges, use rails or ramps to travel far distances. Some of the most fun traversal I've had in a while, I didn't use fast travel ONCE over my two playthroughs. Sonic controls like a dream, the second best he's ever controlled maybe (Adventure 1 is still the goat)
Collecting stuff was so fun, I collected every single memory token, which would sound like it would get old, but it didnt? It was just such a fun time. The open zone is genuinely fun, unbelievable.
However, I have a laundry list of issues with this game. First off, it can feel jank at times, it's hard to explain, but sometimes it just feels a bit too buggy in general. Cyberspace is a joke, Sonic feels like the worst he's ever controlled in Cyberspace. It's close to unplayable without a mod for me. Combat while fun is very vanilla, and doesn't have a lot of stakes or challenge, which is why I prefer Unleashed or even Black Knight combat. Boss fights while amazing on the first playthrough are way too easy, they can be killed in under 2 minutes at level 1. And can feel too much like I'm watching a cutscene. And the final boss... it's literally a JPEG, what a dissapointment.
Going into this game. I was expecting a great story, but I think I set my expectations too high. I mean... it's fine? Compared to the meta era, it's amazing. But most of the story just felt like characters were standing around talking. Nothing crazy happens in the story compared to something like Sonic Adventure 2 or Black Knight where there are a lot of events. The lore is cool in this game, and the characterisation is pretty good (if not a little vanilla). So the story was good, but nothing more. A bit disappointing, but I'm happy we are out of the meta era.
A big issue people have with this game is how budget it can feel. You can tell they put their all into it this time, but with only 60 people making this, they clearly had to cut corners. Especially with Cyberspace and the last 2 islands. But despite the budget issues, it's not a huge deal for me.
Music wise this game is a masterpiece, expected from a Sonic game. However Cyberspace music sounded like it was from Geometry Dash or something, I miss the music variety, like in Unleashed, Secret Rings or 06.
Now reading this, it sounds like I'm more negative than positive. But I must reemphasise. Exploring the open zone was so fun, some of the most fun I've had in years... This is probably my favorite collectathon type game. So it nailed the most important aspect. The fact is... I can sense the heart, and soul of this game. After around 13 years of soulless and unambitious, safe games, they took a huge gamble this time. And for me, I can appreciate that over a safe, boring, soulless game.
The next game could genuinely be a top 5 Sonic game if they had more budget and manpower. Most of the issues stem from that. The fact that 60 people were able to make a game like this, is mega impressive. Well done Sonic Team, and go fuck yourself Sega for treating this I.P like dirt lmao!
Going into this game, I was expecting to play a generic, boring open world game with little to no platforming and challenge. But I'm happy to report, this was wrong. Exploring the open zone was a blast. Each collectible felt fun to collect, and you can collect a lot if you're fast enough. You can sequence break platforming challenges, use rails or ramps to travel far distances. Some of the most fun traversal I've had in a while, I didn't use fast travel ONCE over my two playthroughs. Sonic controls like a dream, the second best he's ever controlled maybe (Adventure 1 is still the goat)
Collecting stuff was so fun, I collected every single memory token, which would sound like it would get old, but it didnt? It was just such a fun time. The open zone is genuinely fun, unbelievable.
However, I have a laundry list of issues with this game. First off, it can feel jank at times, it's hard to explain, but sometimes it just feels a bit too buggy in general. Cyberspace is a joke, Sonic feels like the worst he's ever controlled in Cyberspace. It's close to unplayable without a mod for me. Combat while fun is very vanilla, and doesn't have a lot of stakes or challenge, which is why I prefer Unleashed or even Black Knight combat. Boss fights while amazing on the first playthrough are way too easy, they can be killed in under 2 minutes at level 1. And can feel too much like I'm watching a cutscene. And the final boss... it's literally a JPEG, what a dissapointment.
Going into this game. I was expecting a great story, but I think I set my expectations too high. I mean... it's fine? Compared to the meta era, it's amazing. But most of the story just felt like characters were standing around talking. Nothing crazy happens in the story compared to something like Sonic Adventure 2 or Black Knight where there are a lot of events. The lore is cool in this game, and the characterisation is pretty good (if not a little vanilla). So the story was good, but nothing more. A bit disappointing, but I'm happy we are out of the meta era.
