About as racing as a racing game can be. I remember being kind of obsessed with this game as a kid. And to it’s credit, the terrain deformation and slow-mo crashes are pretty entertaining, and furthermore technically impressive for the time. AND THE VEHICLE NAMES. Peak middle school cool. Juvenile me very much approved. No joke there’s a Racing Truck named Voodoo Iguana, and better yet in one of the sequels there’s a motorcycle called Wasabi Katana. I like to imagine they had two darts boards full of random nouns and adjectives in the developer headquarters and whenever they needed a new vehicle name they got to throwing.

Unfortunately that’s where this game peaks. It’s a competent game, but not one that will hold your attention long. I like the format of motorcycles vs buggies vs big rigs vs trucks vs cars, it makes it more of a party racing game than a competitive one, and I even like that you’re restricted in certain races to specific vehicle types, with different routes better suited for for each dirt-kicker. My only technical issue with the game is most small and medium-size vehicles have overly tuned turn rates. Makes it a bit clunky when you’re just getting used to the movement.

That aside, the game feels very repetitive after a while, even adjusting for it being a drivey drivey vroom vroom game. Maybe some powerups or match modifiers would have given me more mileage. It goes without saying the online mode is kapoot, and with only one mode I can’t help but be burnt out before even halfway through this entirely too long game. Nostalgic fondness withstanding, MotorStorm is a second-rate game with third-rate staying power. As far as racing games are concerned, you could do much worse, but you could also do much better. I say keep this one on the shelves of time.

A Plague Tale: Innocence answers the hour old question of, “How good could a semi-historical fiction game about a sister and brother surviving a supernatural rat plague as they traverse famine-torn France be?” The answer is… surprisingly optimistic, much unlike the setting. Plague Tale is one of those story-driven, stealth-crafting hybrid games, and one of the better looking ones at that. And if there’s one thing to compliment about the game it’s its visuals. For a studio I’ve never heard of who’s claim to fame is gaming titans like Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, it’s extremely impressive how good the lighting, landscapes, and faces are here. The gothic architecture in particular was so darkly ethereal on its own, doubly so when overrun with mountains of plague-infected rats. Seeing how they would newly present those nasty forces of nature was a sight I never got tired of seeing, and rats or not rats I’m already excited to see how the sequel looks.

The same praises can be sung of the game’s combat and stealth. I went in expecting to tire of the whole babysitting dynamic they set up in the introduction section. So color me presently surprised when it was a quite inoffensive mechanic throughout. The crafting ingredients were well spaced out as well, by the end I had nearly every upgrade, or at least the ones that I wanted. Much like the visuals, the rats take center stage in this portion of the game, creating some neat light-based puzzle segments. Now even with the rats, the gameplay should be very familiar to anyone who’s played a puzzle game for more than five minutes, but I’ll be damned if it’s not entertaining. Especially with how weighty and supremely satisfying my trusty slingshot feels. The two main boss fights were fun with the upgrades to the traditional arsenal, but be careful when fighting the first one, there’s a glitch I encountered that forced me to restart the chapter. Just make sure when you summon the rats to only summon one mound before you move to the next one.

Regrettably, the game is not perfect. I won’t spoil the story here, but by far its weakest aspect is the characters. The brother-sister duo did a good job with portraying that dynamic, the supporting cast on the other hand felt very much like checking a box, with the exception of Lukas. I see what they were trying to do, making a merry-band of young adult misfits in a harsh world. Sadly the writing and characters weren't as fleshed out as the concept. The motivations, and definitely the payoffs, felt rushed and flat for me. Too many of the deaths felt unearned for me to feel their weight. That’s another thing I’m curious about how the sequel improves upon, seeing as it’s one of the few mediocre elements of an otherwise fantastic game.

I’m gonna offer a bit of a different opinion on the franchise’s 2006 start. Having played this game many years after its initial release, I can plainly see some cracks in the facade that I think make it age worse than it could have. First let me preface, for the time this game was a milestone of gaming no doubt. The graphics and advanced cover system were the most fleshed out than previously seen in older games. My problems with the game are more apparent after the passage of time, when innovative graphics can no longer make up for other issues. Gears of War, as it exists today, is a fundamentally derivative game that offers some mild amusement from its gratuitous blood and bullets gameplay.

To begin, the story blows chunks. You don’t have to be an elitist to not care for the overplayed macho, grittycore aesthetic that permeates this game like year old milk. If anything that alone is perhaps the biggest marker of age for this game. It’s every apocalyptic military story ever told, just done infinitely more boring with characters I cringed at everytime they talked. There does exist a sweet spot between embarrassingly bad and charmingly stupid, it’s just this game gets nowhere near it. And it’s not to say I have a vendetta against the era of stupid action shooters of the mid and late 2000s. I used to terminally binge the Army of Two games on the PS3, and believe me when I say those were not getting any writing achievements.

