ExAndOh
2007
This game unironically changed my life and made me who I am today. A game I met countless online friends and probably have the most hours in general at over 3,200 hours. The gameplay itself is pretty satisfying with a lot of variety in weapons and classes with personality fleshed out in other media and cinematics. Probably a shame the game doesn't get the love it deserves in recent years but the community overall is pretty great. No matter where in life I seem to be at, somehow I manage to come back to this game.
1989
Probably the game I've played the most in terms of my general life since I had the original Game Boy copy at 7. The gameplay went through a few changes during the decades but it's the only game I have on my phone these days and I always have a good time playing it.
2014
This review contains spoilers
Improvement over the first game's remaster on PC, story was improved, better weapon variety and playing as the Arbiter was a nice surprised not to mention the music wasn't bad either. That said, I'm mostly into run and gun games and Halo on Heroic+ isn't really designed for that sadly.
2016
A really cool and short audio experience disguised as a rail shooter. Looked interesting from the start and glad it delivered and then some.
1994
My first "metroidvania" game ever and it's actually really solid too especially for a SNES game. I got lost and had to look up "shinesparking" and the exact way to "wall jump" but the world, gameplay and sound are really good and holds up really. If you haven't somehow played a Metroid game, this should probably be the first one.
1998
Probably has the best story and world of any PS1 JPRG I've played so far marred by a rushed development time and it shows. Nonetheless the story, characters and music alone carry this game to be one of the best JRPG experiences on the PS1.
2019
Probably my favorite action game in general so far, the combat, music and the story is actually somewhat interesting for the genre. The game is a bit long for an action game but it's mostly an enjoyable experience and the only complaint would probably be a bit too much of the investigation element.
1994
Pretty unique JRPG with some scenarios that were way weaker than others but manages to tell a decent story in most of them and wraps up extremely well in the end. Worth playing just for the unique structure of the game itself and characters you don't normally see in a JRPG alone along with some really good music.
2018
It's all connected
Tetris Effect is a puzzle game originally released on the PS4 in 2018 with a multiple PC versions coming out during the year. Tetris has been one of the most iconic puzzle games ever created spanning 37 years since it's initial creation in 1984 in Russia and a game that felt perfect to me. The core gameplay loop of Tetris is simple yet has so much depth that relies on the correct placement of tiles, planning ahead, and the quick reaction and speed needed to perform well in the game at high speeds. Tetris Effect does something different here yet manages to satisfy the two facets of the Tetris audience. The facet of the competitive players recieving modes that recreate old formats that haven't been done in any other tetris game so far and the other facet of the casual tetris player that just play to have fun where I am and what this game does is more than just provide a visual experience but evoke a feeling within you when you play the game.
The gameplay is still the Tetris you love (or hate) with the added elements of music and visuals that manages to invoke synesthesia with the player at certain moments. The music manages to bring a variety of sounds from around the world and carry multiple genres of music and syncs with your gameplay that gets you in a flow state while playing the game. The visuals manages to pop vibrantly and somehow doesn't detract your vision from the gameplay apart from rare cases that are further enhanced that this is intended to be a VR experience and despite not trying this in VR, the whole experience isn't detracted at all and still manages to feel like a unique experience. The game modes here provide a variety of experiences that manages to fulfill every niche of player out there, there are difficult and score modes for the competitive or the player wanting to improve and there are "chill" playlists and "chill" modes that remove the fail-state of the game wishing just to relax with the game's music and visuals while playing the game. The Journey mode which acts as the "story" mode here is a short experience that lets you experience all the levels in a sequential yet short order while introducing a brand new mechanic as well called "Zone". Zone is a great new mechanic that fits the game perfectly. For a definition, as you play the game you start filling a bar called "Zone" and you can use that "Zone" to slow down time and stack line clears to achieve what can be described as "more than a tetris" and the total maximum is 22-23 with players trying to push more in the meantime. What this mechanic also manages to do well which is really a small touch is the sound effects and the visuals when you manage to achieve more than 8 lines where the visuals and sound effects change for that short moment you're in zone albeit a tiny thing, just further enhances the synesthesia this game offers. The multiplayer here was enhanced with a suite of new and unique modes with an "expansion" of sorts called Tetris Effect: Connected that manages to add Zone in a PVP setting that makes for some interesting gameplay to say the least and a new co-op mode called Connected that pits 3 players (human or ai) vs an AI boss that still manages to bring what makes this version of Tetris unique.
