Neat game! The meta stuff isn't super deep or interesting, and I think the review here that highlights the surface level/vague approach to mental illness is correct. That being said, it's genuinely both creepy and funny which is a pretty big win for this type of game. Additionally, this got me thinking about how much better this is because of, not in spite of, the poor english translation. Heightens the bizarre vibe of the game even more and its broken stiltedness leads to one or two lines that struck me as shockingly poetic as well.

Much like Tennis Aces, the core gameplay is an extremely solid 8/10, but the surrounding elements are 6/10, so it balances out. Can't speculate too much but I do think this game was a victim of covid wreaking havoc on the production. There are a bunch of cook/chef characters in every area that all have dialogue about how eating certain meals will help your golf game, but there is no cooking/eating mechanic? Feels like something that got cut late in production.

The story mode feels like two entirely different story modes slapped together, the first half is a fun golf adventure moving up the ranks and learning moves as you'd expect from this sort of game. I was actually looking forward to facing off against progressively more central Mario characters as time went on and finally winning the big golf tournament at the end as you do. Suddenly the game became about getting a lightning sword and defeating an evil snowman and then it just... ends. Abruptly.

Both halves were fun gameplay wise but felt completely incongruous with one another and I think each half really suffers for it. Camelot really should have just picked a lane with this and stuck to a more traditional tournament story or a fantastical RPG one because this just does not work on any level for me. They start talking about some sleeping tree that puts Bowser to sleep and then is promptly never mentioned again? Was that supposed to be a level that got cut? Everything felt so out of left field.

The lack of content is also a huge bummer. Only 6 main 18 hole courses. Camelot has promised additional content with free updates, and they better not be only adding Battle Golf courses and characters, the game is desperately in need of more traditional levels. Snow mechanics are introduced in the story mode that are then nowhere to be found in the standard golf mode, another strange omission that makes this game feel a bit rushed.

One final complaint: It's asinine that the "star clubs" for each character are not easier to unlock. This is a multiplayer game Nintendo FFS unlocks should not be this much of a grind. It pretty much forces you to stick to the default set of clubs for everyone when playing with friends so no character has an advantage unless you're willing to spend an extra 20 hours unlocking stars for each of them.

Now that the negatives are out of the way, I do really want to say that this game's core mechanics are just about perfect. Pure arcade-y golf action that's difficult to master and tons of fun gimmicks in later levels to spice things up. The additional speed golf and battle golf modes are also genius in my opinion. They add additional elements of strategy to multiplayer while also making online matches more fun and engaging than sitting around taking turns hitting balls.

Overall, the core gameplay being as great as it is really carries this and I hope the content problem is alleviated somewhat with the free updates. Nintendo has been trying the "keep people engaged by dropping free content that probably could've/should've been in the base game" strategy a lot lately and while it's worked wonderfully for Splatoon I think the balance has been very off in every other game that's attempted it.

Hope they give Camelot a bit more time and money for their next game because I can tell they're a studio that's so close to reaching the heights of their prime but isn't quite there yet because their projects are subject to a lot of constraints.

Second playthrough and the first in many years, did it to get hyped for Dread. Still really enjoyed it! The more guided nature is definitely not how I'd prefer Metroid to go and the level design has a pretty high amount of "Metroid BS" obtuse moments (Zero Mission, which I just came off of, had less for sure). That said it was still manageable and this game has some of the best action in the series due to it's more focused nature.

It also still has fantastic atmosphere. It blows my mind that they managed to make this feel so moody with the GBA's awful screen and nonexistent sound chip. The tighter design allows for some more setpiece moments and the way they slowly build the tension leading up to them had me really invested.

The story is honestly kind of amazing and yet more proof that Sakamoto is a pretty fucking fantastic director and writer who just really, really fucked up with Other M. He isn't directing Dread to my knowledge but he is producing and I honestly hope he's writing the scenario as he did for Super and this game. 2021 has had the Famicom Detective Club remakes earlier this year to prove that he was writing good stuff all the way back in '88, WarioWare to prove he's got comedy chops, and finally Dread to give him another shot at his passion project and critical darling. Stage is set for a redemption arc, let's see if he pulls it off.

Extremely funny that this game tries to do the sort of intentionally directionless/barebones "the player will intuitively figure it out" tutorialization of Flower and Journey while at the same time being a mobile game with like 4 currencies and a dozen completely obtuse systems. As a result nothing seems to have any clear purpose. But don't worry they also wrestle the camera away from you every 2 or 3 minutes for a slow, awkward cutscene with none of the emotional punch their prior games have.

Was getting by on the fact that it at least looks and sounds nice. Then I finally waded through enough of the game's BS to realize one of it's currencies quite literally monetizes the idea of connection and making friends. I'm out. Just depressing.

The Zelda series is absolutely foundational for me and each entry holds a special place in my heart. I truly think it's the greatest video game series of all time and even a weaker entry in the series tends to be better than most other games out there. Wouldn't you know that's exactly how I feel about Skyward Sword. While it is the weakest 3D Zelda the fact that it's even close puts it in very good company and it's nowhere near as bad as 2011's favorite screaming Youtubers would have you believe.

