DonatedShelf
I’m honestly pretty surprised that overall I enjoyed this. I find most Kirby games to be “complete baby brain off” mode, and while this game does feel as if it caters specifically to babies still, there is a certain level of general engagement that I felt most other entries in the series lacked. This game hits around Mario 3D world level quality but I do find people outright comparing it to Odyssey or Bowsers Fury to be getting way ahead of themself. It’s a good fun time.
The focus on action combat with a mix of collectathon over general platforming surprised me but in hindsight this was a great choice. It’s a simple combat system, sure, but the general variety offered with the copy system and the ability for upgrades offered so much more than I thought it would. Each ability also felt really distinct, I like that and imagine that replaying this game would be helped greatly by this.
I don’t feel like there’s a bad boss in this game and most levels are, at the very least, enjoyable. There’s lots bursts of creativity and neat ideas in these levels with a fun combat system to keep the downtime from idea to idea engaging. It’s the kind of game I can beat in a weekend and while I’ll probably forget my time with it in a short while, I don’t regret the time spent with it. Just pure uncut fun for a weekend.
The focus on action combat with a mix of collectathon over general platforming surprised me but in hindsight this was a great choice. It’s a simple combat system, sure, but the general variety offered with the copy system and the ability for upgrades offered so much more than I thought it would. Each ability also felt really distinct, I like that and imagine that replaying this game would be helped greatly by this.
I don’t feel like there’s a bad boss in this game and most levels are, at the very least, enjoyable. There’s lots bursts of creativity and neat ideas in these levels with a fun combat system to keep the downtime from idea to idea engaging. It’s the kind of game I can beat in a weekend and while I’ll probably forget my time with it in a short while, I don’t regret the time spent with it. Just pure uncut fun for a weekend.
1986
Metroid NES is an astonishingly interesting video game as it continues to lower the bar for how bad a game can be while still impressing me. Fundamental flaws that make the game nearly unplayable and surely unenjoyable. HOWEVER, underneath this pretty bad game there’s this spark of creativity. The freedom of progression this game offers is pretty absurd. This game has no real structure, you can obtain items and progress however you’d like. I can’t think of many games that have this level of freedom from this era, it's the kind of freedom that reminds me of Super Metroid or BoTW. There is no one true path to the game. Boss order and item order are determined by your own whims. If the game was more functional I’d be inclined to give it more respect than this but it’s ambitious design is hampered by an extremely faulty base structure.
It is truly incredible how a game can be so far ahead of its time while also being so behind its own competition. Control-wise it's far worse than Castlevania, Mario, or Mega man. It’s horrendous how you can’t duck shoot despite so many enemies being a title below your gun. That’s not the only thing this game falls short on either. Visually Metroid NES is fucking ugly. I mean compare a screenshot of castlevania to this game and it is embarrassing. Not to mention that each area looks borderline identical, I’d say the most confusing part of the game is how any beta tester beat the game like this. If you think that each area looking similar in both visual and design regards is bad, let me tell you that the game also offers literally NO MAP at all. At least once in your playthough you are guaranteed to get lost.
I mean I could go on and on about how ass the traversal is or how genuinely confusing the game is but, it is a NES game. I mean did you have any shred of shock when I said this game is confusing and cryptic, I am literally talking about a Metroid game for the NES. “Metroid” and “NES” are pretty much one sentence usage away from being synonymous with the words “confusing” and “cryptic.” It’s not good but it's expected from a game in this era. However, the health system in this game is genuinely abysmal and EASILY is the worst aspect. You can make or look up a map for this game, it’s pretty simple, but there’s truly nothing that can fix this abhorrent health issue.
Generally this game is fairly easy, that would be the case if the extreme crutch of no healing wasn’t an issue. Of the ONLY 3 bosses, which again is embarrassing even for its time, two of them provide pretty much no challenge. Hallway's enemies rarely threatened me and have only killed me during the loading screen in between doors, which yes you can die while the game is loading. The issue is there is only one way to replenish your energy completely and that's by finding one of the very few energy tanks. Once you run out of that option, the only other way is to simply kill an enemy and PRAY it drops the 5 or 20 health replenish. It’s like being a cashier with a customer that’s paying 5 dollars in pennies. It is a grueling and painstakingly long period of time for a task that could and should have been so easy and simple. That doesn’t even matter though because if you run out of missiles in the final section of the game you have to make it HALFWAY ACROSS THE MAP to get ammo to kill enemies. Without missiles at the end of the game you cannot replenish health nor ammo. Just an absolute mess.
