Estew
19 Reviews liked by Estew
Balatro
2024
"We are aware that players may encounter issues that affect the games’ performance. Our goal is always to give players a positive experience with our games, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We take the feedback from players seriously and are working on improvements to the games." - Game Freak, Almost 10 months ago
Pikmin 4
2023
An incredible addition to the Pikmin franchise. This game is lacking in the simplistic charm of the previous Pikmin games, but more than makes up for that in the depth of its mechanics. The game is very polished and looks beautiful, especially considering the limits of the console. The only thing this game loses points for is the plot, which is fun but opens a lot of threads that are left loose. Despite that, this is an incredible game that I would absolutely recc9mend both to past fans and newcomers to the franchise.
Pokémon Scarlet
2022
its very upsetting that this game came out the way it did because if you look past the awful optimization issues, bugs, glitches, bad graphics, and frame rate issues (which is a LOT to look past i know) the game is genuinely pretty fuckin good
it has its issues still like i dont care about the team star story like at ALL, some of the gym challenges fucking blow, and some of the story beats couldve had more build up without going out of your way to find it. But outside of that you have a good mainline pokemon game with probably the best story since gen 5's black and white.
i wish i could say its a home run for the series but sadly it is extremely held back from being fully complete.
it has its issues still like i dont care about the team star story like at ALL, some of the gym challenges fucking blow, and some of the story beats couldve had more build up without going out of your way to find it. But outside of that you have a good mainline pokemon game with probably the best story since gen 5's black and white.
i wish i could say its a home run for the series but sadly it is extremely held back from being fully complete.
Pokémon Sword
2019
Really neat mystery/horror VN that condenses a good story into something that never gets boring - yet never rushes things at all-, so the pacing is very solid for its medium (although it already has quite some elements and mechanics outside of the traditional VN format).
In terms of ambience and setting, it's strikingly good. The soundtrack is quite nice and did its job well, and even if I didn't grow too attached to any particular melody or tune, the jazz style the investigation music had going on for the detectives' section got me really enjoying every second of it.
The visuals and aesthetics are very nicely done as well, and are the cherry on top of the whole thing, helping cement the whole "urban legends and the darkness surrounding the streets and people of 80's Japan" setting's vibe.
The artstyle is really good, both cute and horrifing at times. The characters' sprites are very expressive and really got to me, and the game's more unconventional use of angles, camerawork and character positioning managed to make dialogues very dynamic and fresh, effortlessly making not many sprites to be used in a wide arrange of situations without it being too repetitive.
And while the characters may not stand out much at first sight, they end up making their way into your heart in one way or another. Richter may be the best example: even if at first he may look real shady or a pathetic joke character at best, he became my favorite in no time.
This is all thanks to the quality of the writing and the dialogues between characters, which felt very compelling.
The story itself is very nicely put together, and surprisingly for its genre and medium it actually ties everything up in a very solid way. The ties between every little aspect and character of the story had me constantly glued to the screen needing to unravel more.
The only complaint I have is that some times the narrative kind of relied on the reader not having picked up on some twist for quite a while which I had already seen coming, but then kind of throwing you the answer to another which I didn't even have time to dwell on and resolve. But nothing major to undermine the experience.
I feel the horror was very nicely done, adding a modern understanding of gameplay to deliver the scares, which felt clever and not just cheap, loud jumpscares. If anything, its more 'quiet' jumpscares were the most bone-chilling part for me.
Overall it's a very solid game with a lot of neat and clever tidbits and a really good atmosphere that completely sets you in its mood, and is very much worth its time.
In terms of ambience and setting, it's strikingly good. The soundtrack is quite nice and did its job well, and even if I didn't grow too attached to any particular melody or tune, the jazz style the investigation music had going on for the detectives' section got me really enjoying every second of it.
The visuals and aesthetics are very nicely done as well, and are the cherry on top of the whole thing, helping cement the whole "urban legends and the darkness surrounding the streets and people of 80's Japan" setting's vibe.
The artstyle is really good, both cute and horrifing at times. The characters' sprites are very expressive and really got to me, and the game's more unconventional use of angles, camerawork and character positioning managed to make dialogues very dynamic and fresh, effortlessly making not many sprites to be used in a wide arrange of situations without it being too repetitive.
And while the characters may not stand out much at first sight, they end up making their way into your heart in one way or another. Richter may be the best example: even if at first he may look real shady or a pathetic joke character at best, he became my favorite in no time.
