Pirates and Link are both cool, but it would have been even cooler if Link was a pirate

Gameplay:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD is very much a follow-up to Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask as far as core gameplay is concerned. Link controls much like he does in those games, but feels a tad more “natural” to control in a way that is hard to explain (perhaps because his animations were improved?). Like in those games, Link is able to run around and interact with the environment, primarily via his sword, shield, and items. The sword and shield gameplay is about what one would expect, similar to the two previous games but with a new element—a sort of quick-time-event where the player must press A at just the right moment to make Link counter an enemy attack. While cool-looking I feel that the addition of reactions arguably makes the combat worse than other 3D Zelda games since it can feel like a waiting game with little between. Not every enemy operates on this system, but I find it somewhat disappointing that most of the more challenging ones do. There is not much to be said about the shield, it allows Link to block attacks when held up. Items are rather varied in Wind Waker, and while I would not say it is the absolute strongest selection in the franchise it still feels quite solid to me. I would have liked if some of them were utilized more but even as is none of them feel like they drop by the wayside too greatly.
One last main feature of Wind Waker is sailing, a new addition. Since the world of Wind Waker is a vast ocean spotted with small islands, Link must sail to get between them. Wind Waker HD also adds in the Swift Sail, which makes the boat move several times faster than the normal sail. I am sort of split on this addition; in an objective sense it is good because it cuts down on the unnecessary downtime that comes with sailing, a task which is not very engaging. However, the Swift Sail does expose just how short Wind Waker feels. The game is rather small compared to other 3D Zelda games, and in some ways it is quite noticeable. I think this topic would be better saved until I have gone over other elements of the game, so I will shelve it for the time being.
The meat of Wind Waker, as with most Zelda games, is its dungeons. Unfortunately for Wind Waker, it has without a doubt the weakest selection of the 3D games in the series. That is not to say they are bad. Generally speaking, they are fun to progress through and feel rewarding to complete. The atmosphere is great as always, doing a lot of work to sell the unique vibe of each one. The problem for me is that they really do not feel like they offer any real challenge, which makes them a bit dull at times. Barring the last main dungeon none of them are remotely non-linear, and the puzzles and battles present require little-to-no thought on the players part. I can appreciate trying to warm the player up to the game slowly but when it takes until the last dungeon for the game to pose any sort of legitimate challenge, I feel there is a problem. I fully recognize that I am probably a much more experienced Zelda player than most, but even for someone less versed in the series I think a better difficulty curve would have been appreciated. As I said before, the dungeons are enjoyable even with their flaws, but I believe the game could have greatly benefited from having just a bit more complexity. Additionally, though I would not say it is as big a problem, the game definitely feels like it is missing a dungeon or two (which we know is in fact the case based on developer interviews). There are only five main dungeons, plus two shorter segments that are probably best categorized as semi-dungeons (the Forsaken Fortress and Ganon’s Castle). I am all for shorter, high-quality games, but Wind Waker does feel a bit strangely paced and I imagine having another dungeon or two in the mix would have helped.
Despite being somewhat negative in this section, I do think that Wind Waker has pretty good gameplay. The combat is enjoyable and the dungeons are fun to explore. Ultimately, it is just missing depth. If there was a little more to it all I think the game could be even better, but as is it feels unfair to fault it too greatly.

Story/Characters:
Wind Waker leans into having a story more than any prior Zelda game, and while it is nothing complex, I thoroughly enjoy it. Link’s motivation to become a hero is rescuing his sister, making the adventure feel more personal than maybe any other game in the series from the start. Link has a ton of personality in this game, in large part thanks to how expressive his face and animations are. That goes for just about everyone else too, though they also have the benefit of being able to talk. The pirates are all fun, Tetra is a delightful character, and Ganondorf is suitably menacing even with the characterization he receives. It’s just a very solid story overall, and one with a lot for the player to chew on as well as far as subtext goes (which, as I have mentioned in my other Zelda reviews, is one of my favorite parts of the series).

Presentation:
To the surprise of few, Wind Waker HD has excellent presentation across the board. The visuals are somewhat contentious from what I have seen online, but I think they look great for the most part and make the world pop quite a bit. New textures would have been appreciated in some areas, but I cannot say they seem at all necessary to me.
The music is a similar boat (pardon the pun). It establishes an immaculate atmosphere, especially in conjunction with the visuals. The world of Wind Waker feels vast and ready to be explored, like it is just waiting for Link to plunder its lost treasures. Though I would not say it is the absolute best music the series, Wind Waker’s soundtrack goes a long way in creating the game’s distinct personality.

Conclusion:
My biggest criticisms of Wind Waker are all about what the game lacks. I wish there was more complexity in the combat, puzzles, and dungeon layouts, I wish the ocean was a little more fun to navigate, and I wish the game were longer. But personally, I find it hard to fault a game for lacking things too much when what is present is already good. Wind Waker is my least favorite 3D Zelda game having now replayed all of them, but I can safely say that it’s still great and worth the time of anyone who enjoys the series. Personally I prefer the HD remaster, but I know some like the original more, and either way I think most will have a good time with it.

Score: 81/100

SONIC!!!!!!!! (sorry I don’t know how to start this)

Gameplay:
I feel like Sonic’s 2D gameplay is ubiquitous enough that explaining it is probably unnecessary, but I’ll just start with a quick recap. Sonic Mania is a 2D platformer where the player’s character can move very quickly, which in turn changes how they progress through the stage. In a general sense, moving fast is kind of a reward for avoiding enemies since hitting them will stop Sonic (or any of the other playable characters) in their tracks, though sometimes moving slow might be a good idea if the player is looking for specific sections of a stage. Each stage is fairly large and there are a number of different ways to get the boss at the end, which is fun since it means there really is not any one correct way to go about beating any given level. I find that the quality of the bosses is somewhat hit or miss, but only one or two of the two dozen in the game were legitimately unfun to fight.
The level design itself is also worth talking about, because for the most part it is excellent. I rarely felt like I was not making progress, even when I went down a path that seemed like it might not lead anywhere. There are a good number of things to collect in each stage and even some secrets like the Chaos Emeralds, which break up the gameplay nicely. Each stage also feels very distinct from the last; even each Act within the same Zone feels very different, which makes the game feel fresh all the time since there are always new ideas being thrown at the player.
With all that said, I do have some mixed thoughts on how the game is balanced. As with the other 2D Sonic games, there is not really a health system. Whenever the player’s character takes damage they drop all their rings, and if they take damage without any rings, they die. I think this system is pretty good in a vacuum because it means that there is a clear punishment for taking damage beyond death, and it rewards players who are good enough to avoid taking hits. My problem more so has to do with the game’s lives system and how that interacts with this. The player gets three lives at the start of each game, and if they run out they get a game over and return to the beginning of the Zone (which is made up of two stages, each called an Act). Getting more lives is possible but not super easy most of the time, since they can only be obtained from collecting 100 rings or finding one of the rare item boxes that give an extra life. Since the health system means that the player’s character only has two hits per life if they fail to pick up any of their rings, boss fights can quickly get annoying. It is not so bad if the player enters a fight with a ton of rings since they can get more of them back when they are dropped, but enough get off-stage with each hit that they will still run out after a couple of hits, and this problem is much worse when the player goes into a fight with only the five or so rings that are at the checkpoint right before the boss. A few boss fights have more rings available during them, but most don’t, which makes it extremely frustrating for me when I died two or three times and then had to replay the entire Act. It feels like it actively discourages the player from learning the boss fight and ends up just making a lot of the game more annoying to play. In fairness this problem could be much worse, but that’s mostly because only a few bosses were actually hard enough that I died on them multiple times. If they just ditched the lives system I would have probably enjoyed the game significantly more, but as is I still think it is fun to play barring those problems.

Story/Characters:
I don’t really have a whole lot to say here since Sonic Mania is very light on story. The short cutscenes between each Zone are fun and do help convey some personality for the characters, but Sonic Mania really is not the sort of game anyone is coming to for the story and characters (which is perfectly fine).

Presentation:
I think the presentation of Sonic Mania might honestly be the best part of the whole game. First off, the visuals are downright beautiful. This game has some of my favorite sprite-work in any game I’ve played, and every stage is stunning. The backgrounds sell the different locales perfectly every time, to the extent that I sometimes would stop playing for a second just to admire them.
As if that were not great enough, this game has one of the best game soundtracks ever made. Tee Lopes went completely insane with this one in the best way possible, reimagining some of the series’ classic tracks in super interesting ways. More impressive to me are the new songs, which go so ridiculously hard. Every song sells the stage it is in incredibly well and does the majority of the legwork in building up that Act’s atmosphere. I can only hope they get him back for any future 2D Sonic games.

Conclusion:
Sonic Mania is a very solid game in my eyes. The core gameplay is great, the level design is solid, the visuals are excellent, and the soundtrack is among my very favorites. The lives system does make the game somewhat annoying and repetitive if you are not super well-versed in Sonic like myself, but I think the game is easy enough most of the time that it isn’t enough to hurt the game that much. If you like 2D platformers and want to play something a bit different I certainly would recommend it.

