Genre: Narrative Experience

Released: April 1st, 2021

Platforms: PC, MacOS, Android, iOS

Developer: GoodbyeWorld Games

Publisher: Skybound Games

Language: English Audio, but but text is available for French, German, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Korean, and Simplified/Traditional Chinese.

Length: 1.5-2 hours. I rolled credits under 2 hours. About 4 hours for a completionist run.

Difficulty: None, this is a narrative expereince.

Accessibility Options: Good, see HERE for a breakdown by Family Gaming Database.

How Did You Play It: On my iPad via my Netflix subscription.

Is It Good: It’s messy and not perfect, but it can be a moving experience for many. For those looking for something different.

I found myself not enjoying the first… 75% of Before Your Eyes. The story felt more like fan fiction than professional writing, and I only kept going because the game is so short I figured I may as well finish.

The game came with my Netflix subscription, it worked on my iPad, and I had just finished God of War and was looking for a pallet cleanser, I had nothing planned that Saturday morning, and the game is a little over an hour long. Plus it’s central mechanic intrigued me.

See, Before Your Eyes is played by blinking. Like, your eyes. Your real life eyes. You point the webcam at your face, and… blink. Often time passes after you blink, it could be five seconds or five years, or you make menu selections by pointing at an object and blinking.

It’s a cool idea, but honestly, I did not get why on earth you would do something like this for most of the game. Firstly, I had technical issues, which I think was due to the game being on my iPad. Having to touch the screen sometimes I risked moving the camera, and I had to be very careful to try and keep my iPad as still as possible. I imagine this would not be as great an issue on a PC, but on my iPad I did have a few missed blinks or times the game thought I blinked but I did not.

Secondly it just seemed silly, and I wished I could just push a button instead. The mechanic seemed more annoying than anything, and an unnecessary barrier between me and making the game do what I wanted. There is as option to play without blinking, and I often considered turning the blinking off.

I am so glad I didn’t.

Because near the end I wanted to linger in the moments the story was presenting me, the plot clicking together that was much more emotional than I had anticipated. But I had to blink, and so these moments of pain, laughter, or joy must pass you by, right before your eyes.

I cried, I laughed, and I got it. I understood why the developers choose to tell this story in this way.

I don’t think they pulled it off flawlessly, and often to me it felt more like a gimmick. But when it matters, it blends interaction and story telling in a unique and powerful way that affected me and stayed with me long after the credits rolled.

Before Your Eyes is a remarkable piece of interactive fiction. There is little reason to play it again, but it if any it sounds interesting to you I suggest you try it.

It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Wink

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It was just another week. Was playing Madou Monogatari I for the Mega Drive. Was having anxiety just playing through it (I promise the review will be sometime soon) and was getting closer to the end until a Nintendo Direct happened and they announced more games for NSO. For absolutely no reason I feel the need to review the games they added. Will Angel_Arle actually review every game added? No-wait why is the review even being read like it's some opening to a series? Let me just talk about the game now.

With the Game Boy making it's debut in 1989, many companies were going to jump on it to make games and make some possibly easy money. While Capcom took some months to actually release a game for the handheld in 1990, they didn't slouch on their first outing on the handheld.

You might not be able to notice if you were to judge the cover or title here but in Japan this game is called, Red Arremer: Makaimura Gaiden. For those who don't know, Makaimura is what the Ghosts n Goblins series is called in Japan. For the middle to late 80s, Capcom's most prolific series was the Makaimura series and they already had two hits at this point especially with the second game. Instead of just porting one of those two games to the GB, it instead starred a Red Arremer which was the most iconic enemy from the series.

This game will have you playing as a Red Arremer named Firebrand as you travel through the Ghoul World going through stages and even an overworld until you fight the big main threat out to take over. You have a life bar that can go up to five hits and a flight meter which by the end can be infinite time to use. You also get different shots to use that have different uses like breaking blocks or covering the spikes with a substance to help you cling onto a second to regain your flight meter. Oh yeah you can even hang onto the side of walls and you can stay on it as much as you like. Firebrand may not walk any faster then Sir Arthur could but just jumping prowess is certainly better and can even be upgraded.

