Lots of content, but the puzzle design is just downright frustrating. There were many times I would finish levels and not even really understand why what I did worked. Even the hint system just like tells you exactly where to place a few rails, which does nothing to guide you to the high-level goal of the level (usually because there isn't a clear one anyway). It has a nice style and some of the gimmicks are neat in concept, but I can't bring myself to keep playing this when there are much better puzzle games out there.

I came into this game with practically no knowledge, it looked vaguely similar to Danganronpa which I enjoyed so I just kind hopped in on a sale. What Buried Stars turned out to be was a Korean visual novel with some semblance of Danganronpa's mechanics, but it's own interesting story.

Basically, you play the role of one of the top contestants in a show sharing the same name as the game where the goal is to essentially raise the most hype and votes from fans. However, in an accident the show's stage collapses trapping the top 5 inside, and you are forced to uncover what happened and why while keeping your sanity through the whole situation. At first, I felt the game moved quite slowly, and I still maintain that it does take a while to pick up. This is exacerbated by the fact that your first playthrough will always end in a predetermined way. Thus, you have to play through up until that point again where you can take a different route to a more fulfilling ending.

That last point gets at my major complaint with this game, its quality of life. The game is structured to be played multiple times for different endings, but lacks the ability to: see what dialogue you have already encountered or is unchanged (let alone skip it), know where the story diverges into different routes, jump freely to different points in the story, etc. This makes for a lot of guesswork if you like to play games blind like I do. I ended up using a guide to figure out how to get the different routes, and I would recommend you do to if you plan to try the game.

That all said, Buried Stars actually had surprisingly good writing and convincing characters. Once I got a good chunk through, I started to notice the intricacies of each character and explore them by conversing on some of the optional topics. During that time, you can also check the in-game social media app to see if people are talking shit, worried, etc. which really adds to the atmosphere. I enjoyed how the plot unfolded as well, my only complaint is that there was not a very big difference between the way the two main routes of the game play out.

Buried Stars is worth a shot on a considerable discount, but as I said I strongly recommend using a guide due to the sometimes annoying play experience.

Hot off the heels of playing the first game, I was very eager to jump into part 2 — and it did not disappoint. Just to be up front, this game is a beautiful piece of media so my complaints in the grand scheme are basically nitpicks. I'll make comparisons to the first game in this review, but to be fair I don't see why you would be playing this without having played that game.

I'm going to get the easy part out of the way first; Last of Us Part 2 vastly improves the gameplay experience from its predecessor. Combat feels better in general, there are a lot more tools available to keep things interesting, upgrades are more numerous and impactful, etc. Basically any complaint that I could think of from TLOU is mitigated in part 2, and I didn't have that many to begin with.

So then, why does my brain keep telling me that the first game was a better experience? The answer is especially subjective. I am a simple person that likes relatively simple stories. TLOU Part 2 tells a very complex story with many moving parts. It touches on several different themes to varying degrees, through a wide and diverse cast of characters.

Somewhat inevitably then, not all aspects of the narrative were interesting to me. While playing, I was always itching to find out what was going to happen next. When I reflect on the game, though, I find it hard to form cohesive thoughts about the story. Maybe I'm just an idiot, but I prefer the simpler nature of the first game's narrative.

Finally, I have 2 main complaints I can articulate. They both lean into vague spoiler territory, but I won't explicitly say anything about plot points. The first one is not uncommon, but I disliked the ending sequence and to an extent the way the game leaves off. It feels very anticlimactic, and I feel there were a couple other ways they could left things that would have sparked more interest.

The other has to do with the game's "two playable protagonists" structure. After several hours of gameplay, you switch over and start essentially from scratch. On one hand, it's cool to see the differences in gameplay and personality. However, I felt this was dwarfed by how hard it messed up the pacing. It slows to a crawl after an intense sequence, and I lost a lot of motivation to keep playing. Ultimately, I am glad that I did though, this journey was not one that I will soon forget and this might be the best game overall to come out of Naughty Dog.

Finally got around to this one. For some reason, probably the near unanimous praise given to this title, I want to pick it apart and nitpick it to death. However, no flaw that I pick out seems to stick after I think about it more. I don't think the game is without flaws, but I also think that many of them play pretty well into the experience.