I couldn’t find an ounce of humor, intrigue, or heart anywhere near Fenix and pals. All that matters is that you’re generic badass number 49028, you have a voice to rival pounded gravel, and are tasked with saving the world from aliens by planting bombs in a bunch of random places. All the while you have to babysit some goofball squad members freshly picked up from your local MW2 Lan party. Actually that makes it sound more fun than it is. It’s more like a squad of robots who were made to act like what they thought frat boys acted like. And babysit is the right word, because no matter the difficulty your squad mates insist on sharing a single brain, and will go down quicker than you can roll your eyes in annoyance. It’s like I’m back playing COD zombies with my younger cousin with how often I have to go pick them up.

Now despite my exaggerated frustration this is not an indictment on the game as a whole. I’ve dealt with more than my fair share of stinker stories. If I tune out the dialogue it’s really not so offensively bad. It’s digestible and provides the barebones pretext for why you’re blowing up everything in sight. What really matters here is the gameplay, everything else is more cosmetic than anything in a game like this. And I’m….. lukewarm on the combat.

The cover system is a lot like the general movement of the game. It has a very heavy weight to it. And it is most certainly not up for debate as to whether you’ll use it a lot. If you don’t liberally use cover you will go down startlingly quick, even on the easiest difficulty. Add on that every enemy is a bullet sponge and you’ll be spending most of your time playing whack-a-mole with the enemies as you go from cover to cover. As bad as that sounds It only really becomes a slog when you die and have to do a section all over again. Still, for such an emphasized mechanic I wish they touched up the cover system a little more before calling it a day. For one thing a way to go around a corner in cover without leaving it would have been welcome.

Oddly enough, the very idea of such a heavily emphasized cover system goes a bit against the design philosophy of the rest of the game if you ask me. We’re these roided badasses and we have to constantly hide and take potshots? Screw that, give me some dynamite and a minigun and let me go ham. But hey, It’s a novel gimmick and the deepest use of it I’ve seen so far, so I won’t complain too much. Heck, I even started to kind of dig the cover system when I wasn’t being shot at from thirty different directions. It just takes a bit to get used to the heft of your character. The bosses are okay, but I hated the vehicle sections. Unneeded and unpolished vehicle sections are something that ought to be left in the past. I mean who creates a vehicle that can only power driving OR the light turret? Bad engineers, that's who.

To recap, Gears of War’s story, world, and characters were enormously lame while its gameplay and cover system grew on me ever so slightly. Sure, I still wish the cover wasn’t so pivotal or momentum breaking at times, but I can be more forgiving for the first entry in the franchise. For 2006 this is a great looking action title that no doubt influenced a great deal of games in its wake. While I find it hard to believe anyone can utterly adore this game and not be drowning in nostalgia, I’ll give respect where it’s earned.

Reel Steal is a vertical progressing, height-based platformer where you control your thief character as you smash and grab loot from rich moguls and magnates to get back at them. You start from the top of the level - the building you’ve infiltrated - and by using the crank you control your descent, and once you’ve grabbed the loot, your ascent too. The one kink in the design for me is the perpetual horizontal strafing your character is forced to do at all times. The idea is for you to wait until your character is lined up just right to continue your descent into the level, or if you’re an impatient person, to use the face button to manually change your direction of movement at any time.

At no point are you given the ability to be completely still. Even when you are changing your movement direction you are always in motion. While this adds some intended challenge, the ergonomics of the handheld makes for an uncomfortable hand position if you want to use the crank and have constant access to the face button at the same time, at least for me. This usually meant unless I was feeling particularly impatient, I just waited for my character to loop around the right direction. The time loss was negligible for a game like this, but even still, with all things being equal I think forgoing the forced horizontal movement altogether would be a more satisfying choice. To compensate they could just elaborate on the trap and level design.

The levels themselves I found as endearing as the characters. Short bursts of simple platforming that wouldn’t be out of place on the homepage of coolmathgames.com, if anyone remembers that oasis that every middle schooler lauded. The campaigns are thematic, with repeated replays encouraged with small tweaks and new character abilities. I did it only twice, but I can see myself returning at some point. My favorite little detail though has got to be the option to leave a customizable calling card at the end of every level. It’s like a cursed etch-a-sketch that challenges your creativity and dare I say artistic capabilities. I love little bursts of character and flavor like that. As small as an aspect as that is, it’s the kind of thing that sticks with you when you think of the game.

Another thing that sticks with me is the perplexingly low ratings from other users. Beside the one issue I find with the control scheme, Reel Steal runs and plays like a charm. I’m a subscriber to the different strokes for different folks mentality, but I don’t want it left unsaid that this game isn’t earnest in what it’s trying to do. Given that it’s one of the handful of free games for the Playdate, there’s really no reason to not give it a chance.

A fantastic rogue-like card-builder with elements of mystery, nostalgia, dark comedy, and an ever present undertone of unease. I’ll mirror what everyone else who’s played Inscryption says and recommend that you go into this game blind. Knowing as little as possible makes every twist that much sweeter. That out of the way, let's get into some mild spoilers if you’re not convinced yet and give a general overview of the game.