Don't take that as the game will be easy. While it is no where near as difficulty as Arthur's adventures, you will still have to give a good effort to get anywhere. You don't start out with much flight usage or even health. Enemies can even do 2 hit points to you instant killing you if you only have 2 HP maximum.

The level design itself is pretty well done at complimenting Firebrand's abilities. Nothing feels too unfair but also keeps you engaged. Firebrand is just fun to control and levels will never make you feel you have zero chance at winning. I will say the game is a little stingy on health pickups but again you should be fine and there's even an item you can use to heal your health back to full.

But that's not even the whole game experience. Once you beat a stage you are put into gameplay that feels ripped from something like Dragon Quest. With an overworld, towns, npcs, and even random encounters. The world isn't too big and it's also pretty linear for the most part.

Sadly I don't think they work as well as the devs hoped they would. Random encounters just slow the pace down to an already short game and never feel challenging and end in seconds. You can collect vials for winning along in the stages to turn them in for an NPC to give you extra lives. An NPC can also give you a password that's not even too long thankfully if you want to stop for the time being. Sadly NPCs are not too interesting and even tend to repeat themselves in the same towns.

This also comes with a gripe relating to the US release. The localization is pretty bad. While it's not the worst I've seen from Capcom, it just hasn't aged well. Playing it makes me feel like I'm reading some guy's script who doesn't know English that well. The story can still be somewhat enjoyed but it's probably best to play the Japanese version which I believe has been translated by fans.

Bosses in stages also aren't too interesting despite their big sprites. They seem to kind of just move around, do an attack and then repeat. The last two bosses don't even move with simple attacks to dodge. They can even have you refight the first boss as a random encounter near the end of the game which is annoying cause it takes so many hits. I'd argue their biggest flaw is some have blind spots you can abuse to never get hit, this even goes for the Final Boss.

The game looks pretty nice for a 1990s Game Boy game with some well done sprites and amazing environments. They really give the feeling you are in a Ghoul world that feels dark and spooky. The music also gives that same vibe with some really nice songs done by Yoko Shimomura and Harumi Fujita. I do wish some of the noises like getting vials weren't kind of obnoxious and especially the sound when NPCs speak. It's overall really well done in this department.

Overall it's a fun experience even with it's issues and while it hasn't fully stood the test of time, there is fun to be had here. They would make two more sequels before quitting the series for good. Firebrand started off pretty nicely and it was a good start for Capcom with this little brick of a handheld. Give this one a try if you haven't, you might enjoy it!

The dead space remake is an extremely high quality and faithful remake that really stands out among other remakes of it's kind. How I view the original dead space in my head is almost exactly how it is presented in my head. It plays beat by beat how the original did except for every minor nitpick the original had the remake goes out and fixes nearly all of them and adds bits of lore and refinements that you might be surprised wasn't in there originally. I totally went into the mindset when this game was announced that it was going to be a step down from the masterwork of the original and that I didn't even think it needed a remake to begin with. After finishing it, I have to give it to EA Motive they did a fantastic job. Not much more to say really, other than my singing praises.

Platinum Trophy # 175

Photosensitive epilepsy warning this game has quite a few instances of quick flashing lights.

I'm always fascinated by games that combine two genres that normally wouldn't mix. In this instance its pinball and lite RPG mechanics. There are three tables where you can play a classic game of pinball on (I didn't bother with these) and an RPG mode where you, a cute ball thing, have to rescue a princess from "Beezelbub".

The goal is simple; each table has a boss, so defeat them and move onto the next table. As expected of the time, the ball physics aren't great. The ball just bounces all over the place and I found making accurate shots to be a bit troublesome. In between tables you can purchase upgrades at a shop. You can buy stoppers which cover those lanes to the left and right of the flippers. There are also two sets of flipper upgrades that increase how much damage you deal to enemies. You can also increase your attack by simply destroying monsters on the table. Your attack power is indicated by a meter on the bottom left. If you're feeling a bit saucy, you can steal from the shop. Winning results in you walking away with a random selection of items. Lose, and you'll be leaving with a crutch and half your gold missing.

