So I actually played both Judgment and Yakuza 0 before this. I loved them both and was excited to dive into the Yakuza series in order. Well I'm happy to say I do like this game overall, but it definitely has issues imo.

First things first, yes I did play this on my PS2 so I played with the dub. Honestly, it isn't absolutely terrible. I did actually think some moments were effective even with the voice acting. Plus John Dimaggio is in this a lot so that's epic. Obviously though, the dub can be bad a lot of the time too. Sometimes in very funny ways which really works in humorous scenes...and sometimes it happens in very serious scenes which does stink.

The story...was good overall I'd say. It does throw a bunch of lesser little fetch quests and stuff near the middle of the game and then saves the crazy stuff for the very end, which makes it feel a bit unfocused... but it does have some genuinely good moments I feel. Kiryu was surprisingly emotive in this game compared to Yakuza 0, thought that was interesting.

The combat is honestly solid. Once you get used to your entire move set, it's pretty fun. I really like the chunkiness Kiryu has in this game, it feels really good to punch dudes. The encounters can be annoying though, mostly if they have guns. The game feels a but unbalanced where if its a one-on-one fight with a brawler only enemy or boss, it's usually easy. However, if its an enemy with a gun it can be very frustrating. That 2nd to last battle was incredibly annoying, but at least the final fight was fun albeit too easy.

I didn't do many side missions but the ones I did were cool. The fixed camera in Kamurocho was kind of cool, made the town more atmospheric. I liked the ps2 feel this game had compared to Judgment or Yakuza 0.

While I cannot say I liked this nearly as much as Judgment or Yakuza 0, I did enjoy my time with it even if it's pretty flawed. If I played it subbed, it might be a 7 idk but with how I played it...I'll give it a 6.5.

I'm pretty excited for Yakuza 2 cuz I heard it improved on a lot of shit in this game and that it's peak.

So my dear friend BungVulchungo absolutely loves this game, to the point where he couldn't stop talking about it after he played it. So it had me pretty excited to play it myself. While I can't say I loved it as much as he did, I did have a really good time.

I'd say the absolute best aspect of this game is its presentation. Its absolutely spectacular and was something I definitely loved. Really makes the game feel unique in that aspect. I also really enjoyed the exploration and puzzles. Every time I got to a new section, I was excited to just explore the place. The OST is pretty nice too, minimal for the most part but it works. While I didn't totally understand everything about the story, I thought it was told in a pretty cool way.

Sadly I did have some issues/nitpicks that hold it back from being amazing. I honestly didn't find the game that spooky. Idk, it definitely had some nice atmosphere but as a horror game it's definitely weak on the scares. I said I really enjoyed exploring each area, and while I do...they also dont feel too memorable because they aren't connected like for example the Spencer mansion or even Luigis Mansion 1 lol. Idk, I just prefer how those games did it personally. While I didn't dislike the combat, it's not amazing and can be annoying when multiple enemies are around. In those instances, I usually tried to evade them. One last little nitpick is while I liked reading the optional notes and texts, whenever the nation stuff was brought up..I just didn't care. I cared more about the Replika and Gestalt way more. Also this game did have some boss fights and I can't say I loved or disliked any of them. They were fine I felt.

I did really enjoy this game but it does have some faults I feel. I got the promise ending and I'm kinda thinking about going back to get the true ending once I replay Luigi's Mansion. Maybe I will maybe I won't idk but I did enjoy this game overall.

7.5/10

Last year I decided to replay Luigi's Mansion after having first played it back in 2018. I had a fantastic time and decided I would replay it every October. Well, Spooky season is now back so it's time for the annual replay. Yeah it's still a ton of fun.

As I stated before in my other review, the short length of this game makes it an ideal one to replay every year I think. I beat it in a day which is perfect since I'm a lot busier than I used to be. The shortness combined with the unrivaled atmosphere, funkiness and control scheme makes this the definitive Luigi's Mansion game in my eyes. There's just little things I love about this game that the other's lack. Like the funky jingle that plays when you pickup keys and stuff or how when you're not interacting with anything, Luigi calls out to Mario when you press the A button. He even has different calls when you're low on health. The one here at 0:04 is my absolutely favorite, has me laughing every time.

This game has that weird 6th gen GameCube charm that I love. 2 and 3 while not bad, both feel sterile in comparison. Idk, nothing is as raw as that ending where Luigi just starts crying and laughing at the fact he's finally reunited with Mario, it's genuinely so heartwarming I love it so much.

As I said in my other review, it does have its faults. I don't particularly like Boolossus. I just think they made it way too tedious to hit the boos with the ice. The high HP boos are also still somewhat annoying, though I feel like they weren't too bad this time around. Again, if they just didn't give them massive amounts of health...or even better just don't let them fly into different rooms, then that issue would be alleviated.

In the end though, I do love this game. Definitely a game I'd like to continue to replay every October and definitely one of my favorite GameCube games. After this I plan on playing Dead Space and Silent Hill, hopefully I'm able to get them in before Super Mario Bros Wonder comes out cuz I'm definitely playing that day 1 lol.

P.S: Oh yeah, this time around I decided not to get all gold portraits. Last year I did and while I'm glad I accomplished that feat, having to gold Sir Weston again doesn't sound like a fun time. I did get mostly golds though which is cool. I also didn't forget the gold diamond in the plant this time around so thank god. Because of that my score was 122,000,000 something which aint half bad. I also forgot to mention I played the hidden mission this time around. I wanna say I played the hidden one back in 2018 as well but i forget if I beat it back then. Enemies do more damage, there's more of them apparently (I didn't really notice a difference) and your vacuum sucks way faster now which was super fun and helpful with those portrait ghosts.

Overall, I thought this game was decent. While it did get somewhat tedious by the end...and I didn't really think it did anything too too special, it had some cool aspects.

The combat is fun but nothing amazing imo. What elevated it a bit tho were the weapons. Obviously the Plasma Cutter is really cool, love the mechanic of cutting off enemies limbs. However the real MVP was the The Ripper, that thing destroyed almost every enemy. Especially after I filled in every power node. The other weapons for the most part were cool too, I liked how they weren't just your generic weapon types. I also really like how your health UI is just built into the suit. Comes across as really natural and unintrusive. The final boss and ending I quite enjoyed as well.