The game is spread into three distinct acts. They all feature the basic structure of a 1 vs 1 card game but implement unique mechanics and art styles. The first act very much reminded me of a Jumanji/D&D/Yugioh mashup, where you traverse a game board at the behest of gamemaster Leshy, choosing paths and facing off against bosses as you do your best to learn the mechanics and build the best deck you can. This is the absolute peak of Inscryption for me. Listening to an immersed narrator guide you through your meta expedition with both humor and unease in equal parts is a truly fun experience. It helps that the card game is addictive and easy to grasp. While initially challenging, I began to like how the restrictive spaces really force you to maximize where you can in strategy and deck. Each gamemaster’s gimmick was fun to learn and they weaved them together very well, with multiple cards working best in a hybrid deck. Which becomes more prominent later in the game.

In both the first and third act you’re able to get up from the table and explore the room. It’s here where you’ll also be introduced to the wider narrative. Talking cards and secrets throughout the cabin are the first hints that there’s something more than an overly-passionate gamemaster to be understood here. Along with the captivating, retro glitchcore music scored by Jonah Senzel I felt super invested in learning more. You’ll most certainly fail a few times before you really get the hang of the game, but each run you do a bit better. Helped by the introduction of death cards, a way to create a custom powerful card to help you stack the deck in your favor. If you really know what you’re doing and with a little bit of luck you can even create the optimal deck by stacking sigil effects to build an infinitely recycling card with stacking damage. Which can be oh so satisfying when all the pieces fall into your lap.

If you’re still undecided, just a word of warning, I’m now going to get into some major spoilers. Soon after the first act you’ll find that you’re actually playing as Luke Carder, a youtuber and gamer that found the only known copy of Inscryption on a floppy disk, as revealed in short live action videos made to resemble candid found footage. And I've got to give props, the actor for Luke did really well at nailing the youtuber mannerisms, and the ARG itself was quite intriguing. I usually find them too cheesy to participate in but something about it clicked for me here. Plus Inscryption knew when to pull back the curtains and not show too much too quickly.

Talking about the separate acts, here’s where most people would say that the game falls off swiftly after the first act. I would fight against that notion though. What I will admit is that the first part is indeed the strongest, and my preferred art style for the game. The 2D old-school look was cool in the second act, yet beyond making the retro connection just a little bit stronger I’m not sure it did too much here. Maybe if they changed up the gameplay a bit more, sort of like a more archaic version of the game, but it really was just the same thing on a more charming background. I still enjoyed it, I just would have preferred playing with the fuzzy PS3 era look that the first one had. It’s not like my suspension of disbelief would not have been broken by maintaining that. That said, props to the second act for trying a more traditional deck-building setup. It was a hoot to really experiment with what worked and what didn’t with little punishment for choosing wrong.

The third act is a return to form, just slightly modified. Instead of Leshy’s cabin you’re in P03’s factory, with dead and defunct replacing dreary and funky. I actually adored this section almost as much as the first one. The new traits like permanent progression, bounties, refilling items, an items store and 5 line combat make for a different enough time to warrant its existence. The one thing I will say is it did go on a little long, maybe a handful of encounters could have been cut here, especially seeing as a good chunk of them were very quick and very easy. Even that being so, Act 3 had the best boss fights of the game, only rivaled by that of Leshy’s fight in Act 1. I was always on the edge of my seat to see what they would throw at me next in the special encounters, and they never disappointed me on that.

For such a foreboding game it has quite the bittersweet end, with just a dash of WTF. While some parts of the game are better than others it never felt like a slog to get through. I really can’t recommend it enough. Even if you don’t love high-strategy card games, Inscryption will most certainly flip your perception of what an indie title can be using just some ambience and a few tabletop rules. Some added good news for those who wanted more like the first act: you can always play Kaycee’s Mod, an expansion based on that part of the game. But who knows, there’s a large chance you’ll love Inscryption as much as I did even without the expansion.

My Friend Pedro reminds me of a lot of early 2010s flash games, just with a lot more polish and a good bit more meat to it. It’s got some platforming, some solid Adult Swim humor, and a healthy scoop of Max Payne-esque shooting, only in a 2D plane now. And I’ve got to say, it’s a better time than I expected. Each of the 40 levels is around 5 mins or less, perfect for short gaming sessions. Along with regularly introduced guns and platforming mechanics like levers and lasers, it helped the game from becoming stale. Though not wildly differing I liked to switch up my choice of weapon now and again, aided by a healthy share of ammo the game offers.

It’s pretty easy on normal difficulty. You almost have to try to die unless you never use your dodge or slow motion, though higher difficulties offer a healthy dose of challenge for those who want it. Plus if your aim isn’t horrible you can pretty much use slow motion permanently as long as there’s an enemy around to shoot. Speaking of, the spotlight of My Friend Pedro is how fun the movement combined with the slow motion is here. It has its derpy moments, but by and large the movement is very reactive and smooth.

