Dragon's Dogma II is a weird, complicated, somewhat frustrating, yet ultimately fun and rewarding experience. It does not hold your hand, it's often janky, but the overall game was mostly a fun time.

Combat is great, aided by your ability to change vocations at anytime while also finding new vocations throughout your run. They all play very differently and it's a blast to try out a new one when you get them. Unfortunately, they have mastery attached to them, which was only an issue as I found two unique vocations VERY late in the game and I just could not use them for lack of funds for weapons and armor as well as just being unable to deal significant damage. It was a bummer.

The pawns are also a fascinating choice. You're given one permanent pawn who you create and can change their inventory and vocation whenever you want, but you can also hire two additional pawns to help, which seems like a prerequisite if you want to survive some of the harder fights. They are mostly intelligent with how they combat enemies, although sometimes fall to their death in very annoying ways. I wish there was an online co-op element, but that would change the game in large ways, so I understand it's omission. Still, I feel this would had made the game a bit more fun, as near the back half, things begin to feel a bit samesy.

The enemy variety is simply not wide enough, and endgame fights are mostly annoying and pointless besides certain larger creatures and bosses. Without spoiling anything, there are parts near the end that require a lot of travel on foot, albeit with some fast travel available, and after the 12th monster interruption on your path, my sighs could not have been louder. Travel in general was extremely challenging, long, and arduous and it was very fun in the beginning! However, 20-30 hours in, it becomes more annoying than anything else.

The game is a fun time despite its often cryptic nature. I don't like checking online for what to do, and I try to avoid it as often as possible, but there were at least two points where I simply had no idea what was going on or what to do in a situation that I KNEW something needed to happen in order for me to progress. One wound up being a bug, which sucked but I was able to circumvent it, but the other had an answer I simply would have never thought of. There's cryptic, and then there's Simon's Quest red orb tornado shit cryptic. Like, don't do that, that's dumb and bad and not fun. Stop it. That being said, I still find myself enjoying being lost and a little confused, as you often don't get that from major video games anymore. It's thrilling not knowing exactly what to do, up to a point, and I'm glad it's here despite my gripes.

The story is good, but not great, with well written characters but often mediocre voice acting. They definitely need to hire more people as it was painfully obvious half of the voices were the same people just pitched up or down, which is KINDA embarrassing. The main characters, however, are generally great. There is a love interest part, but it's mostly meaningless which is a shame.

I feel like a New Game Plus run of this down the line will be fun, as you keep all your items and levels, so playing some of the other vocations will be more doable the second time through. Despite some finicky quests that just aren't clear and some lacking enemy variety, the game as a whole a very fun experience. Capcom knows what they're doing and this is proof of that yet again.

Also your pawns just talk too much. Like goddamn, shut up dude, PLEASE shut up.

A wonderful amalgamation of several different tactical genres, Unicorn Overlord is an excellent triumph. Combining elements from Fire Emblem, Suikoden, and Ogre Battle, the game manages to slam those ideas together to form a truly unique experience that I did not think I would again anytime soon.

Tactical and real-time with the ability to pause at any second, each map consists of several enemy units to defeat, bases to liberate, and characters to sway to your cause. Fine-turning your squads as they grow in size and strength is the bread and butter of the game, and I've never been more enthralled to dig through menus to see it happen. Equipment loadouts, unit positioning, and mastering how the battle system works is a joy that isn't front-loaded with tutorials and endless chatter, but more of a basic explanation and a willingness to try new combinations out to see what works.

Battles take place automatically, based on initiative speeds, and what attacks or buffs each unit preforms. There is a special kind of thrill to be gained from setting up a unit to preform all their best moves and take minimal damage and watching it play out with perfect success.

Like Suikoden before, there are MANY characters in the game that both join your army automatically or have to be persuaded through your actions. All of them are beautifully unique and fully voiced, making building of your battalions even more exciting. The artwork, both on character models during dialog and battles and on the world map, are both stunning and charming. Vanillaware has always been kings of beautiful character designs and it's absolutely no different here.

