I'm usually not an early bird gamer, but for me, the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass was a no-brainer that I just had to preorder and play instantly the second of its release. Judging from about a minute of struggling to contact the server for activation I'd say I wasn't alone.

After the official release announcement by Nintendo, I've read the average mixed opinions online and that is something I'd like to address here, being neither fanboy nor hater, rather observing from my very own subjective perspective, which in this case includes an affinity towards Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, that actually pulled me back in the franchise after I thought it had lost its course.

So, you've got to have in mind I haven't played most of the reused tracks too often, but would on the other hand fancy my good old flat SNES Mario Circuit or Ghost Valley. But exactly because we all have favourite designs we'd like to play in Mario Kart 8 is another good reason for Nintendo to include all of them.

There have always been remakes in new Mario Kart games and the design elements are part of the identity. There's always a good chance they'd be criticized just the same for too much innovation. Even if I try to stay open minded, the impact the original Super Mario Kart had on me makes me a bit conservative on this topic as well.

But I've also read people bragging about expecting a Mario Kart 9 and I must admit, I don't see why this would have been customer friendly.
Sure, I'd be happy to play another great Mario Kart, especially after trying some underwhelming Mario Kart Tour to research for this review. But the Booster Course Pass in general was also a statement by Nintendo to expand the lifetime of the Switch at least to the end of 2023.

Considering the situation of the pandemic world not only short on electronic parts, but now also on the edge to a global war, I think that's the best way to handle. I wouldn't pay the scalping prices, that get asked for the rare new Playstation or Xbox machines these days. And why would anyone want those, if there's not enough specific software anyway?

Why shouldn't there be a Mario Kart 9 on the Switch then? Well, Nintendo's console hybrid isn't famous for its computing power. Strength of the small machine is portability whilst being usable on the big screen as well. And of course, aside from opening up to the indie market and having the exclusive franchises, it's older generation games receiving a second chance on the Switch.

I understand if you bought both Mario Kart 8 and the DLC for WiiU, that it felt weird to start off new in pretty much the same game. Maybe some of you did never go that route, still hold a grudge and would now have to buy the Deluxe version just to get access to the Booster Course Pass.

But in my opinion, in 2022, that's the least possible collateral damage, taking WiiU sales and age of the release into account. It's rather a good way from preventing the same happening during the transition to a new Nintendo console generation, supposedly announced in 2023 and maybe released in 2024 (my speculation after Nintendo Direct 2022).

It's probably my personal problem that I did not like Mario Kart 8 on WiiU and could first start to familiarize myself once it was out on the Switch. For me, that was a transition in itself, from being almost exclusively old-school to opening up to a new era of gaming. So I can't say it was the game, it could have been me.

But as far as I understand the game works a little better on the Switch on one hand and on the other it's a bestseller for years now, the question is, can they really create a Mario Kart 9 that is technically superior? I certainly hope so, but if they do, wouldn't the effort be better invested in the starting grid of a next generation rather than a console with a remaining lifespan of maybe two additional years?

It's not that they didn't try something new. There was Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit with the technically interesting concept of augmented reality and the chance to sell peripherals. I couldn't care less though for exactly that reason.

And then, there was Mario Kart Tour targeting a completely new generation of mobile gamers. Did they like it? I don't know. I prefer a racing game that I have in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe already and all I need are more courses.

I've read that selling new tracks as a season pass is not family friendly. Really? What they could have done, of course, is sell us each cup for 2,99€+ individually instead of 2,09€ retail (ca. 1,66€ via keyseller) with the pass.
Or even sell basically the same game as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe minus connection to an existing online community with just the 48 new tracks at 59,99€. How would that be better?

Nintendo is observing the market. They're into micro transactions already, targeting the mobile gaming section, a business a lot more lucrative than all consoles together. If they gave away new courses for free, as some seem to think would be reasonable, they would try to get your money another way.

And don't you think if they wanted to, they could've duplicated FIFA sale strategies? That means the same game with tiny adjustment every year full price just to buy new booster packs on top?

In a world where this seems to be widely accepted and enough whales are backing those systems, isn't Nintendo giving up a lot of dough by doubling the tracks for an admission of a third of the initial retail price?

Aren't they even redirecting players from their potential moneymaker by including Mario Kart Tour courses? To me that sounds like to Nintendo, the Switch is the main business model (and I hope they're not luring players in to have them accepting future micro transactions on the console). To me that sounds like maxing out one of my favorite games for a reasonable price, so shut up, Nintendo take my money, right?

But now towards the tracks. A couple of days in, what do I think of the two new cups in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass? Usually, I wouldn't write a review on an unfinished game, but usually I also don't buy season passes, at least not before season is over. So if everything goes as planned, I will expand the review wave by wave and add a final conclusion.

