Jank Game is Jank!

I learned this was a port of a mobile phone game after I beat it. A port with some fixes...maybe.

It starts out really cute. It feels like old 2d Zelda, but jank.

The jank is fine and then it starts getting worse and worse. What is kinda funny, turns into frustration.

The game is too long for being as jank as it is. The boss fights are terrible. Like either the devs did not know what do or did not care.

It just all feels bad. Temples become too long. Boss fights get worse and worse. You start actively fighting the game and it's jank.

One late game puzzle is horrendous and I cannot believe they thought it was okay to ship that way. The final boss is infuriating. It's jank. Has bad hit boxes. And does way too much damage to you. Sometimes taking forever to let you damage it. However I will give the devs credit where credit is due. They put a checkpoint in after the terrible phase 1. Phase 2 is laughable.

So a game that starts out charming and jank. Has absolute banging music at times. Even has meme worthy terrible moments. It slowly turns into a miserable experience. The jank is no longer funny. The design is baffling and they should be ashamed of themselves for not fixing it when they rereleased it. It's one thing for it to be this way on phones. Another whole thing when you take time to rerelease and update it for consoles and pc. I cannot imagine the second game, a botw clone, being any good based on what this game was like.

Yet another game that is just so mid. It's fine. Except for one major flaw that took a game from what could have been a 4 to a 2.5.

First off, it's pretty. Very cute. I love the cat. I love exploring the the world. The puzzles are fun. Being a cat is neat.

Now what could ruin this experience. Controls? Nope. Too long? Nope. Obscure puzzles? Nope. Enemies, bad light combat, failstates? YES!

WHY DEVS? Did someone big wig say, "This game won't do well without combat?" For the life of me I do not know why we had to have bad combat and these stupid little robots that pretty much murder you within seconds. It's not fun. Why?

It would have been a better game if it was a cat just trying to get home after falling. But no, we have to have these annoying little robots and sequences where you have to decipher the matrix before they murder you. If you wanted things to be like you missed the jump and die, fine. Reasonable. It just felt forced. Felt like someone high up forced this on what was a chill vibe of a game.

It's a short mid game. Cute cat. Cute story. Neat world. Ruined by it being gamified. No one will ever convince me that a cute cat game would not have sold well without combat and enemies.

A cute game that lasts a little too long.

Visually it is a very cute and gorgeous. The songs are all bangers. The story is wholesome and cute.

Gameplay consists of light platforming, puzzle solving and music stages. Musics stages are fun. Although I feel would be frustrating if you are trying to get high ranks. Luckily, there are no failstates! Good on the devs for making it accessible. I also feel like it's a good decision so children can play it. It's a good parent and child game. Teaches kids some valuable lessons. It has a good message.

My biggest complaint is that the charm ware off after awhile. And when that happens, the game should ideally end. Except it does not and it goes on another hour or two. Not that big of a deal.

It's a cute game that is a solid one time play. Short enough to beat in one sitting or two. It's cute and has good music. But still a mid game.

This was sure a game. I liked it, but it sure was a game.

This is one of those live action interactable games. It claims that choices matter. And they kinda do. But only for bigger moments.

The acting is fine. It's not bad enough to make fun of but also not good. The set design looks good. Camera work is good.

Here the thing. At least on the PS4 version, you gotta download the Erica App in order to play. It has an initially slow start up load. But after that, it controls fine. I have a terrible phone and I still got it to work. The entire games, all your choices, interactions, etc are done through your phone.

I don't know why they chose it to be controlled this way. Maybe to stand out. It's fine. But the ps4 controller would have been equally as good if not better.

The story is fine. I enjoyed it for what it was. It's not a bad game for what it is. It's just very mid.

I always think about going back to get the other endings. Pretty sure the game is an easy platinum. But that time never came. I ending up deleting the app to make space on my phone. And now that's why I won't go back to it. I don't have the room for it.

A cute little point and click puzzle game.

I enjoyed it for what it was. Mostly easy puzzles that logically make sense. However there were a few I found to be unreasonably obtuse.