As I finished the game the day I started it and with 5 hours gone from my life, I feel very annoyed with my time with Metroid NES. The concept as a whole was never truly bad, the base idea of this game was used to make the masterpiece which is Super Metroid, but almost every level of the execution was off point. While this game captures specific ideas of freedom within design that I love, the game itself kinda just blows. Even after the grace of freedom, I feel I wasted most of my time playing it. Whether it is getting lost while trying to find a boss just to kill it first try with no struggle or grinding away minutes just to replenish my health, it is never truly THAT fun.
Pokemon Legends of Arceus is not a perfect game, but I would be absolutely lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. As it stands, besides from MAYBE the remake of 2002’s Pokemon Ruby, this is the most fun I’ve had with pokemon in the last decade. While not fully realized to its own potential and a game that is still littered with flaws, this is something that was only before just the Pokemon game of my childhood’s dreams.
You can sense Gamefreak really focused on the aspect of seamlessness with Legends and I’m awestruck that they actually did it pretty well. I can switch from flying off a mountain to riding the back of a Wyrdeer and then hop in some water and swim around on a Basculegion all in a matter of mere seconds. I can start and finish a wild battle in this game almost as fast as they could load in Diamond and Pearl. Despite what trailers and render distances would show, I found myself running into pokemon damn near every few steps. Unlike before in the series, I can simply run away if I don't wish to engage in a battle. In fact, I don’t believe there is a single pokemon that can initiate battle. The core battle system only starts when you want it to. Though in the late game, I found myself at near-death and forced to engage in a battle simply to buy myself a few seconds of life. Even the story was handled smoother, the game lets you explore and ignore the main quests until you want to progress to the next location. Besides the grueling handholding at the start of the game, I never found the story to be an obnoxious chore of button-mashing through stale dialogue that always pestered the entire playtime. Most main missions for each location after the first boss felt pretty short and simple. Everything in this game felt put into place to ensure the player was able to embrace the open world instead of spending too much time with the story or being halted every second by an unwanted wild battle.
I’ve seen a lot of remarks about the world being “too empty.” The statement both feels correct and wrong, but in the end, I do believe the world could’ve used a little more even if it never hurt my enjoyment. Materials and collectibles like the whisps and Unknown sprinkled around the map always did a good job keeping my attention at bay. They always had me stopping my expedition to go collect and obtain. Whisps and Unknowns especially reminded me of the low-tier moons from Mario Odyssey, they were tucked away in hidden or hard-to-reach locations. Not to mention that each pokemon has a specific spawn spot, and each pokemon has an individual “Alpha” that are also all scattered around the maps. Every few seconds I’d run into a patch of pokemon that I’ve never seen before or maybe just needed to fill out some of their dex info. Every minute or two I’d run into an alpha that would immediately agro me. Not even just alpha’s either, in every moment of the game I was chased and charged by pokemon that had much higher levels than my team. These aspects provided a somewhat real sense of challenge, I was getting half a team wiped out by just one pokemon. I found it so easy to get off-topic, just like how I was while I was writing this review. Constantly and consistently immersed into each location, I consumed hours of just hunting pokemon. Immersion that was also built by pokemon spawn correlating to their specific location extremely well and in a very logical manner, unlike SwSh’s wild area. I only wish that there could have had a few more distinct locations. Each map felt different from the last but there were a few stretches of just fields with a few minor details like lakes of mud and big mountains. I still feel like I could recognize most places off just a screenshot, but a little more detail can always go a long way. If catching, battling, and information collecting does not interest you, then it is very likely you'll feel the world is empty. A lot of the critiques on this game are very valid, and they’re aspects to keep in mind because they may end up making you dislike this game. However, this is my review and at the end of the day they never truly impeded my enjoyment to a significant degree. Some legitimate critiques I do have is that the game didn’t utilize the battle system well. Barely any trainer battles, or battles with more than 4 Pokémon. This game managed to have probably my favorite trainer battle in the entire series, I wish they could have done that more than just once. It’s especially annoying when this might be the most I’ve enjoyed battling in Pokémon possibly EVER. Also the graphics and render distance are both balls, let's NOT deny that.