A big issue people have with this game is how budget it can feel. You can tell they put their all into it this time, but with only 60 people making this, they clearly had to cut corners. Especially with Cyberspace and the last 2 islands. But despite the budget issues, it's not a huge deal for me.
Music wise this game is a masterpiece, expected from a Sonic game. However Cyberspace music sounded like it was from Geometry Dash or something, I miss the music variety, like in Unleashed, Secret Rings or 06.
Now reading this, it sounds like I'm more negative than positive. But I must reemphasise. Exploring the open zone was so fun, some of the most fun I've had in years... This is probably my favorite collectathon type game. So it nailed the most important aspect. The fact is... I can sense the heart, and soul of this game. After around 13 years of soulless and unambitious, safe games, they took a huge gamble this time. And for me, I can appreciate that over a safe, boring, soulless game.
The next game could genuinely be a top 5 Sonic game if they had more budget and manpower. Most of the issues stem from that. The fact that 60 people were able to make a game like this, is mega impressive. Well done Sonic Team, and go fuck yourself Sega for treating this I.P like dirt lmao!
2012
I honestly get the hype for this game. It's an excellently designed stealth game with a lot of choices in how you approach mission objectives. There are main missions you can do, but also fun optional side objectives. The amount of choice is staggering, and I guarantee for stealth fans this will be really replayable. It was just a good time. The story was fine I guess, nothing special, I really played this for the fun gameplay.
1997
Quite enjoyable for what it is. A perfectly fun shooter. Levels are short, but enjoyable. Sure, it's a lot of button pressing and key gathering but that simplicity is perfectly enjoyable with the fun gunplay. I do think sometimes switch locations and puzzles can be a bit too cryptic, but it's nothing a good guide wont solve. The tone and atmosphere is amazing, the art style is beautiful in my books. And the ambient sound effects? Man it's spooky. This is probably my favorite classic 90s shooter so far. Although that final boss... Fuck that man
This is slightly above average. It has pretty standard combat. Very button mashy, very simplistic. And kinda repetitive. But I can't say I hated it I guess. It should've been turn based or something though. I did think the story was decent. It was a fun time with fun characters and events. But it did suffer with some padding issues. Honestly, playing this makes me want to watch the anime over playing more games in the series. So I will do just that eventually.
In my books, this is the best Kart racer you could ever play. Mario Kart 8 is awesome. But this has a mission mode. And I think the boating and flying is far more fleshed out than the gliding or anti gravity mechanic. It's not as refined as Mario Kart but I just found it more interesting. Definitely recommend both though if you want a fun Kart racer
I think this game was solid overall. It never blew me away with it's combat or story. But it was good.
The combat feels incredibly basic for most of the game, not terrible but it's mindless for most fights. The combat peaks in the final dungeon when the enemies get harder and you have all your party members.
Story wise, it was also solid. The world building and character interactions are great. But I was never blown away by any big plot revelations (besides the ending sorta) and characters dont go through any significant growth or development.
A lot of the game felt like "filler" with bits of importance I guess? It's not "bad" by all means, it's mostly enjoyable. But each arc feels super self contained. Everything does connect really well in the end though.
Music wise, it's good, the art style is charming. And as I hinted at before the ending and cliffhanger were fantastic, so I'm glad I played this because I am interested to see where future games go.
I'll be playing SC relatively soon so stay tuned for my thoughts on that eventually :)
The combat feels incredibly basic for most of the game, not terrible but it's mindless for most fights. The combat peaks in the final dungeon when the enemies get harder and you have all your party members.
Story wise, it was also solid. The world building and character interactions are great. But I was never blown away by any big plot revelations (besides the ending sorta) and characters dont go through any significant growth or development.
A lot of the game felt like "filler" with bits of importance I guess? It's not "bad" by all means, it's mostly enjoyable. But each arc feels super self contained. Everything does connect really well in the end though.
Music wise, it's good, the art style is charming. And as I hinted at before the ending and cliffhanger were fantastic, so I'm glad I played this because I am interested to see where future games go.