The main gripe within the game is the story. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's boring. It falls into many tropes you've seen play out in film and other video games with elves and beast/human hybrids, a super evil bad guy and his second in command super evil wizard, and other less than stellar story beats. Alain, the protagonist, is likely one of the most vanilla leads I've ever seen, just 100% the nicest guy you'll ever meet and never has a bad thing to say about anyone and everyone loves him 24/7 with little to no complaints. It's a thrill to recruit a new member, but sometimes the people that join you would have killed you ten seconds earlier, but Alain said two sentences about helpin' the little guy and saving the country and suddenly all is forgiven.

You can also build relationships with your entire crew, akin to Fire Emblem, which improves their stats in battle and gives you small scenes between each of them when certain benchmarks are hit. It's a nice addition, especially if you share beautifully drawn meals that always look delicious, but a lot of dialog also falls into a repetitive nature, especially if Alain is involved, as he'll just wax poetic about whatever the other person likes and use flowery language to cover up for somewhat stale storytelling. You can romance people as well, but it amounts to very little unfortunately. It's a nice touch and will somewhat change how you need to approach the final battle, but otherwise it's a bit lacking.

Overall, the gameplay, strategy, and tactical prowess of this entry far outstrips the lackluster story. The difficulty on Normal is a pushover, so cranking it up is highly recommended if you want more of a challenge. This is one of the closest things I've seen to Ogre Battle 64, one of my all-time favorite games, so it has a lot going for it when it comes to the gameplay elements. If a sequel or second game in this style is made, all they need to do is improve the story and I'll sing their praises until I die.

An absolute masterclass in how to remake a game from several generations back, Resident Evil 4 keeps everything you remember being cool and updating things you forgot were outdated and does it all with style and perfection.

The story is B movie excellence and I love every second of it. Leon is a quip machine and a hell of a hero and every other character is wonderfully realized. Ashley, in particular, is someone I truly care about getting off the island alive and well. Luis is a suave and shady wingman. Ada, despite some flat voicework now and again, is a perfect self-serving yet still on-your-side counterpart. Even Mike the chopper pilot is a great addition and you can't even see his face! The story and characters sing at every moment, and the villains also bring a much needed screen-chewing presence. I love Krauser a LOT.

The gameplay is also top notch, setting a standard that I'm sure will be replicated for years to come. Precise aiming controls, great change ups to how you fight enemies throughout the game, and some truly memorable boss fights culminate in an absolutely stunning experience for the full playthrough.

I'm a big fat dumb baby when it comes to horror, but the balance between scary moments and action thrills is JUST right here. The Regenerators had me pausing the game and just cursing to myself, like it would make them go away. But an hour later I'd be blasting ganados with a shotgun and grinning as they all flew down a staircase.

I watched other people play the original 2005 game (see: big fat dumb baby) and the changes they made here like removing QTEs and updating character dialog and story (Ashley is massively improved) are all exactly what it needed to maintain both a remembrance for what came and an update for what is.

RE4 is a blat to play from beginning to end. Highly recommend. (It also has a gun called Killer7 which not only kicks ass as a weapon, but references one of my absolute favorite games.)

This is some of the best co-op gaming I've done in a long while. The comical vibe that's clearly inspired by Starship Troopers is wonderful and the dialog both spoken and written is on brand and hilarious. The set up is perfect and leads to one of the best times you can have with friends. The shooting feels great, killing bugs and robots in the name of democracy is as patriotic as it gets, and the simple act of changing outfits (which always look badass, especially the capes) is gratifying as hell. When this game sings, it belts so loudly and proudly and BOY is it fun.

