Stairmaster_
First played this game a few years ago but recently bought NEO so I wanted to replay it before then and man, this game just rules. All the characters are very well written and likable (Neku's my favorite, but I can't help but love Joshua because he's just a little shit), and the art style is very unique and stands out from most other games. Another main attraction is the music, which is like a cross between Jet Set Radio and Persona 3's soundtracks, but is unique enough that it stands out on its own as one of my favorite game soundtracks ever.
The gameplay is where (Final Remix, specifically) struggles, being a seemingly half hearted Switch port of the mobile version. It becomes far more enjoyable playing solo co-op (2 controllers, one player) and controlling both characters at once, leading to some very satisfying combos, but re-calibrating the pointers constantly and having pin gestures constantly misread is really not suitable for an action RPG. Battle arenas often stretch past one screen of camera space too, and sometimes enemies will be in corners covered by UI making attacking them weird and awkward.
Although personally I'd recommend the DS version (note: I haven't played it, I've just heard it controls the best), this is an okay alternative if you want to experience the game, which I do recommend. It's fantastic.
The gameplay is where (Final Remix, specifically) struggles, being a seemingly half hearted Switch port of the mobile version. It becomes far more enjoyable playing solo co-op (2 controllers, one player) and controlling both characters at once, leading to some very satisfying combos, but re-calibrating the pointers constantly and having pin gestures constantly misread is really not suitable for an action RPG. Battle arenas often stretch past one screen of camera space too, and sometimes enemies will be in corners covered by UI making attacking them weird and awkward.
Although personally I'd recommend the DS version (note: I haven't played it, I've just heard it controls the best), this is an okay alternative if you want to experience the game, which I do recommend. It's fantastic.
2021
Edit (1/23/2022): I've played more (up to halfway through of the third area, give or take) and while I had more fun than my review originally indicated, I still stand by a lot of my points. I'm writing this about a month after I shelved the game, and I don't remember much of the music in the game except for the second area (which was a banger, to be fair). What I've played of the story was still very piss poor, to the point I hated advancing in the game because that also meant advancing the plot. Apparently you can now turn down the brightness in the game, a feature I apparently never got because every time I checked if I got the 1.2 update it wasn't there.
I can at least say I like the gameplay after spending more time with it. Beating the first major boss allows you to warp to each save point, which is massively helpful (and should have been given to you right from the start, imo). Battle system can be said to be one of Atlus's best, and exploring each of the areas is rewarding, as the Koroks (I can't remember what they're called, but everything in this game is forgettable) of this game give some pretty substantial rewards. Upgrading the Nahobino and your party of demons is fun, too.
It's just such a shame that none of it feels worth it when all you get are just one skippable cutscene after the next.
Original review:
TL;DR: A lot could be improved if there were checkpoints so you don't lose all your progress from a random "difficulty spike" in an otherwise easy game. These are also my first impressions after playing for ~4-5 hours, so I wouldn't consider them a review by any sense of the word.
First impressions: this was an impulse purchase, but it's one I'm finding myself regretting.
I really, really wanted to like this game and keep coming back to it, but I just get the desire to play something else every time I pick it up. This game gets boring in every aspect after about an hour, visually, musically, and in its gameplay.
I thought this game was pretty fun starting out, but after playing on hard for a little while I eventually found out this game is very easy 95% of the time and feigns its difficulty by sending you to your last save when you die, with save points being rather sparse. This is lame, and it also sucks, since it just makes playing the game become a chore when you die to a sudden "difficulty spike" (for lack of a better term - these were the occasional mob fights where they suddenly attacked my Nahobino all at once and also one boss on the verge of defeat). The battle system is like a slightly better version of Octopath Traveler's, so you can see again why I'd say it gets boring so quickly.
The music isn't very good at all, which was unexpected from Atlus. The main battle theme sounds interesting at first, but once you start hearing it more and more the novelty wears off. The song that plays as you explore Da'at (at least the desert portion, if there are other areas at all) does a good job sounding bleak and empty - until again, the novelty wears off and it becomes grating. The scenery of (if there are any other areas) the first area is just generic post apocalyptic desert and not really anything I haven't seen before. Not only that, but the bloom is turned to all the way up to 11 so not only is the world hard to look at aesthetically, but also literally and I found myself having headaches when playing this game (there's also no way to turn down the brightness at all, ffs). This game also runs like ass on the Switch, and low FPS doesn't help when the brightness was already agonizing enough.
