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Metroid Dread
2021
More than anything, MercurySteam proved that they can make a good, even great game, but so far their takes on Metroid lack the identity to become truly special. Gameplay is smooth as a Russian pancake and my playthrough was jam packed with unique moments. The jumps between world compartments work to serve the pacing of exploration, and no 5 minutes pass without a neat discovery, just a satisfying flow all-around.
It never gave me the desired sense of panic and dread though. EMMI ecounters invite the change in gameplay tempo, calling for quick reflexes and fast decision making, and don't get me wrong, it's a really damn cool change of pace. But being directly embedded in the exploration flux they cease to be the alien element outside of player control, and thus aren't really capable of creating tension the way SA-X did. The stylistic chops are definitely there! Just quite a bit lacking when compared to Fusion, which was able to create anxiety both in narrative and moment-to-moment.
Still, a damn good time. Really hope that the next step for Nintendo is to unfuck the work culture at MercurySteam so this major dub doesn't turn out to be a one-time fluke.
It never gave me the desired sense of panic and dread though. EMMI ecounters invite the change in gameplay tempo, calling for quick reflexes and fast decision making, and don't get me wrong, it's a really damn cool change of pace. But being directly embedded in the exploration flux they cease to be the alien element outside of player control, and thus aren't really capable of creating tension the way SA-X did. The stylistic chops are definitely there! Just quite a bit lacking when compared to Fusion, which was able to create anxiety both in narrative and moment-to-moment.
Still, a damn good time. Really hope that the next step for Nintendo is to unfuck the work culture at MercurySteam so this major dub doesn't turn out to be a one-time fluke.
Space Harrier
1985
this was the same year as the nes
Splatoon
2015
The me who bounced off this in 2015 was a fool.
I decided to give it another go on a whim and got sucked all the way in. It's one of the most stylish things I've ever played. I saw the first boss and said "Oh shit, I'm gonnae end up buying the artbook", and dear reader I did, before even finishing it. I caught myself at work making quiet squid noises like I was singing the lyrics to the songs. I think I might be a fan of this thing.
I decided to give it another go on a whim and got sucked all the way in. It's one of the most stylish things I've ever played. I saw the first boss and said "Oh shit, I'm gonnae end up buying the artbook", and dear reader I did, before even finishing it. I caught myself at work making quiet squid noises like I was singing the lyrics to the songs. I think I might be a fan of this thing.
Spelunky 2
2020
Spelunky 2 is a good game. It's biggest fault is that it's a sequel to a game that I consider to be perfect. How could they possibly have followed that up with anything other than something that was less-than? Disappointment seemed inevitable. And while I don't think Spelunky 2 is anywhere near a 'bad game' or anything like that, it did get to a point that I was tired of it and reinstalled Spelunky HD to play that instead.
My single biggest issue with Spelunky 2 is the path to the secret area and ending. Just like HD, 2 has you grab specific items and use them in specific places or in specific ways in order to unlock a door at the end of a "normal" run to get to an extra area (2 actually does this twice which is a fun change). In 2, the chain of events is much more complex meaning that it also becomes more restrictive. HD's secret ending used a lot of passive items (aka items that you pick up and show up in the HUD but you don't manually hold or activate) which left a lot of freedom in how you wanted to play. Use your whip everywhere or carry something like a shotgun or mattock or whatever. It didn't force you to play a certain way. Whereas in 2, because you so often have to actually carry an important item in your hands, the game forces you to play the way it wants you to play. And, to me, this is a significantly less fun way to play, especially because I've played enough Spelunky to always want to get to the secret ending, of course I'm going to go through this tedious chain of events to get there. And then, even if you go through all the required nonsense to get to the secret area, it feels like you've been additionally restricted just by elements of that secret area itself. Don't have good movement item on your back? No kapala? Don't have much equipment? Unless you're one of the best spelunkers in the world, you won't last long.
But there is a pretty good way around all the tedium: co-op. It allows you to split up the responsibilities of carrying the various items through levels makes it significantly more manageable. And with all the improvements to the co-op play, it's a much more feasible way to play the game. I've been playing with a friend who is over 5000 miles away from me and it's felt generally fine which has honestly been surprising!
