Jov
170 Reviews liked by Jov
Sonic Adventure 2
2001
feels like i played this alongside my six year old self. we did it lil' buddy, we finally beat the one game we had no chance in hell of finishing without a gamecube memory card
as with sa1, there's really no point in arguing about this series since the detractors have long made up their shitty minds. sa2's an interesting beast though because it manages to excel just as much as its predecessor... in very different ways!
the speed stages are great, albeit nothing like sa1's. maybe you prefer these more linearly driven, setpiece-focused levels, but i might be partial to having a spindash that can blaze me across entire courses in a matter of seconds. i like going places i shouldn't and being rewarded for it. there's some of that here, but it's not nearly the same. that said, there's no city escape or final rush in sa1 so we'll call it a draw
treasure hunting is improved tenfold. i definitely prefer the newly limited radar system (it makes finding shards early super satisfying) and the overall increased difficulty. especially after knuckles' previous story was an absolute cakewalk. rouge is basically knuckles on hard mode and i generally prefer her side more for that. love her music too, though i wish it was more lyrically driven to better contrast knuckles
shooting's a more mixed bag. tails reps one of the best stages but also most of the worst. eggman on the other hand for the most part lives up to gamma's gameplay well enough - especially once he gets his booster. there's def a sense of flow to these that i feel a solid chunk of people don't give deserved credit because they just wanna go fast and grind rails
...which is a sentiment i don't completely identify with because i feel sa2 is more than the sum of its parts. the narrative is genuinely great and actively shifts moods and gameplay styles accordingly. you're always listening to a banger, you're never on the same sort of stage for more than a few minutes at a time - and you're always pushing closer to one of the greatest fuckin' finales you'll ever find in video games. the quality of direction really skyrocketed here. the last episode's preview alone completely solos every single scene in sa1
one strange oddity though: there's a surprising lack of shadow gameplay here. maybe the devs weren't so confident in him as a newcomer and didn't expect him to be such a hit?
if they knew what was good for them, sonic team would've just made a whole ass game where you play as shadow the hedgehog...
EDIT: after careful deliberation (replaying the shit out of everything) i've decided that i have 0 significant issues with this game. i'm not even standing by what i said about the speed stages before. they're all fuckin' fantastic and i think i might actually prefer these to sa1's (granted i need to spend some more time with that game too for confirmation)
on top of all of what i've said - i've still barely scratched the surface of the chao world content and that on its own is pretty impressive for being in an already tightly-packed game to begin with. how the fuck did this get made in two years?
i also learned last night via the extra video that city escape was inspired by sonic team constantly receiving parking tickets while living in san francisco. that's worthy of some merit on its own
and maybe this is cheating to mention since it's largely battle rerelease content, but i don't care: the multiplayer is some of the most fun i've ever had with a 2-player game
you know what - fuck it, 10/10
EDIT 2: got all 180 emblems. basically a perfect game
as with sa1, there's really no point in arguing about this series since the detractors have long made up their shitty minds. sa2's an interesting beast though because it manages to excel just as much as its predecessor... in very different ways!
the speed stages are great, albeit nothing like sa1's. maybe you prefer these more linearly driven, setpiece-focused levels, but i might be partial to having a spindash that can blaze me across entire courses in a matter of seconds. i like going places i shouldn't and being rewarded for it. there's some of that here, but it's not nearly the same. that said, there's no city escape or final rush in sa1 so we'll call it a draw
treasure hunting is improved tenfold. i definitely prefer the newly limited radar system (it makes finding shards early super satisfying) and the overall increased difficulty. especially after knuckles' previous story was an absolute cakewalk. rouge is basically knuckles on hard mode and i generally prefer her side more for that. love her music too, though i wish it was more lyrically driven to better contrast knuckles
shooting's a more mixed bag. tails reps one of the best stages but also most of the worst. eggman on the other hand for the most part lives up to gamma's gameplay well enough - especially once he gets his booster. there's def a sense of flow to these that i feel a solid chunk of people don't give deserved credit because they just wanna go fast and grind rails
...which is a sentiment i don't completely identify with because i feel sa2 is more than the sum of its parts. the narrative is genuinely great and actively shifts moods and gameplay styles accordingly. you're always listening to a banger, you're never on the same sort of stage for more than a few minutes at a time - and you're always pushing closer to one of the greatest fuckin' finales you'll ever find in video games. the quality of direction really skyrocketed here. the last episode's preview alone completely solos every single scene in sa1
one strange oddity though: there's a surprising lack of shadow gameplay here. maybe the devs weren't so confident in him as a newcomer and didn't expect him to be such a hit?
if they knew what was good for them, sonic team would've just made a whole ass game where you play as shadow the hedgehog...