Score: 80/100

Fused Shadow? How about you fuse some good game design

Gameplay:
I honestly struggle to think of other games which improve as much as Twilight Princess does during the course of the game, which is why I would like to explain my thoughts on it in semi-chronological order. I don’t mean to say that the beginning is absolutely horrible, but it really is not all that fun in my opinion. As with every (mainline) Zelda game, the player controls Link, who in this game works on a farm in the remote Ordon Village. The entire beginning is essentially just a string of minigames and tutorials that are not especially fun and eat up multiple hours. What I find especially strange about this section is how irrelevant most of it ends up being: the only skills taught in the beginning that are relevant in the long-run are horseback riding and sword fighting, both of which are simple to the point that tutorials feel somewhat unnecessary. I can appreciate trying to make a game accessible to a wider audience, especially after Wind Waker’s poor sales, but one would be hard pressed to argue that Twilight Princess did not take it too far.
To give credit where it is due, Link controls perfectly in human and wolf form. The sword combat feels very tight and expands on the simplistic reaction system of Wind Waker with sword skills. My main problem with sword skills is that most of them are not typically very useful, because basic enemies can be killed as quickly if not faster just by hitting them a few times. The more difficult battles where they are useful are quite fun, but I wish there were more of them. Link also has the ability to transform into a wolf in Twilight Princess. The wolf form feels great to run around as, but I cannot help but feel that there may be some missed potential with it. Human Link is usually more effective in combat, and Wolf Link doesn’t really get utilized much in puzzle design.
Returning to the main quest, I feel that the first three dungeons of Twilight Princess ultimately hold it back a good deal. They are not strictly bad so much as they are relatively uninteresting. The theming of each feels like it has been done elsewhere and better in other Zelda games, and the level design is nothing to write home about. Every dungeon in Twilight Princess is extremely linear, to the point that I often found them to get a bit boring, but what the four dungeons following the third get right are their unique mechanics and theming. The Arbiter’s Grounds is an ancient crypt that actually makes some use of Wolf Link, Snowpeak Manor has Link following the instructions of one of the building’s residents, The Temple of Time has the player travel through the same area twice but in different contexts, and the City in the Sky has the game’s most challenging puzzles. I do not count any of those four among my absolute favorite dungeons in the series, but they are all quite good.
There are a few other minor points worth mentioning, namely items and bosses. I feel the items of Twilight Princess are all pretty fun to use, but the common criticism that some are too niche is valid. The bosses are generally good and certainly an improvement over the games preceding this one. The first three, like their home dungeons, are a little too simple for my liking, but the rest are all enjoyable and memorable, if perhaps a little too easy. That might be my biggest critique of Twilight Princess as a whole. I had plenty of fun as I was replaying it, but I suspect I would have enjoyed it even more if the puzzles and bosses put up more of a fight.

Story/Characters:
Twilight Princess certainly tried to have a more complex story compared to its predecessors, but I cannot say it fully succeeds. The biggest problem is that it just feels sort of unpolished. There are over a dozen “important” characters, but most of them only show up in maybe three or four cutscenes over the course of the 30~ hour game. I also take issue with some plot elements, like the one regarding Zelda around halfway through the game (which is made all the stranger by what happens just before the final battle). Most of the individual characters are still enjoyable to some degree, with the highlights being Zant and of course Midna, who is without a doubt the best companion character in the series thus far. Colin and Ralis both had some nice moments too, though I wish the game had used them more. It should also be noted that while the plot itself feels like it needed another draft or two, the subtext of Twilight Princess is as interesting as Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask. Thematically it is probably one of the strongest games in the series, and for me that does somewhat make up for its shortcomings in the story department.

Presentation:
Twilight Princess HD has very solid presentation on the whole, although I can think of a few areas where it could have been improved. Visually speaking it looks nice. I see why some people prefer the original game since it does look a bit darker, which is fitting for this game. But in my opinion the higher resolution and boatload of new textures make the HD version of the game the most impressive visually, and overall the one to play if someone is looking to try Twilight Princess out for the first time.
The other main pillar of the presentation is the music, and here my thoughts are not dissimilar from my opinion on the N64 Zelda soundtracks. The compositions are by and large good and add to the atmosphere of the game a ton, although I do think this is the weakest 3D Zelda soundtrack by a fair margin. Of greater issue is the lack of orchestrated music. The composers clearly wanted to go for a more epic score, but in some cases the midi holds it back from its full potential.

Conclusion:
Looking back on it now, I feel like this review probably came off more negative than I intended. While I have a number of grievances with Twilight Princess I still believe it is a great game. The flaws are certainly noticeable, more so than in perhaps any other 3D Zelda, but the good parts are as excellent as the best segments of other Zelda games. If you enjoy the other 3D Zelda games you will probably like this one too, but if anything I would say its relative simplicity might make it more suited for beginners than Ocarina of Time or (especially) Majora’s Mask.

Score: 82/100

The Fierce Deity may be evil, but he’s cool so it’s okay

Gameplay:
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is a singular game if there ever was one for reasons most likely already are aware of: rather than merely try to follow in the footsteps of its elder sibling, the game went in a largely new direction. The basic mechanics are mostly lifted from Ocarina of Time, including the movement, physics, swordplay, Ocarina playing, and a lot of items, but those are all layered on top of the new three day system. Every real-world minute is one in-game hour, and once three in-game days have passed, the moon will crash into the land of Termina, killing all of its inhabitants. As Link, the only way to stop it is to rewind time using the Ocarina of Time, seeking out the power to stop the calamity as he hops backwards every 72 hours.
One of the other main new mechanics of Majora’s Mask are Link’s transformation masks, which allow him to take on the form of some of the Zelda series’ other races. In essence each is mostly just a combination of different items from Ocarina of Time, but with the added twist of unique movement mechanics. I don’t have a lot to say about them other than that they are super fun to use—the expanded movement can make other games in the series feel primitive by comparison.
As is the case for every Zelda game, Majora’s Mask contains several dungeons for Link to venture through. While there are only four main dungeons present in Majora’s Mask, they are all well-designed and provoke quite a bit of thought. Each forces the player to consider the overall layout of the temple as they progress, which is something I absolutely love. The difficulty curve also feels very appropriate, which is a nice change of pace when compared to many other Zelda games. The bosses are mostly nothing to write home about, but I do find the boss of the second dungeon to be pretty fun.
Majora’s Mask is also somewhat different from the rest of the Zelda franchise thanks to its emphasis on side content. Aside from Breath of the Wild, most Zelda games have a fairly strict main path to follow (not counting sequence-breaking), with a small amount of side content thrown in for those who want to explore off the beaten path. Though Majora’s Mask still has a linear main quest, it has without a doubt the largest amount of side content in the franchise. There are all sorts of different quests and puzzles to be found, and unlike in other games, many of these reward Link with a fairly useful item: a collectible mask. Each mask has a different function, and while some are fairly useless, collecting them is still worthwhile for the benefits they provide during the game’s final battle. Even beyond that, working through the side content of Majora’s Mask is just enjoyable. The world may be coming to a fiery end, but there’s still time to make people happy.

Story/Characters:
Majora’s Mask is a fairly eclectic game with its story and characters too. The plot is not too complicated, as can be said for most Zelda games. Link arrives in the strange land of Termina, transformed into a Deku Scrub by Skull Kid (who wears the titular mask). After managing to secure the help of a fairy, Tael, and reverting back to his original form, Link is ordered to retrieve Majora’s Mask from the Skull Kid by the Happy Mask Salesman, preventing Termina’s destruction in the process. Though the story isn’t overly complex, it manages to hit some very strong emotional beats that few Zelda games (and games period) can match.
The emotional strength of Majora’s Mask is further bolstered by the game’s excellent side characters. By learning a bit about them and helping to solve their problems, the player gets to see the wide spectrum of people living in Termina. The game does an excellent job at utilizing the fact that the end of the world is imminent, exploring the wide range of reactions people have: some are depressed, others resigned, and others still in denial. Every character has a schedule they follow for the three day cycle, making each feel far more alive than NPCs present in other Zelda games (and again, in most games). Moreover, since the player has to interact with a lot of side characters to get every mask, there is a much better chance that one will get invested in the various happenings of Termina.

Presentation:
Though the 3DS remaster is largely an improvement visually, the original Majora’s Mask still looks charming. The contrast between light and dark areas is used to great effect, and in general the models look pretty good for an N64 game. I also noticed this time around that a lot of the new animations are quite a bit better than those present in Ocarina of Time.
The other pillar of N64 Zelda presentation is the music, and Majora’s Mask does not falter in the slightest. I will add here (as I did with Ocarina of Time) that the sample quality could definitely have been better, but the quality of the compositions is so great that it’s not much of an issue for me. The soundtrack is filled with memorable songs, each perfectly fitting the game’s foreboding atmosphere. I think I may very slightly prefer Ocarina of Time’s soundtrack, but Majora’s Mask’s music is absolutely incredible, and is without a doubt still one of the best game soundtracks ever composed.