I originally had a much longer and more thorough 'review' of the game in which I dissected lots of little bits of game design. Moles are bad. The way 2 plays with veteran players expectations is fun. This like that. But, honestly, this was all I really needed or wanted to say. Spelunky 2 is a great game. It's just too bad that it's the sequel to a perfect one.
My single biggest issue with Spelunky 2 is the path to the secret area and ending. Just like HD, 2 has you grab specific items and use them in specific places or in specific ways in order to unlock a door at the end of a "normal" run to get to an extra area (2 actually does this twice which is a fun change). In 2, the chain of events is much more complex meaning that it also becomes more restrictive. HD's secret ending used a lot of passive items (aka items that you pick up and show up in the HUD but you don't manually hold or activate) which left a lot of freedom in how you wanted to play. Use your whip everywhere or carry something like a shotgun or mattock or whatever. It didn't force you to play a certain way. Whereas in 2, because you so often have to actually carry an important item in your hands, the game forces you to play the way it wants you to play. And, to me, this is a significantly less fun way to play, especially because I've played enough Spelunky to always want to get to the secret ending, of course I'm going to go through this tedious chain of events to get there. And then, even if you go through all the required nonsense to get to the secret area, it feels like you've been additionally restricted just by elements of that secret area itself. Don't have good movement item on your back? No kapala? Don't have much equipment? Unless you're one of the best spelunkers in the world, you won't last long.
But there is a pretty good way around all the tedium: co-op. It allows you to split up the responsibilities of carrying the various items through levels makes it significantly more manageable. And with all the improvements to the co-op play, it's a much more feasible way to play the game. I've been playing with a friend who is over 5000 miles away from me and it's felt generally fine which has honestly been surprising!
I originally had a much longer and more thorough 'review' of the game in which I dissected lots of little bits of game design. Moles are bad. The way 2 plays with veteran players expectations is fun. This like that. But, honestly, this was all I really needed or wanted to say. Spelunky 2 is a great game. It's just too bad that it's the sequel to a perfect one.
This review contains spoilers
This is going to be a bit of a rant, maybe more than FC deserves. It's difficult for me to do otherwise though, considering the cultural recognition Trails in the Sky now has in its diehard Falcom community. Really it's just unavoidable now, as any conversation I could have about Trails in the Sky will inadvertently be tied back to the reverent fanbase. I don't think that's what the general public who play this game will experience, but when you're about as online as I am, it won't come as a surprise that a lot of what I COULD'VE talked about when it came to this game was quickly dismissed.
I don't hold that against the people who love this series, but it was very interesting to me when I came out the end of this game quite positive after the first runthrough. Specifically that any and all talk I could make about the specifics of this game were weirdly shouted down as "this game is just setup for the entire series and it should not be judged without that retrospection in mind." So you know what, I kept my mouth shut. It's not a terrible enough point to consider, even though I thought then as I do now that it's certainly a weak excuse. So I kept going, I went ahead and immersed myself in a fat load of Trails discourse and ended up surrounded by it, being spoiled on several things before I even thought to finally pick up SC. I may not be an expert on Trails in the Sky at this point, but I do feel a lot more informed about the series and FC's place in it as a whole. And it is sorely not the conclusion I think those people really hoped I would come to.
FC is not just a setup of Trails in the Sky's series narrative that leads to interesting payoff, it is a setup of Trails in the Sky's criminal flaws and trends. It's literally a walking simulacra of what the series stands for in its biggest moments, from its biggest positives to its awful issues. I'll start on what I still reminisce fondly, which is FC's sense of character. After a pretty dogshit poorly paced intro, there's more moments than I can effectively count where the cast of FC ends up bouncing in my head with their sense of heart and strong humanization. Dialogue is very reflective and strongly well written for each of their characters, and it all contributes to comfy vibes that define the midgame, which I'd say is where FC certainly peaks. Worldbuilding is no slouch to get you into the setting either, with a pretty grounded dialogue and well setup stakes for adventure that feel refreshing. The story keeps that idea in mind, which makes the endgame feel rather deserved even when the stakes are still pretty fate of the nation-heavy.