However, as I stated...it did get tedious by the end. Going from level to level, doing simple tasks and then going back to the start of the stage. Idk man, I think it would have been cooler if the whole game was interconnected and you had to explore the space station like Resident Evil or something. The space setting is cool I guess (especially with the zero gravity sections tho they can be a bit disorienting at times) but I wish they did more with it because 90% of the time you're going through hallways that look and feel the same. Whenever they switch it up it's cool, just wish they did it more. Another thing is, I really didn't find this game scary personally. The only time I got spooked, and it was a jumpscare, was the ending. Otherwise, yeah didn't find it that unnerving. I also honestly didn't care about the story at all. The ending again was cool with the scenes that played out, otherwise the story was just there.

Yeah, the game does do some really cool things I feel but also never blew me away and was a bit tedious by the end, tho I'd say I enjoyed it overall. Next on the agenda is my Symphony of the Night replay and Silent Hill. Hoping I'm able to fit those in before Mario Wonder comes out!

While I was playing Dead Space, I suddently felt the urge to replay something alongside it. I was thinking Mario Sunshine at first but ended up deciding on Mario 64 because I never finished the Switch version before. Super Mario 64 is a game I always liked but not loved. I'm a huge Mario Galaxy fan and much prefer that game overall but after replaying this game, I'm happy to say I like/appreciate it more than I did.

I think the absolute best aspect is Mario's move set when you're in an open level. It's just an absolute blast to play in stages like those, which is why I really enjoy the first 2/3rds of this game. The last third, while not bad has more linear/slower levels like rainbow ride and tick tock clock. They just don't feel as fun in comparison to the prior levels I think. Wet-Dry world is the only world I think I outright disliked this time around, idk why I just didn't find it fun. Some of the stars in general can be really annoying by the endgame, especially the 100 coin stars. While I'm not in love with those types of stars, most of the time they're fine up until the last couple courses. Those can be real rough.

A criticism I have with this game is spitting you out of levels kinda feels like padding. Don't get me wrong, I honestly wasn't annoyed by this for most of the game but when you have levels like Tick Tock Clock or Rainbow Ride where it's a linear climb/ride to the top for at least half the stars, it gets samey having to do the same portion of the level over and over again. It's really only a big issue with those levels I feel, otherwise I'm fine with it but it still does feel like padding (which is maybe another reason why I prefer Banjo-Kazooie :trxll:).

While I much prefer something like Galaxy's OST, I forgot how good 64's was. It's so iconic and is all around really great. Another thing I really like is the early 3D atmosphere this game has. I mentioned it in my Doom and Croc reviews too but something about that specific aesthetic really does it for me. Tho it also can feel a bit too early 3D for my liking, which is why i prefer something like the Banjo games aesthetics more overall.

I was watching a video recently talking about some footage that showed people playing this game for the first time and being really bad at it. This was probably their first introduction to 3D games and it really made me think just how crazy this must've been to people that experienced this game at launch. It's incredibly revolutionary and very much holds up well nowadays.

I was gonna say maybe I like this less compared to something like the Galaxy games because I'm more nostalgic for those...but I played both Banjo Kazooie games at the same time as this game and I definitely like those more so I guess it's just a me thing. Either way, while I don't absolutely love this game as much as others do, this recent playthrough made me appreciate the game more. Despite the faults I have, it's still very fun and a great game overall. I was gonna give this a 7.5 but ah fuck it, I'll give it an 8 for now.

Oh also this version is automatically worse than the NA original because no Gay Bowser :trxll: 

My first experience with a Castlevania game was Portrait of Ruin. I enjoyed it fine enough, but it didn't really stick with me all that much. Next, I played a couple levels of Castlevania IV but never came back to it. The little I played was fun but never totally hooked me. Then, at the end of the summer of 2019, I played Bloodstained Ritual of the Night. I had a blast playing it, so much so I ended up Platinuming it. This got me excited to play Symphony of the Night (which I conveniently bought at a convention a month prior to playing Bloodstained). Fast forward to March 2020 apparently (I literally thought it was October 2020, guess that year really was a blur) and I decided to finally play SOTN. I had such a great time, but thought it was more comparable to Bloodstained. A really fun time but nothing amazing. Well I'm happy to say this replay has changed my mind on this game for the most part.

The first thing you'll notice about this game, and it's one of its best aspects, is the presentation. At least from what games I played, it's the best looking PS1 game or one of the best at least. That's the power of sprites, they consistently stay appealing unlike some early PS1 titles. Plus, the really cool part is the game mixes both spritework and 3d models and it gives it this really unique look that I love. When you see those book enemies in the library or the coffin after saving, they stand out so much amidst all the 2d spritework...and they look good too!

The other best aspect of this game is undoubtedly the soundtrack. I remembered Dracula's Castle and Lost painting quite fondly but the entire soundtrack is absolutely fantastic. It ranges from jazz to classical to metal, it has it all. The colosseum theme became another favorite of mine among the aforementioned two. God is it so catchy, I love it. A great soundtrack can really win a game over for me and this one does not disappoint.

As for the actual gameplay, it's fun! The movement is very fluid in this game which is nice. Alucard has this backwards dash thing that's very helpful in getting around. Instead of using one whip and upgrading it a couple times like in Classicvania, Alucard has a large assortment of weapons to choose from. He still has a whip, but now he can use all different types of swords, daggers, rods etc. They have different ranges and different stab rates which just makes the combat more varied and fun. You also have these spells that require you to put in a button combo to use them. I personally never got the hang of these too much but it's really cool how you can activate from the start of the game if you know the combos. There's also a familar system which let's you assign a little fella that goes alongside you, levels up and grows stronger. I thought that was pretty neat but was more of an afterthought when I was playing.

This game gives you a lot more options as you can see, and that's because unlike past Castlevania games...this game is nonlinear. Instead of playing through levels, you go through a large interconnected castle....collecting different abilities that let you progress through even more of the castle. Thus, the vania part of Metroidvania was born. For such a groundbreaking title, how is the item progression handled in this game? I Honestly thought it was much less of a focus than the combat. There's not many progression abilities in this game, just never felt like the focus was on the exploration while using new abilities...it was moreso let's explore this part of the castle and level up and shit. Maybe that's just me but for item based exploration, I much prefer Metroid. The backtracking was not as fun as it was in something like Metroid either, there's warps which is nice but I had to constantly trek back and forth between certain areas, some more secret shortcuts or something would've been nice. Either way, the castle is a lot of fun to explore...but I guess there's actually two of them huh.