I do want to start with the changes the HD revision has brought - first up, this game cleaned up beautifully. The painterly artstyle was developed in part around the limitations of the Wii - but freed from those limitations I think it shines even brighter. The backgrounds and environments are top notch, though I've always had a problem with some of this entry's character designs (it's the lips) and that is of course still present here. This is also now the first 3D Zelda to be 60fps and it feels great.

The biggest change is absolutely the reduced tutorialization. Skippable text/cutscenes along with some dialogue being made optional improve the flow dramatically, and I'd go as far to say it even changes the tone of the game somewhat. The worst part of Skyward Sword was that the game felt downright patronizing, like Nintendo didn't trust you to tie your own shoes without their help, and it understandably generated a lot of spite in many players of the 2011 release. This is mostly fixed now. In one of the more baffling elements of this remaster, it seems that whoever was in charge of making Fi's dialogue optional stopped around halfway through the game. I swear to god this is not a joke or exaggeration, it's like they went through her text in chronological order and decided to stop bothering (there are one or two instances of removed dialogue but it's not nearly as extensive as the first half of the game). As a result Fi actually gets worse as time goes on and that patronizing feeling starts coming back right when you think it'd be least likely to. This is a real shame but on the whole I can't complain too much as the work that went into mitigating this element + fast forwarding text more generally make this a much better experience than the initial release.

So now onto the rest of the game. Motion controls are the ultimate filter, people who didn't want to give this a chance were missing out. Due to the context of it coming out right at the end of the Wii generation there really isn't another 3D adventure game out there that controls like Skyward Sword and I think that's kind of beautiful. The combat is probably some of the most engaging and fun it's ever been in a Zelda title due to the control scheme, and while there are certainly a few cases where they went overboard (swimming and the loftwing) I'd never trade it for buttons, even if that's an option now.

If Skyward Sword's biggest problem was its patronizing tone, the next biggest would be its pacing, and that is unfortunately the same as it ever was. The main quest has a remarkable amount of straight up filler and mandatory segments that feel like a slog. It's a shame as some of the ideas here are good and I don't have a problem with revisiting old areas with a twist on principle, but the amount of times they reuse things here is just too much. The silent realms I actually find very fun - you've been through here once before, now try it stealth - but the other gimmicks are very hit or miss.

The exploration is probably the worst in the entire series. I don't have a problem with that either per se - this is a Zelda game that's going for something distinctly different in its world design, but it does lead to the world of Hyrule feeling the most overtly gamey it ever has been. There's much less of a sense of discovery.

So what is there to replace that? Skyward Sword focuses mostly on linear puzzle solving. Everything below the sky may as well be a dungeon, even when it's outside of a dungeon. This leads to a pretty weird gameplay loop as the in dungeon/out of dungeon distinction feels pretty arbitrary, but I have to say the puzzles here are as fun as ever to solve.

I am pretty bummed that the actual dungeons are also mostly linear, removing the macro-puzzle element of dungeons I love so much, and I wholeheartedly disagree with people saying the dungeon design in this is better than the N64 Zeldas/Twilight Princess. Once you activate that Zelda part of your brain however, there are just a ton of quality micropuzzles to dig into here. When the game finally does start to hit its stride with this style of dungeon design around the Ancient Cistern it's just pure zen, baby.

I could really go on about everything else but this is already too long so here's the lightning round:

Story: Good but no Majora or Wind Waker, Fi's farewell does not land nearly as well as Midna's did

Music: Such a high bar here but it's good in big moments, that orchestra hits! Doesn't set an atmosphere nearly as well as Kondo's work though

Ending: This game all comes together with the final dungeon and bosses. After mostly linear dungeon design that relied on micro puzzles, the game surprises with what is hands down one of the best dungeons in the series, wrapping the micro puzzles in one giant macro puzzle so ingeniously I think Nintendo could design a whole game around the concept here. Then we go on to the two best designed fights in the game, a full test of the sword skill you've been building through the entire experience that just clicks into place beautifully.

So yeah, it's the weakest 3D Zelda game with a lot of design decisions that aren't up my alley, but it's still a damn fine experience and one I recommend to anyone who enjoyed the pre BOTW Zelda style.

What was even the point of this rambling review where I broke my thoughts up like I was writing for IGN circa 2003? I don't know lol. Anyway game gud

Yeah I did the first two chapters of the main story and I'm not coming back to this probably. Gotta love that music as always but once I booted it up and was greeted with the typical 100 currency gatcha nonsense my eyes glazed over. The actual game part is mind numbing too, it absolutely plays itself moreso than any other gatcha I've seen, and that's saying something. Gatcha really doesn't even work for the Nier series whatsoever, after doing some pulls with the starting gems and getting a bunch of literally who random nobodies with no personalities I was just left wondering who on earth would care enough to spend money trying to pull anyone who isn't one of the 7 or so main characters from Replicant/Automata.

Gotta say though the fact that the narrative of this seems to be about walking forever through an endless grind in an area literally called "The Cage" is pretty funny though. I choose to believe for my own sake Taro knew what he was doing there and didn't give much of a shit about this

idk what everyone finds so hard to understand with this game basically the theme is "don't be talking shit on the internet"




(real review to come lol, not finished yet)

My favorite steam review of all time is of this game and I am going to present it below in full:

we all knew the sky was really big...

but did you know it was THIS BIG??? (793 MB)