The only thing I can really praise Atlus for here are the character designs, but even that's hard when most of the demon designs were lifted from previous MegaTen games, which normally isn't a problem but it just makes things feel worse here. Speaking of characters, there are none! Although I did start off meeting the main cast, they were all extremely one dimensional and not the least bit entertaining. If characters are good enough, they can carry an otherwise boring game, but by the time I gave up on this I only encountered one of the main characters a second time, whose personality trait is that he's actually an undercover government agent. Wow!
You could easily describe this game as one word: "generic", but even then, if making progress was less of a chore, I could get past a lot of the flaws here. But these are just my first impressions. Maybe I'll come back to this game, but man, it's just not my thing, apparently.
I can at least say I like the gameplay after spending more time with it. Beating the first major boss allows you to warp to each save point, which is massively helpful (and should have been given to you right from the start, imo). Battle system can be said to be one of Atlus's best, and exploring each of the areas is rewarding, as the Koroks (I can't remember what they're called, but everything in this game is forgettable) of this game give some pretty substantial rewards. Upgrading the Nahobino and your party of demons is fun, too.
It's just such a shame that none of it feels worth it when all you get are just one skippable cutscene after the next.
Original review:
TL;DR: A lot could be improved if there were checkpoints so you don't lose all your progress from a random "difficulty spike" in an otherwise easy game. These are also my first impressions after playing for ~4-5 hours, so I wouldn't consider them a review by any sense of the word.
First impressions: this was an impulse purchase, but it's one I'm finding myself regretting.
I really, really wanted to like this game and keep coming back to it, but I just get the desire to play something else every time I pick it up. This game gets boring in every aspect after about an hour, visually, musically, and in its gameplay.
I thought this game was pretty fun starting out, but after playing on hard for a little while I eventually found out this game is very easy 95% of the time and feigns its difficulty by sending you to your last save when you die, with save points being rather sparse. This is lame, and it also sucks, since it just makes playing the game become a chore when you die to a sudden "difficulty spike" (for lack of a better term - these were the occasional mob fights where they suddenly attacked my Nahobino all at once and also one boss on the verge of defeat). The battle system is like a slightly better version of Octopath Traveler's, so you can see again why I'd say it gets boring so quickly.
The music isn't very good at all, which was unexpected from Atlus. The main battle theme sounds interesting at first, but once you start hearing it more and more the novelty wears off. The song that plays as you explore Da'at (at least the desert portion, if there are other areas at all) does a good job sounding bleak and empty - until again, the novelty wears off and it becomes grating. The scenery of (if there are any other areas) the first area is just generic post apocalyptic desert and not really anything I haven't seen before. Not only that, but the bloom is turned to all the way up to 11 so not only is the world hard to look at aesthetically, but also literally and I found myself having headaches when playing this game (there's also no way to turn down the brightness at all, ffs). This game also runs like ass on the Switch, and low FPS doesn't help when the brightness was already agonizing enough.
The only thing I can really praise Atlus for here are the character designs, but even that's hard when most of the demon designs were lifted from previous MegaTen games, which normally isn't a problem but it just makes things feel worse here. Speaking of characters, there are none! Although I did start off meeting the main cast, they were all extremely one dimensional and not the least bit entertaining. If characters are good enough, they can carry an otherwise boring game, but by the time I gave up on this I only encountered one of the main characters a second time, whose personality trait is that he's actually an undercover government agent. Wow!
You could easily describe this game as one word: "generic", but even then, if making progress was less of a chore, I could get past a lot of the flaws here. But these are just my first impressions. Maybe I'll come back to this game, but man, it's just not my thing, apparently.
2019
TL;DR: A lot of good ideas poorly executed and more than a few missed opportunities, but a very fun game regardless and worth the 40-50 hours it takes to beat.
My thoughts - on the story, mainly - need more time to be sorted out, but immediately coming off this game I felt like it was full of good ideas but executed rather poorly and the characters are one dimensional but are at least enjoyable (beating out many Cold Steel characters with that latter point). The ending left me with a very positive impression which is why it's difficult for me to fairly criticize the plot right now.
The gameplay is up to the Ys standard of being delightfully addictive, making me want to get in as many battles as I could because, again, the combat is fun. However, Ys IX Monstrum Nox is a very, very easy game. I was playing on hard thinking I would give my first playthrough a moderate challenge, but I got through the game with probably no deaths aside from a level 90 monster in a dungeon when I was level 45 and a superboss towards the end of the game - both of which I fought, and the latter was the only one that I found decently challenging, to illustrate just how easy this game is. However, in some ways that can be a blessing just because there are moments where events are so chaotic it can be a struggle to keep track of everything that's happening around you (really just the latter Grimwald Nox phases, this is also coming from someone with ADHD and gets overwhelmed easily anyway).