It must be said, however, that during the launch, the servers were absolutely ill-equipped to handle the gigantic number of players trying to log on. it does NOT feel good to fork over 40 dollars only to sit around for an hour just simply waiting to get into a game and then give up. This happened for over a week, and frankly that's pretty awful. To be fair, it's a small team and Helldivers 1 never had anything close to this player count, so I can't blame them fully for not expecting big numbers. But it happened and it was pretty unbearable. If you're starting now, you shouldn't encounter this at all anymore, which is wonderful! The devs did a fantastic job pulling themselves out of the hole and should be commended for it.

Otherwise, there are small gripes like micro transactions (something that's always unwelcome but seemingly unavoidable now), which aren't super intrusive and can be ignored, but still stain the experience nonetheless. It's also still buggy in places, albeit nothing like what it was at launch. Harder difficulties are brutal and it's a truly excellent challenge, but playing with less than 4 players is essentially not possible. You can always open up the game to random players, but communication is so key to survival that playing with friends that know who is talking, where, and when is almost a necessity.

Overall, Helldivers 2 is a banger of a game with some blemishes that don't ruin it, but certainly make you wish they weren't there. The story and gameplay is evolving day to day, so with that in mind, things can and will change, and I'll be here ready to dive into hell. For Democracy.

A wonderfully charming action rhythm platforming game, I cannot believe this kind of thing was shadow dropped. Tight controls make for an excellent experience all around. The timing-based combat, although somewhat daunting at first glance, is some of the most satisfying gameplay I've done in a long while. Stringing together long combos while landing hits on the beat of the music NEVER gets old and it feels insanely good every time.

The music is a huge part of the game and does not disappoint. There are a handful of licensed tracks, and they all work astonishingly well, but the game soundtrack is also full of bangers. Even the music between the fights, where your main character Chai walks and jumps to the beat, is toe-tapping perfection. It cannot be overstated how good the music is and how well it works with literally everything within the game. All the big actions are on the beat and it's a joy to play AND watch it happen in cutscenes.

The story is like if Pixar cared about making good movies again. Fun, charming, and loveable characters all trying to stop the big mega corporation from doing nefarious deeds, it's a perfect combination of comedy, light drama, and action. The voice acting is superb with stellar performances from all involved.

Hi-Fi Rush is an easy recommendation across the board. If you're into it, there's also a hefty amount of post-game content to sink your teeth into. I hope Tango Gameworks continues to make games outside of the horror genre because they absolutely have a knack for it.

A phenomenal platformer with a real sense of speed, Pizza Tower is a wonderful game. With art akin to something you'd see in MS Paint from 1996, it takes Wario's charge dash and makes an entire game out of slamming into enemies going a million miles per hour. The more enemies you hit in a row, the longer you maintain your combo. It's thrilling to see your rank slowly climb from D all the way to A. There's also S and P rank, but I'm absolutely not good enough to get those. Luckily, getting an A still feels VERY good.

Every single song is a banger and I downloaded the soundtrack immediately upon completing this game. The sound in general is to be commended. Every increase in speed, every enemy hit, and every comical Looney Tunes scream is a joy to hear. Coupled with the bizarre and unique art, I laughed out loud several times. It's very reminiscent of some 90s cartoons like Ren and Stimpy or Rocko's Modern Life and it's all the better for it.

Every level has a ton of secrets to find, as well as continuing to get your rank up. The bosses are a blast to conquer and the final level is a gauntlet of all your skills. It's a fantastic game made by a small indie company and I hope they get to make many, many more in the years to come.

A unique strategy game I played over the Christmas holiday, the co-op nature of it drew me in. The fact that the game basically tells you nothing of what to do is half the appeal for me. Simply figuring out what buildings do what action was a blast.

The graphics are lovely pixel art and the music draws you into the world really well. Once we figured out how to escape the first island, the second one presented mostly the same issues as the first, which is where I wondered if this could sustain itself.

Hopefully I'll pick it back up one day, but I enjoyed my short time with it!

Another excellent side-scrolling adventure in the Mario series, Wonder finally updates and changes the godawful "New" series of games that everyone was tired of (and I personally hated). This entry continues the Mario formula of every level having a brand new, fantastically fun concept that is introduced, mastered, and then immediately dropped in favor of something else. Every level is a wild thing to try and master and it continually feels brand new every single time.

