Pokemon
132 reviews liked by Pokemon
A pretty big step up from what they managed to achieve with the first game. The inclusion of party members is a welcome addition, even if they don't have much personality yet. The puzzlebox design of the overworld makes exploring legitmately fun this time with the exception of some mandatory invisible search checks and a baffling wild goose chase at the start of the game.
I can't really dispute any complaints people have about the encounter design. Despite all of the additional mechanics it still really just boils down to spamming the same couple attacks over and over.
I can't really dispute any complaints people have about the encounter design. Despite all of the additional mechanics it still really just boils down to spamming the same couple attacks over and over.
Streets of Rage
1991
Probably my favorite classic beat 'em up. The absurd level of hitstun your punches have is very satisfying to play around with. This might be somewhat controversial, but I feel like this easily has the best soundtrack of the classic SoR games.
Corrects many of the surface level flaws plaguing the original, but sacrifices the soul in the process.
Ridge Racer Type 4
1998
Solid arcade racer with a killer aesthetic. The little VN scenes in between races add a lot of flavor to what would otherwise be a standard GP mode.
Super Monkey Ball 2
2002
A tightly designed arcade (puzzle?) game with a plethora of side content.
Got hard stuck on world 4 as a kid and only really popped it in to play monkey billiards afterwards. Decided to give it another shot and ended up beating it in an afternoon. Turns out arthropod is just absurd.
Got hard stuck on world 4 as a kid and only really popped it in to play monkey billiards afterwards. Decided to give it another shot and ended up beating it in an afternoon. Turns out arthropod is just absurd.
OneShot
2016
Not really a ton to say about this game without giving away the core conceit. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that saying that may have already been enough for you to figure out this game's gimmick.
This was a cute game, and it's definitely worth your time. It just didn't really resonate with me like it did with a lot of other people. Maybe I'd be more enthusiastic about it if I hadn't already seen this kind of thing done before.
This was a cute game, and it's definitely worth your time. It just didn't really resonate with me like it did with a lot of other people. Maybe I'd be more enthusiastic about it if I hadn't already seen this kind of thing done before.
This is such an unbelievably ambitious game. Can't really talk about anything in this game without touching on the plot and if I did that we'd be here all day. I respect everything it's doing, I just don't think it's as good as 1 or Snake Eater. I'll probably come back and do a real review whenever I inevitably end up replaying the trilogy.
Frostpunk
2018
Had a pretty decent time playing this until I realized how woefully unprepared my city was for the sudden temperature drop a couple hours into the campaign mode. It started a chain reaction that just devastated everything I'd built up to that point. I considered playing again from the beginning with that in mind, but the thought of another such event forcing me to restart has kept me from coming back.
Played through this once as Sakuya. Nearly had a 1cc but spent like 2 minutes getting cucked by the end boss on the last life.
There's definitely an appeal to these spinoffs not found in the main games. Probably won't return to this one as often as I do 6 and 7 though.
There's definitely an appeal to these spinoffs not found in the main games. Probably won't return to this one as often as I do 6 and 7 though.
Raging Loop
2015
Visual novels are known for their big dumb endings, I don't know if I've seen one nosedive as hard as this one does though. Everything before that is fine, if a little mid. Like others have said, the protagonist is pretty interesting and probably the only real reason to recommend this.
If you haven't already read the Spike Chunsoft VNs there isn't a reason to recommend Raging Loop over those. If you have read them, you won't get much more out of this unless you REALLY like werewolf for some reason.
If you haven't already read the Spike Chunsoft VNs there isn't a reason to recommend Raging Loop over those. If you have read them, you won't get much more out of this unless you REALLY like werewolf for some reason.