This review contains spoilers
First Lego game I ever played so I wasn't 100% sure what to expect. Turns out it's kinda like a point and click game with more control. None of the combat, platforming or the puzzles provide any real challenge, so the game is basically entirely about the charm of seeing the world in lego, seeing the creativity they can pull off with it, and seeing the story mimed out in a comedic way. To that end I'd say it's a pretty fun experience, albeit one that I could only ever recommend to somebody who is a big fan of whatever franchise is being represented.
It's basically just a whole bunch of fanservice. One thing I really liked was how the characters had different traits that fit in the world and story. E.G. Hermione can use Crookshanks who can dig, only characters of their house can open their dormitory doors, only Griphook can use a safe key, some obstacles can only be taken down by characters who use dark magic etc. It made unlocking certain characters with those traits a real treat as you know you can now go and tackle those areas that were locked off before.
The game has a whole bunch of collectibles, which is kinda good and bad in a way. Good because obviously it's more content, and it provides reasons to explore everywhere, return to old areas when you get new spells etc, but bad because you start to see just how much is reused. You'll find many of the same "puzzles" used to get many collectibles. Half the time it's not even a puzzle, it's just "hit or active a certain item 3-10 times on this stage to get a thing". Or it's just a very forced kind of extra content, where an item is in plain view in the level but it can't be opened by the story characters so you're forced to come back to the stage in free play to use a character who can open it. That's it, no puzzle connected to it, just a box that can only be opened with dark magic so you replay the level so you can open the box.
And since you're replaying all the levels and areas you're losing out on that initial charm that made them so fun the first time.
I think the game could have benefitted from a few more gameplay mechanics. We only really get two moments that switches things up, one being an underwater level and one being a short vehicle chase section. You don't play any quidditch matches, the chess game in the final level of year 1 is done in the most boring way possible (it basically just plays itself as you "click" on the pieces, and you can't click the wrong ones). Even the majority of the boss fights are just "wait until they throw something you can use wingardium leviosa on and throw it back".
Casting spells can also be a problem as when you try to aim at something you'll accidently aim at your other characters who constantly get in the way.
I did love the music pulled straight from the movies, although certain pieces can get replayed way too much as you roam the halls.
It's less of a game and more of an incredible virtual lego toy box. Which I guess is the point, so don't worry about my lowish score, it does what it means to perfectly, it just so happens that what it means to do isn't the most fun thing for me.
It's basically just a whole bunch of fanservice. One thing I really liked was how the characters had different traits that fit in the world and story. E.G. Hermione can use Crookshanks who can dig, only characters of their house can open their dormitory doors, only Griphook can use a safe key, some obstacles can only be taken down by characters who use dark magic etc. It made unlocking certain characters with those traits a real treat as you know you can now go and tackle those areas that were locked off before.
The game has a whole bunch of collectibles, which is kinda good and bad in a way. Good because obviously it's more content, and it provides reasons to explore everywhere, return to old areas when you get new spells etc, but bad because you start to see just how much is reused. You'll find many of the same "puzzles" used to get many collectibles. Half the time it's not even a puzzle, it's just "hit or active a certain item 3-10 times on this stage to get a thing". Or it's just a very forced kind of extra content, where an item is in plain view in the level but it can't be opened by the story characters so you're forced to come back to the stage in free play to use a character who can open it. That's it, no puzzle connected to it, just a box that can only be opened with dark magic so you replay the level so you can open the box.
And since you're replaying all the levels and areas you're losing out on that initial charm that made them so fun the first time.
I think the game could have benefitted from a few more gameplay mechanics. We only really get two moments that switches things up, one being an underwater level and one being a short vehicle chase section. You don't play any quidditch matches, the chess game in the final level of year 1 is done in the most boring way possible (it basically just plays itself as you "click" on the pieces, and you can't click the wrong ones). Even the majority of the boss fights are just "wait until they throw something you can use wingardium leviosa on and throw it back".
Casting spells can also be a problem as when you try to aim at something you'll accidently aim at your other characters who constantly get in the way.