There is not much to say about the game. It's cute. Has a good art style. It works. It doesn't overstay its welcome. Nice and short.

It's not mind blowing or anything. Good for a one time playthrough. I'll never play it again. It's very middle of the road. It does what it does fine enough.

I'm really conflicted by what to rate this game. Do I rate it based on my enjoyment or based on what the game actually deserves.

I try to rate games by what I feel like they deserve if I did not enjoy them. Not solely based on my level of enjoyment. I don't think it's a bad game. I just kinda hate it. I hate it the gameplay, not the story. I don't think I can separate my enjoyment level this time though. It was just such a deeply miserable and frustrating experience. But know, that this game probably deserves a higher rating than I'm giving it.

Just as a warning, this game is and will be highly triggering. The story is super dark. It has some good messages in it. I have no real problem with the story. It just got overshadowed by how much I hated playing it.

Gameplay is unique. Cut off body parts to solve puzzles. The problem is that doing so is tedious. Long drawn out animations. When you lose you legs it's just painfully slow. She drags herself on the ground. It's tedious and frustrating.

Imaging trying to piece together what the game wants from you. Each time you don't get it right you have to restart and see all the slow animation again. Remove body parts again. Drag your legless body around again. Just to yet again, not solve the puzzle. It's frustrating because of how tedious it is. This is the biggest flaw and why I hate the same so much.

There are so many moments where tedium is the consequence trying to solve the puzzle. It has some really fun and neat ideas. Just done poorly. The game is so slow. And it goes on for way too long.

Art style is pretty. It's a pretty game. It has decent music. I cared about the character and her struggles.

Between the tedium, janky controls, not well telegraphed puzzles, and certain instant death moments that send you back too far to do the tedium over and over until you do it. I just hated it. I was begging for the game to end. And it sure went on for another 3 hours. I beat it out of spite. I finally beat it on my second attempt playing it on stream.

The game lacks any accessible. I appreciate that it outlines certain interactables, like body parts. But that is the only accessibility feature. The camera sometimes is really far away and makes things hard to see. There is not high contrast mode for text. So I could not read most of what was on the phone.

It's a game that has good ideas but implemented poorly. It lasts way too long. It's just so tedious to do anything. I truly hated this game. But I think it's a me thing. It deserves a better rating that I'm giving it. Maybe a 3 star game at best. The story is touching. It has a great message. It is a game that might trigger you, but playing it to the end is worth seeing the message.

I'm conflicted because the story and message matters a lot to me. I just hated playing the game itself.

I can only speak to the Lara Croft Tomb Raider The Prophesy side of things. I never played the other game in this bundle.

What is there really to say about this game. It is a game of all time. It's inoffensive. Mediocre at best. It has some cute ideas. It looks nice for a GBA game. Story is so forgettable that I do not remember or probably even read it while playing.

I emulated it. Save states made the game easier. Especially because certain jumps are hard to judge and well, consequences are death if you miss it. The platforming is jank. It's the biggest issue the the game. The isometric camera angle does not do the game favors in terms of judging jumps.

Combat is fine and very basic. Although on occassion there are a stupid amount of enemies. This will lead to your death because you agro too many at a time. Boss fights, especially the final one are a bit frustrating and bullet spongey.

It feels like an OG Tomb Raider game. Literally going back and fourth between the level hitting various switches, pulling levers, etc. Sometimes a combat challenge or a light puzzle.

It's all fine. It's a game I played. I didn't hate it, but didn't like it either. This is a game to play if you kinda want to turn your brain off. A game to play if you want a new Tomb Raider experience that has the exploration of the originals. It was sure a game I played. A game of all time.

This game is vastly superior to the first.

There is much more meat to the story. I enjoyed it. It looks absolutely beautiful. The much is soooooooooo good! It's a much bigger game. Feels more like a metroidvania than the first game did. The first game you most dig down. This game you have several paths the interconnect. It still is mostly digging down, but much more variety. There are also so many secrets. You are rewarded for exploring.