The slow motion front flips, akimbo rope descents, and hilarious monkey-ball method of rolling around were a great mix of funny and cool. Skateboards, frying pans, and explosive barrels were there to break up monotony as well. I’ve heard others criticize the game for being too repetitive or basic; I respectfully can’t disagree more. Sure, it’s not winning any GOTY awards, but successfully combining an irreverent flying banana razzing you while you channel your inner action hero is more than I would’ve expected from a small pick-up-and-play game. There’s no million different methods to beat the game, except it was never advertised as such. Maybe it’s because I didn’t marathon it that I didn’t ever feel like it was dragging. I went into it lukewarm thinking the premise would expire before the game did, but I’m happy to report that was not the case. My Friend Pedro adheres to the “what you see is what you get” adage. And speaking personally, I’m quite happy with what I got.

If you take anything away from this review, I want it to be that unless you are a glutton for punishment and difficulty, you should choose Jill in your playthrough over Chris. The biggest debuff and the most painful one is the restriction to only having 6 item slots instead of 8, a choice that jumpscares me more than any zombified creature ever could. Yes, he has more health than Jill and is a bit better at handling weapons, but I promise you won’t be noticing that once you’re in the thick of it. On top of having more slots, her lockpick is also much better than Chris’ lighter. Having to expend an item slot for one-use keys is a luxury you can’t afford with Chris, yet sadly you are given no choice. So, expect a LOT of backtracking and having to make hard decisions on what to have on you at all times. Keep in mind none of this is communicated to you beforehand. If you already chose and chose wrong, may God have mercy on your soul. I managed it mind you, but it definitely played a huge part in my enjoyment.

Past that though, let’s talk about the actual game, content-wise. All due respect to what is the progenitor of many gaming tropes we see today, this entry just does not hold up well, remake or not. Resident Evil (2015) is a prime example of an instance where the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. The dark and gloomy manor, the unique movement design, and a great deal of freedom on where to go make for what sounds like a decent time. That notion is shattered when you take a deeper look and consider the full picture.

Similar to many survival horror games after it, Resident Evil made the design choice of handicapping you in certain aspects to increase claustrophobia and challenge. The problem is they lay it on far too thick. Since I played Chris, I’ll speak only from that perspective. Hearing that Chris has better combat stats than Jill disheartens me greatly, because his attack potency was trash. Every little annoyance you could have with a game, technically speaking, is dialed up to 11 in Resident Evil. Most obviously, zombies take too many shots to kill, and it’s not something you can ignore or MLG shoot away.

Ammo is sparse already, and with the RNG critical hits, zombies just eating your shots like candy, and a wonky-jawed control scheme - one that I don’t mind otherwise by the way - it makes for a painful time that slows momentum to a halt. Add to that the backtracking to store items in an already very unhandholdy game in terms of progression, itself compounded by door transition cinematics, which is the one of the worst mechanics I’ve ever experienced. Whoever decided to keep that antiquated loading scheme from the original game should be given a stern talking to. There is no need to take five seconds every 30 seconds to load an empty room or hallway.

Suffice it to say I was starting to lose patience rapidly with this one. In fact, if item boxes didn’t share a universal storage, I would have probably put down the game completely in an act of stubborn defiance. Story on the other hand was a pleasant contrast. Not convoluted or unsubtle like later entries but enough to be intrigued by the world. Wesker definitely being the highlight of that. Though with how a few times I got stuck for a while before figuring out where to go, I sometimes forget the game even had a story until I got to whatever the next cinematic was.

Look, I heard through the grapevine that this REmake was going to get a remake soon. If I were you, I would just wait for that before playing this one. Seeing how successful and well-received the recent batches of remakes have been, I have high faith that they’ll do it justice this time. If you simply can’t resist, know you can do a lot worse. The game’s high points are there, they’re just buried underneath a pile of clunkiness. Just remember the two p’s: patience and picking Jill.

A game made in the heart of the seventh generation’s life, Dead Rising 2 takes many notes from the first title in the franchise. In place of a small-town homely mall you’re instead given a much larger and more adult gambling haven to traipse around in. I’ll admit some bias on my part, as I played this game extensively growing up, but I have so many memories playing this over and over, finding hidden secrets or new things to do. Right off the bat you’ll notice it’s full of minigames, taking after its Las Vegas inspirations. Some are luck-based, and others dependent on QTEs. They’re all worth at least one try, and in totality, they mark a lighter direction for the franchise.

The first game had plenty of more silly moments and gags, but Dead Rising 2 takes that to a new level. The story is still as serious as it can be, it’s everything else around it that has a newly donned coat of parody. There’s a lot of silliness in the game, in both slapstick and adult humor. I think it straddles the line in a fun way, but I can understand it’s not for everybody. It's very B-movie in its presentation, replete with some really creative and out-there psychopath boss fights. Maybe this is the nostalgia talking but I really liked this spin, even if it’s as crazy as the franchise gets in terms of visual design and ratio of humor to horror. In all my life I’ve probably played this game around 8 or 9 times. And a big reason for that is another staple that was first introduced in Dead Rising 2, that being combo weapons.