When the Booster Course Pass was activated, we played for about half an hour online to enjoy our first impressions together. Those initially were, despite surprises like directional change on Paris Promenade, that both Golden Dash and Lucky Cat Cup are entertaining but fairly easy, except for Ninja Hideaway maybe.

Then I went on and beat all Golden Dash Cup classes with three stars on the first try, except the reversed one that required a second attempt. This isn't supposed to be boasting. I think of myself as a motivated average player and I'm used to getting my arse kicked online, because I need to really work on my defense.

Once I was feeling dizzy, release was at midnight, I at least had beaten a few staff ghosts at Time Trial and got gold for the 150ccm Lucky Cat Cup. At that point I had loosely played for about five hours and wasted most of it for Time Trial, which I usually finish before starting 150ccm.

At first, I felt underwhelmed, but after a few hours of sleep in this event I had planned for, I picked up the Switch controller again to perceive I wasn't playing an advanced add-on to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
There's a reason they divided Booster Course Cups as a similar structured roster from the original ones. If these two cups are equivalent to Mushroom and Flower Cup, it all falls into place.

And actually it is Time Trial where I can spot a difference. As easy it seems at first to finish gold in Grand Prix mode, finding the ideal line appears to be more challenging or at least the Nintendo staff ghosts make it feel like it.
Doing so however led to a significant advantage against other experienced players who did not spend as much time with it yet.

There is a racing potential in those tracks, that will unfold with training and that way probably will resonate best with the less arcadey, not so casual players.
I appreciate that a lot as a reward for spending time with a game. Slingshooting lazy gamers forward at all cost is something I despise. A game is balanced, when you win after doing homework. You lose, you analyze, you work on it.

At this point, I don't regret a Cent spend on the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass. But it is hard to mess up the delivery of 48 tracks for just about 52 Cents a course (or even less if you bought a key elsewhere) to an already great game, innit?
Though I share an empty feeling, missing the opportunity to play all new tracks at once, I think Nintendo made a wise decision for the online community they did not sacrifice for the sake of releasing a new game.

Imagine the split if it were two different programs! Instead, you get access via DLC Season Pass or as a Nintendo Switch Online + Expension Pack member, if that's your preference. And if you can't or won't invest into any of them, you're still able to enter any online competition and ride the new courses if an opponent has the access. How isn't that inclusive and user friendly?

As exceptional it is to have a game sell that well and have players return to compete online for years, releasing new tracks will increase the number of competitors and naturally will decrease with freshness fading, independent from the number of courses released. So by dropping six waves over two years, the online community can only benefit, whilst 8 tracks in two cups is enough to keep you occupied a while until perfection of you racing them.

Wave 1

Golden Dash Cup

Paris Promenade

This course confronts the player with two things. I've not played Mario Kart Tour until a few days ago, but I cannot deny it was awkward enough to shy away from a Mario Kart 8 Deluxe remake. Another issue could be trademarks. I don't even know if they ever touched real places other than augmented in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.

Not caring for the authenticity of the city design and rather happy about a new course to play though I enjoyed the long drift passage and surprise element, when route changes in third lap, so that possibly some players still drive opposite your direction.

It's really an incorporation of elements taken from multiple Mario Kart Tour Paris Passage tracks, one of them acting as a short cut, if I understand correctly. Some use of pipes and a piranha plant or the glider passages help to not forget it's a Mario Kart game. It's fun. And of course it plays a lot better with a pro controller than swiping your mobile screen.

Toad Circuit

It's maybe odd to include a course to the second slot, that was clearly designed to be the opener of Mario Kart 7, very much in the tradition of the first Mario Circuit. However, as I love the plain perfection of the SNES inspiration, I'm totally up for pure racing on this course.

Here, it's simple enough that items of course play a role, but the driving requires more than avoiding traps and shots to win while staying on track. If you don't find the ideal line and don't make use of cuts, you must be very lucky to win against advanced players here. That's probably why they decided against the addition of more laps to this rather short course.

It's the first track where a difference in textures really caught my attention. There's enough happening on Paris Promenade and you could observe the greenery there as an individual art style, but even though they've blown up and reworked graphics since the Nintendo Direct trailer, the grass on Toad Circuit for instance is just plain green.

On the other hand, I've seen critique that the tires had the same problem, and I just can't remember if I really saw the same on release day. I know they felt odd. But when I checked specifically after that review, the tires had profile textures and a shade, missing in that critique's footage. Was there a patch?

Yes, that's the beauty of technology, they could update those graphics easily, if it was just because they've been in a rush. But even if they didn't and the Booster Course Pass will act more as an exploitation of leftovers, do you really have your eyes on the green while driving? That's for the backseat.

