RumbleRose
2018
Gorgeous game. I never liked roguelikes or lites until i played this game and suddenly got the appeal. The game is built so that each failure progresses the story or character relationships in some way, so being Bad At Video Games never felt like a problem! Each time I died I thought "oh cool i get to see my friends again and i finally have enough to buy that disco ball".
The sense of progression is fantastic, with a lot of customization options without being overwhelming.
To say nothing of the flow of the combat, which was addicting and felt incredibly satisfying and responsive even with my big sausage fingers.
Beautiful visuals and audio are the cherry on top as Super Giant knocks it out of the park yet again.
Fantastic game, one of the best. I recommend everyone try it, regardless of what you usually play.
The sense of progression is fantastic, with a lot of customization options without being overwhelming.
To say nothing of the flow of the combat, which was addicting and felt incredibly satisfying and responsive even with my big sausage fingers.
Beautiful visuals and audio are the cherry on top as Super Giant knocks it out of the park yet again.
Fantastic game, one of the best. I recommend everyone try it, regardless of what you usually play.
Just a beautiful game. I tend to bounce off open world games but the bright visuals and engaging puzzles littered throughout Hyrule had me sink hundreds of hours into this before I even realized it.
2015
This is one of those games I play every couple of years. Just impeccably charming, with wonderful writing and a fun bullet hell mechanic. Absolutely recommended for everyone.
2017
Yet another game that turned me on to an entire genre. I'm not one for highly difficult games or heavy combat games. At least I wasn't before Hollow Knight!
I can't do Souls games but the simplicity of the two dimensional combat and the controls make this game something entirely different and, in my opinion, way more approachable. Combat is fast and frenetic and incredibly satisfying, and the game is good at offering you options if you're stuck in a specific area.
The platforming is also very fun! Not as challenging as a true platformer but satisfying in the way that more and more movement abilities and platforming challenges open up more and more of the map.
Beautiful visuals and music and just general design sensibilities that stick with you. A beautiful, haunting atmosphere throughout all the varied areas of the world. It really nails the feeling of a world in decline. You have to look hard for the sparks of hope amongst the despair, but they are there.
The Switch version is also just a really solid port, and having it in my hands on the couch made the game way more accessible.
I'd recommend this to anybody with an interest, but if you aren't one for action games I'd pick it up on sale. It's ludicrously inexpensive at full price for what it is, and semi-frequent sales make it a must buy.
I can't do Souls games but the simplicity of the two dimensional combat and the controls make this game something entirely different and, in my opinion, way more approachable. Combat is fast and frenetic and incredibly satisfying, and the game is good at offering you options if you're stuck in a specific area.
The platforming is also very fun! Not as challenging as a true platformer but satisfying in the way that more and more movement abilities and platforming challenges open up more and more of the map.
Beautiful visuals and music and just general design sensibilities that stick with you. A beautiful, haunting atmosphere throughout all the varied areas of the world. It really nails the feeling of a world in decline. You have to look hard for the sparks of hope amongst the despair, but they are there.
The Switch version is also just a really solid port, and having it in my hands on the couch made the game way more accessible.
I'd recommend this to anybody with an interest, but if you aren't one for action games I'd pick it up on sale. It's ludicrously inexpensive at full price for what it is, and semi-frequent sales make it a must buy.
2017
A beautifully rendered highly stylized game. Tons of customization for combat and movement abilities so if you're the sort to play with loadouts you might spend a lot of time building the perfect loadout. Theres an optimization tool for the rest of us that works well.
This game experiments a lot with the camera, changing from wide open world exploration to side scrolling combat to 2.5 person shooting segments, which can be frustrating and exciting in turns.
I love android and transhuman stories so parts of this story were really compelling, but I found that some side missions or quiet moments with npcs in the world hit me harder than the main story line.
The world is massive and empty and incredibly traversable, lots of areas to climb and explore cut with some areas that are purely side scrolling action. I wish there was more in the world to do.