These extra XP yielding weapons allow you to unleash some potential in some items that you would otherwise never pick up or use beyond once out of novelty. Combining two distinct items either marked by combo cards or found through traditional discovery gives you an amped up weapon that is either badass or utterly silly, but all a joy to find and melt zombies with. Add on the unique weapons you’ll find throughout the mall and there’s no shortage of carnage to be sown. You even have a sweet Humvee to go joyriding down the strip in. As I said before, the basic structure of the first game, with timed missions, rescue tasks, and boss fights remains the same. A relief, as this game proves that formula provides a wonderful foundation. While the timed missions do make it very hard to complete every mission in time, it’s such an important piece of adding urgency and giving Dead Rising an edge to it’s sheen. The rescue missions aren’t the most exciting missions in the world, but I had little trouble escorting people back with the generous health and run speed they typically give the other survivors, and that sweet boost of XP made sure I kept it up.

Solidifying its status as the first game on acid, Dead Rising 2 also gives us a Terror is Reality mode on top of the main game. Your main guy Chuck Greene is a contestant on the TIR show, which involves racing against others to kill the most zombies to win cash, both in-universe and in-game. The intro to the game has you compete in such a race. Beyond that there’s another outside of story option that lets you compete against other players to win cash you can use in the main game. Truth be told it’s better than it has any right to be, and can be a good source of distraction if the main entertainment starts to wear on you. On the main game, let's talk about the story briefly before I wrap this up.

The story was …ok. Chuck Greene is stiffer than I remember him being, but his relationship with his daughter partly makes up for that. I’ll never stop snickering like a child when he rattles off the stupidest puns known to man after offing some crazy. Perhaps a bit more playfulness like that or some more distinct traits for Chuck would have been a good idea. I say this liking the guy more than most, as I have a bit of a soft spot for him. The actual chronology and events are pretty cool, if a tad derivative of the first game in the later half. After playing Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, an alternative version of the game with Frank at the helm instead, I kind of wish they took most of the elements from Off the Record’s story, sans comically evil Stacey. But that might just be my fondness for Rebecca shining through.

Overall Dead Rising 2 is a much lighter stepping stone in the franchise’s catalog, and I think it makes the most of that fact. Be it with a friend in the Co-op mode or on your lonesome journeying out on the zombified strip, the game is a real boon for those that want options and a sandbox to thrive in. Not only is it a great action title, it’s an essential for those that love zombie games.

First and foremost, I adore the vibe of Mirror’s Edge. Its ultra-vibrant environments and wind-kissed sound design is a real treat to the senses. Along with the iconic movement options of a seasoned parkour expert, Mirror’s Edge makes for a cozy seat in the driver’s side of a daredevil’s car.

As for the story, it wasn’t bad, just very predictable. If nothing else it at least justifies Faith’s running around with a believable reason. The only area of significant complaint is how finicky the game can be at times. For instance there were a few times where the objective marker didn’t work and I ended up at a dead end for a brief period, or times where enemies were a bit too obnoxious in their placement. In spite of that, I can’t come down on the game too hard. More than just an exhilarating parkour game, Mirror’s Edge is a cathartic breath of fresh air with its techno beats and rich colors. The kind of game that’s easy to lose yourself in every few years.

A paragon in atmosphere and sound design, Dead Space is a game that punches far above the AAA weight class in nearly all categories. Its unique integration of a sci-fi horror shooter experience is seamless, and its streamlined inventory system, unobtrusive UI, and infallible navigation system serve as the sprinkles atop this touchstone of gaming horror.

In the year 2508 you follow Isaac Clarke, a systems specialist sent to repair the USG Ishimura, a mining vessel that’s long since lost contact with the outside world. Given the name of the game, you can guess that things go to hell real quick with monstrously macabre creatures prowling the whole ship. Speaking of, the vessel itself is almost as alive as the surviving crew. The hum-dum of the mechanical ship ambience and unending growls of the beasts just beyond your vision works wonders alongside Isaac’s breathing and heartbeat in heaping on the dread. My only complaint in that department is how Isaac never talks, making it a bit harder to humanize him.

In terms of items Dead Space has no filler. Every object has its use, whether you’re selling it for money or using it to save your life against monsters. To complement that the game possesses a very concise, easily distinct organization of chapters that makes for a natural conclusion to a session, with some light backtracking being the only negative aspect to come with it.

Each store and waystation are spaced out fairly liberally, so you should never really find yourself in trouble when without them. As for actually defending yourself, be assured that the game doesn’t waste its setting. Beside your repurposed planet-mining tools like the plasma cutter and line gun, you've also got a stasis module to slow down enemies and a telekinetic gauntlet to throw objects, a fact that serves as a real joy in allowing you to creatively dispatch your enemies. The likes of which you can’t help but be in grotesque awe of. Collectively, these potent ingredients make Dead Space a thrilling adventure not easily surpassed.

