Islets is a neat indie metroidvania that needs more recognition. The main island has been shattered into 5 pieces and it is your quest to be the next hero to rebuild these islands into one. There are some quirky characters along with some mysteries of the land. As far a metroidvanias go, the story and lore is as good as it gets and quite like it.
The level design, although quite large and easy to get lost I found to be well made. Especailly how you can explore some older areas when you bind the worlds in progression.
The difficulty overall is fine, I died a few times in the main world but nothing was too challenging.
The problem I have would be that the world is a little too big and can be confusing on where to go. My main issue is the bosses seem to have too much health causing them to be 'bullet sponges'. The bosses mechanics and difficulty of the bosses is fine, just a few less hits would balance better.
The game took about 9 hours to go though and was a relaxing experience.

Tied the demo and found the story to be interesting and gave it a go. My Big Sister is an adventure game with thriller theme throughout. There is no jump scares but it is the mood that it sets. You will be doing some light puzzles along with some exploration that are broken to different stages.
When I played the demo it left a cliff hanger and was wanting to know more. Unfortunately the game lost the plot after where the demo ends and reason for the game is kinda silly.
The game loop can be repetitive and you can stumble to figure it out with a low difficulty ceiling.
The game took about 3 hours to finish and being so short I also found what it offered to be the right length.

I played Pikmin 3 and could not resonate with me but playing Pikmin 4 was a different story. Pikmin 4 was simultaneously a relaxing and intense time.
I welcome the changes to the franchise including the perspective, adding a helpful dog and challenge arenas. The gameplay loop was addictive with their amazing level designs along with the game mechanics to make it all come together perfectly. It does so well, that I 100%'ed the game. Which is a rare for me.
The traditions of a day cycle, collecting Pikmin and collecting items is all there. They also reintroduced caves from Pikmin 2 which was great to see.
They added customising your character and time management puzzles which was satisfying.
As much as I loved the charm and presentation, the game has some very minor issues of:
- Load times being quite lengthy (this could be a hardware issue)
- I don't normally care, but I really want a New Game Plus option.
- The final (about 5%) was very tedious and/or challenging having the last cave being a chore to do. Just note the final cave is optional to get the good ending the game.
Pikmin 4 is good for the soul and with 6 worlds to cover, it stayed it's welcome perfectly. Took me around 50 hours to 100% (with the secret ending) of the game and may come back to it again.

Epic Mickey 2 is a very average game. To begin with the story I found it to be so bland and wasn't invested throughout my playthrough. Maybe because you may need knowledge from the first game to get the lore and therefore alienated me from the plot and therefore the game itself.
The paintbrush concept seems unique, however, it is not fully used for creative gameplay. I do like the idea of a buddy system, this would be more engaging playing in 2 player. But me playing alone on a weeknight I found the AI was serviceable but slow to perform the task without a way to direct them.
While playing I did find the music to be such a let down. Coming from Disney my expectations was far from met.
The biggest offence is the gameplay and level design. Both of these (along with the story) was what drags the game down. Perfectly playable but not engaging. Perhaps this game is designed for just young kids, but other games (like Kirby) have so much more to offer.
There is a lot of creative concepts but unfortunately seem to be executed quite poorly to make a memorable experience. The game takes about 9 hours to finish but feels longer as feeling like a grind at times.

Sly 3 took inspiration from Sly 2 to expand the game in many ways while learning to improve on it's short comings. The Sly series is a stealth platformer where you perform jobs in various zones. I like to think of it as Mario 64 mixed with GTA5 heists, but for kids.
At first, I felt this was the best game of the trilogy as it retains the charm through art style and music. The game did some great improvements including:
- Making each world seem larger giving more freedom to roam
- Some control features added to give a quality of life improvement
- Graphics seem to be improved
- Bentley feels far more useful in the game with his gadgets
- The story had more depth which engaged me more
- More playable characters than the Cooper gang
- The mini games in jobs are the most interactive and enjoyable from any Sly Cooper game thus far.
The common collectable (bottles) has been removed from this game, which is not a major problem, but gave less incentive to explore the now reduced 6 zones.
This was my fav Sly game until I realised that there was too many minigames. The minigames were great for variety, but the end result of such quantity, it took away from the core gameplay of platforming. Lacking platforming, diverted from making each zone recognisable. This is the main reason for dropping the game down a peg.
The game took me about 13 hours for the story. There is a challenge mode and can add about 2 or 3 hours extra

3D Dot Game Heroes takes it inspiration on it sleeve from classic top-down Zelda games. The main difference between Zelda has to be the swords that you will need to acquire and upgrade. This gives a light RPG element with also gaining health.
This well polished title benefits from the unique art style, its overworld including its secrets as well as the characters you meet along the way.
The story is a little weak but does not lessen the experience in the game (like noone loves Mario games for their story). Although a great title to play and easy to mistake it for a first party Nintendo game, there are a few small items combined that make fall short:
- The bosses seem to have a little too much health for my liking
- The over world is well designed but seems much larger than the classic Zelda titles. A fast travel point in front of the dudgeons would be nice as trekking can be annoying when you run out of supplies and need to restock to continue in a dudgeon.
- The dudgeons are well made but limited to a room of one screen and can feel repetitive and not as creative as a more modern Zelda games.
The game has 7 dudgeons and took around 18 hours to finish with exploration which is a perfect length.