And while I appreciate the almost monotone color palette is a purposeful and thematic choice, I do wish there was more variety in the world's design. Most everything looks very washed out and soft, which causes a lot of the world to look the same. It makes traveling around more confusing than I'd like in the early game.
The washed out world also doesn't have enough contrast to be really striking. The player character dressed in black and the dull brown enemies read pretty well against the washed out world, though, so this complaint is down to personal taste. I just prefer more visual variety and a broader range of values in my games.
The story didn't hit me as much as it did some others, I don't think. But it was still a fun time with satisfying combat and plenty of secrets to find, if you like that kind of hunting in a game.
This game experiments a lot with the camera, changing from wide open world exploration to side scrolling combat to 2.5 person shooting segments, which can be frustrating and exciting in turns.
I love android and transhuman stories so parts of this story were really compelling, but I found that some side missions or quiet moments with npcs in the world hit me harder than the main story line.
The world is massive and empty and incredibly traversable, lots of areas to climb and explore cut with some areas that are purely side scrolling action. I wish there was more in the world to do.
And while I appreciate the almost monotone color palette is a purposeful and thematic choice, I do wish there was more variety in the world's design. Most everything looks very washed out and soft, which causes a lot of the world to look the same. It makes traveling around more confusing than I'd like in the early game.
The washed out world also doesn't have enough contrast to be really striking. The player character dressed in black and the dull brown enemies read pretty well against the washed out world, though, so this complaint is down to personal taste. I just prefer more visual variety and a broader range of values in my games.
The story didn't hit me as much as it did some others, I don't think. But it was still a fun time with satisfying combat and plenty of secrets to find, if you like that kind of hunting in a game.
This is the most fun I've had playing a pokemon game in YEARS. It screams of needing an extra 6 months to polish it, as there's tons of areas it could be improved, but I've had such a great time with it it's hard to bring myself to care.
Its just /fun/, and makes catching pokemon rewarding with the new pokemon research system, and expands on combat in an interesting way with strong and agile moves.
Probably a bit too complex for the under-8s, but for anyone older it will be a fun time.
Its just /fun/, and makes catching pokemon rewarding with the new pokemon research system, and expands on combat in an interesting way with strong and agile moves.
Probably a bit too complex for the under-8s, but for anyone older it will be a fun time.
2011
This review contains spoilers
I love my idiot orb son Wheatley. Rest in piss little man.
2007
Just a perfect game. Tight in the writing and the execution. Perfect little puzzle experience.
The game that made me able to play first person games.
If you haven't played this yet, you really, really should.
The game that made me able to play first person games.
If you haven't played this yet, you really, really should.
2016
Never has there been a more stylish game.
2021
Super enjoyable story-based card game with a few twists and turns! The ending didn't really stick the landing for me but I had so much fun with the game that it didn't matter.
There's also a version of this game where you endlessly play through the first act, which is fantastic, as I think that was the strongest part of the game.
There's also a version of this game where you endlessly play through the first act, which is fantastic, as I think that was the strongest part of the game.
2012
The definitive Persona 4, and for many people, the definitive Persona.
Oh I LOVE this shit. The gameplay and combat is so satisfying and heavy and I wish there was more of it but I also love the characters a whole lot, they're all so charming. You rarely get more than 3 party members at a time to choose from which is kind of a bummer, but it makes sense for the direction the actual gameplay has taken.
I wish more of the game's areas were revisitable earlier in the game, but with the way the game is structured it's easy to see why that's not possible. I have no clue how they're going to tackle the open world of Gaia if they keep the Chapter system.
Everything else aside, I love the way the creators are tackling the remake of one of the most beloved Final Fantasy games and I can't wait to see more.
I wish more of the game's areas were revisitable earlier in the game, but with the way the game is structured it's easy to see why that's not possible. I have no clue how they're going to tackle the open world of Gaia if they keep the Chapter system.
Everything else aside, I love the way the creators are tackling the remake of one of the most beloved Final Fantasy games and I can't wait to see more.