While not without its negatives, I can see why Infamous is as… famous as it is. There’s some classic PS3-isms that’ll remind you of the era you’re in, but it comes off more charming than grating to me. Most of the time that is. On that same train of thought, let’s get the infamous out of the way before we talk about why it’s famous.

Infamous is one of the many games of its generation to try its hand at the karma system, and it’s not the greatest. To its credit but primarily its detriment, it’s very on the nose with its choices. The total lack of nuance makes it very obvious the moral path that you’re going down, yet it also prevents any hard-choices or depth of choice. When your options are as starkly different as kill hungry civilians or save a hospital, it becomes much too easy to make a choice. And even with how satisfying the combat system is, I can’t see an argument to play the game through twice. There’s really one unique ability per alignment, and it’s no game changer either way. I think an alignment system can be great but the entire infrastructure has to be built around it intelligently, which is not the case here. Granted this is really a half-gripe, because I don’t think it takes away that much from the main game, except in the sense that the resources put towards it could have been put elsewhere. Still worth noting though.

My other gripe is with the characters. Growing up and watching my older brother play this game, I never really picked up on how naggy, backstabby, or just downright annoying almost everyone is here. After actually playing completely through Cole was pretty much the only person I wasn’t pissed at by the end. But hey, I know Zeke is much more likable in the sequel so at least I have that to look forward to. My last and most major issue I have is with the NPC generation, both the civilians and enemies. There are way too many at any given moment, in the immersive and gameplay sense. A healthy mix of NPCs are necessary for a world to feel lived in, it’s just literally every corner in Infamous is filled to the brim with people, to the point where civilian death is nearly a guarantee with how stupidly they run right in front of you while trying to zap some bad guys. And I’m sorry but there are SO many bad guys just strewn throughout the quarantined hellhole that is Empire City, that after a while I just ignored them to travel to my next mission. Some regulation of NPC count would have made the world not feel so cluttered.

In terms of pure gameplay, infamous is very refined for its first outing. A diverse array of offensive options, traversal enhancers, and even a permanent electro-shield all made for a veritable playground at any firefight. The ultimate ability and nade-spamming one being my personal favorites to unleash on some poor unsuspecting fool. Kudos also to the electrical line and train-tracks traversal, each were very smart and rewarding methods of travel. Same goes for the parkour, which felt very Assassin’s Creed-y, if made infinitely more relaxed. If any building exists in Infamous, as long as it has even the smallest lip jutting out, you can climb it, and I respect that greatly.

Not just suited for function, the aesthetics, power-wise and cityscape wise, were tip-top here as well. Using nearby generators, cars, and antennas to siphon energy for grenade blasts and hands-zaps emphasized how utterly badass playing as a superhero in a superheroless world could be. Along with using sewer substations to make yourself a literal conduit the game was A+ at making you feel awesome. I won’t get into the story here, I’ll just say it does have a pretty major twist unveiled at the end. I’m not sure it was necessary, and many people despise the supposed bait-and-switch they pulled, but I was honestly fairly lukewarm on it. Definitely the most interesting part of the narrative, so I suppose I’m cool with it. It certainly sets up the next game to be truly epic. On a last note about the story, I absolutely love the comic art cinematics they used to cap off mission completions. It was probably for budget purposes, however the art was positively striking, and I can see why they made a comic series in the same style after the fact.

All that to say, Infamous is a fun time. As long as you’re keeping a brisk pace and you can be patient with the video-game equivalent of your slightly older, ever-so-slightly backwards cousin, you’ll have a good time here. And you should, because I think Infamous holds up well despite its flaws.

The black sheep of the 2D super Mario franchise, Super Mario Bros 2 does a lot right, and some that I don’t mind falling to the wayside forever. For one thing, you now have four different characters to choose from for every level. There’s Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Princess Toadstool, each with a trait that sets them apart. Mario is your standard fair with no special ability, Luigi is a fluttery fellow with a high jump, Toad is quick as picking things up but has a low jump, and the princess can float horizontally across short distances at the cost of a slow item pickup time. I really like this character selection idea, and question why it took them so long to see a return of this mechanic much later. Naturally, some characters are better suited for certain tasks than others. As a general rule Toadstool and Toad are probably your best bet in most instances, but I love the ability to switch things up, and you’re never screwed by accidentally picking a certain character for any level. Which is good because you don’t really know who’s the best for the level until you play it.

The boss fights are a huge step up from the first game. Each world’s first and penultimate level has a Birdo boss fight that’s actually quite similar to the Bowser fights in the original, just more interesting. Instead of reaching an ax at the back you’re made to catch her eggs and throw them back at her. Like the Bowser fights they can get repetitive, but every fight adds some new modifier to slightly change the encounter, like added fireballs, platforms, or limited items.