The obvious strength of this game is the story. I'm not going to say anything groundbreaking here since it's heavily treaded ground, but it's great. While playing it feels like it moves at exactly the right pace; scenarios are given time to be fleshed out without overstaying their welcome, and the result is an experience that feels like it skips very few beats. In particular I found the writing of the main protagonist Joel to be incredibly interesting and compelling, and Troy Baker does a great job as the voice that brings it to life.

From a gameplay perspective, I am still shocked at how much I enjoyed playing through The Last of Us. Resource management is crucial, as ammo and supplies are intentionally scarce. Since the game is compartmentalized into discrete combat encounters, I found myself constantly thinking about what I needed to use to get through but also what I could save. The shooting mechanics are not great, but I actually in hindsight see that as a plus since it forced me to play more strategically and line up the best shot I could to minimize risk of wasting precious bullets.

The only thing that disappointed me about combat I think is the low variety of tools available. Some resources I even kept an abundance of at all times since the item(s) they crafted were not very useful. Another nitpick is the "puzzles" the game throws at you between combat encounters, they are all really slow and consist of like the same 2 or 3 mechanics (pushing dumpsters, moving ladders, etc). Thankfully though, these are usually used as a time to pack in more dialogue between the characters, so ultimately I don't mind too much.

Playing the PS4 release of this game for the first time a couple years ago reminded me why I love this niche genre of superhero action I was introduced to by the Arkham games. Spider-Man delivers on making you feel like the protector of New York with barely a dull moment.

I'm mainly going to compare this to Arkham City, because I think it's a decent way to illustrate the strengths of this game. By nature Batman's mobility is much heavier, it's definitely fun in its own right but swinging through New York in this game is hard to beat. It's so damn fun to chain together swings, wall runs, and zips to move through the city, and everything looks and feels so smooth.

The second main advantage I feel this title has over Batman is the storyline. I find Peter's story in this game very human and heartwarming, and the main antagonists play a huge role in how compelling the whole thing is (although I do think Batman has a stronger overall cast of villains). There are moments in this game's story that get me feeling a certain type of way every time I play even though I know they're coming from a mile away.

Otherwise, I don't have much to say. Combat is smooth and fun, although I did find myself getting bored of it by the end of this replay. I wish there was a better way to use the variety of gadgets you have than the wheel, it feels pretty clumsy in a fight and kinda discourages me from using stuff other than the web shooters. The amount of side content is just about perfect, and most of it is pretty fun to complete (except maybe waiting around for the last few crimes you need to occur). This version nicely comes with all three short expansions, which tell a cool story when played in succession and even have some side content of their own.

A nice straightforward Sokoban puzzler. Has many of the marks of a great puzzle game. There were several times I was impressed with the design of certain puzzles, but that said there were definitely many parts that were just dumb easy or felt like filler. You could argue this is good to keep the smoke from pouring out your ears the whole time, but I think I prefer the puzzle games that are just challenging throughout.

If you enjoy this title but are hungry for a challenge then I highly recommend Stephen's Sausage Roll, and if you enjoy other Sokoban puzzlers you will certainly enjoy yourself with Monster's Expedition.

A below average platformer, an average experience. Wavetale's aesthetic is almost cool, but ruined for me personally by a certain "crunchiness" that it has and the clunky nature of a lot of the animations (especially cutscenes). The controls feel fine in some aspects and annoyingly stiff in others, which clashes heavily with the aesthetic. Combat is a joke, which would be fine if they didn't try to pretend like it should be a significant component of the game. Alas, you'll find yourself mashing away your single attack over and over on one of the few enemy types.

I didn't actively hate my time with it though, despite my gripes. There are certainly parts of the game where the movement is satisfying but usually its more about the spectacle and less about actually feeling in control. Finally, the narrative actually charmed me quite a bit by the end despite the previously mentioned bad cutscene animations. I can tell the voice talent cared about making the characters their own, even if they aren't award winning actors.

This game is nearly impossible to recommend at the retail price of $30, but I won't say it's not worth a try in the future on sale.