Conclusion:
As I said in the beginning, with Majora’s Mask the Zelda team did the impossible—they made a sequel to Ocarina of Time, and it was fantastic. On the whole I do think Ocarina of Time is a little bit better, but that’s like comparing one five star meal to another. What is most impressive about Majora’s Mask is that it fully carves out its own identity despite how heavily it borrows from its predecessor, remaining to this day one of the most unique games Nintendo has ever released. I absolutely recommend it to anyone who enjoys adventure games in the slightest, and honestly I don’t believe the version played matters much. The N64 version does have somewhat superior gameplay, but I would not say the changes are extremely noticeable unless you are a diehard fan of the game. If you somehow have never played Majora’s Mask and are reading this review, please do.

Score: 90/100

Hot take but… Ocarina of Time good???

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a difficult game for me to even discuss since I have so much nostalgia for it—I literally grew up watching this game being played (and later playing it for myself). That said, the same goes for every 3D Zelda game to some extent, and Ocarina of Time is still my favorite of them all.

Gameplay:
Ocarina of Time’s gameplay has aged shockingly well for an N64 game. Where most of them are unwieldy in one way or another today, Ocarina of Time still feels perfectly playable, in large part thanks to its camera controls. Since there was no second stick for camera control, the developers instead used the Z button to allow the player to look ahead or lock onto enemies. I wouldn’t say it’s straight up better than having a second stick, but the lack of direct camera control never felt like an issue as I was replaying the game. Link’s movement is wonderful too, and every item has a strongly tactile feel, really giving the player a sense that what they are doing is directly affecting Hyrule.
The strong core of Ocarina’s gameplay wouldn’t matter much if there was nothing to put it to good use, but luckily the game delivers on that end as well. More than any other 3D Zelda game, Ocarina’s main focus is its dungeons. Each one offers a set of puzzles to solve and enemies to defeat, and the best part is that they are all great (yes, even the Water Temple). One thing I really appreciated this time around is how good this game’s difficulty scaling is. Every dungeon up until the Water Temple feels like an appropriate increase in difficulty, challenging the player further without massively spiking in complexity. I feel that this is not as much the case after the Water Temple, but the proceeding dungeons, while easier, still offer some challenge. And the dungeon bosses, while not overly complex, are still fun to take down (for the most part). While Ocarina does have what I consider to be the best dungeons in the series, I think the boss design has changed for the better in later entries. What I love about Ocarina’s dungeons beyond what I have already mentioned is that different dungeons challenge the player in different ways. Some are more linear, with each room being its own self-contained challenge, whereas others require the player to consider the overall layout of the dungeon as they progress. The latter style of dungeon is unfortunately not too common in later 3D Zelda games, which is a big part of why I think Ocarina’s dungeons are still the best of the bunch.
Though the dungeons are the main draw, they aren’t all Ocarina of Time has to offer. The overworld, while not too big, has plenty to offer. There are a few main side quest chains to complete, all of which offer substantial rewards, and dozens of little secrets to find. Even after having spent dozens upon dozens of hours with the game in the past, I still found new things this time. In my opinion, that is a testament to the game’s excellence.

Story/Characters:
While simple, Ocarina of Time actually has one of my favorite Zelda stories. It really is the quintessential coming of age story with a twist; it ends bittersweetly for nearly every main character. I imagine anyone reading this is already familiar with the story, but I won’t delve into any specifics here on the off chance that someone is reading. What I will say is that the Hero of Time’s story is one of the most interesting in the series to me because it encourages introspection on the part of the player quite a lot. I like that the storylines of newer Zelda games have been expanded more, but I think there is something to be said for how much Ocarina of Time gets across relative to the amount of dialogue it contains.
I would also be remiss in not mentioning that the various NPCs have excellent writing, as is typically the case with Zelda. Most of them are very strange, which helps add to the game’s undertones of weirdness (I’ll get to what I mean by that in the next section).

Presentation:
As someone who is more used to the 3DS version of Ocarina of Time, I have to say that the visual downgrade didn’t bother me much. People who are bothered by the N64 aesthetic might find it hard to get through, but personally I think it has a lot of charm.
As just about everyone knows, this game also features one of the best video game soundtracks of all time. The actual sample quality is not very good, but I can’t say it bothers me too much because the compositions themselves are exceptional. The music and visuals together do such a fantastic job of setting the variety of tones present in Ocarina, and there’s no doubt in my mind that they play an enormous role in establishing the game’s identity.
One last thing I wanted to mention is how strange this game is. I feel like the general sentiment is that Ocarina is a mostly straightforward fantasy game, but so much of it just has a strange vibe. As I mentioned before, most characters beyond the main cast look and act quite unlike real people; if anything, the fantasy races of Hyrule behave more like humans than the Hylians (though that is not saying much). Some areas of the game are also truly bizarre, like the third Child Link dungeon, and the Bottom of the Well and Shadow Temple are legitimately disturbing in some regards. I don’t mean to come off as a Zelda boomer, but Ocarina of Time just feels less sanitized than something like Wind Waker or Breath of the Wild. That is not meant to be a jab at those games—Ocarina of Time is just different from them in that regard, and I’d say it’s better for it.

Conclusion:
I know that saying Ocarina of Time is one of the best games ever is a take colder than the Arctic Circle, but it’s true. The game design is sublime across the board, the story is powerful in spite of its light touch, and the presentation, while dated by modern standards, is nonetheless respectable and charming. I could nitpick the game in some areas, such as with how there are way more rupees around than one could ever need, but issues like that do not really take away from the game. I will also mention here that while I think the 3DS version of the game is better, it’s a relatively minor upgrade beyond the visuals, so playing the original version is perfectly fine if you don’t have a 3DS or want to play on a larger screen. Ocarina of Time is still an incredible game nearly 25 years later, and it will always hold a special place in my heart.

Score: 95/100

Your Honor, it's mid

Gameplay:
(Note: I have not yet played this game’s DLC case, so this review is only for the base game).
For the most part, Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies plays like the other games in the series. I will say, however, that it does more to shake up the gameplay than any Ace Attorney game I had played prior to it (which was the original trilogy, Apollo Justice, and the Great Ace Attorney duology). As is always the case with these games, Dual Destinies has two distinct gameplay sections: investigations and trials. During the investigations, the player gathers evidence by investigating the scene of the crime and talking with the various relevant characters of the case. The former is actually somewhat different from all of the aforementioned games, as in all of those the player had the choice to investigate the entirety of each area. I found that to be a great change; while the investigations are fun in their own right, they are really intended to be the build up to the trials. To me, cutting out some investigating just felt like cutting out what often feels filler-ish in the other games. Another good change (which applies to both the investigations and courtroom sequences) is that the main characters will now periodically remove unnecessary evidence from the inventory. It just cuts down on unnecessary confusion, and while it might make some cases feel simpler than others from past games, I think that is mostly a positive. One last quality of life improvement is the ability to review the dialogue that was spoken earlier on. That feature was already present in the Great Ace Attorney games, which I had played before this one, but I thought it was fair to mention it since this one was released before those two.
The only big addition in the gameplay department comes during the trial sections. Typically, the player will read a witnesses’ statements about what they believe (or claim to believe) happened during the crime. The player’s job is to press the witnesses on their statements and point out contradictions, with the overall end goal being to prove the innocence of the defendant. The main new mechanic here are the sections that require the player to try and find inconsistencies in the witness’ emotions. It feels kind of out-of-place in a courtroom, but the Ace Attorney games are already quite zany, so it doesn’t bother me too much. I wouldn’t say that the psychology sections were bad at all, but they also felt like they were largely just a reskin of the existing witness pressing system, which isn’t as much the case for previous mechanics of a similar nature (Psyche Locks and Perceive). If it was not already clear, Dual Destinies’ main gameplay strength comes from the ways in which it refines the existing formula. It doesn’t revolutionize the gameplay, but Ace Attorney’s gameplay is good as is. After all, the main thing that carries Ace Attorney is the quality of its writing.