The story, however, is also when the cracks really start to show. FC is really quick to show its hand that a lot of the characters it puts at you are effectively tools, motivations that are nice setting dressing but completely thrown out when it's suitable. To make it clearer what I'm talking about, FC establishes a villain who is fighting for a past idea of his nation in absence of someone he respected. They then literally, and I cannot stress this enough, throw this out that his motivations and his choices were brainwashed by some other guy we don't fucking know at all from the get go. Even if I were to pretend that didn't happen, FC really does not explore this theme much if at all, or this backstory to an even genuinely sympathetic level.
This is the clinching issue with Trails stories, the setup politics that points at interesting themes are wallpaper, torn asunder right in front of you at every turn you could get. The villain I quote here is really not the first time that the inner themes of a nation you visit are hamstrung for a big bad that is neither emblematic of the themes to be a good metaphor or interesting in their own right. There's even more stuff I can get ranting about, but talking about the ramifications of moral motivations and how quickly they are side-stepped was already a poor errand for me to rag on when this game pushes that incest is fine, actually.
The combat is about as disappointing, but has more to do with the base mechanics that Trails seems to care about rather than its potential. Early-midgame is a bit interesting initially, where the grid-like structure and the meter management of arts ends up forcing you to take encounters by the skin of the teeth while you're trying to figure out your strategy. Immediately after this, it falls apart as you begin to realize that Trails could not give less of a shit about the action economy it makes, never going beyond "lose a turn" or "gain a turn" in terms of time. Positioning, while sometimes tested with genuinely solid superbosses, also ends up turning into dominant strategies of doing the same thing ad nauseum. I highlight the endgame for this especially, where p much all enemy fights are weakly put a massive fucking AOE to encapsulate as much as you can, and then repeat. Were it not for the customization and good user experience for figuring out the combat systems on your own with solid feedback, I would say this combat is average.
And I'd like to say that my issues here are FC-only still, I really would. I really would like to believe the narrative that keeps getting wrapped in front of me that this is at worst just a middling setup that then gets into the real kino shit that is the series and fixes all of this crap. But no, it's not. Trails does get better at its strengths from here as it goes on. The character writing continues to be good, and gets great and even excellent often. The vibes do get stronger, especially in terms of the soundtrack that gets outright legendary. But the poor foundation in story, general thematic writing, and combat is what you see here on full display. It's so vastly the embodiment of Trails that it's stunning how much talk about the series now feels like gaslighting to me.
Trails in the Sky FC is not a good game, and though I still lean positively on it, I would not recommend it to most. Worth a try at least, if you can get past the awful pacing in the first arc or two and end up enjoying yourself a ton then you absolutely will love the rest of the series. Is it worth trudging through if you don't enjoy it superbly to get to the rest of the series? I'm still not really sure about that.
I don't hold that against the people who love this series, but it was very interesting to me when I came out the end of this game quite positive after the first runthrough. Specifically that any and all talk I could make about the specifics of this game were weirdly shouted down as "this game is just setup for the entire series and it should not be judged without that retrospection in mind." So you know what, I kept my mouth shut. It's not a terrible enough point to consider, even though I thought then as I do now that it's certainly a weak excuse. So I kept going, I went ahead and immersed myself in a fat load of Trails discourse and ended up surrounded by it, being spoiled on several things before I even thought to finally pick up SC. I may not be an expert on Trails in the Sky at this point, but I do feel a lot more informed about the series and FC's place in it as a whole. And it is sorely not the conclusion I think those people really hoped I would come to.
FC is not just a setup of Trails in the Sky's series narrative that leads to interesting payoff, it is a setup of Trails in the Sky's criminal flaws and trends. It's literally a walking simulacra of what the series stands for in its biggest moments, from its biggest positives to its awful issues. I'll start on what I still reminisce fondly, which is FC's sense of character. After a pretty dogshit poorly paced intro, there's more moments than I can effectively count where the cast of FC ends up bouncing in my head with their sense of heart and strong humanization. Dialogue is very reflective and strongly well written for each of their characters, and it all contributes to comfy vibes that define the midgame, which I'd say is where FC certainly peaks. Worldbuilding is no slouch to get you into the setting either, with a pretty grounded dialogue and well setup stakes for adventure that feel refreshing. The story keeps that idea in mind, which makes the endgame feel rather deserved even when the stakes are still pretty fate of the nation-heavy.