It would be interesting though, if there's a pattern of courses from Mario Kart Tour to find the way to the Booster Course Pass roster, as Toad Circuit is one of them as well.

Choco Mountain

Another one of those Tour ports is Choco Mountain, first appearing in Mario Kart 64. I must have played the first incarnation a ton as despite I never really liked Mario Kart 64 for several reasons, we played it just as often at a friend's place as we did Super Mario Kart.

I don't recall much though, because that was totally last century, a millennium ago. I'm not even sure if I had more problems with the boulder dropping passage than on the Booster Course version.
I also had to read up that there's a curve now having a banister present all the time, whilst the N64 version only had it on 50ccm and Time Trial and Mario Kart DS omitted the banister completely.

Maybe for that reason Choco Mountain doesn't feel very challenging in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
In this case though, having had it in Mario Kart Tour before, where a cave passage with bats was added, might actually be an enrichment.

Choco Mountain plays alright and it has just enough variation including good drifting passages and few jumps to keep you busy in tournaments. But other than cutting a corner via an acceleration item, I didn't find any twist to make the track stand out a lot.

Even though the original music hurts, I'm not sure if the remake is better. But I would prefer an off switch anyway, so I can listen to the latest Mostrich Mixtape. Until then, I think any soundtrack from the Pass is quite alright.

Coconut Mall

Originating from Mario Kart Wii, Coconut Mall back in the day was one of those examples of overcomplicating course designs, one of the reasons I turned away from the franchise.

However, despite still having mixed feelings about design choices, I got more used to lavish layouts and can accept them better with the positive gameplay evolution in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
Being the first track not having an appearance in Mario Kart Tour, Coconut Mall seems to also have the purpose to compensate for the lack of height difference so far in the Golden Dash Cup.

You start with stairs and escalators to a race on different levels of a shopping mall offering multiple opportunities for tricks and shortcuts. Once you've oriented, you will find your preferred path including acceleration through a shop.

It is challenging to combine tricks with entering drift passages, forcing you to brake if not in line perfectly, either. It's also one of the few courses in this wave that don't get just even better on 200ccm.
Again though, the true potential isn't found in Grand Prix mode as the computer isn't very hard to beat.

I appreciate in this mostly cosmetically remade adaption there's no additional confusion like trains hitting randomly in Super Bell Subway for instance, one of my lesser favourite tracks. for me it's probably helpful the cars near the finish line don't move like on Mario Kart Wii. That way, Coconut Mall isn't my preferred choice, but something I can practice enough swiftly to be on par.

Looking back at the Wii version though I understand the critique on the visuals here. How can the palm trees look better in the original? And those escalators! They've been gorgeous! But I'm also grateful I can see which direction they're going now. Flooring? Couldn't care less, but If you played it for ages it maybe is essential to you.

I can say Coconut Mall plays good on the Switch from my perspective, but yes, a cosmetic makeover would be a nice gesture towards customers who actually bought the pass and don't just use it as a bonus to the online upgrade.

Lucky Cat Cup

Tokyo Blur

The Lucky Cat Cup starts with just another one of those urban Mario Kart Tour courses. If I looked it up correctly, each of the three laps is modeled after one of the first three Tokyo Blur tracks in Tour, though like on Paris Promenade the biggest noticable change happens in third lap when you pass a gate to a very long mostly driftable passage with coins and item boxes.

Just like the rest of this course, if it wasn't for some Thwomps and a lot of the coins placed oddly off what I consider an ideal line, Tokyo Blur could be purely high speed.

The first two laps even feature a ramp you can easily use on 200ccm without sacrificing a mushroom. I think this is a good development for gameplay, though. Looking back, many courses in Mario Kart 8 were clearly not made with 200ccm in mind, at least if smooth driving was intended.

Tokyo Blur however isn't as entertaining as its city counterpart in the Golden Dash Cup to me, but of course offers another advantage to those who work on mastering the layout.

And even though the last player has now realized there's not a single anti-gravity or underwater section in this wave, I can only appreciate the focus on actual driving skill independent from surviving hazards and dodging items.

I don't know why exactly Nintendo withhold on placing landmarks more prominent on Tokyo Blur, just like they did with the Arc de Triomphe, Eifeltower or Café for instance. You can spot quite some characteristic elements in the background if not driving yourself, but at the wheel, despite maybe for that shrine like section, the track could be almost anything.

Perhaps it's because a japanese company doesn't look at their place like tourists, maybe they have more respect for the environment. From a western perspective, how great would it have been to pass some distinct landmarks, especially an otaku district of course, more directly?