Enjoyment is never truly and completely universal. I could never expect everyone to like and enjoy this game as much as I did and, unfortunately, I believe that most will not enjoy this as much as I did. But that is truly irrelevant, this score and review are an assessment of how much fun I had with this game. And as I said before, I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. It was a blast, and it had reinvigorated so much hope and love for the series that I had lost over the last few years. I feel a little shaky on the score, I think it's possible for my opinion to change as time goes on. There are flaws, some more overlookable than others, but only a couple of them ever affected my enjoyment that tremendously. As of now, it is sitting at a very humble 7. So easily the switch’s best installment of the series.
You can sense Gamefreak really focused on the aspect of seamlessness with Legends and I’m awestruck that they actually did it pretty well. I can switch from flying off a mountain to riding the back of a Wyrdeer and then hop in some water and swim around on a Basculegion all in a matter of mere seconds. I can start and finish a wild battle in this game almost as fast as they could load in Diamond and Pearl. Despite what trailers and render distances would show, I found myself running into pokemon damn near every few steps. Unlike before in the series, I can simply run away if I don't wish to engage in a battle. In fact, I don’t believe there is a single pokemon that can initiate battle. The core battle system only starts when you want it to. Though in the late game, I found myself at near-death and forced to engage in a battle simply to buy myself a few seconds of life. Even the story was handled smoother, the game lets you explore and ignore the main quests until you want to progress to the next location. Besides the grueling handholding at the start of the game, I never found the story to be an obnoxious chore of button-mashing through stale dialogue that always pestered the entire playtime. Most main missions for each location after the first boss felt pretty short and simple. Everything in this game felt put into place to ensure the player was able to embrace the open world instead of spending too much time with the story or being halted every second by an unwanted wild battle.
I’ve seen a lot of remarks about the world being “too empty.” The statement both feels correct and wrong, but in the end, I do believe the world could’ve used a little more even if it never hurt my enjoyment. Materials and collectibles like the whisps and Unknown sprinkled around the map always did a good job keeping my attention at bay. They always had me stopping my expedition to go collect and obtain. Whisps and Unknowns especially reminded me of the low-tier moons from Mario Odyssey, they were tucked away in hidden or hard-to-reach locations. Not to mention that each pokemon has a specific spawn spot, and each pokemon has an individual “Alpha” that are also all scattered around the maps. Every few seconds I’d run into a patch of pokemon that I’ve never seen before or maybe just needed to fill out some of their dex info. Every minute or two I’d run into an alpha that would immediately agro me. Not even just alpha’s either, in every moment of the game I was chased and charged by pokemon that had much higher levels than my team. These aspects provided a somewhat real sense of challenge, I was getting half a team wiped out by just one pokemon. I found it so easy to get off-topic, just like how I was while I was writing this review. Constantly and consistently immersed into each location, I consumed hours of just hunting pokemon. Immersion that was also built by pokemon spawn correlating to their specific location extremely well and in a very logical manner, unlike SwSh’s wild area. I only wish that there could have had a few more distinct locations. Each map felt different from the last but there were a few stretches of just fields with a few minor details like lakes of mud and big mountains. I still feel like I could recognize most places off just a screenshot, but a little more detail can always go a long way. If catching, battling, and information collecting does not interest you, then it is very likely you'll feel the world is empty. A lot of the critiques on this game are very valid, and they’re aspects to keep in mind because they may end up making you dislike this game. However, this is my review and at the end of the day they never truly impeded my enjoyment to a significant degree. Some legitimate critiques I do have is that the game didn’t utilize the battle system well. Barely any trainer battles, or battles with more than 4 Pokémon. This game managed to have probably my favorite trainer battle in the entire series, I wish they could have done that more than just once. It’s especially annoying when this might be the most I’ve enjoyed battling in Pokémon possibly EVER. Also the graphics and render distance are both balls, let's NOT deny that.