So the inverted castle overall is actually kinda cool. The game get's really easy in the mid-game cuz you become so overpowered by that point and doesn't get hard again until the inverted castle. Hoo boy tho, some parts of the inverted castle can kick your ass. The harder difficulty and the new enemies/bosses I did really enjoy when going through the castle essentially a second time. Cuz yeah, it's pretty much padding...but like it's changed enough where I didn't mind really. The OST also gets changed to the same 4 or so songs which is kinda meh but at least Lost Painting is one of them.

I forgot to mention the bosses. Most of them are just alright. A lot of them are pretty easy but nothing bad. A couple of them kinda stink, especially Beezlebub. I think that boss is the only down right bad part of the game. He's either dummy easy with certain sub weapons, or annoying as shit. I remember him giving me trouble when I initially played the game and yeah, he was no different this time around.

Hmm what else...oh yeah I actually thought the story was pretty cool for what it was. I really enjoyed the whole dynamic with Alucard, Dracula and Lisa. Those scenes were super interesting. The voice acting is obviously pretty cheesy but I think it fits incredibly well with a game like this, idk I liked it a lot. I was also trying to get 200.6% but missed a couple tiles so I got 198 something %. Pretty sure I got the best ending tho so that's good.

A couple more miscellaneous things, I really like how many secrets/little details this game has. I feel like every playthrough you'd be discovering something new. Also, the official artwork for this game absolutely fucks man, it's amazing. Alucard is so hot.

Alright I should probably end this here, it's 2:30 in the morning and I'm just here writing what might be my longest review lol. Idk man, there was a lot to say, hope I didn't ramble on for too long. It's not perfect imo but this game overall is pretty fantastic. I still prefer Super Metroid tho personally. Next is Bloodborne my beloved and hopefully I can beat that before Mario Wonder on the 20th.

Back in Junior High, I had this duo of friends who would not stop talking about Dark Souls whenever we were at our table at lunch. Dark Souls 2 had just come out and they were obsessed with it. This is the first time I ever even heard of Dark Souls, and with them always nerding out about it, it did intrigue me a bit. Fast forward to March 2017, I had just gotten a PS4 a couple months prior and I was itching to get into all these types of games I never did before. On a whim I decided to pickup both Dark Souls III and Bloodborne. Boy was that timing perfect, because the next day it snowed big time and it wouldn't let up for like an entire week so I was playing Dark Souls III nonstop. A couple weeks later I then moved on to Bloodborne. I love Dark Souls III, as you know from my reviews of that, but Bloodborne especially really captivated me. I ended up beating it months later during my thanksgiving break I think (sadly getting the bad ending and missing out on the final boss) and thought it was really great. Fast forward again to like March 2019 I think? I on a whim felt like playing Bloodborne again. I really sucked at first, struggling immensely with Gascoigne, but once I got the hang of it again, I honestly had an absolute blast and knew it would be one of my favorite games ever. The platinum and several playthroughs later, here we are and yeah it's back in my top 5 again.

The very first thing the drew me into the game, and I honestly think it's hands down the best aspect, is the Gothic-Horror Lovecraftian aesthetic and the art design as a whole. It's my absolute favorite aesthetic in any game next to Automata's post-apocalyptic world. That's like one of the main reason's I rate this game so highly tbh, it carry's so hard imo. From Central Yharnam, to Cathedral Ward and even something like Nightmare Frontier, I don't dislike any area's aesthetic. Cainhurst is the absolute highlight, just exploring a creepy gothic castle while it's snowing outside...hoo baby. Like even something like Byrgenwerth, which is absolutely tiny, is an area I like going to everytime because of the seaside aesthetics. Plus it's really lore important which is rad.

Speaking of lore and the story of the game, it's the absolute best in the Soulsborne series imo. It just makes the whole world feel so alive, first starting off with basic stuff like the hunt and then eventually delving into cosmic horror by the end. I was never too into Dark Souls lore ever but this game? Yeah I'm totally into it, the horror aspect just intrigues me way more.

Next in the combat and yeah it's a total blast. Instead of hiding behind a shield like in Dark Souls, you're totally defenseless and can only rely on your dodging skills. That may seem like it's tougher, and yeah it is but it rewards you for being super aggressive. The rally system allows you to get some HP back for a short time after being hit which means you can be more risky when fighting enemies. I just find this combat system way more fun than the souls games personally and is another reason why this is my favorite. To go along with the combat, you of course have the weapons. Unlike the souls games, Bloodborne has a much smaller batch of them but I think that's much in the games favor. Every weapon is viable and every weapon is memorable. That paired with the transformation mechanic, where if you press L1 you essentially have two weapons in one, just make these weapons the best ever imo. I usually use the kirk hammer, then Ludwig's Holy Blade and then maybe I switch it out for one of the DLC's weapons and yeah this playthrough was no different.

As I said, I really love the look of every area and that's not all, the actual areas are quite good for the most part. The beginning areas like Central Yharnam or Cathedral Ward are simply some of the best level-design wish because they're so interconnected with other areas. It's not quite Dark Souls 1 level of interconnectivity but it's really a nice change from something like Dark Souls 2 or even 3. By the end it does get more linear, but since the first half is well connected, I didn't have much of an issue with it. I think one of the most memorable moments is when you're all the way into the forbidden woods. You find this path down into a poison cave, you climb up a ladder and you end up at the very beginning of
central yharnam. You unlock the first gate you ever see when playing and I just think that's so cool. The game has several moments like this, like Yahar'Gul connecting to Old Yarhnam after you defeat Darkbeast Paarl, but no moment will be as good as the aformentioned Forbidden Woods interconnectivity.

Now on to the bosses, I think they're generally pretty great. Early game definitely has the more consistently good bosses, tho endgame definitely has some bangers like Gehrman and Martyr Logarius. The mid to end game definitely does have some not great bosses gameplay-wise, but some of them do have other aspects that make me not hate them. Witches of Hemwick is pathetically easy but the especially creepy atmosphere and semi-interesting way to defeat her, I really enjoyed. Plus she had one of my favorite songs in the game. Rom is somewhat annoying but at least has a beautiful area to fight her in. The one reborn is really easy too but I like the callback to Tower Knight. Celestial Emissary is um, yeah I can't really defend this one but it sure is a goofy boss. Micolash was probably my least favorite in the game before, and even tho I had a much better time with him this time, he still isn't great. What really makes up for it tho is he has hands down my favorite dialogue in the game, god it's so entertaining and goddamn whoever voiced him is amazing. The rest of the bosses I either like or love, and again even some of these I do like because of certain other aspects. I know a lot of the bosses aren't perfect but I'm surprised I never outright hated any of them, can't say the same for something like Bed of Chaos or Dragon God lole.