Like going down the escalator to a train station and there pass shops and vending machines. Take it to the extreme and enter a maid café, where you enter the sewers via a giant japanese toilet in the restroom. You exit towards a view of Fuji-san just to find a Kaiju Bowser attacking Tokyo as a Gojira substitute when you return to the city.

I get you, that doesn't sound like me as a player, but from a design point of view, something like that would make the course more characteristic and memorable.

Shroom Ridge

Surprisingly, quite a few players seem to hate the concept of this Mario Kart DS course, which is a bit of a bastard child of Toad's Turnpike and Yoshi Circuit, looking at it from a Mario Kart 8 perspective. So cut away the fancy wall driving, jumps or piranha plants and place racing amongst public traffic on a narrow mountain ridge with sharp and often blind turns. How isn't that exciting?

It's not so much learning the patterns of traffic, it's about controlling your drifts, so you can slide wherever the flow takes you.
However, already more difficult on 150ccm, Shroom Ridge will require you to work heavily on your breaking technique on 200ccm. But that's something Mario Kart 8 Deluxe should have confronted you with earlier.

I would love to be able to compare this second course not imported from Mario Kart Tour with its original incarnation on the DS, actually playing and not just watching a video.

I would love to know how much of a difference it makes to have one lane of cars actually moving towards you instead of both lanes going your direction. Imagine someone who can't stay on track with the Switch version, what level of rage would be reached with the original then?

After the mixed reactions I understand why they chose to exclude this feature even though it's in the same wave, on Paris Promenade, where you can crash directly into your opponents, possibly causing a massive twist to the results.

They even seem to have been adding guardrails to some of the Shroom Ridge turns, just as if the kids 17 years ago had been hardcore driving dinosaurs. But seriously, I appreciate the challenge as much as balancing the course a bit for 200ccm.

Reusing cars from Toad's Turnpike is fine by me. Why not use something existing if it's more appropriate visually, especially if it's an element not already overstrained.

I did not have the time yet to familiarize with the shortcuts yet, I must admit. In this case I'd say it only speaks for their placement a lot less prominent as usual.
Give Shroom Ridge a chance, it's not at all that bad.

Sky Garden

If you've read my raving review of Mario Kart: Super Circuit, you might expect me to rant about how different this Booster Course Pass version is from the original. But if I wanted to play exactly the same game, I would wheel out my trusty GBA or ask for an emulated version to be released on Nintendo's Switch.

Well, maybe it's because I don't have that strong connection to the original course or the remake is more like a new undulating interpretation of the theme related to Cloudtop Cruise, that I totally feel at home on Sky Garden. I like the smooth drifts and small break ups via jumps like on a mushroom trampoline. Usually I avoid the leaves though, it might be a shortcut, but too big a chance of falling.

Speaking of shortcuts, they removed quite some for the remake due to design, but just like the donut from Sweet Sweet Canyon, you can also cut through a beanstalk here.
Again released for Mario Kart Tour before, in this case it was as far as I know included in the mobile game between the Nintendo Direct announcement of the Booster Course Pass and the release of Wave 1, so it's relatively fresh in both formats.

I think it's a good balance between concentration on racing and not getting into the zone too quickly. It is one of those tracks however I can play for eternities on Time Trial and just forget the world until I finally hit another record.

Ninja Hideaway

As a grande finale Nintendo decides to unwrap another original course from Mario Kart Tour, although this time they forgot to mark it in the select screen. So without better knowledge I actually thought we got an exclusive track with the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Booster Course Pass.

But let's focus on what we actually have. Besides the Asian flavor of a chinese themed Dragon Driftway and a more modern yet less characteristic Tokyo Blur, we now finally have a more historically inspired japanese course around a ninja dojo, that clearly shines with its alternate routes.

There are several sharp corners to master in this mansion, but as much as I hated getting stuck from the first lap on, it matches the design and acts as an actual challenge, rarely seen in Booster Course Pass so far. On 200ccm Grand Prix I could only finish first yet, when I fell back to second place on a course before. As much as it bothers if you're about to rush through the wave, a challenge like this is actually needed, so it requires you to try more often until you ace the cup on three stars entirely.

Possibly the placed iconography is as random as some people think. I'm not familiar enough with the current lore to distinguish how much this is accurately a Wario course or not. I don't care much though, because compared to most other tracks in this wave there's quite a lot happening to keep me occupied with finding my way through the labyrinth.

It's a bit like a wooden Bowser Castle with its turns, spikes and jumps. You can take a lower route or decide to drive up a ladder to pass girders and an elevator before you fly over to the rooftops. It's a wild ride, especially compared to the remaining lineup of this Wave and yet I don't think it is unfair. It's got to be mastered.