I'll be playing SC relatively soon so stay tuned for my thoughts on that eventually :)
2013
When I first played this game in 2019, I enjoyed it a lot. But, I didn't see how special this series was until earlier last year when I played Bravely Second and this year Bravely Default 2.
The obvious qualities of this game is the combat, Team Asano crafted one of the best turn based combat systems in any game I've played. The amount of depth and variety the combat has to offer is astounding. And the boss fights actually force you to use variety, so you are forced to take advantage of the complexity. No grinding is ever needed if you have a proper strategy. Getting my ass kicked by a boss fight then spending a while theory crafting different builds and strategies until I figure out the best strategy feels so good. And the fact that Bravely Default 2s combat is even better is whats crazy. There are some dominant strategies like Stillness but this game is a tool box free to experiment with how you wish.
The art style is beautiful, not just for a 3DS game, but in general. The fact that I think this game looks way better than Bravely Default 2 A SWITCH GAME shows how fantastic the art direction was for this game. Revo created one of the best gaming soundtracks I've ever heard, the music is genuinely a masterpiece.
Finally the story, I love it. This game has Ringabel my guy. Of course the cast is amazing. The game's greatest use of story is how it incorporates the player itself and their feelings into the theming of the game. I wont go into spoilers, but all I'll say is one of the big themes of Bravely Default series is for the player to persevere with the party even if every action you take feels futile or meaningless. I also love the twist villain because the game uses your expectations against you to pull the rug from under you.
There is one big flaw with this game sadly, as you've all probably heard. Chapter 5-8 is basically recycles content. Now, narrative wise, this is genius, I cant explain because of spoilers but the act of "repeating the cycle" and the feeling of "futility" comes in again. But at the end of the day, repeating the same content gets boring, it fitting the story is irrelevant to this. Bravely Default 2 did a similar idea much better.
Overall, would I recommend this RPG to anyone like how I would, Persona 5? No, I can fully admit this game isn't for everyone, but for me, it's one of the goats.
The obvious qualities of this game is the combat, Team Asano crafted one of the best turn based combat systems in any game I've played. The amount of depth and variety the combat has to offer is astounding. And the boss fights actually force you to use variety, so you are forced to take advantage of the complexity. No grinding is ever needed if you have a proper strategy. Getting my ass kicked by a boss fight then spending a while theory crafting different builds and strategies until I figure out the best strategy feels so good. And the fact that Bravely Default 2s combat is even better is whats crazy. There are some dominant strategies like Stillness but this game is a tool box free to experiment with how you wish.
The art style is beautiful, not just for a 3DS game, but in general. The fact that I think this game looks way better than Bravely Default 2 A SWITCH GAME shows how fantastic the art direction was for this game. Revo created one of the best gaming soundtracks I've ever heard, the music is genuinely a masterpiece.
Finally the story, I love it. This game has Ringabel my guy. Of course the cast is amazing. The game's greatest use of story is how it incorporates the player itself and their feelings into the theming of the game. I wont go into spoilers, but all I'll say is one of the big themes of Bravely Default series is for the player to persevere with the party even if every action you take feels futile or meaningless. I also love the twist villain because the game uses your expectations against you to pull the rug from under you.
There is one big flaw with this game sadly, as you've all probably heard. Chapter 5-8 is basically recycles content. Now, narrative wise, this is genius, I cant explain because of spoilers but the act of "repeating the cycle" and the feeling of "futility" comes in again. But at the end of the day, repeating the same content gets boring, it fitting the story is irrelevant to this. Bravely Default 2 did a similar idea much better.
Overall, would I recommend this RPG to anyone like how I would, Persona 5? No, I can fully admit this game isn't for everyone, but for me, it's one of the goats.
2018
I remember this game quite fondly, it was one of my first "real" JRPGs I ever played, and I loved it. Since then, I've played a lot more JPRGs so does this hold up to being my top 10 games still? Unfortunately no. While I love the combat still, compared to it's spiritual predecessor (Bravely Default), the difficulty really is way too easy. A hard mode would've been appreciated.