Don't really have much to say about the OST besides the fact it's great like most other souls games. My favorite tracks were the aforementioned Witches of Hemwick theme, the Cleric Beast theme, Micolash's theme, the hunter's dream theme and Gehrman's theme. Those were definitely the standout songs.

My take on the Chalice dungeons are they're a nice distraction from the base game but I probably won't play them again on future replay's. I only dived into them on that playthrough in 2019, and while they were cool they do get tedious if you're going for them all. It is nice how they have unique bosses in them, but yeah not super keen on them. Tho I never hated them like other people and I don't think they detract from the game because it feels more like a side thing which I'm fine with.

Before I end of my review, I just wanted to list off a couple issues with the game. Blood vials are obviously a big point of contention for some people and yeah it is annoying how you might have to eventually grind them if you run out, I never really had an issue with this personally. It's really easy to get them naturally and there's a really good early grinding spot right next to the first lamp in the game lol. Speaking of lamps, I guess people find it annoying how you have to warp back to the Hunter's Dream every time and then warp to another place from there? I guess it's a minor convenience but it never bothered me ever. Now this being 30 FPS is definitely jarring when going from games like Dark Souls III or Sekiro (I know I was taken aback when I came back to this after DS3) and while it would be so awesome if a remaster came out (please no remake dear god) I again never had a major issue with it. People saying it makes the game unplayable, I don't get you lol.

Anywho, this was another long ass review from me but I just absolutely adore this game despite some small flaws. It just gets even better with the DLC which I also beat this time around. Look out for that review very soon!

So I actually didn't play this DLC until a couple years after I first played Bloodborne. On a whim I finally decided to bite the bullet and spend the $20 on it. Once it downloaded and I jumped right into it, I couldn't put it down! It was a set of brand new weapons, bosses and areas from one of my favorite games ever. I played it all day on Christmas Eve 2020 and finished it early Christmas morning. What an interesting Christmas that was, slicing and dicing up beasts lol.

Speaking of slicing and dicing, let's talk about the new weapons. This DLC added a whopping 11 weapons and 5 firearms. That amount is insane, and not only that...they're some of the best and coolest weapons in the game. Special mentions go to Whirligig saw, Rakuya and Holy Moonlight Sword. Of the DLC weapons, those are the three I've used before and they're a ton of fun. Several others are really out there and weird too, like the Amygdalan Arm and the Kos Parasite. Never used any of the new firearms but they seem cool.

This DLC added three new areas and they're some of the best in Bloodborne. The Hunter's Nightmare has you going through a remixed version of Cathedral Ward. You can really see the parts of Cathedral Ward early on but it slowly twists into something unrecognizable and very different. That's one reason why it's awesome, it feels like a spin on an old area while also feeling mostly unique. It's also a very good pvp spot from what I'm told. Research Hall has you going through a very Tower of Latria-esque area. Tower of Latria in Demons Soul's was one of the most atmospheric areas in that game and this area's no different. It's extremely creepy and feels very unique compared to the base game's areas. I just feel bad killing the blob head guys because they're all failed experiments. Still, for the atmosphere alone this place is great but besides that, it's cool going room to room and up the giant staircase. The last area might be the best, the Fishing Hamlet is absolutely one of the most distinct areas yet. An aquatic area where you go through a village of fish creatures was not what I would expect from Bloodborne but its amazing. Holy shit though, fuck those giant whale enemies they are INSANE. They're harder than most of the base game bosses lol. Still though, it has a decent variety of enemies and a lot of new enemies at that. That plus the amazing aesthetics and really unique setting makes it a top tier area imo and a great end to the DLC.

Now for the big kahunas, the bosses. Right away we start with my favorite boss in the DLC, in Bloodborne and one of my favorite in the entire series, Ludwig. Holy goddamn is he amazing. He's just so fun to fight, that plus he has the best song in Bloodborne and his 2nd phase get's even better, top tier boss fight man. The first time I fought him, I beat him first try. I thought I got lucky but this time around again, I beat him first try. I guess he just isn't super hard, doesn't detract from how great of a fight it is.

In that same area is Laurence. Laurence is one of two fights in the DLC that I don't think are bad, but just aren't nearly as good as the big 3. The main reason for that is he's a reskin of Cleric Beast, just on fire and he has a 2nd phase. I do really like how we finally get to see him, after hearing about him so much in the base game. Laurence however is certainly the hardest imo, took me like 5-6 tries. Definitely one of the toughest in the game.

In the Research Hall, after pushing the lever at the top of the staircase, you unlock the Living Failures. Nothing really much to say about them, they're alright. The lore implications with the rest of the area's citizens and how they were supposed to turn into these guys is really cool, but other than it's just too easy of a boss and yeah I beat them first try.

Immediately after that though, we have another awesome boss. Lady Maria was a boss I was honestly a bit conflicted on before. When I first beat her years ago, I parried nonstop and she was the easiest boss in the DLC. Coming back to it again and this time doing the fight parry-less, it's way harder and way more fun. It's not nearly as hard as something like Friede in DS3, but it definitely wasn't braindead easy like it was with parries. Still easy enough for me to beat her first try tho lol, but yeah she was a ton of fun.

Last on the list of bosses is Orphan of Kos and hoo boy is he a doozy. He's absolutely one of the most aggressive and tough fights in the game but at the same time he feels completely fair. He telegraphs his attacks and combos quite well and he makes for a blast of a fight. Not as good as Gael imo but still an amazing way to end off the DLC. Also, I was so pissed this time around because I almost beat him first try, however I celebrated prematurely and lost with one hit left. I beat him on my 2nd go around but that still stung lole.

All in all this DLC is absolutely fantastic. It has some of the best areas and bosses in the series and despite having two not so great bosses imo, those two are still not bad and does not change the fact that this is my favorite DLC to any game. It's peak Bloodborne, which is insane because Bloodborne was already peak.

Super Mario Bros Wonder is an interesting case. After four New Super Mario Bros games and them not being super innovative compared to each other, 2D Mario had become stale. Were they bad games? No, they just didn't do anything special in the slightest. Now after 10+ years since the last NSMB game, we have the next big 2D Mario game, Mario Wonder. Does it do enough different from the NSMB series? Hell yeah it does! Am I totally in love with it and consider it peak 2D Mario like a lot of people have been feeling? Sadly no, it has several issues that really hold it back in my eyes. But it does do a lot right.