Above ground is even more fleshed out. There is more than just a town. You have more above ground exploration to the left and right of town.

Gameplay loop is the same, dig, get resources, upgrade. Repeat. But now there are way more challenge rooms and secrets to find. More upgrades are found in the mines too. Traversal is much less jank. Harder to screw yourself over to where you have to die. It really is just a better game in every single way.

The final boss is a bit frustrating though. It still can get tedious. It didn't happen to me, but yet again, I can see if you are bad enough, you might screw yourself out of resources in a way to hardlock. Some of the late game challenges are frankly insane. Demands a mastery of things that to be fair are not fun to do.

It's a chill brain off game mostly. Think before you dig, you will enjoy this game. I was absolutely shocked by how much of an improvement this was over the first and how much I enjoyed it. The first game is a resource gathering game with light metroidvania elements. This game is a fully fledged out metroidvania. I highly recommend it. But you need to know the basic story from the first game to appreciate the story in the sequel.

Yet another game I really liked. There isn't much to say about it though. Story is okay. It's slightly janky. But has a fun gameplay loop. It's a good game still worth going through, just understand it not a masterpiece.

The game has good music. But it isn't that special. The game essentially is dig, gather materials, go up and sell to buy upgrades. Repeat. On occassion you find a new power up or challenges in the mines.

The biggest issue in this is that you can def softlock and the only way out is death. If you are smart about your tunnels this mostly isn't a problem. But on occasion things happen that are out of your control and death is your only option.

Although it didn't happen to me, I could see how if you are terrible and die enough you can lose enough materials to be hardlocked. But I imagine most people that will not be an issue.

Controls are a bit jank but work fine enough. The game has odd difficulty spikes. At times the gameplay loop can be a bit tedious. It's a light metroidvania.

In general, it's a very chill experience. A brain off game. Nothing special, but still really fun. If you enjoy it, I highly suggest play the sequel as it's vastly superior. It improves and expands on the concept. You will need the story in this game to understand the sequel. Or better said, to appreciate the story in the sequel.

I really love this game. It came out during one of the hardest moments in my life. It was my distraction. I dived into this game. I loved the first one so much. And I looked forward to it a lot. It released at the perfect tme for me. I will always look fondly on it for that reason. Just know while reading this review, I can't separate my bias for this game. It literally kept me sane during the worst month of my life. I am still going to try and criticize it though.

I want to first say, the whole point of this game was to take influence from the other inspiration of the MetroidVania genre. The Vania...aka Castlevania side. If you are expecting Metroid from this game, you are not getting it. Play the first game if that's what you want. This game was always advertised as more Castlevania melee combat than Metroid ranged combat. So all the reviews angry at that fact seem disingenuous by acting as if it was a betrayal or some kind of surprise. It was not. Kind of like when you read Amazon reviews and you see a one star because there was a problem with shipping but no problem with the product itself. The first game is a love letter to Metroid. This game is a love letter to Castlevania.

This is a prequel to the original game. You don't need to play the first game though to understand it. Story yet again has some twists and turns yet still takes a backseat to the world building and exploration. Yet again, has some great interactions and characters.

The world is yet again super vibrant. Really varied. Traversal is much better this time. The game has much less jank.

A few complaints, it takes a bit for the game to get going. A little slowing in letting you traverse the world. Keeps you in a box for a bit too long. The drone areas are not as fun as the main areas. They don't look as good and the 8-bit music isn't as good as their normal renditions.

Combat is more like Castlevania this time. Melee combat instead of ranged. This is what got me to try the Castlevania series. At time of writing I only have 2 more MetroidVania style Castlevanias left. That's how much this game influenced me. Yet again, once I found a weapon to my liking, I rarely changed.

As I said in the the Axiom Verge review. The music is amazing again. I know I said something about the 8-bit versions of the music being not as good. But even so, they are still soooooo good.