It was cool to have a large seamless area to explore, but Balduq was also very fractured into different segments that only expanded with story progress, which I felt took away from the game. Ys VIII did it more subtly, by throwing natural obstacles in your path like trees or boulders, but those also gave an incentive to explore the area more to find more castaways to add to the village and move forward. This game just says "fuck it, we'll just have force fields everywhere and not tell anyone where they are until they're two feet away." I know this isn't a deserted island setting anymore, but was that really the best they could come up with?
Monstrum abilities were cool, but I also felt like they could have done more with them. It would have been nice if it felt like Balduq, the plains outside the city and the dungeons were built around them instead of what felt like the other way around - it felt like the perfect opportunity to make this game a natural playground and a demonstration of what better movement in action RPGs can really be, so it ended up feeling like a missed opportunity for me and felt pretty janky in the end.
The general feel is good, though. The game is very pleasant to look at and there's a lot of good music in the soundtrack.
I had a great time with this game, but man I just wish Falcom would work on honing their game design sense a little more.
My thoughts - on the story, mainly - need more time to be sorted out, but immediately coming off this game I felt like it was full of good ideas but executed rather poorly and the characters are one dimensional but are at least enjoyable (beating out many Cold Steel characters with that latter point). The ending left me with a very positive impression which is why it's difficult for me to fairly criticize the plot right now.
The gameplay is up to the Ys standard of being delightfully addictive, making me want to get in as many battles as I could because, again, the combat is fun. However, Ys IX Monstrum Nox is a very, very easy game. I was playing on hard thinking I would give my first playthrough a moderate challenge, but I got through the game with probably no deaths aside from a level 90 monster in a dungeon when I was level 45 and a superboss towards the end of the game - both of which I fought, and the latter was the only one that I found decently challenging, to illustrate just how easy this game is. However, in some ways that can be a blessing just because there are moments where events are so chaotic it can be a struggle to keep track of everything that's happening around you (really just the latter Grimwald Nox phases, this is also coming from someone with ADHD and gets overwhelmed easily anyway).
It was cool to have a large seamless area to explore, but Balduq was also very fractured into different segments that only expanded with story progress, which I felt took away from the game. Ys VIII did it more subtly, by throwing natural obstacles in your path like trees or boulders, but those also gave an incentive to explore the area more to find more castaways to add to the village and move forward. This game just says "fuck it, we'll just have force fields everywhere and not tell anyone where they are until they're two feet away." I know this isn't a deserted island setting anymore, but was that really the best they could come up with?
Monstrum abilities were cool, but I also felt like they could have done more with them. It would have been nice if it felt like Balduq, the plains outside the city and the dungeons were built around them instead of what felt like the other way around - it felt like the perfect opportunity to make this game a natural playground and a demonstration of what better movement in action RPGs can really be, so it ended up feeling like a missed opportunity for me and felt pretty janky in the end.
The general feel is good, though. The game is very pleasant to look at and there's a lot of good music in the soundtrack.
I had a great time with this game, but man I just wish Falcom would work on honing their game design sense a little more.
2011
TL;DR - It's okay, had some really bad pacing issues but the gameplay was tight enough that it was an enjoyable enough experience.
This game was great up until I got to the castle, which is when the pacing ground to a halt as Ashley gets kidnapped, then rescued, then kidnapped in a cycle for the last two thirds of the game. Not only that, but that's also when the game started throwing a lot of bullshit at me too and I just stopped having fun. I couldn't find any good accessibility options in the menu, or even what you'd expect from a PC port.
Why, then, is this game considered one of the greatest games ever made? Is it because it's actually an amazing game? Or is it because this is the game that came out when a bunch of millennials were teens and so they're nostalgic for it (it's the latter).
Now that the complaining is over with, I still thought this game was pretty good, and worth a playthrough. The controls had a learning curve but were rock solid otherwise (aside from the godawful tracking speed), and the Regenerators were a cool way to add some fear into an otherwise not scary game. Leon also has the cheesiest lines which added a good element of camp into this game.
This game was great up until I got to the castle, which is when the pacing ground to a halt as Ashley gets kidnapped, then rescued, then kidnapped in a cycle for the last two thirds of the game. Not only that, but that's also when the game started throwing a lot of bullshit at me too and I just stopped having fun. I couldn't find any good accessibility options in the menu, or even what you'd expect from a PC port.