The biggest change from NSMB and one of the best aspects of this game is the changed art style. Gone is the very samey art style that was used in all the NSMB games. Now Mario and the gang are expressive as ever and really feel more like their more classic games. There's so many different animations for various moves and interactions with things, it's great. They even brought back Mario's hat moving up and down when he jumps from Mario World. There was clearly a lot of love put into the overall style of the game, definitely a much-needed change, I think.

Another really nice change is just the amount of new stuff they crammed into this game. This game is absolutely filled to the brim with brand new enemies and level gimmicks. There were some returning enemies ofc but like 80% of the enemies in this game were all brand new, and that's just awesome imo. And as for the level gimmicks, they tie into the new wonder flower which basically just throws all kinds of ideas at you. One level you may see singing piranha plants, another one you might see Mario turn into a spiked ball. There's even one where you ride this super cool dragon, man that was cool. The abundance of different ideas, even if they do get reused sometimes, is just very immense.

I also enjoyed the secrets this game had. It's definitely not as expansive as Mario World in that regard but finding the game's secrets were pretty fun. Especially since it unlocked the special world that you can access early on like Mario World, man that was cool. I'd say I enjoyed most of the worlds in this game actually besides World 3 (idk it was just lame) but besides that every world was pretty solid. My favorite world though had to been 4 just because I remember being really impressed with some of the levels there.

Badges were whatever. I didn't really use them most of the time because I felt they made the game easier depending on the badge. The badge levels tho were pretty cool even if a little short.

Alright time for the negatives, why I don't love this game as much as everyone else. One of the biggest issues I had was the difficulty curve. I honestly did not think this game had a good climb in difficulty. I found every world pretty easy for the most part up until the bowser levels, which amped it up a little bit. And then the final badge stage was actually decently tough. I found past games, even the NSMB games to have a much better difficulty curve. Speaking of that final badge stage, while I found that somewhat difficult (even if it did have 3 checkpoints in it, that and the final regular stage in the special world were nowhere near as hard as some of the final stages in some of the more recent Mario games. Found that somewhat disappointing along with the easier difficulty as a whole.

Another thing I didn't like were the lackluster bosses. Reusing Bowser Jr 4 times was just really lame imo. They got so creative with the levels and they end up doing that for the bosses? Man, that's just so much missed potential I think. Speaking of the final Bowser fight, it was alright? It was again easy but also felt uninspired. Like the first thing I thought of when I saw it was the final boss to DKCR. Idk, they could've done much better with it along with the bosses as a whole.

Something else that kinda irked me, while I do like how experimental a lot of the levels can be, a chunk of them just felt like filler. You have your regular levels, your little badge levels which is fine but then you have these break levels that sometimes take literally 5 seconds to beat. I'd much rather play actual full-length levels instead and a lot of the time I just said out loud "what was the point of that". Idk, I never hated any of them, again they just felt more like filler.

I guess one more little thing that annoyed me, and it ties into the easiness of the game, is the fact that when you collect those purple coins worth 10 and then die, you keep it even after dying. Star coins never worked like that in the NSMB games and it makes certain levels that would otherwise be pretty tough to 100%, super easy.

The talking flowers I'm neutral on. They can be kinda funny but they never made me hate them nor like them too much. They're just kind of there and don't disrupt the gameplay really.

Before ending the review tho, I will say after beating the final final badge level, that final badge you get is very awesome. I just love how weird the developers got with this game, that badge reminded me of that one song in We Love Katamari lol. Also the end credits to the game were really cool too.

In the end I did really enjoy this game and it's definitely a step-up from the NSMB games overall. However, it has enough issues imo that hold it back from being really great. I know that's a hot take, I'm not expecting a ton of people to agree with me but I'd take Mario World any day over this game personally. I'd put this game around on par with Mario 3 and 3D World methinks. Also speaking of Mario World, playing this made me wanna replay that so that's what I'm gonna do. Look out for that review next!

7.5/10

So after playing Mario Wonder and generally enjoying it, I wanted to replay my favorite 2D Mario. I wanted to see if it was total nostalgia that was keeping me from not liking Mario Wonder as much as this and well maybe it still is? Either way, as I did with my other playthroughs, I had an absolute blast playing this and still consider it peak 2D Mario and one of my favorite platformers ever.

I think the main reason I really love it, is there's just so many secrets to find. There's 96 different exits in this game and like at least a third or more are secret exits. They're everywhere and they're really fun to find. Some of them can be quite tricky for newcomers, tho I've played this game so much that I know where everything is. Finding a secret exit in a normal level and then finding a secret exit in that secret level you just unlocked, man it's just so cool. Every single time I start a new playthrough, I always go to the star world really early, it's super fun.

I also love just how weird and wacky this game is, a lot of the stages can feel very dream like with how out there they are. In general the level design is very fresh and there's new ideas thrown out you even until the very end of the game. The game is also chock full of brand new enemies, even ones exclusive to this game that never returned to future titles.

The general gameplay is more slippery than Mario 3 and while some players may dislike this change, I enjoy it. It takes a little getting used to it at first but once it clicks, it feels great. It's more skill based but also never frustrating at least for me. I also think the game as a whole is never super frustrating (well maybe some of those special stages lol) but also never a walk in the park. I think this game has a perfect difficulty curve, it can get a bit challenging in certain levels near the middle and end. Though you could also easily get 99 1-UPs from that one level with the immense amount of Koopas lole.

I really love the OST, it's very simplistic with how it's just different renditions of the same song for most of it but it really works. I absolutely adore the end credits theme too. Another awesome thing this game did was give Mario a lot of personality. Whether it's his hat bobbing up and down when he jumps, to those really wacky cutscenes that play when you beat a castle, this game is full of personality.

Even though I've played this game many times, I still have trouble with it at certain points. I had a really rough time trying to get the secret exit for Cheese Bridge Yoshi-less, and then some of the special stages (specifically Tubular and Mondo) always give me a hard time. Some castle levels also trip me up sometimes too, I don't think this game is super easy like I've heard some people say idk.

So in the end, yeah it may just be nostalgia talking but I truly think this game is peak and definitely peak Mario, at least for me. I love this game so much man.

I literally just found out about this 10 minutes ago and got 9/9 on my first game. I've realized now the real goal of this game is to pick Pokémon that apply to each category but to pick ones you think the least amount of people playing have picked. The lower the percentages your picks are, the lower your uniqueness rank is by the end (it's like golf) and I think that aspect can be really fun. At the same time, people might have the same idea and a seemingly forgettable Pokémon might be picked by a lot of people. Either way, this is very fun and I can see myself playing it everyday for a while.