The story, however, is also when the cracks really start to show. FC is really quick to show its hand that a lot of the characters it puts at you are effectively tools, motivations that are nice setting dressing but completely thrown out when it's suitable. To make it clearer what I'm talking about, FC establishes a villain who is fighting for a past idea of his nation in absence of someone he respected. They then literally, and I cannot stress this enough, throw this out that his motivations and his choices were brainwashed by some other guy we don't fucking know at all from the get go. Even if I were to pretend that didn't happen, FC really does not explore this theme much if at all, or this backstory to an even genuinely sympathetic level.
This is the clinching issue with Trails stories, the setup politics that points at interesting themes are wallpaper, torn asunder right in front of you at every turn you could get. The villain I quote here is really not the first time that the inner themes of a nation you visit are hamstrung for a big bad that is neither emblematic of the themes to be a good metaphor or interesting in their own right. There's even more stuff I can get ranting about, but talking about the ramifications of moral motivations and how quickly they are side-stepped was already a poor errand for me to rag on when this game pushes that incest is fine, actually.
The combat is about as disappointing, but has more to do with the base mechanics that Trails seems to care about rather than its potential. Early-midgame is a bit interesting initially, where the grid-like structure and the meter management of arts ends up forcing you to take encounters by the skin of the teeth while you're trying to figure out your strategy. Immediately after this, it falls apart as you begin to realize that Trails could not give less of a shit about the action economy it makes, never going beyond "lose a turn" or "gain a turn" in terms of time. Positioning, while sometimes tested with genuinely solid superbosses, also ends up turning into dominant strategies of doing the same thing ad nauseum. I highlight the endgame for this especially, where p much all enemy fights are weakly put a massive fucking AOE to encapsulate as much as you can, and then repeat. Were it not for the customization and good user experience for figuring out the combat systems on your own with solid feedback, I would say this combat is average.
And I'd like to say that my issues here are FC-only still, I really would. I really would like to believe the narrative that keeps getting wrapped in front of me that this is at worst just a middling setup that then gets into the real kino shit that is the series and fixes all of this crap. But no, it's not. Trails does get better at its strengths from here as it goes on. The character writing continues to be good, and gets great and even excellent often. The vibes do get stronger, especially in terms of the soundtrack that gets outright legendary. But the poor foundation in story, general thematic writing, and combat is what you see here on full display. It's so vastly the embodiment of Trails that it's stunning how much talk about the series now feels like gaslighting to me.
Trails in the Sky FC is not a good game, and though I still lean positively on it, I would not recommend it to most. Worth a try at least, if you can get past the awful pacing in the first arc or two and end up enjoying yourself a ton then you absolutely will love the rest of the series. Is it worth trudging through if you don't enjoy it superbly to get to the rest of the series? I'm still not really sure about that.
game sucks, and it's not the fault of motion controls.
Super Mario Land
1989
This kind of feels like you’re playing a secret unlicensed knockoff Mario game by a really talented third party developer. Everything is technically here but it just doesn’t have quite the right vibes? The jump feels good but it’s not a MARIO jump. The music is top of the pop but it’s not MARIO music. The enemy designs are sick but they’re not MARIO enemies, or when they are they’re like fucked up weirdo Mario enemies, like turtle shells turning into timed explosives instead of projectiles. There’s a distinct sense of actual geography to the level progression in this game as you track through obvious recreations of real life Africa and Asia. Worlds end in rail shooter levels, and this is the final boss as well?
And all of this stuff fucking slaps this game was made by some of the all time great Nintendo legends and it shows but it’s interesting to compare its unique vibe to that of its sequel, which is a slavish recreation of the look and feel of Super Mario World, or as close as you could match that on a Gameboy.