Dimensions has so much potential with such a great concept. You play as 4 different Spider-Men all containing some gameplay variety. The story was minimal overall. I would of liked a stronger story to make me feel more invested in the game as the finale for the story did tie up well but had paper thin material to work off.
The levels are linear and I did find for each Spider-Man to have very similar look and feel (except for Nior Spider-Man) making the game feel repetitive. There was different objectives within the large levels but with a weak storyline it feels more like a checklist then anything else.
The bosses in the game were great, they all had a unique mechanics, different phases along with being well balanced to figure out their attack patterns. But no enemy is as strong as the crazy camera. You seem to wrestle with the camera in some parts of the game, especially in climbing walls.
There is alot to say, while doing 18 level, but in short, the game was very average as it seems to be lacking immersion.
The game on normal took me about 12 hours to beat as I was looking for collectable for upgrades. Given the price of this game I would recommend getting the Batman games as they are better and cheaper.

Tandem is a 2D puzzler platformer holding a dark atmosphere for its journey. The presentation of the game is nice and adjusting the settings, my PC can play it without major hiccups.
How the game differs from other puzzle platformers is you play as two characters. With the ability to change characters you change perspectives from a top-down to side scroller to work together to solve the level puzzle. You will need to change in order to progress each character and reach the goal.
There are about 5 world with 45 levels in total. Each level can take on average 10 mins to finish, with the later levels taking longer and a real head scratcher.
Although the game differs from the genre with a shadow mechanic, I did find the game repetitive. When finishing a level, there is no major satisfaction upon progressing. Having no collectables to obtain, no real story to push you forward, or no reward like costume or high score to achieve.
Due to this, the game overall feel shallow outside the levels and mechanics it offers therefore obtaining no replay value.

A Crack in Time follows on from the first R&C Future Game Tools of Destruction's story having gameplay elements that evolves the franchise. You may want to read up on Quest for Booty to fill in a plot hole between the two games.
The first major change is the space piloting. It is done in an open world setting where you can land on mini planets to complete challenges rewarding you upgrades. This was vastly improved from ToD even making the spaceship more manageable. This is a good idea as it makes the whole R&C playable areas far more interactive.
The main 'gimmick weapons' to traverse the stages have changed, showing real innovation of the franchise. However, there was less focus on platforming and removed gliding, but added hover boots to increase mobility and speed in the larger levels.
There are slightly fewer levels but they larger giving more depth to each world. The levels using Clank have been greatly expanded upon with more engaging puzzles which was welcomed. The graphics took a small yet noticeable upgrade once again which felt like playing a low budget Pixar short film in the 2000's.
I really enjoyed the game but slightly prefer ToD. It could be the charm but also likely due to upgrade system in weapons and weapon variety. As A Crack in Time I felt the weapons, although diverse, were limited in how practical they can be. Both are amazing games and worth 20 hours of your time.

Stella Glow has several RPG clichés wrapped up in quite a neat package. The tropes of anime-style characters, having amnesia but destined to save the world are apparent but they are with memorable characters in a distinct setting.
Although nothing special, I found the graphics to be fine although have different art styles within the game.
With some RPG's they seemed to fall a victim to traditional roots which can be annoying with modern gaming demands. These being:
- The game took about 45 hours. in that time there were cut scenes that were too long to get their point across. Spending 30mins reading text instead of playing a game I find tiresome
- There is grinding in this game to get to the right level or unlocks. Being quite a full game of content, the grinding aspect feels like unnecessary padding
- Difficulty spikes do occur and can cause several attempts in key areas
- Being a SRPG, the game starts slow in each battle, taking around 3 turns to engage in combat feeling like a wasted opportunity when playing.
- At end game it was really annoying how bosses self heal making the fight harder/longer for no reason
I liked the game but the flaws can't be overlooked. I know this game is pricy and cannot justify it's current price.