Edit: Honestly only played this for a week and forgot about it, still a fun time tho

Back in 2017, I bought this game alongside the Digital Devil Saga duology and Vagrant Story. I happened to find it at a convention and knowing I had just played Automata that year and loved that, I figured I'd pick it up. I honestly didn't even know there was a NieR game before Automata at the time, so I was pretty surprised. I started playing it, got up to seafront and had no idea how to fish and then promptly dropped it. Fast-forward to 2021, I see that a remake of the version with Brother NieR was releasing soon and I decided to go back and actually beat this game. I play through the entirety of it (besides ending D) and thought it was great, though I did have some issues with it that held it back from me loving it more than Automata. Fast-forward again to this year, I had planned to replay Automata for a while now and decided that November would be the month to do so. Before that though, I decided I wanted to replay Gestalt and see if I ended up liking it more now. Well seeing my updated rating, I'm sure you can see how I felt. This game is honestly not objectively perfect but it does certain things so well and I love it so much, that I can't give it anything less than a 10/10.

So the thing people like about NieR the most is the story. When I played it in 2021, I thought the story was good but overrated. I also somehow missed the gestalt documents at the end of the game, so that plus appreciating the story as a whole a lot more, made me realize it really is peak. A big part of the story being amazing too, are the different endings you can get. Ending A is great but the game really comes together when you go through route B. Some things get revealed to you at the end of Route A, and so there's a bunch of little changes in Route B that flip your perspective on what was going on and I just love it. You're basically replaying the 2nd half of the game all over again but because of all those little changes, I had no issue with it. There's also ending C and D and the route for those is basically the exact same as B, only the ending changes. The endings for those are great (especially ending D, holy shit does that ending feel impactful) however I can see how it would get tedious for someone playing considering it's pretty much all of the same content as route B. Either way, the story is just fantastic I think and definitely better than I once thought.

Though, the story is not actually my favorite aspect of the game. My favorite aspect is the main cast. Honestly may be my favorite cast in any game ever tbh, I love all of the main 4 so much and think they complement each other perfectly.
Weiss and Kaine are always throwing insults at each other, Weiss is always complaining about NieR's tendency to just help someone no matter what, Emil has a great affection towards NieR as seen later in the game, Emil and Kaine get along well because they both see themselves as outcasts...there's a lot of different character dynamics going on and when it's all 4 of them together they just make the perfect JRPG team imo.

The other big thing I absolutely loved was the OST. When I initially beat the game, I realized that the OST was really good but as time passed, I kept coming back to certain songs. I was listening to Gestalt's soundtrack more than Automata's and now that I've beaten it again, I can confidently say I 100% like it more than Automata. It's honestly just perfect and probably in my like top 3 Game OST's ever now. Stand out songs for me are Grandma, Emil Karma and it's other variant, Song of the Ancients, Shadowlord and more. The music is just top tier.

Another thing I really love is the gameplay changes that happen throughout the game. Besides your normal combat, there's also little sections that change things up. There's several 2D sections throughout, there's a forest area that plays out like a Visual Novel, the first visit to Emil's Mansion is basically Resident Evil with its semi-spookiness and fixed camera angles, Emil's Mansion's basement gives you this top down view that plays like Diablo, not to mention most of the bosses area bullet hells. There's just a lot of variety in the gameplay and really makes the game feel fresh.

Speaking of the core gameplay though, let's talk about the combat and the other "flaws" I see this game having. The combat...compared to more flashier, fast paced action games is lackluster. I remember it was a big issue to me when I initially played the game, but honestly it grew on me a bunch and I learned to enjoy it now. I don't think the game ever really needed super flashy complex combat and so I think it gets the job done. Plus there's something I enjoy about how chunky the combat can feel, idk I said the same thing about Yakuza 1 and the same thing applies here too.

My other biggest issue back then, and this was purely just a me thing, was I didn't like the world and it's aesthetic nearly as much as Automata's. The post-apocalyptic world in that game was my absolute favorite aspect when I played, and so to go from that to this was disappointing back then. I still much prefer Automata's world but I honestly do enjoy Gestalt's now. It's far from my favorite gaming world, though I also don't play it for that so it also gets the job done I think.

A couple small issues I did actually have with the game this time around were the bloom effects in some areas and the Exp system. I think the bloom in seafront and the fog effect in the northern plains can look kinda ugly at times, I'm sure that's probably fixed in the remake so that's really only a Gestalt issue. I also disliked how if Kaine or Emil got the finishing blow on a normal enemy, you missed out on any Exp. I hope that got changed in the remake because it can kind stink when playing here. I can also see why people would dislike all the backtracking, hell I was getting a bit burnt out myself going for ending C and D lol. But overall, I think the backtracking to old areas isn't as bad as people say. The area you go back through the most is the junk heap and even then, that area isn't too long and has banger music so I had no problem going through it several times.

Last time I played, I only did a few of the side quests that were needed to get every weapon for the latter endings. This time around, I did every single one...and while they could get very fetch-questy, I enjoyed them overall. A lot of the time there's some voiced Weiss/NieR dialogue that makes the entire quest worth it imo. The best quests overall were I Facade I thought. Most of those were very memorable, alongside the lighthouse lady ones of course.

I did also get a chunk of the trophies I was missing before, the big one being the Lunar Tear one. That definitely took a bit of effort on my part but once I finally got it, it was pretty satisfying. I still have the speedrun trophy and the weapon upgrade trophies to get so maybe I'll do those on my next replay who knows.

So yeah, is the game perfect? As I pointed out, there are some issues I can see others having and there are even some things I still wasn't a fan of in this game. But the absolutely peak story and especially peak cast and OST, just makes me want to give it a 10 and that's what I'll do for the time being. The game has a lot of heart and I think it's worth playing if you haven't already.

Anyways, next is Automata and it's been even longer since I last played that so I'm hyped to see if I'll still love it as much as I did six years ago!


Also sorry if this review is incoherent at all, writing this at 3 AM randomly lole.