If you love MetroidVanias or Castlevania play this game. This game leans more on the Castlevania side of things. I feel like this game was kinda slept on. Please play it. I highly recommend it.

Axiom Verge was the first MetroidVania I played on stream. Although I was a fan of the genre, I think this was the turning point for me. I had played game in the genre prior to it like both Ori games and a few others. This game however started me down a path of MetroidVanias become my favorite genre.

The story is really neat. There are some twists and turns. But still pretty typical. The story isn't really at the forefront of most MetroiVanias though. It's the exploration and world building. This game sure has that.

The world is just so strange. So mysterious. Very colorful and varies a lot. Those you meet along the way are interesting. Especially what's on the cover of the game.

Exploring is genuinely fun. Traversal is mostly good. Although one specific traversal move requires you to double tap a direction. I hated this. It didn't work well to be honest. Might have been user error. But I personally hated it. I never got it to work consistently. The game controls well enough but can be a bit jank.

Combat is fun. You get a variety of ranged attacks. This game lean heavily on Metroid side of things. Once I found a weapon I liked, I stayed with it. Rarely changing unless forced.

Challenge wise, it fine but had odd difficulty spikes. There are a few early bosses that were really hard. But for the most part the game is well balanced.

One last complaint is that some enemies are either too small or blend in too well to the background. That was extremely annoying not knowing something was there and getting beat up for something that was not my fault.

The music is absolutely amazing. Like in my top 10 game OST amazing. Axiom Verge as a series as very good music and I highly suggest you listen to it. Music is really important in the genre as you will be going backtracking a lot.

I have given this game a lot of praise. It's such a great game. A bit jank. A bit unbalanced. A few late game collectables are well...not fun to get. They require a mastery of the controls and I gave up. But most can be obtained without a mastery. The dev even put in a few super funny trolls and jokes.

Play this game if you love MetroidVanias. Play it if you love Metroid. It leans so much on Metroid. I love this game, but I personally lean more towards Castlevania than Metroid. It's a great take on Metroid without all the things I hate about Metroid. Please play it.

This is exactly what I expect from a sequel.

First off, the accessibility features are vastly improved. It literally made some things possible for me to do. I don't say this often on backloggd but I'm legally blind. Accessibility is important to me. The one thing I wish they had was a true photosensitivity mode. The game can be a bit flashy at times and I wish they had addressed it.

Story this time around is absolutely amazing. It's bigger and better than the first. There are also just some stuff I never saw coming. I don't want to spoil, so that's all I'll say.

Gameplay is honestly the same mostly. Just improved. Playing as both Miles and Peter is just fun. I struggled to choose which one I liked playing as more. Both are equally as fun. Combat is the same but tightened with some extra mechanics that are enjoyable. There is too many options still. Traveling is as usual, just a delight. The forced stealth is even improved.

There is far less bloat in this game. The extra collectables and side missions don't overstay their welcome. They don't overwhelm you with the shear amount dumped on you at once. It's quality over quantity.

They first had a problem with it being too gamified. Everything had a tier medals and it made the game a grind. Not anymore. There are only one set of medal based challenges. Not only are they fun, but relatively easy. They also have a great story connected to them. The best part though, you don't have to get all golds!!! So the gamified complaint has been completely resolved.

I love this game so much, I got the platinum. Something I very rarely do. You do not need to grind for it all. It's as simple as do the things on the map. You will get most trophies by simply progressing through the game and doing the side content. You get enough material to unlock things easily.

The one major complaint I have is 1 collectable not being on your map. I love mindlessly collecting things. I don't want to search up and down the huge map for it though. Especially when the other collectables are clearly marked on the map. Pull up a guide for these. It's absolutely worth collecting all of them. You get a nice easter egg. I won't spoil it for you.

This is my favorite game that released in 2023. I still don't know if it was my favorite game I played regardless of release date of the year(Hopefully that makes sense). But it's either best or second best.