Why, then, is this game considered one of the greatest games ever made? Is it because it's actually an amazing game? Or is it because this is the game that came out when a bunch of millennials were teens and so they're nostalgic for it (it's the latter).
Now that the complaining is over with, I still thought this game was pretty good, and worth a playthrough. The controls had a learning curve but were rock solid otherwise (aside from the godawful tracking speed), and the Regenerators were a cool way to add some fear into an otherwise not scary game. Leon also has the cheesiest lines which added a good element of camp into this game.
2021
Even better than chapter 1. A lot of cool new gameplay elements were added and all the characters were really really good. One of those games that just has you smiling the entire time you play it, I can't wait to see the rest of the game.
2018
Toby Fox is a dog among men
2021
A very easy contender for my GOTY. It was an absolute blast all the way through and extremely hard to put down. One of those games that I really want to learn the speedrun for just because it's so good.
I didn't seem to have as hard of a time with it as a lot of people apparently were, but there were some difficulty spikes here and there. Some of the recurring mid-bosses gave me the most trouble, but didn't hamper my enjoyment at all. The E.M.M.I. were great; while I didn't find them frightening or scary at all, they added a lot of tension every time I had to enter one of their patrol areas (also the blue EMMI was bullshit, throw that one in the trash).
I think the only real complaint I have with this game is the complete absence of accessibility options. You can't change the controls or even audio at all - the "options" menu just shows some trivial things and a controller map. This is something Nintendo is terrible with in most of their games and an issue I continue to wish they would address.
Overall though, Metroid's first new game in over a decade was a triumphant return to claim the throne of the genre. Like my other 5 star reviews, it's still not a perfect game, but it doesn't fall far from that bar. Super happy to say that Metroid is back, and I hope it finally gets the love it deserves. I'm over the moon.
I didn't seem to have as hard of a time with it as a lot of people apparently were, but there were some difficulty spikes here and there. Some of the recurring mid-bosses gave me the most trouble, but didn't hamper my enjoyment at all. The E.M.M.I. were great; while I didn't find them frightening or scary at all, they added a lot of tension every time I had to enter one of their patrol areas (also the blue EMMI was bullshit, throw that one in the trash).
I think the only real complaint I have with this game is the complete absence of accessibility options. You can't change the controls or even audio at all - the "options" menu just shows some trivial things and a controller map. This is something Nintendo is terrible with in most of their games and an issue I continue to wish they would address.
Overall though, Metroid's first new game in over a decade was a triumphant return to claim the throne of the genre. Like my other 5 star reviews, it's still not a perfect game, but it doesn't fall far from that bar. Super happy to say that Metroid is back, and I hope it finally gets the love it deserves. I'm over the moon.
2020
Well, this game's been out for a year now so I might as well finally detail what I think of it.
The best way to describe my thoughts on it are that there's something really special buried underneath a huge pile of garbage, but it's an ok game to come back to every so often.
Resources are annoyingly limited to the point it feels like a grind trying to get enough to upgrade equipment (this is just from opening treasure chests and completing dungeons) and you go through them so quickly that it just becomes a pain once you run low, which I found demotivating to continue playing the game. Also, there's a gacha mechanic which you can use to summon weapons and (if you're lucky) playable characters. It's probably not the harshest gacha system out there, but it's far from the most generous as I play F2P most of the time and found myself not summoning very often at all (I don't play this game all the time, but still). Dungeons are lame, being just hallways you go through and fight enemies to reach the end for rewards that change daily. Dragonspine Mountain is also just plain terrible and annoying to traverse thanks to a godawful body temperature system and enemies that freeze you.
Enemies are also not good, it feels like a lot of them are on the attack longer than they should be (cough cough Fatui cough cough), so you're often waiting a while before it becomes safe to attack. I don't think I'm ever really having fun fighting regular enemies.
The story is bad. I don't really know how else to say it. I'm not caught up (maybe halfway through Inazuma) but every time I'm doing story missions it's always running boring errands while whatever character accompanies you at the time talks about how it's relevant to the world that the game hasn't gotten me interested in, so it kind of feels like my head is being hit with a baseball bat with the name "Lore" carved into it, which again, is not interesting at all. There's interesting things that happens sometimes, but I can only think of one instance off the top of my head where I thought that I was enjoying the story and wanted to see where it went next, only for that part of the plot to be dropped completely and will probably be picked up at god-knows-when thanks to the live service nature of the game.