My dad’s side of the family has an annual reunion on Christmas Eve and I occupy a weird position in the family timeline as the youngest son of the youngest son where I’m a generation younger than my next-oldest brother and cousins but a generation older than my next-youngest, so as a kid I often spent these parties in a corner somewhere on a Gameboy, and I very distinctly remember the year that I finally beat this game for the first time, and upon realizing that the game was extremely short and the only one I had brought that evening, just played it over and over and over (we would be at my aunt’s house from like 5 to 11 PM) until I was beating it in what I have today realized was times rivalling modern world record speedruns. I did not do that today but I did have a blast running through it. My fingers remembered exactly what to do, all the little nooks and crannies you can force Mario into, the secret blocks.
Feels good to revisit, but even if it was my first time I’m pretty sure I would still think this game was sick.
And all of this stuff fucking slaps this game was made by some of the all time great Nintendo legends and it shows but it’s interesting to compare its unique vibe to that of its sequel, which is a slavish recreation of the look and feel of Super Mario World, or as close as you could match that on a Gameboy.
My dad’s side of the family has an annual reunion on Christmas Eve and I occupy a weird position in the family timeline as the youngest son of the youngest son where I’m a generation younger than my next-oldest brother and cousins but a generation older than my next-youngest, so as a kid I often spent these parties in a corner somewhere on a Gameboy, and I very distinctly remember the year that I finally beat this game for the first time, and upon realizing that the game was extremely short and the only one I had brought that evening, just played it over and over and over (we would be at my aunt’s house from like 5 to 11 PM) until I was beating it in what I have today realized was times rivalling modern world record speedruns. I did not do that today but I did have a blast running through it. My fingers remembered exactly what to do, all the little nooks and crannies you can force Mario into, the secret blocks.
Feels good to revisit, but even if it was my first time I’m pretty sure I would still think this game was sick.
Metroid Dread
2021
it's such a revalation that samus' moveset actually provides a lot of room for creative and fun combat - the bosses are obviously the best part of this game imo and maybe the best they've ever been in this series? at least divorced from context, because that's where dread starts to falter a lot
there's like, zero atmosphere here imo, the soundtrack is completely unmemorable and it would probably take me a while to remember which zone is which. this is also, pardon the obvious joke, one of the least dread-inducing metroid games yet. everything is so compartmentalised and checkpoints are aplenty, I was pretty happy that the EMMI encounters felt pretty distant to me as I finished the game bc imo they're 100% garbage! not scary in the slightest, you can bash your head against each section where you encounter them until you trial and error your way through with little threat to your actual game progress, if I were a fucking hack I'd make a joke about "metroid mild annoyance" but I'm not gonna play that straight, I promise :]
game is a lot of fun though, especially on a 100% run! if mercurysteam keep at it then metroid should be in good hands, which is definitely not something I would've said after playing and subsequently dropping samus returns, I just hope their future efforts have a little more slow-burn tension, even if it means they need to tone the difficulty down
(also let me control the next one with the d-pad pleaseeeeeee I hate the analog stick and I don't think 360 degree aiming is worth using it exclusively for)
there's like, zero atmosphere here imo, the soundtrack is completely unmemorable and it would probably take me a while to remember which zone is which. this is also, pardon the obvious joke, one of the least dread-inducing metroid games yet. everything is so compartmentalised and checkpoints are aplenty, I was pretty happy that the EMMI encounters felt pretty distant to me as I finished the game bc imo they're 100% garbage! not scary in the slightest, you can bash your head against each section where you encounter them until you trial and error your way through with little threat to your actual game progress, if I were a fucking hack I'd make a joke about "metroid mild annoyance" but I'm not gonna play that straight, I promise :]
game is a lot of fun though, especially on a 100% run! if mercurysteam keep at it then metroid should be in good hands, which is definitely not something I would've said after playing and subsequently dropping samus returns, I just hope their future efforts have a little more slow-burn tension, even if it means they need to tone the difficulty down
(also let me control the next one with the d-pad pleaseeeeeee I hate the analog stick and I don't think 360 degree aiming is worth using it exclusively for)
Metroid Dread
2021
This review contains spoilers
Insane. Very possibly GOTY 2021. 99% item completion on the first run. There's literally only one item to grab in normal mode + doing hard more before I would consider myself having "mastered" this game according to backloggd's criteria.