This is how you make a sequel. Insomniac from Spider-Man 1 to Miles Morales listened to their fan and improved what they could within the same engine. From Miles Morales to Spider-Man 2 really took what fans had to say to heart. Fixed the issues that many of us had. I wish more developers would do that. Yes, it is more of the same, but it doesn't feel that way because they refined it so much. I highly recommend this to anyone that likes Spider-Man. There are recaps in game on the start menu in case you want to skip straight to 2.

So this is more of the same from my Spider-Man Review. Except they do address a few things.

Story this time around is weaker. I still liked it of course. I really like Miles as a character. One of the villains is pretty mediocre at best. But the other main villain is really good. Miles mother is one of my favorite characters in the series.

I played the PS5 version. Which means I got all the accessibility features. That is a needed fix from the first. It is also improved little other things. Like being able to force certain crimes to happen instead of waiting for them.

The game is less bloated with extra stuff. It is still very gamified. Read my Spider-Man 1 review to understand what I mean by that.

This is an improvement. I feel like it deserves a little extra praise because they listened to fans and improved what they could. It was just held back by being built on it's predecessor. Still a pretty good expansion though.

First off, the story of this game is just good. It has some genuinely heartfelt moment that tug at your heart. Very action packed. The story is just fantastic.

This is a great example of a game that has too much to do and too gamified. However I still enjoyed my time with it.

Now what do I mean by that. A lot of the extra stuff pops up after cetain chapters. The problem is that you do one chapter, clear everything else, for it to then unload too much extra stuff again. And the biggest issue is that most of it isn't all that interesting. It lacks variety. I got so disheartened after completing everything before the 2nd last mission to then have the whole map covered again right before the final mission. So much so, that I stopped doing the side missions and just beat the game. They went with quantity over quality

The other major issue I had is everything is gamified for no reason. Not everything needed to have gold, silver and bronze medals. It really ruins the experience if you want to unlocks stuff. Between this and have to wait for certain crimes to happen, it made the game a bit of a grind.

Combat is really fun. The first time I feel like the Batman Arkham combat style has been drastically improved since its release. Also I will there are way too many options. Traveling across the map is just a joy as well. I also didn't mind the forced stealth missions. I know most people hated them though.

I feel like the remaster def fixed some very specific issues I had like the photo quest being very unforgiving. It also adds more accessibility. Too bad I played the original. I did watch someone else play some of it though to notice these differences.

This is a really good game. I loved the story. Loved the gameplay. Just felt like the game was bloated with too much to do. And that stuff to do was copied and pasted with different enemies based on the story progress. Enemy camps are not fun after you have to do them again, but this time with a new type of enemy or inside a building, when previously they were outside. That's the type of wasting my time I'm talking about. As I said earlier, quantity over quality. And if you want to unlock cool outfits, you gotta do them.

Good game. Just a bit too bloated for my liking. Too gamified.

Yet another game that does Resident Evil but JRPG well. The voice acting is pretty decent for the time. It's still meme worthy of course.

Imagine running around with static camera angles in a mansion but then random encounter grid based rpg battles. That is essentially what this game is. It's really unique.

Now, here are some of the issues. Firstly, for some reason they have breakable weapons. Idk why they chose this. It serves no purpose but to annoy. Although it mostly is never an issue. Secondly, it's really flashy(not a game for the photosensitive). Thirdly, it's slow. combat is slow. You can't skip magic scenes. At a certain point, you get annoyed while exploring because you keep get stopped by encounters.

It is a great game. Music is really good. There are 2 endings if I remember(It has been about a year(early 2023) since I played it, so forgive me if I'm wrong). Neither are hard to get. You just gotta play the final boss again. Yet again, just a really nice experience. Fun but challenging. Story is cliche but the mystery of it all makes you want to keep going. The atmosphere and exploration is what drives this game. It's fantastic. If it was just an RE clone I don't think it would be as memorable. Although the combat isn't the best, it gives the game a unique flare that sets it apart from other RE clones.

I highly suggest playing this, that I feel like, is a hidden gem. As long as you are not photosensitive. If you like light grid based combat or survival horror, it is def worth you checking out.