Each table is bigger than a single screen, but there's only one set of flippers, so how can I possibly progress? Well, the flippers are detachable, by pressing up or down on the d-pad it'll send them to the corresponding button press. Every now and then I would forget to send the flippers back down to the bottom of the table, resulting in my ball falling back to the previous table. Luckily you don't have to defeat the bosses again, but trying to get back to the next level is still a pain. Falling back to a previous table will also cut your attack meter by half!

Half frustrating and half charming. It's cute, but the ball physics stink. It sure is a novel concept though! The ending did leave me a bit befuddled. You save the princess, both of them do a funny dance then a hole suddenly appears sucking both of them in causing them to fall on a big magnet creature floating in a dark space that is never mentioned before and destroying it.

'System Shock 2' is a rare experience, and one worth savouring. it's a game known as a revered classic which plays a hugely influential role in the history of the medium, but also one that people struggle to finish, and after multiple playthroughs that latter sentiment is simply mystifying to me. The experience of playing this game is nothing short of excellent, with expert pacing, variety, and intuitive design throughout.

The game starts without pretensions, a brief recap of it's predecessor and then boom, you get to playing straight away. This begins a confident stride to the experience, the character creation is given cute narrative texture, but doesn't overstay its welcome—cough cough 'Fallout 3.' You're placed on board the Von Braun star-ship within minutes, where you'll spend the rest of your time. The ship has six levels, all distinct and layered, which open up to you gradually, and this is where 'Shock 2' gets to show off on the front of living up to it's prestige as an 'immersive sim classic.' While successors such as Ion Storm's 'Deus Ex' and Arkane's recent 2017 love letter 'Prey' may have surpassed it in terms of the width in their usage of similar emergent gameplay techniques, the Von Braun still has some quality RPG gaming on hand here. The systems at work in terms of buildcrafting make a difference in play-style have a substantial impact on how one proceeds through the game, and 'System Shock 2' still finds some ways to reward creative problem solving or digressions, even in it's first moments. It's the immediacy of these potential variations that makes 'Shock 2' remain a competitor in it's field after all the years.

If there's anything that may get in the way of some engaging with these things, it will be the game's sense of difficulty. 'System Shock 2' is steeped in the attitudes of it's era, unflinching depth through consequence and cost. You can save at any time and use that to your advantage in tough areas, but save-scumming will seldom protect you from the high pressure resource management, and it will only cut the time spent on a challenge down, it doesn't make combat explicitly easier or less costly. There's an insidious tension to 'Shock 2' that you don't find in other titles—even ones of it's time—that comes from the fact that essentially every action you take will have a price to it. Limited supply of cyber-modules for leveling, sturdy nanite costs for upgrades and items, as well as steadfast weapon degradation and hard-pressed ammunition all work together to send a clear message; this is not a first person shooter. This is a survival horror immersive sim. Someone who lacks experience or literacy in these fields will likely be turned off by it's unflinching and sometimes cruel direction in these areas, which is why it is worthy to warn that if you are one of these people, 'System Shock 2' will require a shift in attitude and a willingness to leave ones comfort zone.

Discomfort is the word of the day with this RPG, as the aforementioned tension in mechanics and systems dance with the game's oppressive tone. Despite holding the 'horror' label with pride, 'Shock 2' isn't constantly trying to scare you, there are several parts where you engaging in 'cooool' tactical combat against mutant monsters with late 90s IDM jamming in the background, which makes the game feel far more at home in the 'science-fiction action RPG' suite. But then there's all the other parts. A lot of people think keeping the game's music on is a mistake, since it can be responsible for the more chaotic atmosphere the previously mentioned combat sequences occasionally exist in, but what these people forget is that this is not the bulk of the game. When the electronic bangers quiet down, when the eerie ambient tracks build up, when you're sneaking through the cold ship, peeking around every corner for fear of enemies or security cameras; this is where the true horror of 'System Shock 2' gets to rear it's head. The underlying dread, the awareness of your own isolation creeping up on you, the brief gazes out into the endless black through the star-ship windows as you remember that you are truly alone, and no one is coming to save you. The layout of areas features stomach churning juxtaposition, with clean, sanitary corporate halls, untouched by the alien infestation, only for the next door down to be stricken with gore and gunk. Truly the TriOptimum way! The sickening body horror present in the creatures coming to get you subsumes their ageing polygon count, all of this uplifted by some of the best sound design in any game ever created.

