It's an improvement over Breath of the Wild in a few of places, but the bland writing/localization, underdeveloped plot, middling voice acting, technical bottlenecks and shallow game design choices are really holding this back from being really exceptional.

Addendum (5/30/23): Having now finished the game, and done a good bit of sidequesting, my feelings on this game are a little more sour. As I said earlier there's definitely some highlights and great moments of creativity, but it all comes back to this nagging feeling I had during the whole course of the game. That feeling being I was playing more of an expansion to Breath of the Wild than a full on sequel.

I can't say I'm a fan of the sage mechanics, the building system, or really a lot of the bosses outside one in particular. Overall feeling more disappointed with this game than anything, but I'm glad I at least gave it a shot and finished it at the very least so I could come to that conclusion.

There's some good fun to be had here, but I think there's more fun and creativity to be had in the first game. I'm honestly good on open world games for a while and I think this direction isn't it for Zelda, in my opinion at least. I miss the more linear structure that's a bit more laser focused than just throwing everything and the kitchen sink in.

Addendum (4/26/24): A 2.1 patch dropped and gave the game another honest try, while there's still some pretty big problems with the overtuned difficulty of the emerald challenges, the kart handling, and very misplaced GP courses (really that first GP is a mess compared to the rest), there is a MARKED improvement as a whole with the way the game plays now.

This still needs some hefty lifting and work on its backend and I'm still not over the moon with it, but its a step in the right direction. I'm at least happy the devs seemed to have gotten over this attitude from older comments I've seen and actually taking the criticism to heart to make it better.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Between the hour long tutorial with constant info dumping mechanics, a mess of visual components making seeing the tracks difficult, and the mechanics of racing itself being overly complex with both a ring currency system for spending to keep your top speed up...

This game's a complete mess. I really enjoyed Sonic Robo blast 2 Kart for the fact it was heavily skill based but still goofy enough that it was in line with how Mario Kart plays. This is just overkill in the audio/visual department without much of a second thought given to the actual core gameplay of the game. So much focus went into shoving so many mechanics like fast drops, ring spending, tricks off springs, etc. that it feels less like I'm racing and praying to god I do finger gymnastics to even stay on the road.

I hope they strip back some of this game or better balance it because in its current state, it's a frustrating mess that isn't very fun to play and its tutorial is a FUCKING HOUR LONG that I spent that I genuinely didn't enjoy.

1 Credit Clear on Normal - 56,782,505 Points

A charming, simple, and chaotic shmup where you play as a cute little dragon! The scoring system is ludicrous with how easy it is to cheese, 1-ups are plentiful, and there';s so much going on at once that its easy to lose track of where you are VS enemy fire.

However, this game's soundtrack absolutely whips and gets carried with immense charm. Also its short and easy to do a single credit clear! Very nice!

Treasure at their peak, in my opinion. Taking a lot of their best mechanics and ideas and just going all in on this game in particular.

Everything in this is so ridiculously well-done and over the top it honestly shocks me this was on the N64 of all thing. Exceptional controls, hardcore scoring tactics, a ludicrous (but engaging) plot, and a gritty-ass pre-apocalypse aesthetic. Game's harder than hell and is absolutely worth your time and a half to play.

Highest marks.

I appreciate this game a lot because it tries hard to cut above its weight and throws everything at the wall to see what sticks. Has details that are completely unnecessary or remnants of old development time, loaded with bizarre sights and sounds, and is just an incredibly dark game as a whole.

It doesn't nail everything it does, and finds itself having a mixed bag in its difficulty for it. But hey, it's got more love and effort than you'd believe. Worth a look and worth digging into the development of this game, fascinating stuff!

A video game about making video games while showing love for video games but also the baggage that comes from making video games.

Suda's absolute masterpiece for putting himself out there in writing and showing his struggles and love for the industry he's put work into for decades now.

Everything from the bizarre levels, absolutely eccentric soundtrack, and writing that puts it at the top of Suda game. This game is a bizarrely bland but also engaging piece of work with some of the wildest choices I've seen in terms of aesthetics and references.

The gameplay definitely won't be for everyone and it definitely drags for too long in a few stages, but I'll tell you one thing:

The second DLC is one of the greatest pieces of gaming media ever created and drops this for a boss tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eemi8NrrPTE

All killer, very little filler JRPG that definitely holds its own years later. Had I played this as a kid, I would've ADORED it.

Now at my age, it's showing its age and rougher edges, but there's so much to love about this game from top to bottom that I honestly have to give it a huge recommendation. The only real blemishes I've found are some of the late-game fights do get pretty aggressive compared to everything else in the game being more on par with your stats/party compositions. The other little ding is I feel it doesn't quite do enough with some areas, and others just drag for far too long that aren't entirely enjoyable. Besides that, this is a very solid game to play through and its considered a classic by many for a reason. Definitely give this a peek.

I see a lot of reviews going back and forth over the "card game" mechanics of this game and yeah it's...a little hard to exactly specify what it is since it's partially a deck building card game, but put into a free-roaming action game. A big appeal of it is that it offers risk/reward and ways to use said deck of skills for your benefit or your opponent's detriment. On top of this man of the skills have different situational uses as well and can be used purely for support even if needed. The strategy in the deck-building is definitely unique and engaging, but it also requires the player to be smart about their traversal in the environment and have a back up in case a primary strat goes haywire.

I went through about 15 deck revisions playing this and I adored just trying to figure out what would work best against the next set of enemies.

But other than that, this game is gorgeous, has a horribly depressing story to tell in a horribly depressing world, set to music that is just...hauntingly gorgeous and surreal. A one of a kind game that I don't think we'll ever see again.