So by now you're probably wondering why I scored this game as high as 2.5 stars. Like I said, underneath the pile of shit there's something special about this game. For one, the game is GORGEOUS, and I don't mean that lightly. Although grassy plains are nothing new and pretty much make up almost all of the world, there's still quite a few locales where I felt like I needed to stop and take it all in. Exploration really feels rewarding in this aspect, and you're also rewarded with lots and lots of treasure chests, probably more than I've ever seen in a game to the point that I'm not sure if there's a set amount or if they keep respawning. Music is pretty good too, with some ever-present soft instrumental melodies, but it's not something I would listen to outside of the game. Character designs are also really good too (backed up by how much fanart they get on the daily), even though the characters themselves are nothing special.
I think the boss fights are really where the game's combat shines. I really like upgrading my characters and coming up with strategies to make the most of them, and it becomes really satisfying when I'm doing large amounts of damage to an electric shapeshifting cube.
Overall, if you're looking for a game that'll probably be here for a while and keep you busy, it's not bad and there's a lot to do, but if gacha/limited resources and/or bad stories turns you off I wouldn't recommend this game.
The best way to describe my thoughts on it are that there's something really special buried underneath a huge pile of garbage, but it's an ok game to come back to every so often.
Resources are annoyingly limited to the point it feels like a grind trying to get enough to upgrade equipment (this is just from opening treasure chests and completing dungeons) and you go through them so quickly that it just becomes a pain once you run low, which I found demotivating to continue playing the game. Also, there's a gacha mechanic which you can use to summon weapons and (if you're lucky) playable characters. It's probably not the harshest gacha system out there, but it's far from the most generous as I play F2P most of the time and found myself not summoning very often at all (I don't play this game all the time, but still). Dungeons are lame, being just hallways you go through and fight enemies to reach the end for rewards that change daily. Dragonspine Mountain is also just plain terrible and annoying to traverse thanks to a godawful body temperature system and enemies that freeze you.
Enemies are also not good, it feels like a lot of them are on the attack longer than they should be (cough cough Fatui cough cough), so you're often waiting a while before it becomes safe to attack. I don't think I'm ever really having fun fighting regular enemies.
The story is bad. I don't really know how else to say it. I'm not caught up (maybe halfway through Inazuma) but every time I'm doing story missions it's always running boring errands while whatever character accompanies you at the time talks about how it's relevant to the world that the game hasn't gotten me interested in, so it kind of feels like my head is being hit with a baseball bat with the name "Lore" carved into it, which again, is not interesting at all. There's interesting things that happens sometimes, but I can only think of one instance off the top of my head where I thought that I was enjoying the story and wanted to see where it went next, only for that part of the plot to be dropped completely and will probably be picked up at god-knows-when thanks to the live service nature of the game.
So by now you're probably wondering why I scored this game as high as 2.5 stars. Like I said, underneath the pile of shit there's something special about this game. For one, the game is GORGEOUS, and I don't mean that lightly. Although grassy plains are nothing new and pretty much make up almost all of the world, there's still quite a few locales where I felt like I needed to stop and take it all in. Exploration really feels rewarding in this aspect, and you're also rewarded with lots and lots of treasure chests, probably more than I've ever seen in a game to the point that I'm not sure if there's a set amount or if they keep respawning. Music is pretty good too, with some ever-present soft instrumental melodies, but it's not something I would listen to outside of the game. Character designs are also really good too (backed up by how much fanart they get on the daily), even though the characters themselves are nothing special.
I think the boss fights are really where the game's combat shines. I really like upgrading my characters and coming up with strategies to make the most of them, and it becomes really satisfying when I'm doing large amounts of damage to an electric shapeshifting cube.
Overall, if you're looking for a game that'll probably be here for a while and keep you busy, it's not bad and there's a lot to do, but if gacha/limited resources and/or bad stories turns you off I wouldn't recommend this game.
Metroid Prime 2 was really good, I feel like it refined and smoothed out a lot of what Prime 1 was trying to do. Although I'm more of a fan of Prime 1's completely interconnected world (and by extension the Zebes games), I liked the map design of Prime 2 a little more. Temple Grounds and Agon Wastes were kind of on the bland side, the former being a little more forgivable since it was essentially a highway between areas, but the rest of the game more than made up for it. Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress are some of the best areas in the franchise (that I've played thus far), and were a delight to explore.
