I mean... it's wrestling. Do you like wrestling? Wrestling seems alright, but it's also kind of a dick. He was the next in line for questioning to find out who really murdered my father, after Volleyball turned out to be a dead end. This time, Motorcross decided to tag along with Soccer and I, as he was a pretty big fan of not just Wrestling, but also wrestling, so we happily let him tag along as well.

Once we got there, we found Wrestling training for something, presumably a cricket match, and we interrupted him to interrogate him about where he was on the night of my dad's murder. He refused to tell us anything, because according to him, "he didn't feel like it", and no matter what we said, we wouldn't be able to convince him.

However, then Motorcross challenged him to a wrestling match, and if he lost, he would have to give us the info we requested, and so, after some reluctance, he agreed. The match then ensued, and I learned then that, surprisingly, Motorcross was actually a pretty good wrestler. Apparently he practiced it in his spare time while he wasn't doing motorcross, so that is pretty cool.

As you would expect, Motorcross ended up winning the match, and as he agreed on, Wrestling told us about where he was that night, and it turns out he was also nowhere near the crime scene. This trail keeps getting colder and colder! At least... that's what I thought.

He said he did have an idea about who the culprit could possibly be, which was good enough for me at this point. So, with the new info we now possessed, we now venture forth to interrogate our next suspect.

Game #99

I mean... it's volleyball. Do you like volleyball? Volleyball seems pretty cool. She was the first person that Soccer decided that we should interrogate, as she had been rumored to be at the scene of the crime when my dad was murdered. So Soccer, Tennis and I decided to head over to where she was, while Baseball and Motorcross decided to try to find out who else could be the murderer just in case this lead turned up cold.

Once we arrived, we had found that Volleyball was in the middle of an intense basketball match, which only made too much sense, so we decided to watch the match, waiting for after the game to finally speak with her. At this point, we managed to get her away from her team so that no further questions or accusations were thrown around.

After questioning her, we found out that she had no idea that my dad had died in the first place, and was too busy training that night for the intense match that had taken place prior to the interrogation. We at first didn't believe her, but then Soccer figured out that, since people have always said that Volleyball looked very similar to others, it was possible she could've just been mistaken for someone else. Therefore, this trail ended up being a dead end.

Nevertheless, the lineup of suspects has decreased, and we are one step closer to finding out who did indeed murder my father. The investigations will continue shortly.

Game #87

A Marvel themed tactical deck builder with persona like social elements is supposed to be a perfect match for me but unfortunately the experience is severely bugged down by weird pacing and bloat.

The game was clearly designed as a live service and while there is no mtx in the final product the design philosophy poisons every aspect of the game.

There are like seven currencies and four different types of loot boxes. Cosmetics are double locked - you randomly get them from loot boxes or activities and then they need to be purchased with another currency.
Some activities require all sort of currencies despite them being limited and unfarmable. - these things don't feel like a balance decision, they feel like things that originally meant to suck actual cash out of players. It's hard to ignore.

The pacing is off, there are a million things going on between battles. It's actually mostly fun stuff like hangouts and club meetings the characters form that all carry small social plots that make the game come alive, it's nice but they stack up and every single conversation in this game goes on for too long.
There's also a whole exploration part that I don't care for but seem to be significant for the other aspects of the game.

I always end a session feeling like I achieved very little compared to the time I've put on.

The gameplay itself is very fun! The tactical elements mesh well with the deck building and ends up being a fairly unique experience. The different characters are very well defined by their cards and most of them are fun to use. The combat has a lot of kick to it.

Letting characters change their clothes and costumes daily is a spark of brilliant design.

The story is kinda basic but the characters are fun (though overly chatty) and even the player's avatar is not a complete cardboard. They actually have enough history and personality traits to help them relate to the cast, it's well thought out.

I like that they chose a rather obscure team and featured minor characters like Magik and Nico, I wish they would go all in and avoid slapping the Avengers on top of them. On the other hand I wouldn't mind seeing an Xmen game in this style.

Just tone it down a little and drop the predatory design.

Undertale took game culture by storm in 2015, becoming the source of song parodies and fanfiction for the next three years. This should come as no surprise, because the creator Toby Fox was involved in the similarly gargantuan touchstone of Homestuck prior working primarily on the music.

Undertale itself stands tall to the hype and acclaim garnered towards it, showing nary a crack in its pristine presentation. Undertale is a story to game devs everywhere about budgeting out the assets on your title as far as possible. Its short length is made up for by telling a story through the act of restarting, so you can meet the world in a whole different way. There is something similar in the music design with leitmotifs and borderline remixes of tunes for other spaces in the game. Far from being a detriment though, this reuse is seamless in form and presentation. That's not to say there isn't a wide cast of characters, everything from boisterous skeletons to dog knights lay ahead in your journey through the caves and ruins of Undertale. Every character, even the enemies, is excited to tell you their story.

Undertale is also a tour de force in keeping the player involved. For one, it's a RPG game for people don't like RPGs. The most novel mechanical inclusion is various SHMUP styled dodging minigames to avoid taking extra damage meaning that you always feel involved in the stakes of a fight rather than mechanically hitting the same buttons without worry. Of course it need not be said how such minigames add even further to the lush character portraits of the enemies you fight. Also, Undertale is constantly out to switch things up to keep players that much more engaged, using punchy humor and reasonable puzzles to keep the player immersed that much more. Even if you removed the metacommentary and stellar 3rd act finale boss fight from the picture, you would still be left with one of the best computer games of its year, if not of its decade.

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Originally written for the SSI canon

(Played in coop with a friend) I honestly struggle to come up with anything remotely original to say in regards to kid-friendly 3D platformers. For me, they're kinda just there, fun enough and then I forget about them. Sackboy: A Big Adventure definitely has its visuals going for it, which are absolutely beautiful and richely detailed. Every level also kinda has its own idea, which is really motivating - It's always kinda exciting what's around the next corner. Especially joyous I think are the song-based levels, it's kinda sad that there's only three of them, but the emotional whiplash of hearing Britney Spears' Toxic in this game might actually be something I'm gonna be able to remember about this game. So yea... this is a fun 3D platformer, worth the time and the 30€ I payed for it.

(8-year-old's review, typed by his dad)

You get to shoot cereal at people who haven't eaten their breakfast, and it really hurts them and after a while they explode cuz they haven't ate breakfast, but then they do eat breakfast. And you drive a spoon.

...and you have a squirrel... yeah. Yeah.