The quivering call of a tortured cyborg nurse searching for you as you've hidden behind a table, croaking "come out, c-come out" or the inhuman technical garble of a lumbering Triop machine stomping in your direction, the unsettling ambient tracks are only broken by more fearful sounds like these. It is well known that this is a game where you will hear your enemies well before you see them, and this creates an almost necessary sonic reliance for the player, which does a lot to immerse them in the setting. The voice acting is really the only remotely inconsistent part in terms of 'quality.' To be blunt, yeah, some of the audio logs sound like they were voiced by random people off the street. It adds to the 90s charm of the game but it can stick out pretty badly to some people, because there are certain vocal performances which are nothing short of astounding. Terri Brosius' work as SHODAN is the most iconic for good reason, but special mention must be given to Ian Vogel as Korenchkin and Esra Gaffin as Dr Polito. Many roles were cleverly double cast, but the latter mentioned in my praise lent her voice as well to the communications of The Many, accompanying Stephen Russell to work together in creating a truly terrifying sound for the cosmic biomass.

The plot of 'System Shock 2' on paper doesn't sound too conceptually complex, which may as well be the case but that isn't a criticism. The only major flaw I think is worth bringing up on the front of storytelling would be that much like the similarly titled 'spiritual successor', Bioshock, it has a painfully obvious twist. Still, the lack of obfuscation for this turn doesn't take too much away from the overcoat of mystery the game wears, and this unsettling atmosphere and manner of which you uncover it means the narrative can remain compelling even if not thrilling on paper. Because that's the thing, this isn't paper, this is a video game. And one that knows how to leverage the mediums strengths, no less! The senses of immersion, discovery and involvement are forced upon you by how the player must engage with the Von Braun itself simply to survive. You cannot talk about why the storytelling experience of 'System Shock 2' is excellent separate from it's gameplay because you cannot separate the experience itself. They are one in the same, and that is the hallmark of a truly excellent video game.

I've now played through this game more times than I've played through most, it is a reminder for what I love so dearly about this medium, and if anything I've written here has felt inspiring in any capacity then I implore you to give this classic a spin. Only 'Deus Ex', 'Thief II: The Metal Age' and 'Prey (2017)' have either matched or surpassed it in depth of gameplay since. These games are few and far between, so savour them. If you can make it out of Med/Sci, then you can make it to the end. My only wish is that co-op wasn't a load of hot sticky bollocks, but hey fairs fair, its a bonus of the steam version and I can imagine it would have been hotter and stickier bollocks to implement to begin with. Regardless, this is one of my favourite games of all time and I can't recommend it enough!

This review is based on experience with the PC version of the game using a mouse and keyboard, as well as a first playthough which was unmodded and subsequent playthroughs using SS2Tool, SS2 Community Patch and SS2 SHTUP-ND, all of which can be found here: https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4141.0 https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=7116.0 https://www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=22.0

This is a repost of my steam review which can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/id/lneacagt/recommended/238210/

If you've ever seen a hallmark movie, then you should know what you're in for when you play this game. For everyone else, Lake is about a woman that is living the big life in the city, but decides to take a few weeks off to house sit for her parents. Along the way she meets a cast of characters that could warm your heart, while she takes up odd ball deliveries for the mail. From rekindling friendships, helping the towns folk, and the possibility of love, Lake is a care free video game about soaking everything in a place and time you may have forgotten about.