I'd like refer to letshugbro's review on Backloggd here with the idea this Season could be a testing phase where to go with Mario Kart in the future. Now, we all hope it will be at least as good as now, but what I'm not convinced of yet is his idea of Mario Kart Mayhem.

I don't know, if, where I go, I won't be lost without roads. It is true that Ninja Hideaway doesn't exactly have a defined course, but somehow it does. On one hand it's not much more than the alternate routes in early Bowser Castles, innit? I wouldn't call a number of options within an imperative connection between point a and b open world yet, on the other hand I'm not sure expanding any further than Ninja Hideaway would be my thing. I'm still acclimatizing to this much.

Around the millennium I had my phase of Formula 1 games for a reason. Just as much as I preferred T.O.C.A. 2 about Ridge Racer or Grand Turismo. The games I liked were a lot more realistic and in that sense unforgiving.

You might take from my review so far, that I'm a big fan of the simple courses and the original Super Mario Kart, so contradictory to me saying the Booster Course Pass was mostly too easy, I actually enjoy the majority of the added tracks and will be fine if it stays with designs like that, except that I feel a break in continuity visually with the new art style, if it's really on purpose.

But on the other hand, I did love the game Driver back in the day and I'm still thinking about catching up on Burnout Paradise, which is already offering multiple choices of how to ride. I don't know, what would you think would be an appropriate continuation of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?

It sure isn't a mobile game, though I think the Mario Kart Tour courses aren't bad per se. But would it be interesting to expand the world and options? Maybe in an MMO rally format? Something taking place in an individual career alongside everybody else and rather concentrated on how you work on set obstacles than race cups?

If it's going to be less casual then, I probably would enjoy real racing weekends much more. Training, qualifiers and then about 64 laps of racing on one course with legendary sections like the Miyamoto Switchback everybody hates when it's raining.

But that's neither the anything can happen I take from Ninja Hideaway nor any of the other Booster Course Pass tracks so far. I rather see a continuation of non-similar laps in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, just as we got with courses like Mount Wario or Merry Mountain from Mario Kart Tour, that I could imagine being ported for a Christmas wave.

If there's one conclusion so far, I'd say we can expect more Mario Kart Tour and as much as we like to play something new, we're not too keen on change, but might have to get used to a new art style which is just cosmetic, as the courses play great.

We'll see if Nintendo is going to cave in and submit a patch based on textures and shades already existing in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It's not going to have an effect on the overall racing experience though. Toad Circuit is just going to look more in line with Mario Circuit for instance. It will look more refined and therefore more satisfying.
But don't let those details hold you back.

Don't hide away, come out and play!

A good follow-up to the first game and introduces some staples to the series like the new explorable city of Sotenbori. I may be in the minority in saying that I somewhat prefer the first game's story, though this one had higher highs. Kiryu gets some good development and the main antagonist is much more compelling than Nishiki was in the first game.

Unfortunately, I feel like the story gets extremely messy towards the end and I've never been 100% on board with the romantic approach they took with Kiryu and Sayama. However, in every other aspect, this game surpasses the original in terms of gameplay, the combat is remarkably smoother than it was before.

Overall, a solid entry that fumbles a bit towards the end but is good fun for most of its duration.

Why must there always be a tragic hero in the third row? Ok, I know I'm late to this party again, having played my old pinball simulations for ages, totally ignoring what's happening more recently. I also have to admit, that I'm not investing enough into PC hardware to keep track with the state of the art in general and I actually don't have to, because most games I'm interested in are old enough or not very performance hungry. I did know of the Pinball FX family though and have heard of other projects, but Zaccaria Pinball wasn't amongst them.

Could be because it still seems to be early access on Steam, which makes me wonder why I found Zaccaria Pinball on Nintendo Switch recently, but having not seen Pinball FX/FX3 or Pinball Arcade pop up on the e-store as well when I was looking for the genre, I'm wondering about the quality of my searches in general anyway. With any of the three platforms coming with at least one free table I was having a blast nonetheless and having fun with the HD rumble on my pro controller and the OLED screen in vertical, I was also beginning to buy DLCs.

And here's where the tragic journey begins, the reason I'm picking Zaccaria Pinball as my review subject at this very moment, but let's please emphasize first that it's actually me spending dough on a free platform to buy everything extra for. Yeah, that's not me, except for deals on Capcom Arcade Stadium for instance, because I did find some sales for Pinball FX3 and though I don't see me buying individual tables for bloody 15€ to use on the recent Pinball FX, I just had to spend another tenner on the FX3 Williams three-pack containing Attack from Mars, the machine I was doing two hour train rides to play back in the nineties.