I did love the music pulled straight from the movies, although certain pieces can get replayed way too much as you roam the halls.
It's less of a game and more of an incredible virtual lego toy box. Which I guess is the point, so don't worry about my lowish score, it does what it means to perfectly, it just so happens that what it means to do isn't the most fun thing for me.
Interesting physics based puzzle game which is kinda let down by the flappy bird mechanics and unnecessary auto scrolling.
It is a very hard game, but luckily its super generous with checkpoints and load times, so a death is never a big deal and you find you'll just brute force your way through most levels. God help the person who tries to 100% the game though.
A big issue I have with this game is the structure. For the first 60% of the levels it has a very constant process of introducing a new mechanic/power-up and then having 10 levels based on that before introducing a new one. But the levels are pretty long, so 10 of them in a row gets very repetitive. The thing is, after you get through those first 60 levels the last 40 (20 main game + 20 bonus levels) all take a different approach of having a different gimmick for each level, making them all fresh and make the game feel far better paced. If it was just bonus levels I guess I'd understand, but I don't get why the last 20 levels in the main game itself has such a massively different, and better, approach compared to the stagnant feel of the majority of it. If the whole game was like these later levels, I'd probably give it a 2.5, or I might have even given it a 3.
It's a port of a mobile game on consoles and yeah it feels like it.
It is a very hard game, but luckily its super generous with checkpoints and load times, so a death is never a big deal and you find you'll just brute force your way through most levels. God help the person who tries to 100% the game though.
A big issue I have with this game is the structure. For the first 60% of the levels it has a very constant process of introducing a new mechanic/power-up and then having 10 levels based on that before introducing a new one. But the levels are pretty long, so 10 of them in a row gets very repetitive. The thing is, after you get through those first 60 levels the last 40 (20 main game + 20 bonus levels) all take a different approach of having a different gimmick for each level, making them all fresh and make the game feel far better paced. If it was just bonus levels I guess I'd understand, but I don't get why the last 20 levels in the main game itself has such a massively different, and better, approach compared to the stagnant feel of the majority of it. If the whole game was like these later levels, I'd probably give it a 2.5, or I might have even given it a 3.
It's a port of a mobile game on consoles and yeah it feels like it.
2007
Basically the first game, but like 1 new tower and some new stage types. Tbh trying to beat a stage after failing is a pain in the ass because the first rounds are so slow, it needed a speed up button for retries.
Loses points for having a bug that completely reset my progress when I started the DLC. I won't really review the game itself since I've got individual reviews of the main game & all DLC.
2021
MH Rise started out as a game I could put hours into at a time, but then quickly becomes a game I can only play a few quests of before getting my fill; and even then it only gets those quests at the promise of some new gear I could craft, which will become quickly outdated.
While the story up to the credits is really short, the games total length seems way too long for the repetitiveness of it. No hunt ever really felt different to me, it always involved the exact same "strategy" of just starting at the camp, running to the monster (sometimes exploring if it was a new map) and using the same combos over and over. Some monsters were more annoying than others, but generally speaking I never felt like I needed to change how I approached any battle, and I got through them just fine like that.
The repetitiveness is further exaggerated by things like the amount of missions not really correlating with the amount of new monsters. At first it feels like every new mission introduces a new monster, with a fantastic documentary-style cutscenes to boot, but then higher rank missions are just "fight this monster again, but harder" or "Fight this monster you've fought before, and then fight this one". Not to mention the fact there's basically only 5 maps in the entire game, and they don't even randomly generate the resources each time so it's always the exact same bugs, plants, monsters, mining spots etc in the same places.
The game was kind of middle of the road in terms of graphics for Switch. It didn't look ugly or anything, but it didn't impress me. The actual monster designs were great however. But the game did have a very slight performance issue when it came to monsters who were in the background - especially notable on flying monsters as they seemed to move and flap their wings at a very flow frame rate until you got close.