Psychonauts takes the 3D platforming genre and puts an innovating twist. You play as Raz, training to take psychic powers and explore peoples minds in a summer camp setting. Due to a turn of events you have to rescue other trainees. The story is simple yet delivered nicely.
The stages are mostly linear but are so distinct that you will wonder how they came up with such creativity. Raz's move set is somewhat limited, however, over time you gain special abilities that gives variety as much as the level design.
The bosses are great. Forcing you to think of what abilities to use and gives a challenge other than mashing the attack button. But in saying all that, the games does come with some flaws:
- The map or objectives of the game seems a little ambiguous on what to do leading to some slight frustration
- Some key components to obtain is not overly clear and needed to look up. You can blame me but feel it was more upon the game design
- Speaking game design, it does feel messy overall (even the parts I understood on what to do). Not game breaking but doing a playthrough it felt some parts were disjointed.
Overall I really enjoyed the game with its biggest strength being the lore created and level designs to suit. Taking around 12 hours to beat, you will never feel anything overstays it's welcome.

Firewatch is a visual novel style game in which took a creative perspective as most of the game is voiced acted over a radio to a faceless female boss.
You start by making life choices, weather you have kids or you move house etc that will lead you taking serenity on a fire tower over the summer looking for early signs of a bush fire. This is done by first person perspective where you trail the forest for suspicious behaviour though the summer.
I loved the idea of a personal story as you choose your options. Although engaged me though the full 4 hour journey there were a few issues;
- The art style they chose was fine and I like low poly textures, it just seems graphically blank walking to point A to point B
- The game is very linear, being in a forest, I would of expected certain areas to be more open to explore and discover.
- Henry (your character) seems to walk a little too show. You can run but keeps turning off.
- Although you can choose dialogue options though having great remarks, this had little impact for the end game. If they have alternative endings from the choices in the story, the replay value would be great.
Overall the biggest issue is the gameplay itself I found to be dull at times as all you mostly do is walk to different parts of the forest. If you want a personal compelling story by all means give it a go but do not feel excited (or even entertained) by the gameplay

I am not overly into metroidvanias but found this one to be well made. The game also has platforming elements akin to Mario 2d games.
I enjoyed the art style as well as the music as it captivates a Mexican theme. Most importantly, the level design is fantastic, which is crucial for such a game. The controls are tight and majority of deaths felt is was at fault of my own.
Great enemy variety which escalates in difficulty as the game progresses.
There are moments at the end game with so many enemies you will get stunned locked which is unfair. I did find some platforming rooms to be tedious but there is a sense of accomplishment in figuring it out and beating the room. The final two bosses were difficult as they move quickly and have an attack range far greater then yours. Although I can admire the mechanics implemented to test the player on their skill sets.
Overall it took e 8.5hours for the game with some extra side quests done and recommended for people whom are up for the challenge.

After many years I tried Black Flag as I was interested in the pirate theme. Luckily I was impressed. Coming into the franchise fresh I feel I'm missing some key points in the story that would of been through the games library arc but the main story of Edward was easy to understand and surprisingly interesting.
I liked the open world nature of the game. Being so vast at the time would of been novel as only few games achieved this on 7th Gen hardware.
The graphics are beautiful (except for the characters faces) still hold up today. There are some minor frame drops but hardly noticeable.
Music is fitting. My favourite is being on your ship sailing in the seas hearing your crew sing shanties, really builds the mood of pirate theme.
I just find blending assassins/templars with pirates in the Caribbean a little jarring.
The upgrade system is fair. However, I did find I had to do some grinding for the resources needed at times.
The game is worth your time clocking about 45hours on the main story and extras. There is some critiques I have though:
- The platforming can be janky causing some frustration. I did die a few times where the character was climbing instead of running (or vice versa)
- The open world is refreshing, I didn't feel the world was exactly "alive" compared to games like GTA. So travelling to islands seem like "copy-paste" and takes some immersion away
- Post the 3/4 mark, the games missions tends to repeat themselves too often

Sly 2 is a step up from the last game being a (mostly) stealth 3d platformer. They took what was iconic and created detailed open zones that feels like a perfect fit for the genre.
There is plenty to love in this game; the small zones that are dense with plenty to do and explore (the complete opposite in todays gaming world), quirky characters and interactions, and the varied gameplay which includes the mini games.
The theme and setting for Sly Cooper is iconic and leans more into it, I enjoy that you can play as all 3 members in this game, all having unique abilities to setup the heist. For instance, Murry can take on 5 enemies no problem while Sly is fantastic in traversing the stage. Sly 2 is not perfect as a few issues I found is:
- World 3, is not good. The missions and level design is sub par. Thankfully it was only one world I had issues with.
- Although an improvement, the story is fine but is lacking punch and the heists seems too lack sense upon what you are to achieve hindering motivation.
- When going though the zones, the game loop barely changes and makes the game repetitive towards the end. The zone areas are similar size and the enemies are the same just a different appearance.
- The games difficulty stays constant after the third zone so lacks the feeling of progression for the player
The game took about 17 hours to beat and was so rich in content. I played it on PS3 but if you are building a PS3 library, this game is one of the greats to have. Now to wish for a PS5 remake