Story and Characters:
Unfortunately for Dual Destinies, I think the quality of this game’s writing is noticeably worse than in previous entries. First, though, I’ll start with some positives. I found all the new main characters to be good. Athena Cykes and Simon Blackquill are both characters that are fun and interesting, though for different reasons. Bobby Fullbright was likable too, especially with how he and Blackquill play off of each other. And while not new, Phoenix Wright was fun too, since now he fills a kind of mentor role.
There are some issues with the characters. One problem for me was probably Apollo, though for the majority of the time he’s fine. It just sort of feels like the writers did not really understand his character, so they had to differentiate him from Phoenix in ways that didn’t make a ton of sense and/or felt like flanderization. Bigger issues start to emerge with returning side characters. This game makes it abundantly clear that Ace Attorney has way too many “important” characters at this point, which is a shame since most of them are great in their original games. I would have loved to see more of Trucy, Klavier, Pearl, and others, but as is I would prefer if they simply had not been in the game at all. The other problem I had with the characters comes from the new supporting ones. While there are some good ones, by and large I found most of them to just be meh. Few are outright bad, but for a series chock full of memorable weirdos, Dual Destinies mostly misses the mark.
If those were my only problems with the game then I think Dual Destinies would mostly be fine, but there are bigger problems yet to discuss. To be frank, I just don’t find the plot very engaging for the most part. The second and third cases in particular were not overly interesting or fun, which is a problem when they make up around half of the entire game. They are not total slogs, but I can’t say I thought they were great either. If nothing else, I think the fact that I put this game down for a month after the third case and didn’t feel the urge to come back speaks to how middling those two cases are. Also, while not as much of a tangible criticism, another problem I have is that these games lack any standout cases. The last two (which are really just one long one) are solid, but I am not even sure that they would crack my top ten cases in the series. There is also very little follow-up on the events of the previous game, Apollo Justice, which I found disappointing. On the whole, Dual Destinies' story and characters are not bad, but I find them to be much more flawed than the other Ace Attorney games I’ve played.

Presentation:
The presentation of this game is also quite a bit weaker than the others. The music was not bad at all, but I wouldn’t say it stood out for the most part. I need to give it another listen to be sure, but it is definitely one of the weaker soundtracks in the series.
The bigger problem with Dual Destinies’ presentation are the graphics. As the first 3D Ace Attorney game, this one makes some mistakes that the later ones do not. The backgrounds are perfectly fine, but a lot of the character models look questionable. To give them developers credit, they did know where to spend their time—none of the main characters look bad in my opinion. The more noticeably ugly character models are the ones for returning side characters. I don’t think the new ones are really an issue since there is no existing portrait to compare them against, but the older characters have just that. The one that stood out to me the most is Miles Edgeworth, who just looks off putting in this game. If any character deserved to look good it was him, so suffice it to say that I was disappointed with some of the character models in this game.

Conclusion:
Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies isn’t a bad game by any means, despite my criticisms. I’d gladly recommend it to anyone who has played the preceding games, but with the disclaimer that it is a little more flawed. The gameplay improvements are nice, but Ace Attorney is more or less a visual novel, so its quality is ultimately tied to its writing. Dual Destinies’ writing is a bit all over the place, and overall it does lead to a game with more weaknesses than its predecessors.

Score: 78/100

Fire Emblem x Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: The Game

Gameplay:
Fire Emblem Engage is (in my opinion) a great return to form for the series. While I did enjoy Three Houses a good deal, the gameplay definitely got stale by the end of one playthrough. By the end of four (which is necessary if you want to play every route of the story), I was not that into it anymore. While I have only played Engage once, I can already say that it has much more replay value than Three Houses (and even many of the older games in the series). Engage’s biggest strength is that its core gameplay is super fun. As with every Fire Emblem game, battles take place on a grid divided into square tiles. Each character, or unit, takes up one tile and has access to certain weapons depending on their class. One of the biggest gameplay shake-ups of Engage is the addition of Break. This mechanic is genius in its simplicity; when a unit attacks an enemy with a weapon weak to theirs (adhering to the series classic weapon triangle of swords beats axes beats lances beats swords, as well as martial fighters beating tomes and bows), the enemy cannot counterattack during their next combat. By removing the ability to counterattack, the game heavily discourages tanking with only one unit and instead rewards the player for taking the initiative and playing aggressively. Fire Emblem’s basic gameplay has always been a ton of fun, and in my opinion Engage really takes it to the next level.
Engage’s biggest new addition are the Emblem Rings. Each Emblem Ring grants the user a powerful set of skills that allow them to turn the tide of the whole battle. Emblems are insanely strong and can tear through enemies or provide incredible support depending on which is being used, but they are surprisingly well balanced. Only some of the Emblem’s skills are granted to the character they are equipped on by default. Their most powerful skills are only usable when the unit and Emblem have Engaged, a state that only lasts for a few turns. Once it runs out, the unit can recharge it, but that requires defeating multiple enemies or ending their turn on a specific, non-usable tile that fills the Engage meter. Perhaps more importantly, Engage is not an easy game. I played on Hard Classic difficulty, and while I did not find it impossible, I also felt like I had to be careful every step of the way. Towards the end some of my units became nigh unkillable, but even then my squishier ones were still often in danger because of the game’s excellent map design. The maps of Engage feel extremely well thought out, which is a nice change of pace after some of the more recent games (Revelations, Shadows of Valentia, and Three Houses). Even if Break wasn’t a mechanic it would still be hard to tank everything because enemies will often start in such a way that they naturally end up flanking the player, and there are very few choke points in any maps. Most of the story is about battles for control of the Emblem Rings, and it makes sense given how strong they are. Battles against enemies who use them are especially brutal, but no fight ever feels impossible thanks to the unique strengths of each Emblem. They are a fantastic addition to the series, and while I don’t expect them to fully return, I hope that Intelligent Systems incorporates elements of them into future entries.
Classes and skills are also present as per usual, and in one of their best incarnations yet. Each unit has a starting class, but they can switch into any class once they are are proficient with the class’s weapons and are at least level 10 (as with every Fire Emblem game, the experience needed to level up is acquired from defeating enemies). Proficiencies are acquired from using Emblems, with certain ones giving different proficiencies. In addition to stat bonuses, each higher ranked class has a skill available to the unit using it. Every playable unit also has a unique personal skill, plus up to two skills inherited from an Emblem Ring (at the cost of SP, which is also gained from combat). On the whole the skill system has been simplified from the Fates and Three Houses, which in my opinion is a welcome change. I can see the appeal of having to take into account a bunch of different skills, but I think it gets tiring after a while. In Engage, most enemies outside of bosses only have a class skill, so the player spends much less time analyzing every single enemy on the map.
If it was not already apparent, I really enjoy Engage’s main gameplay. However, Engage also has a home base called the Somniel, where the player can run around and interact with their units. The Somniel is much smaller than its clear inspiration, that being the Garreg Mach Monastery from Three Houses, but I prefer that since it cuts down on time spent running around. In general I found that the Monastery sections of Three Houses got to feel tedious, so I appreciate that the Somniel is not as involved. There isn’t as much new dialogue after each chapter, and most of the side activities are not necessary for optimal play.

Story/Characters:
Fire Emblem Engage’s main story is nothing to write home about, but I cannot say it’s terrible either. It deploys many of Fire Emblem's most familiar tropes, but there are some interesting spins on them. While the execution could have been improved, I did appreciate the attempt to give the villains some depth. They are all unequivocally evil, but they still have some emotions, making them feel more realistic. I just think that it would have been better if they had been developed more evenly throughout the story, as opposed to it all being dumped out at the end. The main characters are all fun, but most of their development comes from the Support Conversations, which I’ll touch on in a bit. The avatar character, Alear, is fine but not especially great. They’re a marked improvement over Corrin and Byleth (in Three Houses, less so their subsequent appearances), but that doesn’t say much.
The Support Conversations in this game are generally pretty good. They are unlocked by having the two participating characters fight together, just like in previous games, granting both in-combat buffs as well as character development. The biggest thing about Engage’s Supports is that most of them are very zany. I personally found the cast to be a lot of fun, but I can see why some people might be put off by them. I also think Alear actually shines the most in the Supports; they work great as a straight man to the antics of everyone else.

Presentation:
The presentation in Fire Emblem Engage is arguably the best in the entire series. While the crown probably still goes to Shadows of Valentia, I think it's close. Engage’s soundtrack is fantastic, and honestly I don’t have much else to say on it. The music is varied, but it always sets the mood well. The map themes in particular were all great, and there are a ton of them too. The art style is understandably controversial, but I was not bothered by it aside from one or two specific character designs. Graphically, this is the best that Fire Emblem has ever looked. It's vibrant and colorful, with tons of little details. The combat animations are incredible, invoking the rule-of-cool style present in the GBA games. I never noticed any major frame rate issues outside of some specific cases. The UI is the only part I’d say is just okay, but it does its job.

Conclusion:
Fire Emblem Engage is a joy to play. The core gameplay is a ton of fun and the cast is largely great too. The story is serviceable, but it was enough to keep me playing. If you are someone who enjoys highly strategic games, give Engage a chance.

Score: 88/100

I’m (not) using Tilt Controls!

Since The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is finally coming out this year, I thought it would be fun to replay all the 3D Zelda games leading up to its release. I chose to start with Skyward Sword since it's canonically the first game, and because I had not yet played the HD version.