While I wouldn't call this a walking simulator, it certainly isn't pushing the player to any degree. The most amount of urgency you have is on the possibility to miss out on some optional story or dialogue options, but even then the game can be fairly open with mistakes you make or options you choose. The game isn't really that long either, ranging in about 6 hours for more lax players out there. The majority of the game is just driving from one place to deliver mail, and finishing the day back at the post office. It really does feel like a vacation back to a simple life. Delivering mail is surprisingly rewarding, but it would have made for a much more interesting game if we had more scenarios with different characters rather than the small amount of interaction we got.

Still there is something oddly captivating about Lake that makes me wonder if there is something to Hallmark movie formulas. From the possibility of a lesbian romance, more traditional hetero one, and just the over arching story of a person coming back to their home town and making it work, I was honestly a bit smitten by this game. It certainly isn't going to win any rewards for originality, but it makes me feel relaxed in a way not a lot of other games do. The fact that Lake has traditional beats to a corny movie formula, gameplay that is more fun than demanding, and a simple gameplay loop that makes me feel like I'm doing something just kinda makes me wonder what more can we do with this kind of game? For what Lake is, it delivers, and while I don't think it will set the world on fire for anyone out there, it does feel like a calming heart beat that we all need sometimes.

This is video game junk food. It's objectively terrible, but I really liked it.

Let's start with the negatives, as they are numerous. The game is slow, tedious, and repetitive.
The game is slow : Climbing is a chore, as it's quite clunky (I often ended up jumping of a wall even though I didn't want to) and Altaïr is very... careful when climbing, by what you should understand that he's as quick as a snail crawling up a skyscraper. The combat relies mostly on you waiting for enemies to attack so that you can counter them with dope-ass animations that one-shot kill a lot of the enemies, or at least give you a window to do serious damage.
The game is tedious : If I have to go through the "kingdom" one more time I will find everyone who worked on this game and make sure their families pay for their Ubisoft-working family member's sins. For the first three sequences, you have to ride your horses to the three main cities, and doing so is the worst part of the game, by far, as it is completely barren, with nothing to do except climb observation points every five meters. The map requires you to climb observation points to reveal it, and there is WAY TOO MANY OF THEM. I actually like observation points, some can procure breathtaking sights, but there is around 60 in this very small game, so the area they reveal is quite limited, and it gets very repetitive and boring, especially given Altaïr's climbing speed. To make things worse, even after going through the tedious process of revealing the map, navigating thanks to it is no easy feat. The mini-map is useless, as it doesn't show anything at all except for where the north is and where your objectives are, and the actual map isn't much better, as it doesn't show you roads for you to follow, so you just kinda pick a path and hope that it isn't a dead-end. Thankfully, you then unlock fast travel, but you still have to walk all the way from the Assassin's fortress to the the fast travel point, which will take 2 and half minutes, WHICH YOU HAVE TO REPEAT 9 TIMES. That makes 22 and half minutes out of this 12 hour game where you're repeating the same exact boring journey.
The game is repetitive: if you've done one assassination in the game, you've basically done them all, and they really aren't that interesting. You'll start by being given a speech by Al-Mualim, then you'll do the boring travel section to the town you need to go to, get into the city by camouflaging yourself in scholars, get to the bureau, then accomplish 2-3 "investigation" missions which consist of either a/ eavesdroping (sit on a bench, aim for the two guys that are talking, and press triangle) b/theft (listen to two guys talking, walk up to the the back of the one you need to pickpocket, hold circle) c/interrogation (listen to a guy talk, follow him until no guards are nearby, beat him up(which consists of alternatively pressing square to punch and then holding R1 to block without any timing involved), listen to him talk) d/collect the flags (basically a parkour challenge, pretty decent but I only got to play one even though I did around thirty of the 54 possible investigation missions) e/ assassination timer challenges (kill 2-5 dudes without being seen within the time-limit). For those of you keeping count, that's only 5 mission types for 54 possible investigation missions. That means that, on average, one type of investigation is repeated ten times, and I'm sure that there aren't as many timer challenges or eavesdropping missions that they are interrogation of theft missions, so you'll mostly be following dudes around to beat them up or pickpocket. It gets very repetitive, very fast. After that, you go back to the bureau (which can be pretty far away as well), then you do the assassination. Now this is where the game could've shined. Every investigation mission gives you info on the guy you need to kill and tips on how to kill him. For example, one guy told me that scholars would be attending a ceremony where my target would be, so I could hide amongst them. Here's the problem: firstly I never found the scholars or a victime to save to make scholars spawn, secondly, I didn't need the scholars because this game is way too easy. Even though security is often pretty tight, with a lot of enemies around the target, the target can't escape, he'll just stand and fight you. Had he been programmed to flee, putting the mission under an invisible time limit, having to avoid combat would've been a priority, and I would've been heavily encouraged to engage with more investigation or at least to be smart with my assassination, but because of how easy it is to do assassinations, I just acted as a brute who would force his way through guards. Furthermore, even when I tried being smart, the detection system is really quite clunky, and I often got spotted even though I wasn't doing anything wrong (I wasn't running, or jumping, or climbing or anything that requires "active mode" as the game calls it). The problem can be resumed to this: the game gives you a solution to a non-existing problem. After the assassination, you escape the guards, hide, they forget about you, you get back to the bureau (again) and you're done.
Lastly for negatives, the story isn't good. It's not terrible, but the Desmond sections are a whole bunch of nothing where you just walk from your bed to the animus, and then from the animus to your bed, and it never gets interesting, even though there was potential for it to be I will say that. Altaïr really is a dick, and it feels like his arc just happens without any rhyme or reason: he's a dick at the beginning, and ends up being a humble guy because.. he killed 9 dudes ? The thing is the game shows reasons for him to humble himself (his arrogance is responsible for a death and a lost limb to be fair) but when those things happen, he keeps being a dick about it and only becomes humble at the end of the game, so surely that's not the reason for which he humbles himself, and there's no other reason given. Sure, he talks with the templars who make him realise the world is multi-faceted and complex, with no real good or bad guys, but that doesn't have anything to do with him being humble. Maybe becoming wise is what makes him humble ? It's weirdly done, that's for sure. Overall, the story is kinda there and that's it, but the ending is just hilariously bad. It's not even an ending, the game just stops abruptly. It feels like the writers had a heart attack while writing the climax of the story and nobody bothered to finish it.