Given that favorite pinball tables can be very autobiographical, I actually appreciate at least a split to affordable bundles, but on the other hand I would maybe be interested in more tables, would I have the option for a demo that the Switch versions of both Pinball FX and Pinball Arcade don't offer. It's another huge problem Pinball Arcade lost a part of their licenses, so my only chance to access the AC/DC table for instance was ordering the Stern Pinball Arcade package sold individually. I still hope the code in box version will work when it finally arrives.

However, Zaccaria Pinball did impress me instantly with next to the two free tables every other installment is playable as a demo. They have nothing to hide and that's for a good reason. Zaccaria Pinball is a simulation dream. You've got everything essential from the competitor's systems,but you can go much deeper by setting ambient light or wear on the table next to physics and camera. It can take minutes to study the possibilities before even thinking of playing and the attention to detail is plainly awesome. Having played, you get statistics for each ball's points and the distance they rolled. You immediately recognize Magic Pixel Games love what they're doing.

I'm willing to believe simulations of their signature tables are authentic in design as much as they are in physics, but here starts that issue because of which I'm not dumping all my money into Zaccaria Pinball right now. What they do have is fifties to sixties style retro tables I'm not sure existed. Then you've got the original electromagnetic and solid state Zaccaria tables from the seventies and eighties I can't remember having played, though it's possible long ago at a bar or something. I just don't have a relation to those tables with typical themes from sports to space etc. and as much as I love pragmatic old school designs, none of them catches my attention enough.

Whilst you can set the gap in the middle to a more modern narrow spacing on the old tables, Zaccaria Pinball actually offers remakes of their popular themes not like fantasy tables by Zen, but more like an authentic built as if the company had released them at the beginning of the nineties when their production had ceased. Those tables use elements that could just work as well as a real table and they're really fun to play. Same goes for deluxe versions that are comparable to Pinball FX interpretations of cabinets like Fish Tales, where you have digitally animated figures enhancing the design.

It really seems like they're doing everything right, having something in store for any generation of classic pinball fans and though they might not have the captivating music and knocking on the remakes, they still manage to add more familiar elements without denying typical leveled structures for instance. I appreciate this a lot, but do they want to be a sleeper like that?

Licensing is a very big issue in this segment and on one hand Magic Pixel Games are my heroes for creating their own level of simulation, but on the other it was very brave to enter competition just with one catalog available. I'm sure there are ecstatic fans who are very satisfied, but in this niche of gaming, Zaccaria Pinball occurs to be a whole niche on its own, for that alone I'm willing to spend a few Euros.

They're not even asking too much, I think. The contents of the packs between 5 and 10€ still appear generous, even though single tables can be purchased for between 2 and 3€ each. So what Zaccaria Pinball at least is doing is showing how it's done to the other big players Pinball Arcade (who need to really be revived) and Pinball FX who are going in the wrong direction right now.

But of course right now I want to play tables I've once found in the wild or I'm still looking forward to. It so happens I have a huge history with cabs from the Williams sets on Pinball FX3 and I've just played the Ghostbusters table in the Stern pack a few weeks back at the Dutch Pinball Museum in Rotterdam. I'm still looking for Data East stuff as a simulation, especially the Batman 1989 license that I visited a local ice cream parlor for after school as a kid. But I doubt Zaccaria Pinball will ever go that direction.

So in conclusion this is probably the best game I'm not going to play very soon, which is sad, but Zaccaria Pinball seems like built on a limitation from the start being nothing but an impulse as a great example maybe, but I don't feel the table have enough charisma to carry the game on their own. It's great for fans and except for slight bugs of caught balls on at least one remake, which might actually rather add to realism, it looks finished enough to me to play it. On Switch that is, of course.

I don't know if we can encourage Magic Pixel Games to just use the same engine on a follow up simulator for other licensed tables, but we should at least honor them with a purchase or two. As soon as I'm back on budget I will start buying everything just to enlarge the collection and send my thanks for an operation that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense but that they mastered anyway. It's maybe only adding to the variety of my tables, but when I'll start Zaccaria Pinball, I'll sure enjoy it.

Perhaps you like other of my related backloggd reviews like
Psycho Pinball
Stern Pinball Arcade
Pachinko Challenger
Puzzle Uo Poko

I'm not very invested in scandinavian crime stories, so I might have been rather puzzled about what to expect from Whispers of a Machine, commonly described as a Sci-Fi Nordic Noir take on graphic adventures. With my love for pointing and clicking and long after the purchase also learning this is the second game by Joel Staaf Hästö's Clifftop Games after the awesome Kathy Rain, whose Director's Cut I just reviewed, I was looking forward to give the follow up a chance and wasn't disappointed.