There's a few little niggles I have along with all this. Like when you gain a new hunter rank you unlock a ton of new stuff, but there's more than one of any given important NPC in the game, for example 2 blacksmiths, 2 shopkeepers, and for some reason you need to talk to BOTH of them to hear the exact same message about how they've expanded their stock or whatever. And then there's the dango girl who after a new rank will always have about 5 things to say, and you have to go through them all separately because the game can't just put them all into one interaction.
I haven't played the past games (except for a tiny bit of MH3, but I can't remember anything about it), but I do know the wirebugs and palamutes are new to this game and they were great additions, but it makes me wonder how sluggish the past games must have felt. I couldn't imagine having to run around these maps without a palamute to speed around on, or the wirebugs to accelerate climbing.
MH Rise to me is a game that is best at the beginning when everything is new and the game puts effort into making each monster introduction seem special (it should be noted that all high rank missions take place in co-op mode, which doesn't include cutscenes, so any monsters introduced there don't have them). But it doesn't have the meat in the gameplay to justify the amount of grinding and content it has. It does try, even when in late game, as each new rank will offer some new stuff, but it's usually something like a new dango meal, or a new way to make item decorations, and not enough to justify playing through 10 more quests doing the exact same thing
You could change weapons every mission to get a bit of variety, but that just means grinding more because weapons are not very cheap. Even when I only focused on one weapon type the whole game, a lot of the later weapons were hard to obtain without dedicated focus on a single monster, repeating the same mission over and over.
While the story up to the credits is really short, the games total length seems way too long for the repetitiveness of it. No hunt ever really felt different to me, it always involved the exact same "strategy" of just starting at the camp, running to the monster (sometimes exploring if it was a new map) and using the same combos over and over. Some monsters were more annoying than others, but generally speaking I never felt like I needed to change how I approached any battle, and I got through them just fine like that.
The repetitiveness is further exaggerated by things like the amount of missions not really correlating with the amount of new monsters. At first it feels like every new mission introduces a new monster, with a fantastic documentary-style cutscenes to boot, but then higher rank missions are just "fight this monster again, but harder" or "Fight this monster you've fought before, and then fight this one". Not to mention the fact there's basically only 5 maps in the entire game, and they don't even randomly generate the resources each time so it's always the exact same bugs, plants, monsters, mining spots etc in the same places.
The game was kind of middle of the road in terms of graphics for Switch. It didn't look ugly or anything, but it didn't impress me. The actual monster designs were great however. But the game did have a very slight performance issue when it came to monsters who were in the background - especially notable on flying monsters as they seemed to move and flap their wings at a very flow frame rate until you got close.
There's a few little niggles I have along with all this. Like when you gain a new hunter rank you unlock a ton of new stuff, but there's more than one of any given important NPC in the game, for example 2 blacksmiths, 2 shopkeepers, and for some reason you need to talk to BOTH of them to hear the exact same message about how they've expanded their stock or whatever. And then there's the dango girl who after a new rank will always have about 5 things to say, and you have to go through them all separately because the game can't just put them all into one interaction.
I haven't played the past games (except for a tiny bit of MH3, but I can't remember anything about it), but I do know the wirebugs and palamutes are new to this game and they were great additions, but it makes me wonder how sluggish the past games must have felt. I couldn't imagine having to run around these maps without a palamute to speed around on, or the wirebugs to accelerate climbing.
MH Rise to me is a game that is best at the beginning when everything is new and the game puts effort into making each monster introduction seem special (it should be noted that all high rank missions take place in co-op mode, which doesn't include cutscenes, so any monsters introduced there don't have them). But it doesn't have the meat in the gameplay to justify the amount of grinding and content it has. It does try, even when in late game, as each new rank will offer some new stuff, but it's usually something like a new dango meal, or a new way to make item decorations, and not enough to justify playing through 10 more quests doing the exact same thing
You could change weapons every mission to get a bit of variety, but that just means grinding more because weapons are not very cheap. Even when I only focused on one weapon type the whole game, a lot of the later weapons were hard to obtain without dedicated focus on a single monster, repeating the same mission over and over.