The day after Christmas 2016, I got my PS4. A couple months prior, I finally got back into Playstation gaming after strictly being a Nintendo Fanboy for years. With my PS4, I got the Uncharted Collection, Uncharted 4, Skyrim, Little Big Planet 3 and Final Fantasy XV. I couldn't wait to dive into all these games I wouldn't have even given a chance years before. Fast forward to early April, I decided on a whim to pick up Persona 5 only a day after it came out. I knew almost nothing about Persona besides my one friend always recommending the series so I took a chance, and ended up loving it. Fast forward to May 2017, I pick up NieR Automata. That one friend who recommended the Persona series, would also show me gameplay of the original NieR. At this time I was still in the middle of playing Persona 5, but knowing I took a chance on that and was loving it, I took a chance on Automata as well. I didn't start it until June and didn't beat it until August of that year, but from my memories of 6 years ago I remember absolutely loving it. Fast forward to today and I decided I wanted to replay this game finally. I was wondering all this time if I'd love this game as much as I did back then, because 2017 was my absolute favorite year ever...at least that timespan of like April-August and it could have clouded my judgement. Well my thoughts are complicated but as you can see by my score, I do indeed still love this game overall.

When I first started this, I decided to replay it on hard. It had been 6 years since I played it but I figured I could do it. After dying 10 times in the super long intro, I decided to bump it down to normal. It might be a skill issue but I didn't find it fun to die in 2 or sometimes even 1 hit. I played the entire game on normal and I don't feel bad, I just wanted to have fun. Though tbh, on my first playthrough through Route A...halfway into it I kinda wasn't having much fun. My main issue was, I kept comparing every little thing to Gestalt which is the consequence of playing this immediately after that. I kept missing the main cast of that game and just wasn't digging Automata's cast much. By the end of route A, I was disappointed in the game...and disappointed in myself for feeling this way. I absolutely adored this back in 2017...did I change? Was I too cynical now or something?

My main reason for being disappointed was because my favorite aspect of Gestalt, the cast, was not even comparable in this game I felt. My favorite character was 9S and his best scenes don't even happen until the later routes. The cast of this game is solid I'd say but doesn't come close at all to Gestalt's main cast, at least for me. That was my main hangup during route A, and is still even now the biggest downgrade this game has compared to Gestalt.

During route A, even though I was disappointed by the end of it, there were still plenty of things I liked about the game and several improvements compared to Gestalt. The combat for one is definitely improved overall. Yes the combat is not on par with something like Bayonetta or DMC, but it's still flashy enough so that it feels good. You have two weapons at once and it feels good to switch between both. You also have these Pods that act as the Weiss of this game. You can switch abilities with them, and some of the abilities are straight up ones from Gestalt which was cool. Same with the weapons, some of them were ones from Gestalt so you know I had to use my beloved Beastbain. I also really loved the movement in this game compared to Gestalt, dashing around this post-apocalyptic world...especially in mid-air on top of buildings, god it feels good.

Speaking of the post-apocalyptic world..this a bit of a running gag in my discord server that I have a major hard on for it. And that's correct, I still absolutely adore the world in Automata. The world is not as fleshed out as actual open worlds, but that's partly why I love it. I think the world is the absolutely perfect size for a gaming world. It's small enough where I don't find getting around to be a chore, even if you can fast travel...and big enough where it's fun to actually explore and take in the amazing locales. Goddamn I love the aesthetic this world provides. The starting area is a ruined city overgrown with plant life and that aesthetic is like my #1 aesthetic now thanks to this game. You also have a massive desert with a whole city half buried in the sand at the end of it. You have an abandoned amusement park full of celebrating machines. There's more ruined buildings on the coastline. There's a forest area that leads to a grassy castle. Right before that area, you go through a little shopping center that's full of overgrowth. There is no area I dislike going to because every single one has such a cool aesthetic which really does it for me. The world/setting of the game was my absolute favorite aspect when I first played (besides the OST) and even now it's still probably my favorite aspect. If there's any single one thing that this game destroys Gestalt on, it's definitely its world.

Speaking of the OST, it is still fantastic 6 years later. While personally, I do prefer Gestalt's OST by a fair margin...Automata's is still awesome. Back then my favorite themes were all the area themes and while they're still great, I really like a lot of the battle themes now. Grandma Destruction and Emil Despair, obviously because they're remixes of Gestalt songs but A Beautiful Song may be my favorite totally originally Automata song now, it's fantastic. The OST is indeed objectively amazing but I think the reason why I don't like it as much as Gestalt's now is because the songs have way more going on in them while Gestalt's are more simple. Automata's songs are also generally more epic and fast paced vs Gestalt's more elegant sounding songs. I still do love Automata's OST tho and it's definitely one of my favorites ever. Honestly tho I think Gestalt might have my favorite OST ever in any game, at least as of now so ofc that would be hard to top but Automata certainly isn't that far off.

Something I definitely loved this time around was the Gestalt connections I wouldn't have ever gotten when I first played. Like certain lines reminiscent of Gestalt, or really obvious things nowadays like how the desert machines all wear Facade-like clothing. There's a quest in the desert that even has you finding hidden items that were all connected to Facade which was amazing to discover. Speaking of quests, I honestly think they were a lot better in this game compared to Gestalt. Sure, you don't have the amazing banter between NieR and Weiss. However as a whole, I found there to be less fetch quests and more memorable quests that felt somewhat impactful towards the worldbuilding. Obviously, the single best quests are the Emil ones for me just cuz they connect to Gestalt so heavily but that was gonna be a given. Oh yeah, Emil is back...his side quests were awesome as stated before but besides that he's only really here as a shopkeeper which is okay I guess. If he didn't have either of the side quests, he would have been a big disappointment but those salvage his appearance I'd say. Also up to the end of Route A, I'd say the bosses were solid overall but none of them really wowed me besides Simone who was amazing. That's partly because A Beautiful Song plays during it but still. Also Also, I forgot to mention I did do every side quest and of course upgraded all weapons to max. For what you get from doing that, which is some of the best content in the game imo, I think it's worth it.

Anyways, a lot of things have been improved from Gestalt but the big downgrade being the cast hampered my enjoyment of the 2nd half of Route A cuz I kept comparing the two games the entire time. I established this before, so you'd think Route B would be even worse because it's pretty much a retread of Route A except with small changes here and there, kinda like Route B in Gestalt except not nearly as good. Well here's the weird thing, I honestly enjoyed myself more with Route B than A. That's weird because usually people hate Route B from what I've seen but idk I digged it. Maybe it's because I was playing as 9S who I enjoyed a lot more than 2B. Or maybe it was the addition of hacking which I honestly quite enjoy even tho I know many others don't. Idk but once I beat route B, I was definitely enjoying myself more than I did at the end of route A. So I don't get when people say Route B is bad, it's different enough that it's fun to play through again. Then Route C is next and that's where the story has it's peaks...and where the game definitely won me over again.