Indeed I was very happy to have been recapturing the predecessor Kathy Rain just before, because whilst you can see technically the Director's Cut draws from the experience on Whispers of a Machine, Whispers just as well took over some establishments made previously via the Adventure Game Studio engine. But it's actually more than just a process in development. With recurring topics you can actually see a handwriting emerge.

Wait, how can a sci-fi story about AI and transhumanism be anything similar to a typical nineties mystery with Twin Peaks flavor? Well, first this is post collapse of AI, so what's hot these days and might still have been discussed rather on a philosophical level during the making of Whispers of a Machine is actually a thing of the past during the plot. So when we follow another turmoiled female protagonist to a remote village, there's not much tech involved besides some useful cybernetic augmentation.

It's true that as a legitimate investigator sent to solve a murder there's more of a case in the beginning of Whispers of a Machine, but with the involvement of another church and new questions like if humanity wants to create god in their image, it totally feels like jamming new riffs within the same scale. It's like both stories could be independent from each other, but also happening in the same universe at opposite ends of a timeline, that could, but doesn't have to cross our present. We kinda decide on that as we go.

Aside from functions like the notebook known from Kathy Rain, Whispers of the Machine also incorporates the use of devices like computers, which isn't exactly a throwback to parser games, but requires using a simple text interface that might not be familiar with the younger folks. It won't require a handbook for that reason, but it feels nice having a glimpse back on the past, when that was how we ran programs.

Another similarity to Kathy Rain is digital restoration. Then, you had to adjust sliders to make picture content visible. Whispers of a Machine caters to that virtual nostalgia by a form of retro futurism. Despite (or because?) in a world past the collapse of AI, not only are the computer interfaces old, the player also picks up audio tapes and in one case has to de-noise and compress them, which should fall into place easily if you at least tried that in Audacity before.

To me personally Kathy Rain had more of a hang around factor, because the two roommates felt like two outcasts that could have easily been part of our clique back in the day. It makes sense though Vera in Whispers of a Machine feels more cold and distanced in the beginning, because the player is supposed to give her a personality via irreversible decisions that define between the paths "analytical", "assertive" or "empathetic". Depending on what is tracked on a meter throughout the game there will be two additional out of six possible augmentations for example.

After one playthrough that felt natural to me and two other intentional attempts at the opposite extremes I can say in theory my first individual version of Whispers of a Machine would have been enough, though I'd like to acknowledge slight differences especially in the puzzles related to the specific augmentations. It comes in handy that the ending independently allows for three decisions, so it can be worth it, especially if you leave more time in-between your plays and don't end up rushing your third playthrough in two and a half hours like me.

Having said that, my first eight and a half hour playthrough really satisfied my analytical urges, especially with the scanner augmentation allowing me to search for traces. Whilst the possibility to double click for swift exits more or less compensates for having to walk a luckily confined area, the replays, for which a start from the beginning is mandatory, showed limitations quite distinctly.

After you know what to talk about with whom, you might want to create a little more havok by using augmentations like mind control or mimicry on random NPCs, but as the principle of Whispers of a Machine is to guide you gently through this sci-fi murder mystery, there's no chance to use your forces on anybody you're not supposed to. On the other hand that also underlines the absence of moon logic. Listen and watch for the clues and you'll be fine. It's quite thought through.

Knowing the dimensions of additional effort required to supply non-linear multiple choice like I was suggesting before keeps me aware that's nothing I should expect from an independent developer that's basically Joel Staaf Hästö hiring additional artists for artwork and Dave Gilbert to return for directing voice actors. For that, he's been doing another awesome job in giving us a fresh take on classic point'n'click gameplay and I can't thank him enough for trying to be significant with less stereotypical topics.

I know it's hard to rely on players to interpret a work of art in a world where any loose end has to be winded up by canonized sequels, prequels or spin-offs and the easiest way to find financial backing is to trigger some nostalgia with typical catchphrases on Kickstarter. But whilst the latter often can't come up with a story at all, Clifftop Games has become a quality seal for outstanding and slightly surreal adventures.

I can't wait to play another one of these, be it Kathy Rain 2 or another Whispers of a Machine, both of which have been presented as possible in the future by Hästö. With the required attention to continuity though I'd be fine with more of an independent expansion on his topics rather than a sequel - something that could happen in the same universe but at another time or place.

The worst that could happen is the Robert Eggers effect, like when you directed the brilliant The VVitch and The Lighthouse all it takes is some budget to make a nugatory The Northman. I'd say don't throw your money for that reason, but the truth is, you'd be missing out on some of the most relevant graphic adventures of our day and age and in reality there can't be enough support for this rather niche of gaming.