Gameplay:
As with every mainline Zelda game, Skyward Sword follows Link as he travels across a sprawling world, finding dungeons to explore as the story progresses. In reality though, Skyward Sword is one of the more unique games in the series for a few reasons. The most infamous are its now-optional motion controls, which allow Link’s movements to be controlled with motion inputs as opposed to buttons. While I enjoyed the depth that the motion controls added to the game’s swordplay, I appreciate the accessibility that the button controls add, and I actually used that layout for this playthrough since I’ve already played through the game before on the Wii. Contrary to what some may think, the motion controls are not the only unique aspect of Skyward Sword.
I would argue that the biggest difference between Skyward Sword and the other 3D Zelda games is the overworld design. In every 3D Zelda prior, the overworld was essentially just a big field (or ocean) to mess around in. It acted as a way to get from point a to point b for most of the game, and also had some treasure to be found. In Skyward Sword, this is not at all the case. The entire overworld is segmented, designed more like a typical Zelda dungeon in the sense that it requires multiple puzzles to be solved in order for Link to progress to the next area. When I first played Skyward Sword I was not a huge fan of this, but with time I have come around to this gameplay loop. The overworld gameplay still feels different from the dungeons, but not as much as in the other games.
On the topic of dungeons, Skyward Sword’s are generally very good. In fact, I think all but the first two can be considered among the better dungeons in the series. They are not overly difficult, but they demand a good amount of thinking from the player, and each has a set of completely unique mechanics that make it stand out from the others (aside from the last one, though that one is still plenty unique). The first two are not as impressive, but I think that is somewhat forgivable since the player is still learning the game at that point. I would have liked the second to be a little longer, but otherwise I have no major complaints. Most of the bosses are good too, though I still think Tentalus is one of the worst designs in the entire Zelda franchise.
As I mentioned before, I think that Skyward Sword has the best swordplay in the entire series, and this is largely because of how enemies are designed. In Skyward Sword, even enemies are puzzles. Many basic enemies, like Bokoblins, will block from one direction, requiring Link to hit them from another in order to deal damage. It gives the combat a lot more depth than the other 3D games (barring Breath of the Wild), and feels like a huge step up from Wind Waker and Twilight Princess. The items Link obtains over the course of the game also are used to take down enemies sometimes, which helps to keep combat fresh.
One last thing I want to touch on is how items work in Skyward Sword, because I think it is a major improvement from some other games. One problem that Twilight Princess in particular is infamous for is that it introduces a lot of items that are only useful in very specific circumstances. Skyward Sword manages to completely sidestep that issue by giving the player items that generally have a lot of utility. Most items have some kind of combat utility, like the Slingshot stunning enemies or the Whip stealing items from some of them. Even those that do not do much in combat, like the Clawshots, still have utility in exploration. I also like how many items can be upgraded. It adds a nice sense of progression to the game without feeling grindy, since the upgrades are never necessary to progress the story.

Story:
Skyward Sword was made to be the most cinematic Zelda game when it was released, and I think it still holds that title today. It has a ton of cutscenes, more than any other game in the series aside from maybe Breath of the Wild. That said, I still think that the story could have used a little more focus. It is not bad by any means—I would rank it as one of the better stories in the franchise. But even so, it just feels a little bit short to me. Getting to see more of Zelda’s adventure with Impa would have been great, but since the game is locked to Link’s perspective that never happens (aside from in a few very brief clips shown during the credits). Still, Skyward Sword does have a good core story. Link and Zelda both feel like characters with understandable motivations and growth despite the former never talking, and Groose is great. Weirdly enough I think Skyward Sword is probably the least thematically-rich 3D Zelda game, but the story is still pretty enjoyable.

Presentation:
Skyward Sword HD’s visuals are good, albeit with an asterisk. I’ve always liked the game’s art style and I think that it looks nice in HD, but I also feel that it does not translate perfectly. The watercolor look of the original game was great for the Wii because the console’s low resolution worked well with the game’s slight blurriness. Since the game now runs in 1080p at 60fps, the rougher edges of the game’s visuals are sometimes more apparent. I would not call it bad looking by any means, but I think that it is fair to say that the game’s art style was not made with HD in mind. Getting to play a Zelda game in 60fps was great though, and I hope that is the standard going forward (it won’t be for Tears of the Kingdom, but maybe after that).
The soundtrack to Skyward Sword still holds up well. I would say its one of the better Zelda soundtracks, but it does not quite live up to the heights of the N64 games (which have my favorite music in the series). The sound quality is great too since most of the music is fully orchestrated, though that does make the couple of tracks that heavily rely on midi much more noticeable.

Conclusion:
Skyward Sword is still a great game. The Switch remaster does make some good changes, like the new controls and the toning down of Fi’s interruptions, but the core of the game is still as it was in 2011. Having replayed, I can safely say that it is a good time, but not necessarily the absolute best that the Zelda series has to offer. If anything, though, that just speaks to the overall quality of the franchise.

Score: 85/100

Berserk the Video Game

Gameplay:
I should probably mention for context that Elden Ring is the first FromSoftware game I’ve played any real amount of. I played about an hour of Dark Souls Remastered before realizing that I was not enjoying it at all, and I’ve never even touched the others. I wasn’t sure about Elden Ring going in, but I’d heard a lot of good things about it so I gave it a shot. As it turns out, it’s really good.
Elden Ring features a massive open world to explore on par with the best of the best. There are multiple points of interest no matter what direction the player is looking, and that means there’s always something to work towards. Moreover, every one of those places has something to find or do. It really felt like the world was never going to end for a while, and I mean that in the best way possible. Another thing I really like about the world design of Elden Ring is that there is always more than one way to get somewhere (for the most part). It makes the world feel much more realistic, and is just more fun than being railroaded down one path or having to look up a guide to get somewhere specific. My only real complaint with the game design are the catacombs and mines that are spread throughout the world. They are not too bad or anything, but I just felt like sometimes they were more annoying than they needed to be, often spamming enemies in confined spaces. Luckily they are a relatively small part of the game, so they don’t drag it down much. Overall, Elden Ring’s world is incredible. It’s easily in the top three open worlds for me, along with Breath of the Wild and Xenoblade Chronicles X.
The other main part of the gameplay is the combat. Elden Ring’s combat is highly strategic, with plenty of room for different playstyles. Every enemy has different attack patterns that can be learned with some patience, and by exploiting them, the player can take enemies down without even getting hit. Every hit matters for the player and the opponent, and even weak overworld enemies can kill the Tarnished if the player is careless. The bosses in this game can be brutal, but even if they are too strong, there is another option: running away. Since Elden Ring is an open world game, the player has the benefit of being able to simply ignore a boss they cannot beat and do something else, then come back when they are stronger. Alternatively, they can also change around their playstyle by using a different weapon. There are more than a dozen types of weapons to try, and tons of different options within each category.
That said, the weapon system does have some problems in my opinion. Switching weapons is easier said than done once the game is further along because weapons can be forged to increase their power. Forging costs smithing stones, a relatively limited resource, so realistically the player is only going to have a few weapons they can get anything done with in the mid-to-late game. This ties into another problem, which is weapons as rewards. Unique weapons and spells (which are cast using certain types of magical weapons) are commonly given as rewards for beating bosses and mini-dungeons. I like this idea on paper, but when taking into account the relatively limited number of weapons the player can actually use (both because of the limited ability to forge and the fact that weapons require minimums in certain stats), it’s extremely rare to find a new weapon that will actually fit into a preexisting build. I literally used the starting sword that came with my class for the entire game because I had already invested a lot into it by the time I was finding alternatives that were arguably better. While that’s mostly a criticism, I will say that I like how pretty much any weapon is usable, even the starting sword. Weapons can be granted different affinities (which change how damage is calculated and add other effects) and skills using Ashes of War, which is a fun feature. There’s no penalty for switching around which Ash of War is equipped, so I had fun experimenting (my favorite ended up being the Bloody Slash).
The only other thing I want to touch on with Elden Ring’s combat are Ashes. These items can be used to summon spirits during boss battles, helping the player deal with the enemies by tanking and/or dealing damage. Sometimes they make bosses feel a little bit too easy, but they also make other extremely powerful enemies much more manageable. They are probably the best feature for new players, making fights that would have been almost impossible much easier to deal with. Despite its weapon issues, I still think that the core gameplay of Elden Ring is phenomenal. It’s without a doubt one of the hardest, most strategic games I have ever played, while also having plenty of room for experimentation and gimmick builds.

Story:
Like most people who play Elden Ring, I cannot say that I fully understood Elden Ring’s story/lore, or even came close to understanding it. That said, I still think it is pretty great. The Lands Between have so much history, and getting to slowly piece things together is highly satisfying. I certainly would not have minded more meat to the main story, but it’s still fun to see to completion, especially since there are different endings available depending on which optional quest lines have been completed.
The character writing is also quite good. The game’s NPCs have tons of personality despite not getting much time to talk, and a lot of them are quite funny. It certainly is not my favorite story of 2022, but I think Elden Ring’s story is great.