The last level of each world has unique boss fights with timeless classics like Mouser, Fryguy, and Clawglip (that can’t possibly be the intended spelling), all never to be seen again. All the fights are throwing based and pretty simple, but a measurable step up from the first game in flavor and strategy. And I’ll forgive them for reusing Mouser for two fights, as he is quite the charismatic mouse and a relic of the game’s original roots, which we’ll talk about soon. The final boss is Wart, a fat frog and the villain of Subcon, the dream-world that the game takes place in. He’s also the only boss I had real trouble with. Having to time the vegetable catching and hitting him 6 times required more than a couple restarts on my part.

To speak more broadly, the source of Super Mario Bros 2’s wild divergence from the first game and the reason many of its mechanics didn’t stick is because of it being a port of another game, Doki Doki Panic. Besides the main characters matching our beautiful Mario world, nearly every other aspect was lifted from the original Japanese game, including our beloved Mouser. The largest change in my opinion is the swap from defeating enemies by stomping on them to having to lift them and throw them at other enemies to kill them, or throw vegetables at them. It was a nice change of pace and once again something I think should have been polished in future titles. Having to pick up every enemy isn’t ideal, but a fusion of the mainline Mario stomp and throw would actually be the best scenario. Having certain enemies be felled by singular stomps while others require throwing either at them or with them would make for some nice variety in such a basic formula.

You also have a health meter instead of a single hitpoint when not powered up by a mushroom in the first game, yet another change I like. The health doesn’t carry over from level to level, but finding health upgrades is so much more rewarding when you do. Of course I miss the iconic upgrades like the fireball and mushroom. For just a single game we can survive without them though. On the gamecrafting side again, I think retaining the powerups system and having health be tied to your reduced size form would be the best combination of the classic style with this new style. Contrarily, one thing I didn’t like was the infinitely respawning enemies. It made some sections downright annoying to get through. For the parts where it was necessary, like when you had to fly on a albatoss to get across gaps that’s fine. When you’re trying to take a breather and the shyguys continue popping out like popcorn it can get a little obnoxious. Not the end of the world but it made it apparent why having an actual health bar can be so clutch at times.

As a last note an underdog blessing for this game was the removal of the awful timer. I forgot to mention it in my review of the first game, but the timer they used in that one was NOT based on seconds, making you feel like you had more time than you really did. Not usually a problem, however certain levels had to be played pretty briskly to not die from running out of time. I’m super glad a timer was nowhere to be seen for this one, even if they added it right back in the next title. To be clear though my problem isn’t with having a timer, it’s just the fact that the timer usually feels unclear in how it’s ticking. If you assume it’s counting in seconds, which who doesn’t, you’re bound to go a lot slower then you could really get away with.

I can understand why Super Mario Bros 2 doesn’t appeal to everyone. The underlying cause for the game’s mechanic changes may not be original or important in retrospect, but I really believe that there was a lot to be learned from it. If anything, with how well the drastic differences from the mainline franchise actually work, this game shows that some tinkering with the template isn’t always sacrilege. Do I think this is the best 2D Mario? Definitely not. What I do think is that it’s a game unfairly maligned that should have been refined.

Given it’s nigh impossible to live in the first world and have not heard of this game, I won’t go into a lengthy introduction. Let’s just jump in. I played on mobile, normally a downgrade in terms of atmosphere and immersion. It doesn’t really make a difference here though. The game is simple in depth and mechanics enough that as long as you have relative peace and quiet for sound cues you’ll be ok.

As somebody who likes to take risks, this game was still VERY tight on the power management. To the point of annoyance. The first three nights of the eponymous five nights was nothing crazy. Check the cams often enough, but don’t be glued to them. Use power very sparingly and you’ll be good give or take a death or two. The fourth and fifth night on the other hand felt like huge jumps in difficulty. The fifth night especially. I’m not exaggerating when I say that within ten seconds every single time on the fifth night at least one animatronic would be at your door with Foxy not far behind. And if they didn’t get you then power-lossage was a very real possibility. That’s taking into account a near-ideal optimizations for power saving too, with delaying door closing as much as possible, opening them as soon as possible, and still the times were extremely close. Believe me when I say RNG is both your savior and your condemner. Random in-game button glitching, cams going down to let the animatronics move, or having the animatronics just straight up refusing to leave outside your room can easily be a ticket a quick trip to frustration land.

It’s that poorly managed RNG paired with shallow mechanics that provide little player expression that made me put the game down before I could beat the final night. You could be the best FNAF player in existence, perfectly optimizing battery usage and yet if RNGESUS doesn’t bless you, you’re not going to make it. Full stop. And after so many deaths the repetitive jump-scares became less suspenseful and more prohibitively drawn out.

It’s hard to believe this game would be the catalyst for the absolute WAVE of “mascot horror” we would continue to see a decade later. My advice if you want to finish the game? Take breaks, getting stuck in failure loops (like I did) will make you burn out very quick in a game like this. As a success story I admire this game. As a game it’s missing a few key elements, such as balance and interactivity, making it too punishing and too boring to see it though till the end. In terms of idle observer games, not a terrible start for a franchise from a one-man band, but I want to see more risks taken in future installments.

