Promises a great new twist on an old genre.

Delivers low content (25 flat rides and 3 coaster types), some incredibly unintuitive and clunky building controls for even stuff like building a simple path, let alone an entire coaster, and an amount of visual and gameplay bugs that would feed Timon and Pumbaa for a decade.

Such a disappointment. Especially because the actual management part of the game seems extremely good, and even though lacking in numbers, the rides present do look great. But the building part is bordering unplayable.

Luigi's Mansion has a bit of a weird history. Started as a console game, sequel was on handheld, then third game went back to console, but not before the original game was re-released on handheld. The decision to put this game on 3DS is quite strange given that the Switch was already a year strong. I can only assume it was due to the short length of the game.

But having a game that relied so heavily on the Gamecube's C-stick and putting it on a console that has either, depending on your model, a weird little nub no one likes, or a separate purchase entirely to get a 2nd C-Stick...well it's just weird. I used a new 2DS XL so I had the nub, and while it wasn't great, I don't think it was as bad as some people say. The controls do feel a bit janky with it, but I find that it's not even the C-stick's fault. You can point up and down with the D-pad too and it has the same weird jerky movement. You can also use gyro controls to look up and down if you want, which I find lacked the weird movement, but of course that means relying on gyro controls... So yeah, this game has like 4 methods to control your flashlight and vacuum, and they're all worse than the Gamecube's sole version lol.

Not much was even added to the remake. The main game is beat for beat the same. The hidden mansion was added to the NA version, but we in Europe already had that. Hell, they actually made it worse for us because it's no longer mirrored.

There's some in-game achievements to get now, which does add a bit of extra replayability if that's your thing, otherwise it's just a thing that exists in the menu that will never affect your experience.

You can also re-battle any portrait ghost from the gallery if you feel like it.

The bottom screen is used as a map. Which is nice and all, but it's not really the kind of game that needs a permanent map. You can also switch it to a view of the portrait ghosts you've captured, or your inventory (which is just the gold you've sucked up, and what very few plot items exist).

That pretty much sums up this "remake".

Still a high score because Luigi's Mansion itself is a banger of a game. I love the amount of life in all the rooms and portrait ghosts. And the music is famously catchy.

I played this as a kid, and this re-experience was full of nostalgia and things I'd straight up forgotten.

Love the game, but I can't see a reason to recommend the 3DS version over the Gamecube one, even if it's just for a reason as minor as the C-stick doesn't feel as good. Though if you like in NA you might wanna play this just to get the Hidden Mansion experience.

This game is absolutely packed with references, cameos and easter eggs that rival the newly released Super Mario Bros. movie (this won't age the review at all!).

Seriously though if you were a long-time Mario fan when this game came out, this game would be like the ultimate gift. Even playing it for the first time now, I can still appreciate the insane amount of sources they pulled from to put into the game. Enemies can be anything from generic Mario enemies, to spin-off stuff like the viruses from Dr. Mario, to variations on them (like mechanical dogs with chain chomp heads, scuba diva Goombas or Bullet Bills with Scope Rifles).

Of course it's not only references, the game has plenty of original content, including taking place in a brand new Kingdom to the Mario world, with everything within having a naming scheme that I...didn't really care for, even if it did fit the tone.

The combat is very interesting in this game since every action, offense and defense, requires player input. If you want to get extra damage on your basic attack you need to time it right, and if you want to pull off a special attack at all you'll need to time and input a short sequence of button prompts. You can even set these to your required difficulty level - you can set it to the easiest mode where the timing prompts play in slow motion with the game telling you which buttons to press, or you can set it to hard mode where the timings play at normal speed and don't tell you which buttons to press. The benefits of hard mode is that it takes up less "bro points" to do the move (think MP in any other RPG).

But I think it's the defensive stuff that makes the combat work so great. You can time your Bros. jumps or hammer strikes when an enemy is attacking to either dodge or counter attack. It makes every single enemy feel unique because the way they attack determines how/if they can be countered. It's such a refreshing system that can make even the most simple of battels feel more engaging for a playstyle that many consider slow.