Now for the positives: this game is all show, and that is what saves it, and, I must confess, made me enjoy it. Altaïr is a meh character, but hot damn his outfit is so cool and charismatic that it makes me love him even though he has all the personality of a dry sponge. That's the word to describe this game: cool. it has a cool factor which makes me enjoy it. The fighting animations are cool, pushing everyone in the crowd while trying to escape guards is cool, running on rooftops, hopping from one to the other is cool, the whole assassin's mythos is cool, killing someone with the hidden blade in the middle of a crowd without anyone noticing is cool, climbing, even though poorly executed, is cool, especially when climbing huge buildings. This game is objectively bad, and I feel terrible for enjoying it this much, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a good time. This is McDonald's: gourmet food is cool, but there is something comforting about those cheap burgers and fries. Breath of the Wild or Outer Wilds are cool, and I vastly prefer them to this by the way don't get it confused, but playing a game this simple and brain-dead was a nice experience.

we live in a society where power and structure are against us, always; if not with intent (though it often is), then by design, by circumstance, by unspoken nature.

to cope with this contradiction between personal and social justice, between objective truth and constructive outcomes, the ace attorney trilogy lays out a commonly found but powerfully stated thesis:

the most important thing we have is other people, and supporting each other through active love and active connection is sometimes all we have against hostile and generally unchangeable circumstances. the power of these connections won't always be able to do miracles. But if we don't lose sight of them, and we trust them, and they're reciprocated, though they can't get us out of hardships or injustices, they can get us through them.