It suffers with a similar problem Persona 5 has, where the combat has a lot of depth and can be super engaging, but you'll be constantly finding yourself killing bosses on first tries with ease. With Persona 5, I usually do challenge runs to make the game more balanced against me, so next time I play this game, I might do something similar. As I said though, the combat is still a blast, and breaking the game was fun, AND the true final boss was a worthy challenge. So it's not the end of the world I suppose.
The art style and music is obviously amazing so I wont harp on that. The stories though? Well most games follow a long form story arc, this game instead opts for 8 mini stories. While I do like how unique this is, the downsides are that characters cant be fleshed out much and lack screentime. The pacing of the stories can also feel too quick at times. I still liked the stories, and liked how they were all connected together.
Overall, while it isn't as good as I remember, I still had a blast playing it. And you will too if you like traditional JRPG combat. Give it a go if you want
It suffers with a similar problem Persona 5 has, where the combat has a lot of depth and can be super engaging, but you'll be constantly finding yourself killing bosses on first tries with ease. With Persona 5, I usually do challenge runs to make the game more balanced against me, so next time I play this game, I might do something similar. As I said though, the combat is still a blast, and breaking the game was fun, AND the true final boss was a worthy challenge. So it's not the end of the world I suppose.
The art style and music is obviously amazing so I wont harp on that. The stories though? Well most games follow a long form story arc, this game instead opts for 8 mini stories. While I do like how unique this is, the downsides are that characters cant be fleshed out much and lack screentime. The pacing of the stories can also feel too quick at times. I still liked the stories, and liked how they were all connected together.
Overall, while it isn't as good as I remember, I still had a blast playing it. And you will too if you like traditional JRPG combat. Give it a go if you want
I feel like this gameplay style has a lot of potential. Like the focus on long levels, reactionary platforming and multiple playable characters combined with a fleshed out Fire and Ice mechanic would be peak 2D Sonic. And it felt like that at times. But everything else from the story, music and locations feels... Soulless. The entire plot feels like the most unambitious, low stakes plot ever. It actually felt deflating to play at times. It's one of those times where gameplay can't entirely carry a game
As a big Inazuma Eleven fan this marks the final game in the series I've played that's released in the west. It's probably my least favourite unfortunately, it has the basic but fun gameplay of the DS titles but the story is nowhere near as good. Inazuma Eleven 2s plot was so much better. Nor is the gameplay as fun as the Go titles, especially Chrono Stones which has amazing, deep gameplay. It was still an entertaining RPG but this ain't touching the other games.
This is one of those games where everything besides the gameplay is amazing.
The open world is lifeless and empty, but thats what makes it so beautiful weirdly. I felt like I was exploring Purgatory or something, lonely with only my horse guiding me. Life still exists here with the animals, guarded by almost sad giants, but the land feels cursed. The tone is executed PERFECTLY. Killing these guardians of this sacred and cursed land felt wrong, but the main characters purpose to save his beloved no matter the cost resonated with me. The entire story is told through almost tone alone. It's a work of art to be sure.
But the gameplay is hit or miss. Out of a total of 16 boss fights, I enjoyed around 6-7. Most of them were frustrating, and all required me to use a youtube guide in some way. Traversal with the horse while realistic sacrifices convenience and the controls get in the way most of the time. As I said though, there were some boss fights that amazed me, so it wasn't all bad.
If you can push through the outdated but ambitious gameplay, what lies underneath is one of the most unique worlds you could ever fathom.
The open world is lifeless and empty, but thats what makes it so beautiful weirdly. I felt like I was exploring Purgatory or something, lonely with only my horse guiding me. Life still exists here with the animals, guarded by almost sad giants, but the land feels cursed. The tone is executed PERFECTLY. Killing these guardians of this sacred and cursed land felt wrong, but the main characters purpose to save his beloved no matter the cost resonated with me. The entire story is told through almost tone alone. It's a work of art to be sure.
But the gameplay is hit or miss. Out of a total of 16 boss fights, I enjoyed around 6-7. Most of them were frustrating, and all required me to use a youtube guide in some way. Traversal with the horse while realistic sacrifices convenience and the controls get in the way most of the time. As I said though, there were some boss fights that amazed me, so it wasn't all bad.