Presentation:
Elden Ring also boasts fantastic presentation. The game is not necessarily the most graphically complex thing I have ever played, but it looks fantastic all the way through, in large part thanks to its art design. The diverse color palette helps to make each of the world’s regions feel highly distinct, and the huge structures scattered throughout the Lands Between are almost Xenoblade-esque in how overwhelming they are to look at. Elden Ring is the first full single-player game I have completed on my PS5, and it looked and ran great the entire time (I used performance mode). I think it’s safe to say that Elden Ring has my favorite visuals of any 2022 game.
The voice acting, while relatively minimal, is also great. A few characters in particular stood out as being especially good, like Ranni. It’s a solid cast all around, even if there is not too much of it.

Conclusion:
Having played Elden Ring, I can easily see why it’s been lauded as a generation-defining game. Few games have ever attempted to create a world as huge and detailed as Elden Ring, and fewer still manage to match its sheer quality. In many ways, Elden Ring feels like the successor to Breath of the Wild that people have been anticipating since that game’s release. While I still slightly prefer Breath of the Wild, that is by no means a slight against Elden Ring; Breath of the Wild is among my favorite games ever made. Even if you have tried a FromSoftware game before and hated it, if you have any interest at all in Elden Ring, I highly recommend that you give it a shot. It’s without a doubt one of the most impressive games I’ve ever played and a great deal of fun, even after more than 90 hours.

Score: 91/100

I guess you could say this game performs both above and below what I expected

Gameplay:
Pokemon finally went open-world, and it’s (to my surprise) actually pretty good. The main difference between this game and its predecessors is the overworld gameplay, so I’ll start there. After a tutorial section which I found to be a bit too long and uninteresting, the player is thrown into the region of Paldea with the promise that they can go wherever they want and tackle the game’s eighteen story challenges (split across three main questlines) in whatever order they want. And as it turns out, it’s (mostly) true. The region of Paldea feels suitably huge, and every section of the world is packed with Pokemon to catch and items to grab. I can see why some people might find that repetitive, since there isn’t much other content outside of the main stories to keep people playing, but the core loop of catching Pokemon is fun enough that it did not bother me. There are definitely some interesting environments too, so that helps.
Moving around Paldea is also plenty of fun thanks to the player’s Ride Pokemon, which will be either Koraidon or Miraidon depending on which version of the game that is picked (I chose Violet, so I got Miraidon and will refer to it for the rest of my review). Aside from moving faster than the player character, Miraidon will also gain new traversal abilities as rewards for completing one of the main storylines. Even though the individual areas are big, getting around never felt like a hassle.
One area where I would have liked a little more evolution (pun not intended) is in battles. The combat itself is as fun as ever, especially with the added strategy that Tera types bring. Every Pokemon has a Tera type, which only applies when they undergo a process called Terastillization. This can only be done once per battle to one Pokemon, but it changes their type to only be their Tera type, which may not even be their regular type (or types). In addition to changing the STAB of their moves, it also may add or remove weakness. I personally feel that Tera types are the most interesting battle gimmick any Pokemon generation has added since that became a regular occurrence with Mega Evolution in Generation VI. I don’t expect it to stick around past this generation, but I really hope it does.
The reason why I started the last paragraph by saying that I have some issues with combat is more to do with the user experience. While it is far from the worst in the series, this game’s battles just move at too slow a pace sometimes. It’s especially annoying because I felt that Pokemon Legends: Arceus did a lot to speed up combat, and now we are back to this. Ultimately it’s not a huge issue, but it is a little annoying given what Gamefreak was able to do not even a year ago.
My only other gripe with the game is that there is no level scaling. I followed the optimal route through the game so that my Pokemon would not be too powerful for the story’s challenges, and I still found myself to be overleveled most of the time. I can see why some people don’t like the idea, since the current system allows for players to challenge themselves by tackling higher level areas with lower level Pokemon. Adding in minimum levels for different areas would fix that, but even if Gamefreak did not want to do that, I think at least offering the option would have been fine. As is, it sometimes felt like the game was disincentivizing me from exploring since I was getting so much EXP.

Story:
To my great surprise, the story and characters of Pokemon Violet were actually pretty enjoyable. There are three main storylines, those being Victory Road, The Path of Legends, and Starfall Street. My favorite of the three was easily the second, mostly because the main character, Arven, is the best character in the game. He gets a lot of great character development across the course of the story, and at this point I can safely say he’s among my favorite Pokemon characters. I like Nemona and Penny too (the rival characters from Victory Road and Starfall Street respectively), but I wish they had gotten more development during their main storylines. It really was not until the last portion of the game (which can only be accessed once all three stories have been completed) that I really started to like them. Victory Road also just isn’t all that interesting since it’s basically just the player going around to each gym and occasionally fighting Nemona, but mixing it up with the other two stories kept things interesting for me.
The last stretch of the game is actually the best part of the whole story, and my only problem with it is that it makes me wish we got an entire game in that style instead. I still think that Generation V has the overall best narrative of any Pokemon game so far, but Violet does come close.

Presentation:
For anyone who has not been living under a rock, this is obviously going to be the part where I dock points. First, I’ll start with the positives. The music in this game is awesome. I don’t know exactly how it compares to the rest of the series since I haven’t listened to it on its own, but I can say that it has some bangers for sure. It’s probably the second-best soundtrack I have heard from this year’s games, though Xenoblade Chronicles 3 still handily beats it. The art direction in this game is also quite good. I liked the Pokemon designs from Sword and Shield, but I think the new ones here are even better. The human designs also stand out to me as being among the best we have had, though I’m not sure if they are quite as good as the ones from Generations V and VIII (my personal favorites in terms of human designs).
Unfortunately, that is about where the good things I have to say about the presentation end. From a graphical and technical perspective, Pokemon Violet is a complete mess. Most non-Pokemon and human textures range from just barely passable to downright bad. They are somewhat improved indoors, but even then they are just okay. If that was the only issue then I would not care that much, as my gaming taste was forged in the fires of the low-res Nintendo consoles of the 2000s. However, the much bigger problem is the frame rate. It’s just downright bad most of the time. The game struggles to run pretty much no matter where you are in the overworld. I honestly kind of wish the game stuck to 20 fps, but as is it’s constantly trying (and failing) to hit 30, which I find to be jarring. I think I just kind of learned to live with it after a while since I was having so much fun with the main game, but the problems are hard to overlook. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that this game feels like it should not have been released in its current state.

Conclusion:
Pokemon Violet is a great game that could have been even better if it had gotten another six-to-twelve months in the oven. The performance issues and other problems I outlined do drag the game down a good bit, and there’s other stuff too, like the towns feeling weirdly empty. But even when I take all of those problems into account, I can’t deny that this game is the most fun I’ve had with Pokemon in a decade. I can see why the issues drag this down to unplayable status for others, but for me the foundation is so good that everything else stopped bothering me when I was playing it.

Score: 88/100 (usually I would round up to 4.5 stars, but I think the issues here are a little too egregious for that).

Thank you for teaching me how to spell Odyssey correctly Mario

Gameplay:
Super Mario Odyssey is something of a return to the past for the 3D entries. Unlike Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World, Odyssey has Mario exploring large, open areas. The gameplay is thus much more similar to Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Sunshine, though I think it’s reductive to make too many comparisons to those games. Where the first two 3D Mario games had sandbox levels, Odyssey has sandbox worlds. Each world is big and packed with things to do. There is a main storyline to be followed with all sorts of challenges specific to it, but the player is also given loads of options in how they want to gather the main collectible of the game, Power Moons. There are minigames, platforming challenges, battles with a group of enemies or a miniboss, Moons that are hidden away, and many, many more.
Odyssey features the most fully-developed moveset Mario has ever had. Running and jumping is pure fun on its own, but Mario can also do over a dozen different moves, like rolling, triple jumping, long jumping, somersaulting, diving, and jumping on top of his hat. Cappy, Mario’s hat who has gained sapience, adds an entirely new dimension to the gameplay by giving Mario a ranged move; now he can grab items that are a little far away, and knock out weaker enemies too. That’s not even Cappy’s main purpose, though. What makes Cappy special is his ability to “Capture” enemies, meaning Mario takes control of their bodies and gains their powers. It’s sort of like Mario’s take on Kirby’s copy abilities, albeit used more for puzzle-solving and specific situations than general purpose gameplay. The Capture mechanic is a ton of fun, and there is something satisfying about getting to play as Mario enemies who have been around for decades but have hitherto remained as non-playable (outside of some spin-offs).
Good fundamentals do not automatically make a good game, however; the game has to provide interesting things to do too. Luckily, Odyssey does not fail on that front either. As I mentioned before, the game is absolutely bursting with Moons to find, but that’s not all there is to do. Each of the game’s worlds (called kingdoms) has a type of currency unique to it which functions as a secondary collectible. There are fifty or one hundred of them hidden all over the kingdom (depending on the kingdom’s size), providing even more to find in each world. Another great part about Odyssey is that it finally makes its money feel useful. Regular coins essentially replace the life system; instead of losing a life when Mario dies, the player just drops ten coins, which can be picked up again if they are willing to go back to the spot where they died. More importantly on the topic of money are the Crazy Cap stores. Each kingdom has one, and they sell new hats, outfits, and decorations for Mario to buy. Some cost normal coins while others require the kingdom’s unique currency, meaning that the customization options are nearly endless. Buying different caps and suits for Mario will not change how he controls in any way, but I actually prefer this to the alternative; this way, the player is given much more free reign to customize Mario however they want.
Honestly, there is not much to complain about when it comes to Super Mario Odyssey. I do wish that the game offered a little bit more of a challenge, especially in the post-game, but I also don’t find myself minding the relative easiness of the game because it’s just fun to play through. I also can see why some people dislike the way Power Moons are handled. Unlike the older sandbox games’ primary collectibles, Moons are not hard to come by. Even when the player defeats one of the story bosses, the reward is only three Moons stuck together. It does feel like the game could have benefitted from having another main collectible that was harder to come by, but ultimately I am not overly bothered by the implementation of Power Moons. Finding them is still satisfying, and that’s what I find to be most important in a sandbox Mario game.