The Truth isn't just Objectively What Happened here. The truth is our convictions, our notions, our willingness to embody our ideals, and our trust in our loved ones to do the right things and/or trust us in return.

it's a pivot towards the personal over AA1's relatively straightforward delivery of the world and 2's critiques of the systems that fail victims and protect even the smallest and most banal systems of power, which still bring ruin to the people under them. i think that pivot is a necessary rounding out and payoff to these ideas. the system isn't going to change, but we can't just abandon it, or more specifically we can't abandon each other to die in it.

so those are my Very Serious Thoughts About Themes but i also think this game just fucking slaps dude. the play isn't innovated at all over Justice For All but it IS further refined; this gameplay loop is so clean you could eat off of it. investigations finally condense themselves to reasonable lengths and uniformly follow sensical progression paths. the worst recurring characters are entirely absent here and the ones who do show up are all at their most likeable and well-integrated into the cases. the midgame filler case, bar one deeply offensive and (perhaps more importantly) annoying guy, is actually funny and fun. the game in general and especially the localization are at the height of their powers in terms of Serious Thematic Writing AND Comedy here, imo. godot is a great example of this; he's a bizarre guy even by the standards of this trilogy, with like three different quirks, any of which could easily define a lesser character, but all of which are funny and good. the first time he slammed his hand down on the table and a coffee mug slid into it from offscreen i was hooting and hollering. AND he's a character with a lot of depth who offers a direct thematic counterpoint not only to phoenix but to the prosecutors of past games as well. the music is at a series high too, a HUGELY NOTICEABLE improvement over JFA.

the game is firing on all cylinders and easily the best of the trilogy. this could have been it and i would have been happy, but there's a lot of this world that could just as easily be further elaborated on thematically, and what little i know of the second trilogy i'm excited that it seems like they're gonna go in interesting directions.

🧛🏻‍♀️ 🧛🏻‍♀️ 🧛🏻‍♀️ 🧛🏻‍♀️ 🧛🏻‍♀️
5 outta 7 pairs of fangs

-of the 17 characters (as of January 2023), 11 are girls. If you mainly play as fem characters in fighting games, you may be pleased with the cast. i like the magician in blue jeans, the ghost-in-the-shell nun, the shy nun, the moon princess (vampire), the vampire cat, the katana-wielding human pinball with the 40” ponytail.

-Some people are turned off by Melty Blood’s characters being dressed in everyday clothing, but we think what they’re really saying is “FULLY-CLOTHED anime girls don’t excite me.”

haven’t returned to the game since the 2024 balance patch

DuckTales Remastered is another example of how remasters and remakes should be done by going out of their way to deliver an experience that surpasses the original. Not only does it look much better than the original, but they also got most if not all of the old voice actors from the cartoon to reprise their roles for the added in-game cutscenes that enhance the experience and make it feel like an authentic continuation of the old TV show. Another addition added that the original did not have was a prologue level that serves as a way to get comfortable with the controls and how the game plays. You can even dive and swim in Scrooge's money bin like he does in the old cartoon. I haven't played many of WayForward's games but if the Shantae games all have the dedication & care that they put into this remaster then I'm definitely in for a great time.

I made a commitment to myself when I started this Backlogg'd that I would only log games that I played since starting the Backlogg'd, even if only for a little. Well, I noticed I had this beloved game o' mine on Steam this morning and fired it up and fired my brain back to middle school. Goodness gracious how much I loved this game.

I played so much of 2 when I was even younger (and calling the Rogue units "roo-zuh" (like the makeup) and my eyes popped out of my sockets when I got 3.

It's more or less everything I ever want from a video game. It feels like a comfy blanket, it feels like home, it feels like peanut M&Ms. The GOAT, plain and simple.

For the past five to six years, this game had been what I considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, or at least one of my favorites of all time. And, since then, it still had. But, I think after playing through some actual masterpieces like Undertale, Deltarune, and Celeste, and after years and years of looking back at this game while having done so, I think I'm finally ready to admit that it isn't really deserving of 5 stars anymore. It still slaps, obviously, but a lot of its flaws and missed opportunities really shine through the more I think about it.