If you can push through the outdated but ambitious gameplay, what lies underneath is one of the most unique worlds you could ever fathom.
2021
The fact of the matter is that this is peak 2D Metroid at it's finest. It refines what makes Super Metroid so great but makes it a bit more linear, the tradeoff is having an excellently designed linear path that everyone experiences on their first playthrough. It's curated in a way you never get lost or get stuck, it always leads you to your next destination naturally. Every power up leads itself to the next at an almost efficient manor. I prefer this philosophy since the set paths you follow are tightly designed fun challenges with engaging enemies and puzzle solving. Each boss on the path is fun and fair in it's own way. The most engaging boss fights in Metroid for me, I was never a fan of Metroid boss fights before but this game broke that curse for me. This game wasn't too hard nor too easy, it's forgiving with deaths but bosses can kick your ass if you dont focus.
This game for me was a pure gameplay bait game pure and simple. I didn't care for the story which is fine since it's not about the story. Nor did I ever feel immersed in this world like Hollow Knight made me, this was pure unadulterated fun and nothing more. Which is refreshing. I'm glad this game kickstarted Metroid revival, here's to Prime 4 folks.
This game for me was a pure gameplay bait game pure and simple. I didn't care for the story which is fine since it's not about the story. Nor did I ever feel immersed in this world like Hollow Knight made me, this was pure unadulterated fun and nothing more. Which is refreshing. I'm glad this game kickstarted Metroid revival, here's to Prime 4 folks.
This review contains spoilers
My opinions here will change overtime, as all Xenoblade games have for me. But for now, this is what I think.
The story is almost perfect, it has the best Xenoblade cast. Noah and Mio really are highlights of this game, those two are indisputably my favorite duo in gaming perhaps. Noahs character in relation to the best villain with the game really showed how Noah can act under horrible circumstances. It's not afraid to shy away from showing us a flawed protagonist. However, I have one huge issue with this plot, I dont like how easily death is trivialised. A lot of characters end up being brought back to life or having fake deaths. To me, this can take away from the stakes of the plot at times. Like during Chapter 6's best cutscene, while it was upsetting to see who died, I knew deep down they would pull something to avoid the jaws of death yet again like most important characters in this game. Some characters are killed off, but not the super important ones. This is in stark contrast to Xenoblade 2 where it wasn't afraid to kill off super important characters to show how dire things can get. I also think after Chapter 6 the game loses a lot of it's luster until the end. But despite these issues, I still think this plot is incredible due to the main cast and world building.
The battle system is interesting. I really like it, the addition of classes over blades simplifies the blade system but it's not too simplified like Xenoblade 1. Chain attacks are easy to spam out and Ouroboros are good to use in a pinch. I really enjoyed the battle system, it was getting a bit tiring during the final dungeon but overall I think it was fantastic. The music is amazing, too bad I cant hear it over the characters screaming out all their attack moves in battle lol.
Final thoughts: An amazing JRPG with the highest peaks, but can feel inconsistent at times. A must play in my books.
The story is almost perfect, it has the best Xenoblade cast. Noah and Mio really are highlights of this game, those two are indisputably my favorite duo in gaming perhaps. Noahs character in relation to the best villain with the game really showed how Noah can act under horrible circumstances. It's not afraid to shy away from showing us a flawed protagonist. However, I have one huge issue with this plot, I dont like how easily death is trivialised. A lot of characters end up being brought back to life or having fake deaths. To me, this can take away from the stakes of the plot at times. Like during Chapter 6's best cutscene, while it was upsetting to see who died, I knew deep down they would pull something to avoid the jaws of death yet again like most important characters in this game. Some characters are killed off, but not the super important ones. This is in stark contrast to Xenoblade 2 where it wasn't afraid to kill off super important characters to show how dire things can get. I also think after Chapter 6 the game loses a lot of it's luster until the end. But despite these issues, I still think this plot is incredible due to the main cast and world building.