I don't have any real problems with this game in all honesty, some of the songs didn't hit me emotionally as hard as others and I wish this game was more widely available but it's coming with a Steam release soon so that will alleviate that issue. I suppose the matchmaking could be better as trying to solo queue for Connected can be pretty awkward at times.
Tetris Effect is the phenomena when players play Tetris to the extent where they see imagery of the game and imagining blocks from the game in the real world sometimes falling or rotating. Synesthesia is essentially specific information meant for one of your senses manages to stimulate multiple senses at once. Hearing colors and tasting sounds are examples. Tetris Effect the game manages to achieve all of the good feelings in me I didn't really think I still had in me. I managed to feel nostalgic, the vibrant color of celebration along with the core message of the game that is essentially the tagline of this game.
We're all connected.
Tetris Effect is a puzzle game originally released on the PS4 in 2018 with a multiple PC versions coming out during the year. Tetris has been one of the most iconic puzzle games ever created spanning 37 years since it's initial creation in 1984 in Russia and a game that felt perfect to me. The core gameplay loop of Tetris is simple yet has so much depth that relies on the correct placement of tiles, planning ahead, and the quick reaction and speed needed to perform well in the game at high speeds. Tetris Effect does something different here yet manages to satisfy the two facets of the Tetris audience. The facet of the competitive players recieving modes that recreate old formats that haven't been done in any other tetris game so far and the other facet of the casual tetris player that just play to have fun where I am and what this game does is more than just provide a visual experience but evoke a feeling within you when you play the game.
The gameplay is still the Tetris you love (or hate) with the added elements of music and visuals that manages to invoke synesthesia with the player at certain moments. The music manages to bring a variety of sounds from around the world and carry multiple genres of music and syncs with your gameplay that gets you in a flow state while playing the game. The visuals manages to pop vibrantly and somehow doesn't detract your vision from the gameplay apart from rare cases that are further enhanced that this is intended to be a VR experience and despite not trying this in VR, the whole experience isn't detracted at all and still manages to feel like a unique experience. The game modes here provide a variety of experiences that manages to fulfill every niche of player out there, there are difficult and score modes for the competitive or the player wanting to improve and there are "chill" playlists and "chill" modes that remove the fail-state of the game wishing just to relax with the game's music and visuals while playing the game. The Journey mode which acts as the "story" mode here is a short experience that lets you experience all the levels in a sequential yet short order while introducing a brand new mechanic as well called "Zone". Zone is a great new mechanic that fits the game perfectly. For a definition, as you play the game you start filling a bar called "Zone" and you can use that "Zone" to slow down time and stack line clears to achieve what can be described as "more than a tetris" and the total maximum is 22-23 with players trying to push more in the meantime. What this mechanic also manages to do well which is really a small touch is the sound effects and the visuals when you manage to achieve more than 8 lines where the visuals and sound effects change for that short moment you're in zone albeit a tiny thing, just further enhances the synesthesia this game offers. The multiplayer here was enhanced with a suite of new and unique modes with an "expansion" of sorts called Tetris Effect: Connected that manages to add Zone in a PVP setting that makes for some interesting gameplay to say the least and a new co-op mode called Connected that pits 3 players (human or ai) vs an AI boss that still manages to bring what makes this version of Tetris unique.
I don't have any real problems with this game in all honesty, some of the songs didn't hit me emotionally as hard as others and I wish this game was more widely available but it's coming with a Steam release soon so that will alleviate that issue. I suppose the matchmaking could be better as trying to solo queue for Connected can be pretty awkward at times.
Tetris Effect is the phenomena when players play Tetris to the extent where they see imagery of the game and imagining blocks from the game in the real world sometimes falling or rotating. Synesthesia is essentially specific information meant for one of your senses manages to stimulate multiple senses at once. Hearing colors and tasting sounds are examples. Tetris Effect the game manages to achieve all of the good feelings in me I didn't really think I still had in me. I managed to feel nostalgic, the vibrant color of celebration along with the core message of the game that is essentially the tagline of this game.