The atmosphere was good, but I did feel it was a little all over the place. It did lean into the horror ambience more than probably any other game in the series (was not expecting to see dead human bodies hanging from the ceilings of some rooms in a Nintendo game lol), but there wasn't much feeling of isolation that you usually get in a Metroid game - you meet a living, talking NPC almost immediately (although the only one), but the world did feel more civilized even so, and less alien. Enemy and boss design was not great at all, continuing the Prime tradition from the first game, and sometimes you had to backtrack to a completely different area to get an item without any prompt to do so (hint system was off), especially when you've forgotten at that point you could open doors in that part of the map.
Still though, best game in the series next to Super, I loved it a lot.
The atmosphere was good, but I did feel it was a little all over the place. It did lean into the horror ambience more than probably any other game in the series (was not expecting to see dead human bodies hanging from the ceilings of some rooms in a Nintendo game lol), but there wasn't much feeling of isolation that you usually get in a Metroid game - you meet a living, talking NPC almost immediately (although the only one), but the world did feel more civilized even so, and less alien. Enemy and boss design was not great at all, continuing the Prime tradition from the first game, and sometimes you had to backtrack to a completely different area to get an item without any prompt to do so (hint system was off), especially when you've forgotten at that point you could open doors in that part of the map.
Still though, best game in the series next to Super, I loved it a lot.
2019
Finished Leon's route earlier this year and just beat Claire's route. I liked this game quite a bit overall, it had a good sense of terror, and having the Tyrant (Mr. X) stalking you added a good amount of tension, but unfortunately these feelings don't last on a second playthrough and everything just becomes more annoying. Overall though, it's a good game and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a good horror game to get into.
2002
Great game just hate that it limits exploration so much. There's also some vague puzzles and invisible passageways which could be frustrating for some.
I played this right after The Great Ace Attorney so it's really hard to not compare the two (GAA was amazing), but I liked this game overall. A lot of the main characters (specifically Date, Aiba, and Mizuki) were very likable and played off each other really well, so it was always a joy watching them interact. Having to go through every route to get to the true ending was fine and I liked piecing together the mystery through each new detail they brought, but it could often kill the pace of the route you were on by ending that route and forcing you to go to a different one. Some of the endings and characters fell flat and made it difficult for me to continue playing, but others I liked so much that it made up for it. Somnium segments were cool but a lot of them felt like throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks, rather than trying to piece a puzzle together, which I'm hoping will be improved upon in the sequel.
TL;DR: Overall, if you like mysteries, this is a game worth your time. The characters were good, the climax was fantastic, but the puzzle solving could be better.
TL;DR: Overall, if you like mysteries, this is a game worth your time. The characters were good, the climax was fantastic, but the puzzle solving could be better.
This review contains spoilers
TL;DR: Great game, great story, great cast, great everything. Climax of Resolve is flawed but it can't be understated how amazing both games are, everything fits together perfectly.
I really can't praise this game (or should I say games?) enough. It was just masterfully written and kept me entertained throughout, leaving me with a big smile on my face when I was through with it all. Admittedly, I still do prefer Phoenix and Maya, but I adored the cast of The Great Ace Attorney. Ryunosuke felt similar enough to Phoenix, but also set himself apart by being more openly sarcastic and witty. Susato was nothing like the many other quirky teenagers accompanying the protagonists (like Maya, Trucy, and Kay), and although I love those characters too, I found her more reserved nature to be a welcome change, with some goofiness used sparingly. Herlock Sholmes (Sherlock Holmes) is probably my favorite depiction of Holmes from the books. He really feels like what the character would be if he were a real person, which is not the often cold sociopath that is always used, but rather an eccentric but warm amateur detective, retaining his intelligence (especially as it implies his mistaken deductions are - occasionally - an act). Iris Wilson (Watson) is also a great character, but I did think having her be an accomplished writer and doctor of medicine while being only ten years old was a bit of a stretch.
If I have one criticism of the gameplay, it's that presenting evidence sometimes wasn't clear and I had to resort to looking up a guide.