I guess they do rely on this system a bit too much to carry battles though because Mario and Luigi's movesets are pretty lacking. 2 characters is already a small amount for an RPG, and these guys only get a total of 4 special moves (each with an upgraded version) and 3 basic moves, all of which are slowly unlocked over the course of the game. And yet, somewhat contradictory, it feels like these 4 special moves are also "too many". What I mean by that is, there doesn't feel like nearly enough variation in attacks. There's some simple things such as hammers can attack spiky enemies, but for the most part it rarely felt like there was any specific move that fit a specific enemy, so you just go with whatever. Mario also gets fire power and Luigi gets lightning somewhat late in to the game, so you get a grand total of 2 elements to use across this small arsenal. Even these elements feel underutilised, sure I noticed an enemy or two that was weak to, or absorbed one type of damage, but it was never worth it to me to test these elements out when stomping on an enemy was usually good enough to do the job.

There's a few times when Mario & Luigi are split up too, and Bros. moves can't be used in these instances, so in these battles they must be completed with only 3 basic moves.

So the battle system is weird. It's very fun, but very limited. Whether the battle interaction justifies the lack of options is a very tough question.

Moving on, since this is a Mario game, even if it's an RPG, platforming elements still show up. And it's where my biggest issue with the game came from. The GBA only has a few buttons, but there's a LOT of field actions in this game. And not only does every action they can do to interact with the world have an individual effect, but an effect when used on the other brother AND the order the brothers are set in matters. What this means with few buttons is that you're constantly micromanaging which action is set at any one time, and which of the 2 moustached fella's is in the lead. The amount of times I skipped past an action, or rushed and pressed the wrong one so I made Mario tiny by hammering him with Luigi instead of doing the super jump was annoying. It's a very minor annoyance, yes, but it's one that persists throughout the game.

Speaking of that super jump ability, it's easily the worst one because of how unnecessary it is. It's literally just used to get to platforms slightly too high to reach at a regular jump, but why? Why not just make the platforms normal height? It's not like it was done for gating the player off, since it's one of the two first abilities you learn. It has no puzzle or challenge attributed to it. It's like they just needed a filler ability for Luigi to match Mario's spin one, so they then had to justify adding it by throwing in a bunch of platforms that force you to waste just a couple extra seconds to get past. Yes it's a petty complaint.

Let's get back to praising the game. I really liked the soundtrack, which like anything else, has a mix of new stuff, with old remixes.

The game is full of decently fun mini-games, each of which can be replayed after its mandatory play for extra rewards.

A very small thing, but the luck stat in this game is called "moustache". It also gives you discounts in the store if you grow this "mous-stat". It's that kinda thing that just makes the game a joy.

The game is surprisingly not as hand-holdy as I thought it'd be. Like this is babbys first RPG in many ways. It's not hard at all and many systems are simplified, such as equipment pretty much only ever having basic "power/defense/hp/bp(mp)" numbers and then maybe a simple effect added on. But it gives you access to the world map pretty early on. Of course most of it is locked off until you get the required abilities, but it still surprised me that it let the player explore and find this out themselves, rather than railroading them to the next story point. Hell if I'm being honest, sometimes the game gives you so LITTLE direction on what to do next I had to look up a guide on where to go at a couple of points.

Part of me felt like this game had too many tutorials, but I don't think that's true. It does give a new one every time you learn a new ability, so to some people that's too many, but I think the main problem is how SLOW they were. Whenever characters are talking, this game is definitely very slow.

By RPG standards it is, of course, pretty basic. But it's an RPG for Mario fans first and foremost. However the fact that they went further with the gameplay than the simple turn-based battle system just really helped so that I could enjoy the game even after all the Mario fanservice started to lose its effect.

This was so fun! Unfortunately, I had to rush through the second half because I have some stuff coming up, but I fully plan on replaying this when there's new DLC out.

