Even though I would consider myself to be an avid fan of the series, I somehow never got around to playing this one, which is kind of surprising, considering how much this game gets hyped up within the fanbase, and I gotta say, after beating it, I'm pretty disappointed.
Even though the series has a lot of games, I feel that most of them do a really good job of standing on their own, having some sort of unique gameplay elements or different progression systems/gameplay loops, but this one really doesn't do anything to stand on its own. The very few things that this game does to even remotely stand out are so extremely shallow and vague that it's more of an accident when it happens, rather than an actual mechanic the game is designed around.
I would even go so far as to say this game does absolutely nothing to justify playing it literally over any other game in the series. It feels so bad to be playing a game and the whole time I'm thinking, "I could just replay Vesperia."
The pacing of the gameplay is equally as rough, with there being so much backtracking having to travel across the world map just to talk to people. I rolled credits with less than 40 hours yet I feel like this game took literally forever with just how much of a slog to play through a lot of the times.
Which is kind of a shame because admittedly, the story/overall narrative, as well as the characters, are absolutely wonderful this time around. The narrative is so beautifully thematic and there are a plethora of interesting scenes and character moments that I genuinely was very invested in, and that's something I do feel like this game does fantastically. In fact, that's the main thing that kept me playing honestly, and I can't take that away. But when the gameplay is for the most part boring, character progression is boring, customization is shallow, and a lot the mechanics might as well not even exist, then it's hard to recommend this game to anyone unless they are interested in the top tier narrative.

This schmup is fucking insane, and for the first time you get both versions. Honestly you gotta really focus when playing this game, since the game leaves you little margin for error. Thankfully this version not only preserves both versions and a lot of additional material, but it comes with an easy mode for people who aren't looking to be beaten over the head by everything coming at them. But the concept itself really brings the appeal. Especially to old heads that remember this game back at the beginning of video game reviews on youtube.

GIANT NAKED ZOMBIE SEAN CONNERY

Metal Wolf Chaos is incredible and terrible in equal measure across every element. The story concept is completely insane and hilarious, but the game feels like it's missing 80% of the cutscenes that explain how anything gets from one point to another. There's a point where you talk to a character, it fades to black, and in the next cutscene they've been kidnapped and ask if you can ever forgive them for betraying you. There is zero explanation for this series of events and it is never addressed afterwards. The voice acting is "terrible" in the best way, but the writing itself is clunky with abysmal broken English and lines of dialogue that get cut off mid-sentence. The action is completely over the top and it feels great to save America by blowing most of it up, but weapons do a seemingly random amount of damage on every shot, anything that's not a rocket launcher is effectively useless, and the bosses have unbelievably cheap attacks that tear through your health faster than an executive order. A total lack of checkpoints guarantees you'll be slogging through entire levels, bracing for the return of a boss' third-phase invisible attack.

To the outside observer, Metal Wolf Chaos is loud, obnoxious, deliriously over-the-top, with explosions and patriotism as far as the eye can see. To the player, it's a series of half-baked systems designed to undermine the entire experience and, in some ways, actively work against its enjoyment.

To put it simply: it's the perfect American game.

Of the Mario Kart games I had played prior to this whole marathon I'm doing, Mario Kart Wii was the one I played the absolute least. I think the main reason for that is I got my wii in the latter half of 2010 and got this game for Christmas that year. However, next Christmas I got a 3DS and Mario Kart 7 and just never really went back to this one because the only time I was Mario Karting was on the school bus. Eventually 8 came out and that gave me even less of a reason to come back to this one. So it's been around 12 years since I last touched this game. As such, I gave this a 6 and thought it was just an average Mario Kart purely because I barely played it. Coming back to it in 2024 though, not only is it really great, it's my favorite Mario Kart I've played thus far in this marathon. I always thought I liked DS more overall since I had fonder memories with it but Wii is just more fun overall due to a couple things it did incredibly well.

The biggest and best thing Wii excelled at I think, is its new track selection. I honest to god don't think there's a single track I dislike. Maybe there's a couple tracks I think are just decent like Luigi Circuit or Mario Circuit but the track list is absolutely chock full of bangers. Mushroom Gorge, Toad's Factory, Coconut Mall, DK Summit, Wario's Gold Mine, Koopa Cape, Maple Treeway and this game's Rainbow Road. Those are just some of my absolute favorites but the rest are really good too. I know 7 and 8's original tracks already, and I've played through most of Double Dash's through other games in the series and also have seen the tracks that have not appeared in other games. With that said, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, Mario Kart Wii has the best selection of original courses out of every game in the series. The ratio of amazing/good courses is just too high for me not to claim that to be true. Either way, certainly a big reason this game is still a ton of fun to this day.

Something else this game did well was it's retro track selection. It may not be as good as 8's or even 7's for that matter, but it's leagues better than DS's I think. A big reason for that is half of the courses aren't from SNES or Super Circuit. And the ones that were, are a lot better this time around. Same with the Double Dash picks, Peach Beach is meh but Waluigi Stadium and DK mountain are awesome picks. The N64 picks are pretty solid too. Only one I think this game did dirty was DS. Peach Gardens and Delfino Square, while not my favorites from DS, were both pretty good. However, the other two courses are Yoshi Falls and Desert Hills which were some of my least favorites from DS. They could've picked some fan favorites like Waluigi Pinball or Airship Fortress but no, they picked some of the lamest courses. Hey, 7 actually had those two courses in its retro selection so I'll definitely be looking forward to them when I get to that game. Anyways, the retro selection could've been better but it's a big improvement from DS's selection.