I won't go too far into the story even though I've marked this review as spoilers; I would consider the gameplay elements and upgrades you find in games like this to be as worthy of considering to be spoilers as the story itself, though I would not suggest that the importance of avoiding information on these parts of the game to undermine the importance of also avoiding story spoilers. All I will say on the story is that I really like it quite a lot and that some of the developments and revelations in this game may actually explain to some degree why Prime 4 had to start over development if they plan on connecting that game's story in any way at all with the ongoing narrative of the 2D metroid games up to this point.
Game feels pretty linear in terms of the progression of finding items to move forward in specific ways, however despite this linearity, it doesn't really attempt to railroad the player's path as aggressively as Fusion did aside from forcing you to talk to Adam when he has something to say (thankfully he doesn't mark EXACTLY on the map where you need to go this time). I already really like Fusion despite that game's considerably-more-straightforward-than-most-other-metroid-games' path, so the fact that this goes in a similar direction in terms of the flow of exploration while not feeling quite as overbearing, with the game only really opening up towards the very end, this isn't an issue to me; so I'll just say that it being linear doesn't necessarily mean the game is bad.
(edit: as of the unspecified time that I'm making this edit, people have been discovering some interesting sequence breaks now)
The actual feel of playing the game is great: Dread has what may remain to be some of the most memorable and exciting-to-battle bosses in this genre and it's absolutely due in credit to the various ways in which the combat systems of Metroid are expanded upon in this title. I love the parry, I love the flash step, and I love the slide. The fact that so many of the Dread original upgrades double as both exploration and combat (or evasion, in the case of the cloaking ability), is really cool; even as a non-first party metroid title, it demonstrates a passion for the 2D-Action-Exploration genre from the people that worked on this game that I've not felt from many other games I've attempted to play in recent memory that claim to be trying to break into this genre, and while I didn't really like the Aeion abilities at all when they were introduced in Samus Returns, it really feels like they hit the nail on the head with the return of the Aeion system in Dread: every ability in Samus' arsenal feels like it has a place.... even when the presence of some abilities is rather quickly overwritten by stronger ones, you can feel the merit of gaining every upgrade; something I would consider a key "feeling" to many of the good games of the 2D-Action-Exploration genre. Also I love how much the later E.M.M.I just cheat; games with forgiving continues shouldn't be afraid to ramp up to being "fuck you" hard when you can just start over and try again so quickly.
In short: this game is really, really good. I hope to see more new 2D Metroid games in the near, not-19-years-later future. It maybe doesn't quite reach the level of Super Metroid or Zero Mission, but it's still going strong in the top 3 for now.
I won't go too far into the story even though I've marked this review as spoilers; I would consider the gameplay elements and upgrades you find in games like this to be as worthy of considering to be spoilers as the story itself, though I would not suggest that the importance of avoiding information on these parts of the game to undermine the importance of also avoiding story spoilers. All I will say on the story is that I really like it quite a lot and that some of the developments and revelations in this game may actually explain to some degree why Prime 4 had to start over development if they plan on connecting that game's story in any way at all with the ongoing narrative of the 2D metroid games up to this point.
Game feels pretty linear in terms of the progression of finding items to move forward in specific ways, however despite this linearity, it doesn't really attempt to railroad the player's path as aggressively as Fusion did aside from forcing you to talk to Adam when he has something to say (thankfully he doesn't mark EXACTLY on the map where you need to go this time). I already really like Fusion despite that game's considerably-more-straightforward-than-most-other-metroid-games' path, so the fact that this goes in a similar direction in terms of the flow of exploration while not feeling quite as overbearing, with the game only really opening up towards the very end, this isn't an issue to me; so I'll just say that it being linear doesn't necessarily mean the game is bad.