+ Creative with its cult theme; lots of things were on point
+ I love when a game allows your non-combat gameplay to affect your combat performance (think Persona series)
+ Fun minigame that is not forced
+ Rewarding boss fights + enemy types
+ Replayability

- Not being able to choose starting weapons was annoying; I hated the axe and dagger
- Difficulty curve is weird (game is difficult at start, then gets really easy towards the end; last boss was completed in a single attempt)
- Not enough upgrade options; I had everything combat-related unlocked before starting the third dungeon, which also disincentivizes base building

Looking forward to DLC!

I am in my "not going to finish games if the systems dont catch my attention fast enough" era. I played this for an hour, then watched pieces of the rest of it, and then watched an analysis of the story. Honestly, this was one of those games that I knew I wouldn't really be into in terms of gameplay, but knew that it would be worth diving into the story and the cultural impact of. I think games like this and Doki Doki are pretty interesting concepts (though the former was substantially more interesting because of its technicalities and 4th wall breaks), attempting to play with psychological horror by making use of mental health story elements. Its something I'd like to see a little more of, but I want them to break away from anime plots. Both this and Doki Doki have very typical horror anime plots, and as someone who watched that type of stuff in high school, I'd like to see something different done with these themes. I guess Hellblade is the closest big-budget thing that kinda does this. More of that would be cool

Able to stand toe to toe with the other big collectathon on the N64.

Does many things right for the genre, such as not kicking you out after a level when getting a Jiggy. There's also just generally so much TO collect. Even the main collectable (Jiggy's) are different to the door gates (notes), then on top of that you have new special moves, extra health pieces, a "find 5 of these things in every level" (think red coins but more personality). Admittedly the special moves one can make your beginning set feel a bit limited.

But it does what I want most from these games, the worlds are super fun to explore. Not too big or confusing, but packed with things to find, secrets, and subareas with their own little storylines and/or characters. The game has so many different minigames and challenges for collectables.

The hub world is up there as one of the best. While Peach's Castle is iconic, and beautiful, it does feel very much like just a quick stop between the levels, with a few secret things to discover. But Gruntilda's lair is like an entire extra level in this game that keeps expanding. It is kind of easy to get lost though.

I do have a few nit-picks. The camera is the biggest, it is not forgiving at all.

Another is the fact that collecting all 100 notes has to be done in a single go. If you leave the level or even die, it resets them all (this also applies to anything you can collect in a level, such as the 5 Jinjo's).

Egg shooting can be a very fiddly thing.

Luckily the technical issues don't get in the way of the huge charm, personality and fun that radiates from the writing, characters and music, all in some very well designed levels.

Playing Hi-Fi Rush feels like reading the first volume of a comic about a brand new superhero, unburdened by expectations.

There's such an obvious, whole-hearted commitment to creating a world that runs on music that I found myself bobbing my head and tapping my foot to literally nothing an hour after I put this one down. Rhythm is so thoroughly baked into this game's DNA that, after a certain point, it becomes more difficult to do things off beat than on it. It's got charm and earnestness that quiets my impulse to nitpick. Everything is music in some way, and every element snaps into place on a beat - UI elements, footsteps, enemy attacks, YOUR attacks, item pickups. Cohesive and confident enough that I would almost believe it if you told me it was somehow an influence on every rhythm genre hybrid that came before it. Feels like a game from 3 hardware generations ago, and I mean that in the best way possible.

its still The Last of Us

whether thats a recommendation or not is in the eye of the beholder. if you want this game, you probably already bought it. otherwise you probably already bought the remaster thats already playable on ps5.

is this the definitive version of TLoU? yes. is this game undeniably gorgeous? yes. does the gyro aiming make the original impossible to go back to? yes.

would i recommend the remake over the remaster? at full price fuck no, but if the new graphics and especially accessibility features are a real selling point to you then this is a great way to experience a game with frankly grossly unappreciated TPS combat.

this marks the second PS5 exclusive to be a PS3 game. what a time to be a gamer