We're all connected.
Probably the only time I beat a whole yakuza game in one sitting: https://i.imgur.com/LrZ1wxO.png
Did I enjoy it though? Well I wouldn't really say the game is as bad as everyone thinks. The game's combat was definitely clunkier than the previous' engines iterations and there was some moments I felt like they copied the same story beats with Yakuza 3 in a way. After playing Yakuza 5 and then playing this though just felt like almost everything was downgraded in a sense albeit at the cost of them using a new engine. This game should've had more time in the oven but if you're looking for another Yakuza story experience, you really nonetheless can't go wrong with this one.
Did I enjoy it though? Well I wouldn't really say the game is as bad as everyone thinks. The game's combat was definitely clunkier than the previous' engines iterations and there was some moments I felt like they copied the same story beats with Yakuza 3 in a way. After playing Yakuza 5 and then playing this though just felt like almost everything was downgraded in a sense albeit at the cost of them using a new engine. This game should've had more time in the oven but if you're looking for another Yakuza story experience, you really nonetheless can't go wrong with this one.
2018
Ruined my sense of humor for this year.
1987
It's a serviceable first entry and the first Mega Man mainline game I played and in general to Mega Man as a whole other than Zero 4 back when I was a kid. There's isn't really much to this game but the powers you get are pretty cool and it doesn't take too long to beat anyway so I'm glad I played a part of gaming history.
Overcoming nihilism
I didn't think I would like this game at all but it's surprisingly decent despite the overall design and the gameplay quirks.
I feel like it over encumbered me with all the brand new mechanics introduced in this game compared to the first game which made the game a bit more overbearing. I do wish Blades had a slightly better chances of getting rares considering I only got 10 rares by the end of a 49 hour playthrough and my biggest grievance is the sudden requirement of Field Skills in the final quarter of the game that ruined the pace of how I was playing the story.
That said, the gameplay does shine when you get into a certain state of mind and flow. The characters were pretty decent and the designs of half of the characters are actually alright despite Rex and Pyra's designs which I don't really like as much as the other designs. The soundtrack had some decent songs and doesn't really surprise me since Xenoblade 1 had an amazing soundtrack as well. Really impressive they made these huge areas on this little device too and the story was a good journey other than the first quarter being a bit too "anime" for me.
In conclusion, this is still a decent sequel to Xenoblade that tried to do way too much in the gameplay department to the point of tedium while still nailing everything that makes a JRPG good in the first place.
Never judge a game by its cover.
I didn't think I would like this game at all but it's surprisingly decent despite the overall design and the gameplay quirks.
I feel like it over encumbered me with all the brand new mechanics introduced in this game compared to the first game which made the game a bit more overbearing. I do wish Blades had a slightly better chances of getting rares considering I only got 10 rares by the end of a 49 hour playthrough and my biggest grievance is the sudden requirement of Field Skills in the final quarter of the game that ruined the pace of how I was playing the story.
That said, the gameplay does shine when you get into a certain state of mind and flow. The characters were pretty decent and the designs of half of the characters are actually alright despite Rex and Pyra's designs which I don't really like as much as the other designs. The soundtrack had some decent songs and doesn't really surprise me since Xenoblade 1 had an amazing soundtrack as well. Really impressive they made these huge areas on this little device too and the story was a good journey other than the first quarter being a bit too "anime" for me.
In conclusion, this is still a decent sequel to Xenoblade that tried to do way too much in the gameplay department to the point of tedium while still nailing everything that makes a JRPG good in the first place.
Never judge a game by its cover.
The games in here are great with a broad appeal so anyone can play with you. Only wished the online was better but it's from the same developers as the Super Mario Party game so it's not that surprising. That said I'm still looking for a mancala buddy so please add me.
2020
I love Tetris but never played Puyo Puyo before. That said the collaboration this title brings between the two does a good job although I guess I mostly wish it had more modes for individual gameplay styles that the respective console versions of Tetris brings. Still worth picking up if you're a fan of both or one of them to experience a new type of puzzle game you never played before. I mostly tried to play the adventure mode but it really wasn't doing it for me at all. I just rather have it be more about the gameplay variety.