Enjoyment is never truly and completely universal. I could never expect everyone to like and enjoy this game as much as I did and, unfortunately, I believe that most will not enjoy this as much as I did. But that is truly irrelevant, this score and review are an assessment of how much fun I had with this game. And as I said before, I would be lying if I said I didn't have fun with it. It was a blast, and it had reinvigorated so much hope and love for the series that I had lost over the last few years. I feel a little shaky on the score, I think it's possible for my opinion to change as time goes on. There are flaws, some more overlookable than others, but only a couple of them ever affected my enjoyment that tremendously. As of now, it is sitting at a very humble 7. So easily the switch’s best installment of the series.
This review contains spoilers
Metroid Prime 3 is a game that is two steps forward one step back. Decked with fantastic puzzles and great level design while debuting stellar motion-controlled gameplay, I found myself as in love with it as I was with any other top-tier Metroid game. Although, despite its two steps forward, there is still that one step back.
Prime 3 doesn't display an entirely huge or impressive story and I won’t lie when I say I am partially disappointed by that. I found myself hoping a little bit that the story would take some notes from Metroid Fusion. It felt a bit awkward that the Galatic Federation is treated as this Two Dimensional “Good Entity” when in the 2D games they’ve been very open to the concept of genocide and other evil acts I'll leave unspoiled. Especially considering the game's subtitle of Corruption, I was partially let down that this game didn’t give it the double meaning it could have. It has a pretty shallow and relatively absent story. But at the end of the day, I don't find it too shocking considering the series and its publisher. Although this game doesn’t take inspiration from Fusion in the story department, this game was influenced by Fusion’s level design. Prime 3 trades traditional Metroid and Prime aspects for more linearized locations. No longer are the days of Prime 1’s obnoxious backtracking. Anytime the player needed to get to a different part of the map it always felt as if the developers planned ahead. Shortcuts and gunship docking stations to make the game quicker and easier to traverse.
Unfortunately, because of this linearization, I felt there was this sense of “one-note” to all these locations. It’s a very fair balance. Moving through these areas and solving what lies ahead of you for the first time was amazing. Advancing through Skytown for the first time probably beats out most areas in the Prime series for me. Skytown felt like something out of Twilight Princess with its atmosphere and level design. However, at limited times you're forced to retread through an already solved area. These are the only moments the game had empty downtime. Not often does it happen, but retreading through a linear location in this game was boring. Crawling through empty hallways after I already solved all the puzzles connected to them was unsurprisingly not intensely fun. These were the moments of dryness the game hosted, even if they were short and fleeting moments. It’s something that Prime 1 and 2 didn’t feel like they dealt with as much. For those games retreading through past sections was usually saved by the fact that you had new equipment. Your new equipment then would've let you speed up the travel or even explore the nooks and crannies to find Missile Expansions and E-Tanks. Those minor upgrades were also something I felt this game lacked. Though this all comes at the benefit of Prime 3 having the least amount of backtracking when compared to the other entries in the series.
Metroid Prime 3 has three major locations that you’ll find yourself visiting after the start of the game. Each felt distinct in terms of level design structure. The first planet is by far the most open one of them all, reminding me the most of Prime 1. While it still has a pretty set forward path of linearity, it wasn’t as linear as the second location. The second location is probably the most linear of the three, but I felt it offered some of the most engaging and enjoyable puzzles. The last planet was probably the most disappointing. It relied a tad too much on the combat, you could tell the developers took a good chunk of influence from Halo on this last planet. A little too many hallways of enemies and a little too much combat. Of course, the final planet still had solid puzzles and objectives that redeemed itself. If you could tolerate the onslaughts of enemies in certain sections of Prime 1, you’ll be able to handle this. I never felt Prime 3's combat dragged as horribly as Prime 1’s did.