As long as you're not trying to squeeze it, but rather aim to make one definitive playthrough your personalized version of Whispers of a Machine, there's not much to criticize. It's a splendid, story driven mystery with moderate puzzles to solve and as long as you see playing the other paths as a bonus you're most likely keep enjoying this game.

Immensely cool ideas marred by middling execution.

I've got a bit of a history with Zone of the Enders. A lot of people bought this game when it was brand new, purely for the sake of getting to play the included Metal Gear Solid 2 demo. I was born a good decade and a half after most of those people, which meant that I bought Zone of the Enders HD Collection purely for the sake of getting to play the included Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance demo. I look forward to 2033 when we’ll all be buying Zone of the Enders Holodeck to play the demo of Metal Gear Solid VI: Providential Pachinko Action.

All of this to say that I owned Zone of the Enders, but I never played it. I dropped like forty dollars on a game I had zero interest in booting up just so I could get early access to a demo for something else. This isn’t even an uncommon experience; a lot of people who picked up the PS2 original only bothered opening up the box to get to the demo disk of Metal Gear Solid 2. It was like throwing out the corn flakes to get to the prize at the bottom. The sequel games sold like complete shit and killed whatever momentum the series had going, and the HD rerelease suffered a similar fate. Zone of the Enders, it would seem, is not allowed to succeed on its own merits.

This is something that I was instructed to play, but it’s a title I’ve always had in the back of my mind. A super robot game with Hideo Kojima’s name on it should be the exact kind of thing that tickles all the good spots of my brain.

Why doesn't it, then?

Zone of the Enders is a remarkably shallow game. Despite — or perhaps because of — its short runtime, the game is made to be as padded as physically possible. You will constantly be going back through areas you've already cleared in rote cycles, cluelessly fumbling around until you find the one zone where the item you need to progress has mysteriously spawned in.

There are precisely three different enemy types, though two of them are practically identical to one another, and you will never, ever be able to tell them apart in combat. Each foe can easily be bested by dashing and slashing, and these two actions are going to be making up the overwhelming bulk of what you're doing if you're trying to spare the buildings around you; laser shots are inaccurate and cause collateral damage, throws are slow and will obliterate terrain, and subweapons seem laser-guided to dodge foes and seek out houses.

A single stray shot will cause an entire duplex to go up in smoke and flames as though people have been storing open cans of gasoline in their bedrooms. You are ranked on how many buildings are destroyed, or how many lives are lost, but this doesn't seem to actually do anything besides make you feel kind of shitty for not doing well. If you play on hard or above, destroyed buildings take your experience points away and level you down, making the Jehuty weaker. Considering how one single, piddly laser shot is all it takes to clear-cut a city block, your choices in difficulty are between "so easy you could beat it while in a coma" and "frustrating enough to make you chew through your own Dualshock 2 wires".

But these are interesting ideas! It's cool that you're incentivized to minimize destruction in a genre where destruction is almost always maximized; big, cool, physics-defying robots, tearing apart cities in grand battles with one another just for the sake of setting up a cooler setpiece. Zone of the Enders certainly wasn't anywhere near the first to notice or make comment on this — the Gundam OVAs were already showcasing what happens to the little people who get caught in the crossfire a decade prior — but video games are fun. They're explosive, they're chaotic. Disincentivizing the wreaking of havoc is uncommon. Forcing the player to reign it in and kite enemies to barren parts of the map like Goku to Cell is a neat concept.

The plot beats of a heartless computer finding love for humans and a kid getting in a big robot to fuck some horrible warmonger's day up are so good that they almost make it possible to overlook the atrocious voice acting and even worse translation. Everything surrounding Anubis owns. Seeing Jehuty's needle-thin feet slicing through steel floors while it skates around had me doing donuts just so I could keep looking at the animation for longer. The game nails an aesthetic and an attitude, and it's one that I'm a sucker for.

But the act of playing the game is made boring through its constant repetition. If Zone of the Enders was an anime, it'd be comprised almost entirely of static panning shots and be made on the strictest possible budget. This is evidenced further by the Zone of the Enders anime that was comprised almost entirely of static panning shots and was made on the strictest possible budget. If you've seen Zone of the Enders being played for ten minutes, you've seen it being played for five hours. It feels more like a demo than the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo did.

I've heard that the sequel game improves on nearly every aspect of the original, and it's one that I'm definitely interested in checking out. This game sets the stage for Zone of the Enders to turn into something spectacular, and I'm optimistic that a more experienced, confident development team can find it in themselves to evolve, iterate, and learn from everything that was done here.

We have obtained the Metatron ore. We have obtained the Metatron ore. We have obtained the Metatron ore.