Route C is totally different from A and B and that's a huge change from route C in Gestalt. There it was the exact same as Route B except with two new endings so Route C in Automata is definitely a big improvement. There's tons of twists, reveals and heartbreak and it's 100% the best route no question. I still don't think the story elements or character interactions come close to gestalt in its ending, but they're definitely very good. I think story-wise, I like it less overall then Gestalt's just because of the inferior cast but it has some really emotional singular moments and so I like to think I love the moments in this game more than the entirety of its story which is opposite of Gestalt. Going into those moments though, and they both happened in Route C, they were the final super boss that you access by getting every weapon to max...and ending E.

The final super boss I knew would get me because of its connection to Gestalt, and they are huge connections, but I didn't think the waterworks would flow as hard as they did. Even more surprising was ending E. I still remembered what happened but idk man it really got me. When that certain part happens and you hear the choir, I broke down. This is THE moment I'm giving this game a 10 for now. I was contemplating whether to actually drop it to a 9, and I still might eventually who knows, but the fact I cried to something that had no connection to Gestalt really...that made me realize I do still love this game even without the Gestalt shit.

I may not be in love with the game's story or cast, and I think the OST is somewhat of a downgrade..however. The combat being improved, the still wonderful OST, my favorite world in any game and the worldbuilding and connections to Gestalt I do love. And so as of now I'm going to keep this at a 10, again I might drop it down eventually but Ending E won me over for now. I do definitely love Gestalt more now as you already know, which is so weird because I once had this at a 10 and Gestalt at an 8 lol. Funny how things change.

After my month of NieR, I decided I wanted to play something short and sweet recommended by my good friend @Ptcremisi. I'm glad I did, because this was a fun time.

This game is pretty simple, it's basically wall tennis but it has this really awesome minimalistic Y2K aesthetic. It was originally an arcade game, so it can be beaten really quickly but there's multiple routes you can go through and so it has a decent amount of replayability to it. I decided to go through every level and yeah it was pretty rad. I will say though, it can get somewhat tedious going through the exact same 7 or so levels if you're trying to play them all.

The default time setting I found kinda brutal so I set it to max this time around, just so I could at least experience every level. If I replayed it again, I'd lower the time to add some stakes to my playthrough. I'd try to get a much higher score than I did this time around because clearly there's strats to do so. I got like 660,000 something points as my top score but you can do things like timing your charge attacks (which cant be spammed if you want a good score because they drastically reduce time) correctly so you beat stages fast and without losing your ball.

Anyways, Cosmic Smash is a real good time and my 2nd Dreamcast I've played... I'm definitely enjoying the game selection it has so far.

We Love Cosmic Smash

7.5/10

Thank you @Eggsandwhich for recommending I play this after my month of NieR. Also a shoutout to @ptcremisi cuz he loves this game too. I'm happy to say, despite some issues I had that do hold it back from me rating it higher, I really enjoyed this game a lot.

Though tbh, at first I wasn't really enjoying it all too much. The beginning cutscene really got me interested but by the time I got to the first level in the game, I started noticing issues I had. First off, I don't think the first level is that great of an introduction. I found the level design to be too simple and it's definitely my least favorite stage in the game. That plus some other issues I had while playing, really didn't help my engagement. I found the combat just okay, it got the job done but it wasn't great. The platforming too could be a little wonky. I found the ledge grab really inconsistent (tho I got used to it later on). The figments were hard to see a lot of the time and they seemed like they'd be quite annoying. It also didn't help that I played this on my PS2 and it ran poorly a lot of the time and even rarely slowed to a crawl. That combination of things, plus the poor intro level, it just wasn't doing it for me. Also later on, you start to fight bosses. While it's cool to find out how to beat them, they're often not that fun mechanically because of the clunky combat and are usually too easy on top of that.

As I played on tho, a lot of these issues were lessened a bunch cuz I blew them out of proportion. Because of this, I learned to really love the fantastic things in this game. Probably my absolutely favorite aspect would be just the game concept as a whole. Going into people's minds is just so awesome, and they really utilize it to it's fullest. Your collectibles are absolutely brilliant. Figments of your imagination, emotional baggage, cobwebs (in your head). It's just all so good and really makes the world feel so well thought out. Like the health pickups are literally called mental health, that's amazing!

The other best thing this game has going for it are the quirky/funny moments and it's memorable cast. I couldn't even count just how many times this game made me chuckle, it's so weird and I love it. It really felt like a Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon show from the early 2000's which is great because that's the era I grew up with. Feels like the love child of Billy and Mandy and Invader Zim if I'm being real. As for the cast of characters, most of kids were whatever (tho I did like Dogen and Lili) but the main cast of Psychonauts were all great. I do wish they had more screen time, because in the 2nd half due to certain events they're mostly absent, but what we do get is great. Also, a shoutout to Raz himself, what a great protagonist. He's so quirky and sassy yet likeable.

At first I was a bit iffy on the camp setting but once I explored the overworld, I really enjoyed it. It feels a bit nostalgic for some reason, and I never even went to camp as a kid. I also think the overworld had overall better level design than the actual levels. The levels are cooler and more out there than the camp setting but the level design is more linear, while the camp is more open and explorable which is fun.

Another thing I enjoyed were the Psi badges. While I wouldn't say most of them were super fun to actually use, a lot of them were used on puzzles throughout the game and are just cool conceptually. I will say though, levitation is an absolute blast and is easily the best badge in the game. Glad you get it early on because from then on, I used it all the time.

Idk why I thought this was a kids game all this time (I probably would've loved this as a teenager) but it definitely isn't considering they cuss throughout the game and the game can get pretty dark. Seriously, some of the mental illness stuff can get pretty realistic even if there is a goofy undertone, but it's still handled with tact. The vaults are another collectable in the game and they hold some of the darkest shit I swear. Milla's hidden vault 😢. But I really love how they flesh out each character even more.

I said the figments were annoying because they're hard to see, and while that is still a criticism of mine, they weren't annoying enough to the extent I didn't want to get them all. So I went and 100%ed the game and that was mostly hassle free. Some stray figments here and there and some of the milkman's conspiracy gave me trouble but that's about it.

So overall, while the actual gameplay is usually just acceptable to subpar, the charm this game has with it's cast of characters, it's quirky humor and just the awesome concept of going into people's minds won me over. This game is flawed but really enjoyable. I'm giving this a 7.5 rn only because the sequel seems to fix the gameplay issues I had. From what I've heard, 2 starts off right where 1 ended and that's just so cool I can't wait. Anyways, on to my Secret Santa game next...Metroid Prime 2!

7.5/10