Story:
I doubt most people are playing Mario games for the story, but the little bit that is here is nice. While it is not as developed as Super Mario Galaxy’s plot, Odyssey still has a fun story to it. As per usual, Bowser has kidnapped Peach, so Mario has to put a stop to his plans for a wedding. I liked how the game showed off a lot of Mario and Bowser’s rivalry, which is something we don’t see as much as one would expect. Cappy is also a fun companion to Mario, though I wouldn’t have minded if he got to talk a little bit more. I don’t need him explaining how to solve every puzzle, but as is he feels a little bit too quiet. Overall though, the little bit of story and characterization present is nice. I would have liked more, but I also don’t really care that much since I’m not coming to Mario for a compelling plot.

Presentation:
Super Mario Odyssey looks great for a Switch game. The framerate is very solid (I’m pretty sure it runs at 30 fps), and the art style is great. Odyssey eschews the plastic-y look of 3D Land and 3D World for a much more varied look. Each kingdom feels highly distinct: one is almost entirely black and white, another is made up of polygonal shapes, while a third has oddly realistic humans inhabiting it. The art style’s lack of consistency might seem like a weakness to some, but it never came off as jarring or off putting to me. Instead, it just makes every kingdom feel that much more unique. Even five years after its release, Odyssey is one of the best looking games on the Nintendo Switch.
The superb visuals of Odyssey are matched by its fantastic soundtrack. Odyssey’s music has everything a game soundtrack could want: variety, flair, and songs which fit the environment they are set to perfectly. I’m not sure if it’s my favorite soundtrack in the Mario series, but it’s at least in the top three.
I suppose I should also mention the voice acting. It’s just the standard Mario fare, with some funny noises mostly from Mario, Peach, and Bowser. It’s not going to win any awards, but it fits the game like a glove.

Conclusion:
Super Mario Odyssey remains the pinnacle of sandbox Mario games. Having replayed (or played for the first time) all of the 3D Mario games in the last three years, I can safely say that it is my second-favorite, and well worth checking out for anyone who enjoys Mario and/or 3D platformers. I personally think that it is edged out by Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the title of best 3D Mario game, but that’s hardly an insult to Odyssey. The sheer creativity and artful game design on display make Super Mario Odyssey a worthwhile game for anyone who owns a Switch, even with it being over five years old at the time of writing.

Score: 90/100

Fire Emblem x SMT if it was good (no, I haven't actually played TMS)

Gameplay:
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked consists of two main types of gameplay. First are the visual novel-esque sections which take place in the overworld. The player is presented with a list of locations they can travel to, some of which have other characters in them. Most of the time, this will result in a short scene where the character that is there will talk with the party about something. The quality of these is almost entirely determined by the quality of the writing, so I will delve a little deeper into that later on. The only other main thing to mention here is that some activities in the overworld take in-game time to complete. Each in-game day only lasts for a set amount of hours, so it is important to talk to the right people. As the story progresses, talking to one person and not another can result in the deaths of characters and potential party members, so who the player speaks with does have a major influence on the elements of the story.
The other half of Devil Survivor Overclocked is combat. Like the previously mentioned visual novel sections, all combats that are not for the sole purpose of grinding use up time, so choosing when to fight can be important in and of itself. Each battle takes place on a grid, like in Fire Emblem or XCOM. The main thing that sets the gameplay apart from other SRPGs and tactics games is the party system. The party consists of four human characters, each of which are assigned two demons. Only the humans are on the map, but when they attack an enemy (or are attacked) they are drawn into a short turn-based encounter with their demons (which can be fused like in mainline Shin Megami Tensei or bought, both during the overworld sections). Each of the characters in the battle gets a chance to attack, and then the combat ends. However, both player-controlled characters and enemies can get one extra attack per combat by hitting an opponent’s weak point, being hit by an attack they resist, or landing a critical hit. This opens up a ton of strategy, making the gameplay almost like a breezier version of mainline Shin Megami Tensei. To be fair though, one map of Devil Survivor Overclocked does last significantly longer than one combat in mainline, since any given map will have at least four or five enemies on it at minimum. Speaking of the map, demons on the player’s side can also contribute there. Although only the humans on the player side move around, they and their demons can use non-combat spells outside of combat, allowing for healing, as well as demon-specific abilities like decreasing an enemies movement to one or switching places with a distant ally. The enemies also have access to these abilities, so the player side does not usually feel too overpowered.
As I said before, the gameplay has a lot of strategy, both on the map and in combat encounters. I also really appreciated the diverse range of goals for each battle. I don’t know the exact number, but I would guess that less than half of all the story maps require the player to defeat all the enemies. It may sound like a small thing, but it really does help the gameplay from getting too stale.
Unfortunately, I do have some gripes with the combat. My biggest problem by far is that I found grinding to essentially be mandatory in a few spots throughout the game. It was especially bad right at the end, where I had to grind around ten levels on my party in order to be ready for the final boss. My guess is that the player is supposed to do a free battle every now and then so that the party stays around the same level as the enemies, but my avatar character was a magical nuke and managed to carry me through any rough patches for almost all of the game. Grinding is not necessarily the end of the world, but I found it disappointing since one of my favorite things about mainline Shin Megami Tensei is how grinding is never required. The game always gives you ways to get around the enemies, even if the party is somewhat underpowered. It is possible that I just do not have the game knowledge required for that in Devil Survivor Overclocked, but from what I saw it seemed like grinding was more or less required to complete the final missions of the ending route I took. Another problem I had was that the animations for attacks and movement sometimes just felt slightly too long. They are not painfully bad at all, and this potentially just stems from my being relatively impatient when it comes to games, but I would have liked it if the game moved a bit faster. And on a similar note, my last main complaint is that the game felt a bit dragged out towards the end on the gameplay side of things. I think that is partially because of the grinding I had to do, but I would have preferred if the game was more in the thirty to thirty-five hour range, as opposed to the forty-five hours I clocked (pun not intended). The core gameplay of Devil Survivor Overclocked is extremely solid, but I think it could be a little more player-friendly.

Story:
There is a lot of story to cover in Devil Survivor Overclocked; I would estimate nearly half of the game is taken up by characters talking. Thankfully, the story and characters are generally pretty good. The basic premise is that one section of Tokyo is quarantined from the rest by the military. Right around the same time, demons begin to show up in the city. As one might guess, chaos quickly spreads throughout the quarantine, leaving the protagonists to pick up the mess. The game features a relatively small cast, with only three initial main characters: Atsuro, Yuzu, and the silent protagonist. However, more party members can be recruited as the story goes. Although I would have preferred a non-silent protagonist, I do think that the dynamic between the three main characters is good. Atsuro and Yuzu in particular have a fun, sibling sort vibe, and both make the other more interesting. The side characters are also good across the board; there isn’t really anyone I disliked or didn’t want to learn more about. If I had to praise one thing about the writing, it’s the realism of it. The characters and people in the quarantine react like real people would, mostly with panic and despair. The way the events of the plot unfold feels extremely well-thought out too. Even relatively minor ideas are explored, and the city itself does not immediately collapse. Instead, the player gets to watch all the horror spread, as demon tamers become more and more prevalent, terrorizing regular people while the military only sits back and watches.
Though I said the realism of the story was its biggest strength, I cannot help but feel that it might also be the source of its largest weakness—repetitive writing. The reason why I say this is realistic is because I feel that it makes sense people would say a lot of the same things in a situation like this. Yuzu keeps complaining about how she wants to escape the lockdown because she’s panicking, and Honda continuously brings up needing to get to his son’s surgery because he’s being eaten up by the thought of not being there. The problem is that this isn’t especially engaging; I’m fine with some repetition to remind the player what someone is about, but it feels very excessive at some points in the game. Sometimes entire talks with other characters would just feel rehashed, which I found to be frustrating given the limited time in the day to talk with people. It does not ruin the dialogue or story, but the game would have been much better had it been more concise.