Wonder also introduced badges, a kind of "always on" power like higher jumping or the ability to touch lava or poison once per stage and not die. These are a fun addition, especially the badge challenge stages that ask you to master these powers in rapid succession. The new powers, like Elephant and Bubble, are also a lovely addition.

The signature "Wonder Flower" also randomly changes each level into it's own minigame, often with crazy challenging results or, when not that difficult, still wildly fun to play. On top of that, the Special World, with all the insanely difficult levels, is slowly dolled out through the game instead of coming ALL at once at the end. This keeps the challenge fresh, coming every once in a while instead of in bulk, and makes them a blast to conquer throughout the playtime. Some of these levels are...well, I swore at my TV a handful of times. A choice two or three are pretty rough, but I 100% the game because it's incredibly rewarding to do so.

As per usual, the bosses are a joke and a pushover. The story doesn't matter and all the characters play the exact same. The new voice actor for Mario and Luigi, however, does a very good job! Certain phrases that Luigi says don't always land, but it's just hard not to think of Charles, as he IS Mario and has been since 1996 (technically even before that!). "Woowie-zoowie" is maybe the worst thing they could have added? Don't do that anymore.

It feels great to finally play a side-scrolling Mario game again with a fresh art style, fun mechanics, and perfectly designed levels. If you're wanting to just beat the game, you'll likely find it to be a baby game for babies. However, if you go for completionism, you'll find a deeply challenging and rewarding game with a charm that's hard to ignore.

HOWEVER - one of the medals, end game items for completing certain tasks, is for literally owning all the standees, which are stupid pointless things that don't matter. That sucks and is dumb and bad. It's one of the few objectively poor choices and I'm mad I wasted so much time to get it. But you know, I needed that 100% so...

Another wonderful, and unfortunately final, game from Mimimi Games. Following in the footsteps of their other two real-time tactical strategy gems Desperados III and Shadow Tactics, this game takes those ideas and expands them with a huge cast of eccentric undead pirates as you explore islands searching for treasure and ghostly mysteries.

The voice acting is all extremely fun and adds a lot to the world and some of the personal stories for each pirate are as surprisingly touching as they are charming. The gameplay, like the others Mimimi excels at, is sharp and refined, giving you full control over how to stealthily take down your enemies without ever raising an alarm. The thrill of setting up a complex multi-character plan and pulling it off without a hitch always feels super satisfying.

The games have always been very upfront about save-scumming being integral to the overall way to enjoy the game by trying new tactics if something goes awry, but the story here manages to incorporate a reason for it happen since the plotline has more fantastical/magical elements to it. It's a welcome little addition!

There are not enough islands to explore so it starts to feel a bit repetitive in the back half. Also, although the giant cast is great, it hurts the overall story with less focus. The side stories are also cute but ultimately worthless. They add nothing other than some simple backstory, which is mostly annoying to get through as it's just busywork with paragraphs of dialog. Desperados III used mo-cap for cutscenes and it hurts to see it absent here, replaced with still images (that are very pretty!) and voiceover.

It's a shame then that Mimimi is closing shop, but they'll always has these fantastic games for all to play. The DLC and post game content here has legs, so you'll not be wanting. A stellar way to end their time in the video game field, but here's hoping we'll see them again one day.

Beautiful world building, excellent combat that FromSoft is known for, supremely well written and voiced characters with enough charm to helm their own individual games, and an overall aesthetic that will be referenced for years to come.

Elden Ring is a true artistic masterpiece. Although the ability go to anywhere at any time can somewhat diminish mid or late game fights if you've accidentally over-leveled yourself, that same ability to change course when you get stuck is a perfect way to avoid the continual death loop that is often associated with FromSoft and their insanely challenging games.

This was a massive iteration of the open world genre, coupled with FromSoft's excellent game design, and I cannot wait to play the DLC and anything else they ever make.