Super short and doesn't really stand out in any way. Left 4 Dead is a great game, but this campaign on its own is probably one of the weakest parts.
2008
Big improvement over the last 2 games. Way more stages, now there's different difficulties per stage instead of each difficulty having its own stage. Some of the stages are also pretty interesting and ask for different playstyles, like the one where the corridors between the track are super narrow, or the one where the track is just a line shaped like a monkey and you have much more freedom to place your towers.
There's not a huge amount of new towers but I like the ones they added, like the tower is a purely support item which can also unlock a screen wipe if you save up enough. It feels like there's just generally more options and ways to complete levels now. The pineapple bomb is also an unique weapon as unlike everything else, it requires active participation in the middle of a round and good timing to make use of, but if you use it right it's better and cheaper than roadspikes.
I like the inclusion of the new balloon type, MOBA, since it basically provides a boss battle. I do think the difficulty spike when it first comes out in round 37 is too large though.
Fuck the last level by the way.
There's not a huge amount of new towers but I like the ones they added, like the tower is a purely support item which can also unlock a screen wipe if you save up enough. It feels like there's just generally more options and ways to complete levels now. The pineapple bomb is also an unique weapon as unlike everything else, it requires active participation in the middle of a round and good timing to make use of, but if you use it right it's better and cheaper than roadspikes.
I like the inclusion of the new balloon type, MOBA, since it basically provides a boss battle. I do think the difficulty spike when it first comes out in round 37 is too large though.
Fuck the last level by the way.
2020
I got very overwhelmed by this game at first with the amount of stuff going on at once (it didn't help that my decks were a huge mishmash of like 10 different mechanics), but after playing some games and knowing how everything works to the point I can play on the fastest speed without getting lost, it's so addicting and fun.
I haven't played a ton of rogue-likes, so I can't say how it fares in the genre, but compared to the very similar Slay the Spire, I like this one since the beginning of a run gives you 3 randomized cards already, so the start of the game isn't as slow as STS. It also means you're more likely to build around certain deck types depending on what you're given, as opposed to always going for just the "best" one.
5 classes (1 more in the DLC), each with 2 hero cards + starter cards, being able to use 2 classes per run, many different mechanics to try and capitalise on. It all just adds up to a game that doesn't get boring fast at all despite the seemingly repetitive nature.
I will say that I kind of wish there was a longer mode. I wanna see the game scale with things like a fourth hero buff and whatnot.
I haven't played a ton of rogue-likes, so I can't say how it fares in the genre, but compared to the very similar Slay the Spire, I like this one since the beginning of a run gives you 3 randomized cards already, so the start of the game isn't as slow as STS. It also means you're more likely to build around certain deck types depending on what you're given, as opposed to always going for just the "best" one.
5 classes (1 more in the DLC), each with 2 hero cards + starter cards, being able to use 2 classes per run, many different mechanics to try and capitalise on. It all just adds up to a game that doesn't get boring fast at all despite the seemingly repetitive nature.
I will say that I kind of wish there was a longer mode. I wanna see the game scale with things like a fourth hero buff and whatnot.
Rating these is always hard because technically I think the overall rating of the game is lower than the highest rating I'd give an individual game in the collection. Most of the games in the collection are either ones that you'd play once and never again, or just ignore completely.
To be fair though this one is a lot better looking and highly polished than many of these type of games, which is expected since it's from Nintendo.
I guess if you absolutely love board and card games this is a great way to have them all available at once while saving space and set-up time, although you lose out on a lot of the satisfaction a physical game can bring.
I'm pretty lukewarm on most of these games, so an average rating of 2.5 seems right.
To be fair though this one is a lot better looking and highly polished than many of these type of games, which is expected since it's from Nintendo.
I guess if you absolutely love board and card games this is a great way to have them all available at once while saving space and set-up time, although you lose out on a lot of the satisfaction a physical game can bring.
I'm pretty lukewarm on most of these games, so an average rating of 2.5 seems right.