Presentation:
Devil Survivor Overclocked has good graphics for a DS game. They were not notably touched up for the 3DS version from what I can tell, but the pixel art all looks fine to me. The demon art is also good on the whole, though the mix of art styles can be kind of jarring sometimes. The human characters were all designed by Suzuhito Yasuda, who I was already familiar with through the anime Durarara. I think all his designs here were strong, and I would be happy to see him involved with more Devil Survivor games, assuming a third one ever gets made.
The voice acting is also fairly strong. Every named character sounds at least good, and there are a couple of standout performances too. The faceless characters were more hit or miss, but I only recall a handful of noticeably bad ones. The only part of the voice acting I can complain about was the demon voices, which only play on the map when a demon talks. This happens infrequently, but it gets annoying for demons who talk a lot because the dialogue is not voiced; rather, the demons just make one noise, which gets repeated a lot when they have a lot of text boxes. That’s ultimately a very minor issue though, and not one I would dock the game major points for.
The last part of the presentation to discuss is the music. On the whole, I would say it is fine in a vacuum, but I would have loved for there to be more songs on the soundtrack. As is, the player is going to end up hearing the same ten or so songs for what may literally be hours, since there’s just hardly any diversity in the music. Add on the fact the songs are mostly just alright, and it makes the game’s music feel quite middling. That’s fine on its own, but it certainly is a bit disappointing when compared to mainline Shin Megami Tensei or Persona.

Conclusion:
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked is a good game that could have been great with some more polishing. Some problems (like the dragged out late-game) are not simple to fix, but I honestly think that a lot of this game’s issues could have been ironed out in this re-release. I would recommend this game to people who enjoy Shin Megami Tensei and/or SRPGs, but it does have a few foibles that bring down the experience somewhat.

Score: 83/100

Mario finally takes the one thing Sonic had over him—his speed.

Gameplay:
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is a strange game to explain, because the gameplay between the two included campaigns is simultaneously very similar and completely different. Shared between the two are Mario’s various moves, the general physics, and a ton of different mechanics. Mario feels great to control in both, albeit very slightly worse than in the Galaxy games or Odyssey. But the structure surrounding each campaign is totally different.
In the base game, things are not much different from the Wii U version. The biggest change is that every character is much faster than before, which makes the levels much more fun to blaze through, generally speaking. There are very clearly a few elements which were not designed for the speed now present in the game, but it never really presented a problem as I played through the game. This game’s level structure is basically identical to Mario 3D Land’s, just with a level map; each level is a short, linear path to the goal, which is always a flag. The biggest difference is just that the level quality is a good bit better. 3D Land’s level design was never bad, but it was fairly basic. Here, however, the developers get really creative with just about every level. Nearly every one of them introduces some new mechanic, or at least a wholly new use for a mechanic. The levels are usually pretty short, but that just means that the variety is excellent. And although the difficulty is mostly low, the challenge does ramp up as the game goes on, especially with the last two worlds of the main campaign. Best of all, there’s plenty of bonus content, like the Captain Toad levels, mystery box houses, and post-final boss levels.
Bowser’s Fury takes about as different an approach as one could imagine. The game is functionally open-world, though it is segmented so that more of it is unlocked as the player collects the main collectible, Cat Shines. A certain amount of them are required each time, but since there are more in each area than one needs, there is a good deal of freedom in selecting which ones to go after. The whole overworld is a giant lake filled with islands, each offering a couple of challenges that will reward the player with Cat Shines. Personally, I think the formula is pretty fun, though it does feel more like a concept for a new game than the more fully-fleshed out base game. There are also a couple of boss fights against the colossal Fury Bowser, wherein Mario gets to turn gigantic as well in order to fight him. They are nothing too crazy, but the spectacle of seeing all the levels I had explored now be smaller than Mario currently was was enjoyable. I did occasionally find myself annoyed by the fact that there was no easy way to get back on to an island I was exploring if I fell off, but the game design on display in Bowser’s Fury is not any less impressive than that of the base game. I think the original section of the game is a bit better overall, but Bowser’s Fury is still completely worth playing through.

Story:
There is not really anything to be said here. The plot is very standard for Mario’s standards, although I suppose it is worth pointing out that neither campaign has Peach get captured by Bowser. I thought it was fun how Bowser Jr. acted as a companion to Mario in Bowser’s Fury, and honestly it just made me realize that I would like a full Mario game where Bowser is playable.

Presentation:
The main components of the presentation in this game are the visuals and music. One look at the game will reveal that it is visually impressive; the colors all pop quite a lot, and the visual fidelity is pretty good for a Switch game. The frame rate is also very solid in the base game, though it can sometimes decrease a little bit in Bowser’s Fury (and is lower across the board due to the large overworld).
On the music front, this game is spectacular. I have not listened to the soundtrack divorced from the context of the original game, but it is certainly among the best Mario soundtracks to have ever been produced. It is much more laid-back than something like Galaxy, but I think that works to its benefit. Also, I personally feel that it says a lot about the music’s quality that I still remembered a number of tracks from the base game from back when I originally played the game on the Wii U. The new music from Bowser’s Fury is just as good, or maybe even a little better. Any doubts that Mario’s sound team might be getting weaker are entirely misplaced.

Conclusion:
Of all the Wii U ports on the Switch, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury feels like one of the most fleshed out. Not only is there an entirely new campaign that is not much shorter than the base game, but the game itself just plays differently thanks to the increased speed of all the characters. I really do not have any criticisms to level at the game; the whole package feels very well-paced, and the level design is great throughout. The open-world concept present in Bowser’s Fury is perhaps a little rough around the edges, but I still think it was a great deal of fun, and it probably justifies repurchasing the game, even for those who already had it on the Wii U.

Score: 84/100

The developers clearly never played Super Smash Bros. because Donkey Kong is very OP.

Gameplay:
Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle: The Donkey Kong Adventure is a DLC for the base game, but in many respects, it is more of a mini-sequel. While it does not differ from the base game in too many notable respects, it still has a few things that set it apart, most notably in the gameplay department. The basics are all the same, mostly: the game is a strategy game in the same vein as XCOM, where the player controls their team by moving them along a grid-based map. While the enemy side will have a number of opponents that must be defeated, the player only has three characters. In the DLC, the total roster is only three characters, so there is no option to switch around who is in the party. The three members are Rabbid Peach (who remains more-or-less identical to how she was in the base game), the titular Donkey Kong, and Rabbid Cranky Kong. The latter two are both new, and each has a good number of interesting abilities. While Rabbid Cranky Kong mostly takes his various tools from different characters in the base game, Donkey Kong sports two entirely new weapons, and a number of other powerful abilities. Not only can he pick up and throw allies and enemies alike, but he also has access to incredibly powerful DK tiles, which allow him to travel across large portions of the map instantly. They are sort of like the pipes that allow for easy crossing of the map, except that only he can use them, and he can also climb up ledges as well. Although he does feel rather overpowered, and the DLC is nowhere near as difficult as the base game, I do think that the developers were able to account for that decently well. DK’s high mobility and health encourage the player to send him deeper into enemy lines than the other two, often without assistance. It adds another layer of risk-and-reward to a game already brimming with it, and on the whole I think the DLC is about as fun as the base game was. The upgrade system and weapons shop are pretty much the same as they were before, just faster to progress through, and aside from that, there is not much else to be said. The core gameplay of Mario + Rabbids is loads of fun, and the Donkey Kong Adventure manages to retain that.

Outside of combat, there is also some overworld exploration. It’s nothing crazy, but I did think it was fairly fun in both the base game and DLC, and the puzzles, while mostly simple, are also fun to play through.

Story:
This probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but this game doesn’t exactly have a masterpiece of a story. The rabbids were surprisingly mildly amusing in the base game (as opposed to being insufferable, which is what I’d anticipated), and as I have said about a lot of things in this review, it’s more of the same. I remember the base game being a little bit more charming, but it has been over a year since I last played it, so I could be misremembering on that front. Otherwise, there is not a lot to be said here; this DLC (and the main game as well) is 100% to be played for the gameplay.

Presentation:
The graphics and art style of this game are generally pretty good. The resolution, while not noticeably good, was certainly never terrible either (though I played the whole game in docked mode, so handheld may be another story). The art style leans more towards Super Mario 3D World, and I would say that it looks nice in general. Sometimes I wish it was a little less plastic-y, but I would be lying if I said I did not like it most of the time. I also want to call out the final battle in specific for looking rather stunning.

The music is also rather good. I would not say it is among the greatest game soundtracks ever made, but it always fits well, and there are some standout tunes. My biggest complaint with the music was in the final battle, where for some reason it only plays during the enemy turn. I think they were trying to go for something a bit more cinematic there, but it did not work well for me.

Conclusion:
If you liked Mario + Rabbids, I imagine you will enjoy the Donkey Kong Adventure, and vice versa. I liked it well enough myself; the gameplay was always engaging, and the presentation was quite solid as well. Really, I do not have any major complaints. If anything, the DLC’s biggest weakness (which applies to the main game as well) is that it isn’t quite amazing at anything. It is absolutely worth checking out if you enjoy strategy/tactics games, but it will not be a revelation.

Score: 80/100