For one, the isometric point of view is kinda ass. It's tolerable for the most part, but there are some rooms and secrets in this game that are just straight up frustrating because of it. The overall gameplay is solid, but the combat is a little too basic, and, like I said earlier, platforming can get really annoying at times due to the janky-ass POV. But by far my biggest problem with it is just how it kinda wastes its new cast of characters on a pretty weak story. There are so many characters with such memorable designs and styles of humor in this game and MAN do I wish they had more to do here. But, instead, most of them just kinda appear for when they need to and then never again. Characters like Johnny, Punchinello, Valentina, Booster and basically every member of the Smithy Gang could've been amazing recurring characters in this game, what with their unique designs and writing, but they only have, like, one part of the game where they get to shine each and it frustrates me because they could've been so much more. Hell, not even Smithy, the MAIN ANTAGONIST of the game gets much. He has such a badass aesthetic, but he has practically no presence at all until the very ending. And I know this is going to sound blasphemous to say, but Geno is kinda overrated tbh. I like his cool-af-doll-brought-to-life-with-a-gun shtick, but story-wise, he's really not that interesting to me anymore. Honestly, I think my favorite characters in this game were actually Bowser and Mallow. Bowser because he's funny as shit and I really like his relationship with his Koopa Troop, and Mallow because he's such a sweet and endearing little guy, with an honest to goodness pretty effective character story. These two characters really did shine the most at the Land's End world, probably making it my favorite area out of them all, but even then, I still would've liked more. And look, I'm not expecting some emotional character study from a fucking Mario game or anything, but for fuck's sake, when you have so many characters that just practically beg for more to do in this game, would it be so hard to let them have more?! I know I've really dug deep into this one thing about this game, and that's because it's pretty much my ONLY problem with it, outside of a few poorly aged technical things.

But, you know what? Despite everything, I still love this game to death. The gameplay is still so much fun, perfectly balancing simplicity with a level of strategy as well, the art direction is wonderful and still holds up even after over 25 years, it has such a memorable and funny, if not kinda wasted, cast of characters and story that I still really enjoy. It's exactly what a Super Mario RPG should be, and it fleshed out the world of Super Mario in ways it hadn't bothered to do before. It's still such a fun, delightful, nostalgic game that I love with all of my heart, and I'll never stop loving it. It's just such a shame that it COULD HAVE been a true, unforgettable masterpiece beloved by all and remembered fondly. But, you know what, I'll take what I can fucking get. Thank you, Nintendo and Square Enix, for making one of my most beloved childhood memories to date.

And, hey, in spite of its problems, it can't possibly be worse than that...thing from 2012 that everyone despises with a passion.

A sort of minigame collection based around mechanics from the previous PS1 Rugrats game plus Kart Racing. It's not as fun of a game due to a lack of any centralized mechanic, all the minigames are really uninspired and lesser versions of even minigames found in other PS1 games. The minigolf can be especially bad. They even removed the fun jumping and replaced it with more standardized controls. Lame. I do still like the aesthetic, the variety and the humor. Pronouncing words weirdly or incorrectly is just the best, what can I say.

I am not usually one to play rhythm games as I've always had a bad sense of timing and crack under the pressure of pressing a button at exactly the right time. Luckily this game was not cruel enough to kill you instantly with every mistake. With this hurdle out of the way, I found myself really enjoying the bonkers fights and undertale-esque story.

I feel the strongest part of the game is its series of boss encounters which can range from mildly entertaining to absolutely insane, the gnome battle was probably one of my favorite fights in a long time. That being said, the way the game changes these encounters in the second half honestly I thought was an inferior way to play the boss fights.The story was charming albeit maybe channeling Undertale a bit too much. The ending was also a bit cluttered with what it was trying to convey and seemed a bit too grandiose and heavy though it would lead to some really good fights.

I beat this game in one sitting during a 24hr gaming marathon and I will say its a great game to hold your attention while desperately trying to not fall asleep at four am. Theres a lot of really fun fights, great music and memorable characters. Definitlely one I want to go back to at some point.