- STORY OVERVIEW, SPOILERS AHEAD -
I loved how everything since the first case of the first game all connected together - everything mattered. The game also didn't waste its time with some easily guessable plot twists; the identity of Van Ziek's masked assistant introduced in case 3 of the second game was revealed at the end of case 3, for example. The mysteries themselves were pretty clever and were either a version of a Sherlock Holmes story, or that story tied into it somehow, so I also enjoyed the twist on some of the familiar stories, like The Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League, or the most important, The Hounds of Baskervilles. However, at the very end, two times in the very last episode, the plot pulls a deus ex machina. Although Sholmes and Iris were shown to be accomplished inventors, we find out Iris has made a wireless phones disguised as dolls. This game takes place in the early 1900s. These phones were used so Sholmes could tell Ryunosuke he found a critical witness for the final trial. Not only that, but to catch the ultimate villain of the whole story, we find out that there's another invention, where Sholmes can project a 3D image of himself wherever he wants, while also capturing footage of the trial to show Queen Victoria what a bad bad person the villain is. THIS GAME TAKES PLACE IN THE EARLY 1900s, I REMIND YOU. This is the game's only critical flaw, the story was perfect up to this point and keeps me from giving this game a 5/5. Aside from that, I can't recommend this game enough, it's really just wonderful all around with a great and memorable cast of characters. It may not beat Trials and Tribulations for me (Bridge to the Turnabout still kino) but it damn near comes close.
I really can't praise this game (or should I say games?) enough. It was just masterfully written and kept me entertained throughout, leaving me with a big smile on my face when I was through with it all. Admittedly, I still do prefer Phoenix and Maya, but I adored the cast of The Great Ace Attorney. Ryunosuke felt similar enough to Phoenix, but also set himself apart by being more openly sarcastic and witty. Susato was nothing like the many other quirky teenagers accompanying the protagonists (like Maya, Trucy, and Kay), and although I love those characters too, I found her more reserved nature to be a welcome change, with some goofiness used sparingly. Herlock Sholmes (Sherlock Holmes) is probably my favorite depiction of Holmes from the books. He really feels like what the character would be if he were a real person, which is not the often cold sociopath that is always used, but rather an eccentric but warm amateur detective, retaining his intelligence (especially as it implies his mistaken deductions are - occasionally - an act). Iris Wilson (Watson) is also a great character, but I did think having her be an accomplished writer and doctor of medicine while being only ten years old was a bit of a stretch.
If I have one criticism of the gameplay, it's that presenting evidence sometimes wasn't clear and I had to resort to looking up a guide.
- STORY OVERVIEW, SPOILERS AHEAD -
I loved how everything since the first case of the first game all connected together - everything mattered. The game also didn't waste its time with some easily guessable plot twists; the identity of Van Ziek's masked assistant introduced in case 3 of the second game was revealed at the end of case 3, for example. The mysteries themselves were pretty clever and were either a version of a Sherlock Holmes story, or that story tied into it somehow, so I also enjoyed the twist on some of the familiar stories, like The Speckled Band, The Red-Headed League, or the most important, The Hounds of Baskervilles. However, at the very end, two times in the very last episode, the plot pulls a deus ex machina. Although Sholmes and Iris were shown to be accomplished inventors, we find out Iris has made a wireless phones disguised as dolls. This game takes place in the early 1900s. These phones were used so Sholmes could tell Ryunosuke he found a critical witness for the final trial. Not only that, but to catch the ultimate villain of the whole story, we find out that there's another invention, where Sholmes can project a 3D image of himself wherever he wants, while also capturing footage of the trial to show Queen Victoria what a bad bad person the villain is. THIS GAME TAKES PLACE IN THE EARLY 1900s, I REMIND YOU. This is the game's only critical flaw, the story was perfect up to this point and keeps me from giving this game a 5/5. Aside from that, I can't recommend this game enough, it's really just wonderful all around with a great and memorable cast of characters. It may not beat Trials and Tribulations for me (Bridge to the Turnabout still kino) but it damn near comes close.
I feel like I'd heard that this game wasn't as good as the other two Prime games and I'm happy to say that wasn't true at all. Some parts (especially the beginning and the end) felt more like Halo than Metroid which I wasn't overly crazy about, but the rest of the game was very Metroid and I loved it. There were a few times where I got completely stuck and there was almost no indication whatsoever about what I was supposed to do next which was not fun at all, but like every other Metroid game, once I found my way forward I was having a blast.
Metroid Prime always delivers presentation-wise, and although the color palette for this game was almost entirely brown, there was a lot of cool stuff to see and a lot of detail was put into the environments. Each planet was super cool and had a lot of great ideas new to Metroid, especially SkyTown. Taking place in the sky of the planet Elysia, you traversed the area almost entirely by zipline and morph ball cannons which was exhilarating and just a ton of fun overall, and I hope future Metroid games look to this game for inspiration because wow SkyTown was just really really good. The music was okay but there wasn't too much I felt like would stick with me, unlike the music in Phendrana Drifts or Torvus Bog but it was serviceable.