(edit: as of the unspecified time that I'm making this edit, people have been discovering some interesting sequence breaks now)
The actual feel of playing the game is great: Dread has what may remain to be some of the most memorable and exciting-to-battle bosses in this genre and it's absolutely due in credit to the various ways in which the combat systems of Metroid are expanded upon in this title. I love the parry, I love the flash step, and I love the slide. The fact that so many of the Dread original upgrades double as both exploration and combat (or evasion, in the case of the cloaking ability), is really cool; even as a non-first party metroid title, it demonstrates a passion for the 2D-Action-Exploration genre from the people that worked on this game that I've not felt from many other games I've attempted to play in recent memory that claim to be trying to break into this genre, and while I didn't really like the Aeion abilities at all when they were introduced in Samus Returns, it really feels like they hit the nail on the head with the return of the Aeion system in Dread: every ability in Samus' arsenal feels like it has a place.... even when the presence of some abilities is rather quickly overwritten by stronger ones, you can feel the merit of gaining every upgrade; something I would consider a key "feeling" to many of the good games of the 2D-Action-Exploration genre. Also I love how much the later E.M.M.I just cheat; games with forgiving continues shouldn't be afraid to ramp up to being "fuck you" hard when you can just start over and try again so quickly.
In short: this game is really, really good. I hope to see more new 2D Metroid games in the near, not-19-years-later future. It maybe doesn't quite reach the level of Super Metroid or Zero Mission, but it's still going strong in the top 3 for now.
Metroid Dread
2021
Samus go fast like zoom
Toree 3D
2021
what i wouldn't give for more games to give me all their best ideas and get the fuck out, even if that means i only play for an hour. i simply had a great time!
Undertale
2015
Have you ever felt a compulsion to not ever play a game, as if you knew every thing there was to know about it before a button had been pressed ?
That's how I feel about Undertale.
That's how I feel about Undertale.
Ico
2001
When we see a great film or finish reading a long novel, we have some words to describe our impressions.
Fumito Ueda's games are very difficult to put into words.
But one thing is for sure. Fumito Ueda's games are more than just action games. I'm hesitant to use the adjective "writer" for video games. But if it were allowed, Fumito Ueda would certainly be one of them.
I would like to write about what's in the game, but I don't seem to have the ability to do so. I'm sorry. Rather, I hesitate to even give it a score.
Oh, but I think the package illustration on the left is the worst. (How did this happen? lol)
Fumito Ueda's games are very difficult to put into words.
But one thing is for sure. Fumito Ueda's games are more than just action games. I'm hesitant to use the adjective "writer" for video games. But if it were allowed, Fumito Ueda would certainly be one of them.
I would like to write about what's in the game, but I don't seem to have the ability to do so. I'm sorry. Rather, I hesitate to even give it a score.
Oh, but I think the package illustration on the left is the worst. (How did this happen? lol)
Metroid: Other M
2010
This review contains spoilers
Holy fucking shit!
Did you know that if you take the "M" and switch it's place with "Other" the title becomes
Metroid Mother!?!?
Just wait until you read the initials.
Did you know that if you take the "M" and switch it's place with "Other" the title becomes
Metroid Mother!?!?
Just wait until you read the initials.
Blast Corps
1997
Played as part of Rare Replay.
Ever read a book, watch a film or play a video game way too late and feel huge pangs of regret that it didn't reach you in a formative moment? Of course you have - you're on Backloggd. Like me, you probably spend half your adult life trying fill in the blanks of the childhood you really wanted to have.
Blast Corps is now one such game for me - it was a staple of my local video and game rental shop in the 90s, but it never made it home with me because I preferred real N64 classics like... uhhh... Nagano Winter Olympics '98 and South Park Rally. Gah!! Dang it! Why did I never pick this certified banger instead?! If I'd played this back in the day, I'd absolutely now be a guy who goes "...and don't forget Blast Corps!" any time someone recommends Nintendo 64 games.