This is all thanks to the quality of the writing and the dialogues between characters, which felt very compelling.
The story itself is very nicely put together, and surprisingly for its genre and medium it actually ties everything up in a very solid way. The ties between every little aspect and character of the story had me constantly glued to the screen needing to unravel more.
The only complaint I have is that some times the narrative kind of relied on the reader not having picked up on some twist for quite a while which I had already seen coming, but then kind of throwing you the answer to another which I didn't even have time to dwell on and resolve. But nothing major to undermine the experience.
I feel the horror was very nicely done, adding a modern understanding of gameplay to deliver the scares, which felt clever and not just cheap, loud jumpscares. If anything, its more 'quiet' jumpscares were the most bone-chilling part for me.
Overall it's a very solid game with a lot of neat and clever tidbits and a really good atmosphere that completely sets you in its mood, and is very much worth its time.
Such a hot mess in so many ways that it's almost inconceivable. The story is terrible, the music is mediocre, the pacing is awful, the performances are horrible, the writing is disastrous and the structure of the game is mind-bogglingly bad. The one and a half stars are for the wonderful combat system and what little I enjoyed of the camp this game has in droves.
I've been doing a series replay and have been platinuming all the games as I go and will continue to do so, but I'm not platinuming this one. Not because the platinum is hard (FFIX and FFX were much tougher), but because I don't feel like playing more of this game. This is by far the worst mainline Final Fantasy game and it's not even particularly close, and it's definitely the poster child of games I tolerated as a child but can't stand now.
I've been doing a series replay and have been platinuming all the games as I go and will continue to do so, but I'm not platinuming this one. Not because the platinum is hard (FFIX and FFX were much tougher), but because I don't feel like playing more of this game. This is by far the worst mainline Final Fantasy game and it's not even particularly close, and it's definitely the poster child of games I tolerated as a child but can't stand now.
Pokémon Violet
2022
Easily the best Pokémon games since Black & White. It's a damn shame that they run as badly as they do and look as awful as they do, because these games do so many things so well. The gameplay loop's addicting, the freedom is refreshing (even if a lot of it is just an illusion, really), the story goes places I didn't expect and I actually ended up caring about it by the end (which is something I can't say for most Pokémon games), and the music is fantastic. The three separate storylines was a nice design choice as well, and I hope they bring it back in the future. It's not without faults even outside of its technical shortcomings (it has some of the series' worst character designs to date, the gyms are pretty forgettable, the new mons are disappointing, etc) but I actually enjoyed a Pokémon game again, and it feels really fucking good.
Tanuki Justice
2020
what i'm about to say might change within the next few weeks. maybe its just recency bias talking, or maybe i'm still hyped up on adrenaline after the insanity that is this games ending. maybe i'll think it through and find some fatal flaw that didn't cross my mind as of writing this review, but honestly?
i don't care.
as of this moment, this is the greatest game i have ever played.
i don't care.
as of this moment, this is the greatest game i have ever played.
Hitman 2
2018
Agent 47 disguising as a fitness instructor on Haven Island and commanding the guests to do different exercises hhhhhhhhhh 😳😳😳🥴
same as with my log for Hitman (2016), this entry is for the Hitman 2 content as played through Hitman III.
it fucking slayed? i loved the previous entry and its gameplay at the core but a handful of the levels left a bit to be desired, this one is much more consistent and it's all solid (while most of it is great). Miami overtook Sapienza as my favorite map in the trilogy so far and Haven Island, Santa Fortuna, and Mumbai aren't far behind.
i'd rank the levels from this game as follows:
Miami
Santa Fortuna
Haven Island
Hawke's Bay
Mumbai
Whittleton Creek
Isle of Sgàil
New York
same as with my log for Hitman (2016), this entry is for the Hitman 2 content as played through Hitman III.
it fucking slayed? i loved the previous entry and its gameplay at the core but a handful of the levels left a bit to be desired, this one is much more consistent and it's all solid (while most of it is great). Miami overtook Sapienza as my favorite map in the trilogy so far and Haven Island, Santa Fortuna, and Mumbai aren't far behind.
i'd rank the levels from this game as follows:
Miami
Santa Fortuna
Haven Island
Hawke's Bay
Mumbai
Whittleton Creek
Isle of Sgàil
New York