The other big addition this game added was the trick system. Every Mario Kart after this one also has it too and there's a good reason why they've kept it ever since. It makes ramps that much more fun to drive off of, it's just super satisfying to shake the controller and see your kart do the most sick tricks in the air. Same with the half-pipe ramps which are an amazing addition as well. Honestly, they're usually slower than just driving if they're optional ones but courses like DK Pass or Bowser's Castle where they're pretty much mandatory (unless you have a mushroom) make those levels that much more fun to play and gives the game it's own identity since 8 did away with them (they are actually back in the Booster Courses but I haven't played those).

All this stuff is great and makes me enjoy this game a ton, but I do have a couple issues with this game that makes me like it less than 8 still. One of the biggest issues is the game's balancing. Another thing the game added was bikes which was huge. The developers must've had a huge hard on for them though as they're WAY better than any of the karts. The inside drift bikes especially are just too broken. So basically, there's two types of bikes. Outward drift and inward drift. Outward drift asks like a kart basically while inward drift makes it so as soon as you start to drift you can only drift sharply into the direction. Kinda hard to explain but if you've played the game you know. I remember hating inward drifting when I played this game all the way back in the day. Now though, I find inward drifting bikes to be a really fun and not nearly as annoying to use. However, like I said they're just too broken since you can cut corners insanely fast and also instead of getting a two stage mini turbo, you only get the one stage blue sparks but in turn you can perform a wheelie at any time by shaking the wiimote and that gives you a small speed boost. Because of all this, once I got the Mach Bike or Flame Runner, I just never used a kart or outside drift bike again just cuz there's no need to. 8 definitely fixed this cuz the balancing between the two is much better in that game.

A couple other issues I had was the item frequency and the battle mode being poor. The items can be super obnoxious in this game at times. I really don't know why but it's just super easy to get spammed with blue shells when in first. There were a couple games where I'd be hit by a blue shell like 7 times in one game. And plenty of times where I'd be hit by one and then hit by lightning, this game is just insane when it comes to it's items and sometimes it's just not fun. The battle mode I also remember not being that great back in the day. The courses were solid and all but the issue was you're forced to be on teams and cannot ever have it be a free for all. This is just lame and while it's not as bad as base 8's battle mode, it certainly isn't that far off. Also I was gonna say the bloom can really make the game look ugly or weird at times but honestly I got used to it pretty quickly and don't have much of an issue with it like I once thought. Still think Double Dash looks better than this game especially since some of the character models still aren't that great looking (not nearly as mad as DS tho).

I was also gonna say how it stinks to unlock every character because a couple of them require you to get a star or more on every cup(or just play and absurd amount of races) and the way to get star rank is a little weird in this game but I was actually able to do it in the end. Got one star or higher in 50, 100 and 150cc as well as unlocking every expert ghost time trial so I was able to unlock every character. Didn't feel like doing mirror mode though so I didn't get every kart but I feel pretty satisfied with what I did. Never unlocked a lot of stuff in this game back then when I played so it felt good to finally do so.

Overall, while I had some minor issues, this was easily the best Mario Kart game I've played thus far in this marathon. I'm super happy I redeemed myself with this game because a ton of my friends love it and I can finally see why they do. Really wish I played this more with my buds back in the day haha, ah well. Next up is Mario Kart 7 so look forward to that soon!

gets around the occasional frustrating mission or boss fight by having probably the most engaging gameplay loop in a metal gear game that isn't MGS2. the mission-based and base-building style gameplay of capturing soldiers to hire them as combatants or R&D members (among other roles) for MSF fits big boss' leadership qualities more than it does solid snake and is engaging in its own right
they didn't really need to continue big boss' story after MGS3 since I think the end of that game already made his motivations for his more cynical point-of-view in MG2 - but peace walker manages to make its story worthwhile by showing him struggling to come to grips with the boss' death and having him slowly develop into his more villainous personality from MG1 and 2 by the end of the game
the best part, however? this game is deeply unserious - moreso than any metal gear game before it. and I kinda love it for that. the comedic briefing tapes substituting for the prior games' codec banter and the various wacky extra ops that see BB doing silly shit like playing pooyan with fultoned soldiers, or going having rough gay sex with miller under a cardboard box. we've come a long way from bisexual vampires

When it comes to an RPG adventure, I don't think much beats Dragon Quest V. That's not an evaluation of the game overall but a specification of its journey.

The scope of the story starting from Hero's childhood, into his teen and adult years, and then fast-forwarding to when his kids are grown up is really special and done very well. The world map is tightly designed with each new country/continent a thrill to explore and there are plenty of mysteries to discover and secrets to fine, even into the game's more open-ended third act. The story builds it tension and crescendos.

Because of it's exciting adventure, I cherish DQ5 even if the gameplay, at least in this Super Famicom version, isn't great. It's the same traditional JRPG gameplay but not as tight as later editions of the franchise and lacking the customization of later titles too. It's cool that there's stuff like the monster collecting but I found that lacking potential with the three party member limit that this first version of DQ5 possesses.

I beat the main game and cheated my way through the bonus dungeon to close the book on this SFC version of Dragon Quest V, a game I played back when I got into emulation as a teen and fell in love with, enough to adore the DS remake that would come my way years later. I like the graphics in this version more than the DS version but that version has four party members so when I want to replay this game again, I'll likely go for that version.