2017
Charming and hellishly difficult! Super fun with 2 players but I've got bad at video game disease so I'm not likely to finish this ever. But I love the style and the animations and the old timey bent of the music. Just a well-conceived and well-executed project.
Fantastic game, incredibly stylish. I miss the weird little games and gameplay you got for the DS. The ports for this game don't capture the gameplay at all, sadly, and the ports are way worse for it. If you can, definitely play this one on a DS system.
The story is very good, and the music slaps. The combat controls start out a bit confusing but once you get into the groove it's so satisfying. Trying different pin combinations against different enemies is really engaging. I also have a weird love for Tin Pin Slammer, the minigame.
Just all around fun to play! And it holds up pretty well for a modern audience, despite the sheer 2007 energy emanating from it.
The story is very good, and the music slaps. The combat controls start out a bit confusing but once you get into the groove it's so satisfying. Trying different pin combinations against different enemies is really engaging. I also have a weird love for Tin Pin Slammer, the minigame.
Just all around fun to play! And it holds up pretty well for a modern audience, despite the sheer 2007 energy emanating from it.
2019
This review contains spoilers
As a culmination of the series thus far, I think this game kind of fails. It was never going to live up to the hype, but there's some serious structural issues that are incredibly disappointing. The game is meandering and purposeless until it tries to do a triple backflip at the finish line, where it absolutely eats pavement.
Before I start listing issues though, I did have fun playing it while I was actually playing it, for the most part. The last couple hours of gameplay were just so disappointing they taint my memory of the experience.
But the magic system is fun if completely overpowered, the new movement abilities and evolution of 3D's flowmotion make environments fun to traverse, and the keyblade transformations are a fantastic addition to the series in terms of changing up combat. There is also a really difficult challenge mode for folks who enjoy that kind of thing, and an easy mode for folks who need a little help or just want to experience the story. The game is also beautifully rendered and has some really fun set design. The lighting effects in particular are very nice, and most of the worlds are a lot of fun to run around in. It's not the culmination of the series we've been hoping for, but it's still a really good time.
On to the negatives, with slight spoilers:
The pacing is wack, with all the storytelling backloaded into a boss rush ending after a bunch of Disney worlds where the story of the game barely advanced. The effect is less of a wonderful rush to the end and more of several hours of fluff followed by everything happening within like an hour of gameplay.
I'm also frustrated because parts of the DLC actually offer a better more satisfying ending to the game, to the point that the game feels incomplete without it. Which is the worst kind of DLC.
On top of that, Sora feels like he's on the outside of any story in the Disney worlds, with only a couple having him center stage (Toy Story, Monster's Inc). It gets to the point that we cut from whatever we're doing to a cutscene where the Disney movie plot is happening, and we realize that Sora hasn't interacted with any of the characters in the big climactic cutscene. The cutscene ends and Sora doesn't even get to fight in the big scene! He's fighting somewhere else!
It's unsatisfying to play a character who's essentially a ghost in the narrative.
We don't really see any of our friends that we've made in previous games which is a bummer. And the ones we do meet, we don't get to spend time with. Winnie the Pooh is a 1-room area where you play bejeweled 3 times and then never visit again. The only exception to this are the Twilight Town crew who at least show up a few times and talk to Sora.
But all the Final Fantasy folks are just not present at all, and Radiant Garden isn't even in this game. Twilight Town is gorgeous, but it's the smallest world (aside from Hundred Acre Wood) at maybe a couple blocks wide.
It feels like the effort in making this game went in the absolute weirdest direction and it's lost a lot of the magic of earlier installments.
The other big sticking point aside from poor pacing and lack of emotional connection with the characters is how Sora is treated in the narrative. He's berated and treated like an idiot constantly for not understanding or knowing what the "Power of Waking" is. No one will explain what it is to him or to us, so it ends up making me feel like they're missing something obvious, and also that Donald Duck and Goofy think you're stupid.