EDIT: after careful deliberation (replaying the shit out of everything) i've decided that i have 0 significant issues with this game. i'm not even standing by what i said about the speed stages before. they're all fuckin' fantastic and i think i might actually prefer these to sa1's (granted i need to spend some more time with that game too for confirmation)
on top of all of what i've said - i've still barely scratched the surface of the chao world content and that on its own is pretty impressive for being in an already tightly-packed game to begin with. how the fuck did this get made in two years?
i also learned last night via the extra video that city escape was inspired by sonic team constantly receiving parking tickets while living in san francisco. that's worthy of some merit on its own
and maybe this is cheating to mention since it's largely battle rerelease content, but i don't care: the multiplayer is some of the most fun i've ever had with a 2-player game
you know what - fuck it, 10/10
EDIT 2: got all 180 emblems. basically a perfect game
Abzu
2016
Ufouria: The Saga 2
2024
Garten of Banban
2023
This review contains spoilers
this game feels so good to play as a stealth game, and an action game. the story is insane with a world that draws you in and makes you want to keep learning more about it. so unique in its presentation and gameplay and story and everything. this is a once in a generation sorta game and it would be a 10 from me if it weren't for the bloated ending cuscenes. I love overly long kojima cutscenes but the end credits are so fucking long with a crazy fill-in-the-blanks epilogue that honestly could have either been cut shorter or made optional somehow. otherwise its the best game of this generation of consoles hands down I don't ever see anything topping it.
I get really aggravated playing this game. I think I just played too much of BotW and got sick of a lot of the things you do and see in this game. I think I would have liked the game a lot more if it had a different protagonist with a different perspective on the world (thinking of the end of Red Dead Redemption). That and some more new music would have gone a long way to selling this as a new story in an old setting without it feeling like I had stayed at the party for too long.
Silent Hill
1999
Quest for 2Moo
2023
I wasn't able to finish Tears of the Kingdom.
As much as it pains me to say it, it was time for me to admit it. I hadn't play the game for over a month because it just wasn't fun anymore.
I guess I was just overwhelmed with its world, and the fact I had just finished BOTW, and all of the other games I started playing.
Nevertheless, I can still appreciate the game for what it is: a masterpiece, and will come back to it when the time is right, as I don't think it was the game that made me become tired of it.
I still hope TOTK wins the game of the year, even though I hope another game wins it.
As much as it pains me to say it, it was time for me to admit it. I hadn't play the game for over a month because it just wasn't fun anymore.
I guess I was just overwhelmed with its world, and the fact I had just finished BOTW, and all of the other games I started playing.
Nevertheless, I can still appreciate the game for what it is: a masterpiece, and will come back to it when the time is right, as I don't think it was the game that made me become tired of it.
I still hope TOTK wins the game of the year, even though I hope another game wins it.
very emotional story and music with a beutiful artstyle. fluid platforming is the best. 4 stars because will of the wisps improves on the game in a couple ways.
Only bad bit is when you fail one of the long cascading sections and have to restart the screen; this damages the cool moment these could be. A few of them I managed to do first try.
Only bad bit is when you fail one of the long cascading sections and have to restart the screen; this damages the cool moment these could be. A few of them I managed to do first try.
Sonic Origins
2022
there is enjoyment to be found in this thing, it is an nice looking compilation of the beloved classics after all. only to find it you will have to endure the ridiculous price, inconsistent physics, underwhelming content, unexplainable frame drops and the horrendously unlistenable massacre of the s3k soundrack. most of this has been fixed by fans, but that just highlights the incompetence of this release even more. the animators and headcannon deserved much better