Blast Corpse (I am 99% certain this is what I called it in 1998, much like my brother called the Formula 1 game for SNES F1: Grand Pricks) can be quite simply described as a really fucking good game of Action Figures. As far as I know, it's gotta be one of the first "toybox" games on the market - while there are objectives and tasks to undertake, the meat of the game is simply about driving machines around and wrecking shit without much forethought or reflection. It's like GMod gone wild, or those afternoon sessions of GTA: San Andreas where you just put all the cheats on and went on tank rampages. When it's running on all cylinders, the game kinda feels like one of those frantic Action Man adverts that used to get wedged straight down the middle of new episodes of Pokemon and Samurai Pizza Cats - time is running out, chaos keeps unfolding, and the only solution is more Big Cars with Big Rocket Launchers that do Big Explosions. It's the romance at the core of every little boy's heart.
My favourite level is the game has you driving a digger (straight) through Coronation Street until you find a mech suit that has the vertical height necessary to Mario 64 butt-slam a skyscraper. Butt-slamming the skyscraper clears the road for a runaway nuclear missile carrier, but watch out! The bridge over those train tracks hasn't been finished and the nuke is heading straight for it! Time to fly your mech suit over some mountains and hijack a flatbed train in the next town over that can be used as a platform! Phew! But now, how do you get back to your mech suit? Don't worry - that flatbed train was carrying a Ferrari! Nice... b-but wait! After flattening some more hospitals to make a path, there's now a rushing river up ahead! Shit!! Better fly your mech suit downstream and take over that Evergiven container ship to do a Suez manoeuvre so that there's something for the carrier to land on! How are you gonna get outta there in time, though?! Don't worry - Evel Knievel's car was onboard the ship! Hop in!! Vrrrroooooooooooommmm!!!! MISSION COMPLETE
Fuck yeah, man. Video games - a real good time.
Ever read a book, watch a film or play a video game way too late and feel huge pangs of regret that it didn't reach you in a formative moment? Of course you have - you're on Backloggd. Like me, you probably spend half your adult life trying fill in the blanks of the childhood you really wanted to have.
Blast Corps is now one such game for me - it was a staple of my local video and game rental shop in the 90s, but it never made it home with me because I preferred real N64 classics like... uhhh... Nagano Winter Olympics '98 and South Park Rally. Gah!! Dang it! Why did I never pick this certified banger instead?! If I'd played this back in the day, I'd absolutely now be a guy who goes "...and don't forget Blast Corps!" any time someone recommends Nintendo 64 games.
Blast Corpse (I am 99% certain this is what I called it in 1998, much like my brother called the Formula 1 game for SNES F1: Grand Pricks) can be quite simply described as a really fucking good game of Action Figures. As far as I know, it's gotta be one of the first "toybox" games on the market - while there are objectives and tasks to undertake, the meat of the game is simply about driving machines around and wrecking shit without much forethought or reflection. It's like GMod gone wild, or those afternoon sessions of GTA: San Andreas where you just put all the cheats on and went on tank rampages. When it's running on all cylinders, the game kinda feels like one of those frantic Action Man adverts that used to get wedged straight down the middle of new episodes of Pokemon and Samurai Pizza Cats - time is running out, chaos keeps unfolding, and the only solution is more Big Cars with Big Rocket Launchers that do Big Explosions. It's the romance at the core of every little boy's heart.
My favourite level is the game has you driving a digger (straight) through Coronation Street until you find a mech suit that has the vertical height necessary to Mario 64 butt-slam a skyscraper. Butt-slamming the skyscraper clears the road for a runaway nuclear missile carrier, but watch out! The bridge over those train tracks hasn't been finished and the nuke is heading straight for it! Time to fly your mech suit over some mountains and hijack a flatbed train in the next town over that can be used as a platform! Phew! But now, how do you get back to your mech suit? Don't worry - that flatbed train was carrying a Ferrari! Nice... b-but wait! After flattening some more hospitals to make a path, there's now a rushing river up ahead! Shit!! Better fly your mech suit downstream and take over that Evergiven container ship to do a Suez manoeuvre so that there's something for the carrier to land on! How are you gonna get outta there in time, though?! Don't worry - Evel Knievel's car was onboard the ship! Hop in!! Vrrrroooooooooooommmm!!!! MISSION COMPLETE
Fuck yeah, man. Video games - a real good time.