As it stands after the completion of Prime 3, I would say it's tied for the number 1 spot for me. This and Prime 2 were both wonderful video games. Funny enough though, this game perfects the major issues Prime 2 had while also going backwards on a few aspects of what made Prime 2 so amazing. Prime 2’s world was more interesting though it forced you to backtrack through its labyrinth-like map a lot. Prime 3’s bosses and morph ball sections generally felt a lot stronger, but I liked the combat in Prime 2 more. Both Prime 2 and Prime 3 are great games, but they both have their restrictions on why I don't know if I could consider either of them to be a masterpiece. However, if you took their best qualities and put them into one game then it could be. Metroid Prime is an amazing series and I’m eagerly waiting for Prime 4. As for Prime 3, it is pretty damn great.
Prime 3 doesn't display an entirely huge or impressive story and I won’t lie when I say I am partially disappointed by that. I found myself hoping a little bit that the story would take some notes from Metroid Fusion. It felt a bit awkward that the Galatic Federation is treated as this Two Dimensional “Good Entity” when in the 2D games they’ve been very open to the concept of genocide and other evil acts I'll leave unspoiled. Especially considering the game's subtitle of Corruption, I was partially let down that this game didn’t give it the double meaning it could have. It has a pretty shallow and relatively absent story. But at the end of the day, I don't find it too shocking considering the series and its publisher. Although this game doesn’t take inspiration from Fusion in the story department, this game was influenced by Fusion’s level design. Prime 3 trades traditional Metroid and Prime aspects for more linearized locations. No longer are the days of Prime 1’s obnoxious backtracking. Anytime the player needed to get to a different part of the map it always felt as if the developers planned ahead. Shortcuts and gunship docking stations to make the game quicker and easier to traverse.
Unfortunately, because of this linearization, I felt there was this sense of “one-note” to all these locations. It’s a very fair balance. Moving through these areas and solving what lies ahead of you for the first time was amazing. Advancing through Skytown for the first time probably beats out most areas in the Prime series for me. Skytown felt like something out of Twilight Princess with its atmosphere and level design. However, at limited times you're forced to retread through an already solved area. These are the only moments the game had empty downtime. Not often does it happen, but retreading through a linear location in this game was boring. Crawling through empty hallways after I already solved all the puzzles connected to them was unsurprisingly not intensely fun. These were the moments of dryness the game hosted, even if they were short and fleeting moments. It’s something that Prime 1 and 2 didn’t feel like they dealt with as much. For those games retreading through past sections was usually saved by the fact that you had new equipment. Your new equipment then would've let you speed up the travel or even explore the nooks and crannies to find Missile Expansions and E-Tanks. Those minor upgrades were also something I felt this game lacked. Though this all comes at the benefit of Prime 3 having the least amount of backtracking when compared to the other entries in the series.
Metroid Prime 3 has three major locations that you’ll find yourself visiting after the start of the game. Each felt distinct in terms of level design structure. The first planet is by far the most open one of them all, reminding me the most of Prime 1. While it still has a pretty set forward path of linearity, it wasn’t as linear as the second location. The second location is probably the most linear of the three, but I felt it offered some of the most engaging and enjoyable puzzles. The last planet was probably the most disappointing. It relied a tad too much on the combat, you could tell the developers took a good chunk of influence from Halo on this last planet. A little too many hallways of enemies and a little too much combat. Of course, the final planet still had solid puzzles and objectives that redeemed itself. If you could tolerate the onslaughts of enemies in certain sections of Prime 1, you’ll be able to handle this. I never felt Prime 3's combat dragged as horribly as Prime 1’s did.
As it stands after the completion of Prime 3, I would say it's tied for the number 1 spot for me. This and Prime 2 were both wonderful video games. Funny enough though, this game perfects the major issues Prime 2 had while also going backwards on a few aspects of what made Prime 2 so amazing. Prime 2’s world was more interesting though it forced you to backtrack through its labyrinth-like map a lot. Prime 3’s bosses and morph ball sections generally felt a lot stronger, but I liked the combat in Prime 2 more. Both Prime 2 and Prime 3 are great games, but they both have their restrictions on why I don't know if I could consider either of them to be a masterpiece. However, if you took their best qualities and put them into one game then it could be. Metroid Prime is an amazing series and I’m eagerly waiting for Prime 4. As for Prime 3, it is pretty damn great.