Finding this undefined power makes up the whole of the character motivation for the game, which is probably why the narrative feels so weak. I /think/ we eventually got the power of waking by the end but if we did, it was a good hour into the last world.
Honestly the pacing is so so so bad for this game and it's devastating.
I'm also not a fan of the new engine and how they've made the character models more realistic. I think a more anime or cartoony look is more at home on the characters, and make them more charming. They start looking overdesigned and yet somehow samey when every hair follicle is modeled. But that's a personal aesthetic preference.
All in all, I'd say this game is at best okay. Don't go in with any big expectations and it will be a fun romp. But if you're invested in the series as a whole (and why would you play this if you weren't) some areas of the game will likely be disappointing. Just be prepared and maybe pick it up on sale.
Before I start listing issues though, I did have fun playing it while I was actually playing it, for the most part. The last couple hours of gameplay were just so disappointing they taint my memory of the experience.
But the magic system is fun if completely overpowered, the new movement abilities and evolution of 3D's flowmotion make environments fun to traverse, and the keyblade transformations are a fantastic addition to the series in terms of changing up combat. There is also a really difficult challenge mode for folks who enjoy that kind of thing, and an easy mode for folks who need a little help or just want to experience the story. The game is also beautifully rendered and has some really fun set design. The lighting effects in particular are very nice, and most of the worlds are a lot of fun to run around in. It's not the culmination of the series we've been hoping for, but it's still a really good time.
On to the negatives, with slight spoilers:
The pacing is wack, with all the storytelling backloaded into a boss rush ending after a bunch of Disney worlds where the story of the game barely advanced. The effect is less of a wonderful rush to the end and more of several hours of fluff followed by everything happening within like an hour of gameplay.
I'm also frustrated because parts of the DLC actually offer a better more satisfying ending to the game, to the point that the game feels incomplete without it. Which is the worst kind of DLC.
On top of that, Sora feels like he's on the outside of any story in the Disney worlds, with only a couple having him center stage (Toy Story, Monster's Inc). It gets to the point that we cut from whatever we're doing to a cutscene where the Disney movie plot is happening, and we realize that Sora hasn't interacted with any of the characters in the big climactic cutscene. The cutscene ends and Sora doesn't even get to fight in the big scene! He's fighting somewhere else!
It's unsatisfying to play a character who's essentially a ghost in the narrative.
We don't really see any of our friends that we've made in previous games which is a bummer. And the ones we do meet, we don't get to spend time with. Winnie the Pooh is a 1-room area where you play bejeweled 3 times and then never visit again. The only exception to this are the Twilight Town crew who at least show up a few times and talk to Sora.
But all the Final Fantasy folks are just not present at all, and Radiant Garden isn't even in this game. Twilight Town is gorgeous, but it's the smallest world (aside from Hundred Acre Wood) at maybe a couple blocks wide.
It feels like the effort in making this game went in the absolute weirdest direction and it's lost a lot of the magic of earlier installments.
The other big sticking point aside from poor pacing and lack of emotional connection with the characters is how Sora is treated in the narrative. He's berated and treated like an idiot constantly for not understanding or knowing what the "Power of Waking" is. No one will explain what it is to him or to us, so it ends up making me feel like they're missing something obvious, and also that Donald Duck and Goofy think you're stupid.
Finding this undefined power makes up the whole of the character motivation for the game, which is probably why the narrative feels so weak. I /think/ we eventually got the power of waking by the end but if we did, it was a good hour into the last world.
Honestly the pacing is so so so bad for this game and it's devastating.
I'm also not a fan of the new engine and how they've made the character models more realistic. I think a more anime or cartoony look is more at home on the characters, and make them more charming. They start looking overdesigned and yet somehow samey when every hair follicle is modeled. But that's a personal aesthetic preference.
All in all, I'd say this game is at best okay. Don't go in with any big expectations and it will be a fun romp. But if you're invested in the series as a whole (and why would you play this if you weren't) some areas of the game will likely be disappointing. Just be prepared and maybe pick it up on sale.