This game was made for the Wii and as such it introduced new motion controls besides aiming. The grapple beam was now activated with the nunchuck (nunchuck motion controls are cringe) but you could use it to tear off enemy shields which I thought was a really cool use of it, and once you realized you just had to move it in a straight line it was easier to get the hang of it. Some motions (like removing energy cells or opening locks) used the Wii remote and for some reason you had to wait for the message to tell you what motion to use to pop up before the game would let you perform the action, which made it feel clunkier than it should.
Overall I hope this trilogy comes to Switch because it's an amazing time and it really just needs some quality of life updates and it would be perfect.
Metroid Prime always delivers presentation-wise, and although the color palette for this game was almost entirely brown, there was a lot of cool stuff to see and a lot of detail was put into the environments. Each planet was super cool and had a lot of great ideas new to Metroid, especially SkyTown. Taking place in the sky of the planet Elysia, you traversed the area almost entirely by zipline and morph ball cannons which was exhilarating and just a ton of fun overall, and I hope future Metroid games look to this game for inspiration because wow SkyTown was just really really good. The music was okay but there wasn't too much I felt like would stick with me, unlike the music in Phendrana Drifts or Torvus Bog but it was serviceable.
This game was made for the Wii and as such it introduced new motion controls besides aiming. The grapple beam was now activated with the nunchuck (nunchuck motion controls are cringe) but you could use it to tear off enemy shields which I thought was a really cool use of it, and once you realized you just had to move it in a straight line it was easier to get the hang of it. Some motions (like removing energy cells or opening locks) used the Wii remote and for some reason you had to wait for the message to tell you what motion to use to pop up before the game would let you perform the action, which made it feel clunkier than it should.
Overall I hope this trilogy comes to Switch because it's an amazing time and it really just needs some quality of life updates and it would be perfect.
2010
God there were so many good ideas here but it fell flat on its face. The overall gameplay was actually better than I was expecting and sideways Wii remote was weird but simple enough to get used to, and it was surprisingly fun. The combat took a lot of the good parts of Prime and the main series and put them together in a pretty solid way (except you can't move in first person, why?).
However, exploration - the most important part of any search action/metroidvania game - sucks so much. The game is constantly restricting you (I don't mean the restricted suit powers), they really tried to crack down on any kind of sequence breaking by throwing invisible walls everywhere (even when bomb jumping you hit an invisible wall if you go above a low height), locking doors behind you constantly, and just overall taking any thought or enjoyment out of running through the space station. Atmosphere is okay, but nothing special. I can't remember any of the music in this game, even though I finished it minutes ago.
Dear lord what was that story. I heard it was bad but I was not expecting it to be that bad. I don't even know if it had any themes (what does "other m" mean anyway??) to it, it was just "Samus goes here does stuff with Fed army and her old CO". There was nothing necessary in the story that made this game worthwhile, even if it explains some things in Fusion, those were not necessary explanations to justify how bad this is. I'm totally fine with Samus having emotions and expressing herself more but not the way it happened in this game. It's almost laughable just how bad the story was.
Overall, I really wish this game had good writing. Even if the story doesn't matter at all, it would have at least made this game more enjoyable, at least if they were going to restrict the player this bad.
Giving it a 2 star because at least the gameplay was pretty fun.
However, exploration - the most important part of any search action/metroidvania game - sucks so much. The game is constantly restricting you (I don't mean the restricted suit powers), they really tried to crack down on any kind of sequence breaking by throwing invisible walls everywhere (even when bomb jumping you hit an invisible wall if you go above a low height), locking doors behind you constantly, and just overall taking any thought or enjoyment out of running through the space station. Atmosphere is okay, but nothing special. I can't remember any of the music in this game, even though I finished it minutes ago.
Dear lord what was that story. I heard it was bad but I was not expecting it to be that bad. I don't even know if it had any themes (what does "other m" mean anyway??) to it, it was just "Samus goes here does stuff with Fed army and her old CO". There was nothing necessary in the story that made this game worthwhile, even if it explains some things in Fusion, those were not necessary explanations to justify how bad this is. I'm totally fine with Samus having emotions and expressing herself more but not the way it happened in this game. It's almost laughable just how bad the story was.
Overall, I really wish this game had good writing. Even if the story doesn't matter at all, it would have at least made this game more enjoyable, at least if they were going to restrict the player this bad.
Giving it a 2 star because at least the gameplay was pretty fun.