Perhaps the closest we’ll ever get to a Narcos game, this one took a while to click for me. When I first booted this baby up a year ago it was….eh. Kind of confusing and overly open-ended. Fast forward to this September and I finally mustered the motivation to give it another try. I don’t know what it is but it felt so much more simpler than I remember it being. The whole cartel system just felt right to me and soon I was on a roll. I’m not exaggerating when I say I probably marathoned every mission in the game by playing just this for a week straight.

Not without reason, both the combat and narrative backdrop was supremely satisfying. Watching the little debriefs on my target and then systemically destroying them morale-wise and strength-wise was magnifique. Seeing the reactions of cartel higher-ups to my upsetting the balance of power was uber-gratifying and the cherry on top. The prime directive of taking down head honcho El Sueño was just too tantalizing a goal to not pursue. When the power fantasy was finally realized I felt unstoppable. Like I said, the game is Narcos and I’m Javier Peña, but instead of red tape and prohibitive politicking I have a squad of homie dudebros and more bullet-shaped lead than we know what to do with. Add to that the customization is pretty sweet, micro transactions completely optional and unnecessary for me.

Of course none of this would be worth mentioning if not for the handling and gameplay. And man it is smoother in Wildlands than it gets credit for. The transitions, be it from third person to first, vehicle to ground traversal, or crouching to prone, are all super sleek animation wise and let you do a lot of tacticool maneuvers. Plus it is has one of the most consistently dependable vehicle handling schemes of any game I’ve ever played, with an asterisk for the sometimes dodgy driving on rocky terrain. But even then that’s just amusing. The gun handling and customization is fantastic to boot as well. No notes from me there except keep it up Mr Clancy.

The game design is most likely one you’re familiar with. Open-world venture with enemy outposts, bases, and miscellaneous villages strewn throughout. And honestly I’m sort of torn on this methodology. On the one hand, with such a strict narrative goal I can see how it’s hard to add too much variety to the gameplay and missions. But maybe a bit more time in the oven to justify such a large open-world may have been preferred. The actual outpost takedowns are awesome, naturally. And with as many as there are you learn quickly to get creative with your method of madness. It can’t be argued it’s not repetitive, but for some reason I don’t mind it here. Just gives me more practice runs as I perfect my Terminator emulation. Though my favorite infiltration style will always be the stealthy drone scouting followed by meticulous sniper shots method, where I pick them off one by one, or two by two or three by three when I use the AI.

Speaking of AI, let’s talk about your buddies. Their logic is a bit all over the place, but they don’t annoy me too often. They can be real nice when you want to eliminate someone out of Line of Sight, and they’re almost impossible to spot by enemies when you’re sneaking around, unrealistically so. As in an enemy won’t see them when they’re five feet away and looking right at them. But besides it insulting reality and logic I’d prefer that to being punished for not being on top of he AI commands as much as I should be. But man these guys have no self-preservation center in their brain. You get pinned down in a location you better hope they followed you inside or heed your follow command in time, because otherwise they’re about to go down quicker than you can say gesundheit. Again, not the worst, but this game definitively proves they have not created the perfect AI yet. Because when they do I just now their priority will be to use that technology to give me the perfect teammates.

I’ll be the first to say, by all accounts this game isn’t really anything special. Notable polish ignored its undeniably cookie-cutter. Despite that I can’t help but enjoy this schlock. It’s simply too primally fun to goof around and experiment with different weapons and styles. If you enjoy tactical third-person shooters, and especially if you have a squad of your own peeps who do too, then give this game some consideration.

I’m a bit embarrassed to rate this game as high as I am, but I just can’t resist when it’s Snake 2.0. And it is most definitely 2.0. The basic idea is that instead of the traditional Snake rules we all know and love, you can now jump over yourself and even ride yourself to prevent death and gain more snake length space. The catch is, mean little apples spawn outside the perimeter of the area, who are intent on taking a bite out of the snake this time. They’ll latch onto you and ride upwards towards your head, resulting in a game over if they reach it. To prevent this, you can jump on your back with clever positioning and jump-timing, allowing you to eat the homicidal apples right off of you.

There’s some different speeds you can choose to lower or raise difficulty, but regardless of what you choose you start at a moderately long length. Something I’m unique in not minding it seems. To me, the first few snake lengths are filler seconds that are negligibly difficult, so to short circuit that downtime isn’t such a massive lost. However, an option to outright choose starting length would be killer too.

Classic games like these are what I love to see being reinvented on the Playdate. Short, non-intensive ventures that already have wide recognition and at least a modest amount of fondness from the general public. The profitability might be low, but that’s what makes it such a great candidate for the seasonal catalogue. Personally, I would have been fine paying a couple of dollars no problem, but they made the smartest move to get more people on board and acquainted with the concept. Hopefully this trend of putting small spins on 90s Windows games continues. Next up, Minesweeper! Who’s with me?