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.
Yakuza
2005
Had a surprisingly good time with this given how hard I bounced off Kiwami. Like sure it's missing karaoke and le funny Majima content, but the vibes are infinitely stronger. Peak PS2 aesthetic.
The game's pretty rough though. There's very little side content worth engaging with and the main content isn't that much better. Combat is a complete slog to trudge through, any enemy you can grab is piss easy and any that you can't is a miserable nightmare. The plot had its own issues. You'll spend an hour getting bombarded by jargon and melodrama and then the next 4 will be spent lounging around waiting for something to happen. Thankfully, the cheesy English voice acting elevates some of this game into camp. Beating up generic yakuza man #753583 is way more fun when he's voiced by Travis Touchdown.
The game's pretty rough though. There's very little side content worth engaging with and the main content isn't that much better. Combat is a complete slog to trudge through, any enemy you can grab is piss easy and any that you can't is a miserable nightmare. The plot had its own issues. You'll spend an hour getting bombarded by jargon and melodrama and then the next 4 will be spent lounging around waiting for something to happen. Thankfully, the cheesy English voice acting elevates some of this game into camp. Beating up generic yakuza man #753583 is way more fun when he's voiced by Travis Touchdown.
Yakuza Kiwami
2016
So early on you get an upgrade that gives you a full heat bar upon grabbing an enemy. Coincidentally, you also have a heat move that activates off of grab and takes out 3 additional guys. Turns out most encounters in this game don't have more than 4 enemies, so you can just do this and end them all in 5 seconds.
DNF Duel
2022
Simplifying your game won't make it any easier for new players to win. Good players will just abuse the fact that they have a 1 button dp.
Air Combat
1995
The soundtrack bangs and it feels nice to fly the planes. Not much else I could really ask for.
Ace Combat 2
1997
An improvement over the first on all fronts.