The battle system is interesting. I really like it, the addition of classes over blades simplifies the blade system but it's not too simplified like Xenoblade 1. Chain attacks are easy to spam out and Ouroboros are good to use in a pinch. I really enjoyed the battle system, it was getting a bit tiring during the final dungeon but overall I think it was fantastic. The music is amazing, too bad I cant hear it over the characters screaming out all their attack moves in battle lol.
Final thoughts: An amazing JRPG with the highest peaks, but can feel inconsistent at times. A must play in my books.
2022
Are you looking for a fun, strategic RPG with great maps, amazing unit variety? How about a story with a focus on decision making navigating a world rife with corruption, factions and politics? Well this is the SRPG for you. Not to mention the music and HD 2D art style is amazing like Octopath Traveller. The voice acting is very strange at first, but the subdued almost casual performances grow on you quite quickly, at least for me. The menuing and camera can be a pain, but overall I highly recommend this to any Switch owner who is a fan of JRPGs.
This is indeed one of the best 3DS JRPGs in the market.
The battle system is pretty incredible, it's strategic and has the perfect challenge... well in boss fights anyways. Yes, the random battles are a joke due to the auto-pinpoint app. Press L and you simply win the battle. Now I wouldn't have opted to use it but the amount of random encounters is a lot. So using the auto-pinpoint also removed the tedium the game would have had without it, and besides, random battles are a joke without auto battle anyways.
Surprisingly, the exploration is great, level design is actually fun to traverse through the general areas of Tokyo and the varied dungeons. I personally preferred the level design to something like SMT 5 which felt too open and had repetitive locales and terribly designed dungeons. The graphics are fantastic for a 3DS game, the low resolution is masked by the dark, gritty atmosphere the game holds, it's really well executed. Oh and the music is incredible.
Finally, the story and world building was fantastic, it's not peak Atlus story telling, however it does have the best worldbuilding out of any Atlus game. All the crazy factions, locations, lore and history this world held was a delight to uncover overtime. Visiting parallel worlds and shaping the very destiny of the world made me feel like my actions mattered in this detailed tapestry Atlus has created.
Even the characters are great, Johnathon and Walter were pretty good representatives of their alignment, I feel like Walter isn't as nuanced as Johnathon but he's still cool. I like how your dialogue choices forces you into an alignment, it's like everything you say matters. Oh and Issabeu was just funny for that manga line lmfao.
So really, this game is great, but it's biggest weakness is the random battles, if those were actually challenging and less plentiful I'd have this game at a strong 9. But even despite that, the gameplay is still superb, would highly recommend this to any JRPG enthusiast
The battle system is pretty incredible, it's strategic and has the perfect challenge... well in boss fights anyways. Yes, the random battles are a joke due to the auto-pinpoint app. Press L and you simply win the battle. Now I wouldn't have opted to use it but the amount of random encounters is a lot. So using the auto-pinpoint also removed the tedium the game would have had without it, and besides, random battles are a joke without auto battle anyways.
Surprisingly, the exploration is great, level design is actually fun to traverse through the general areas of Tokyo and the varied dungeons. I personally preferred the level design to something like SMT 5 which felt too open and had repetitive locales and terribly designed dungeons. The graphics are fantastic for a 3DS game, the low resolution is masked by the dark, gritty atmosphere the game holds, it's really well executed. Oh and the music is incredible.
Finally, the story and world building was fantastic, it's not peak Atlus story telling, however it does have the best worldbuilding out of any Atlus game. All the crazy factions, locations, lore and history this world held was a delight to uncover overtime. Visiting parallel worlds and shaping the very destiny of the world made me feel like my actions mattered in this detailed tapestry Atlus has created.
Even the characters are great, Johnathon and Walter were pretty good representatives of their alignment, I feel like Walter isn't as nuanced as Johnathon but he's still cool. I like how your dialogue choices forces you into an alignment, it's like everything you say matters. Oh and Issabeu was just funny for that manga line lmfao.
So really, this game is great, but it's biggest weakness is the random battles, if those were actually challenging and less plentiful I'd have this game at a strong 9. But even despite that, the gameplay is still superb, would highly recommend this to any JRPG enthusiast