A game by absolute freaks, for absolute freaks. If you don't lab kart racers everyday like they're fighting games and try your hardest to complete EVERYTHING in those games, this game is NOT for you.
Almost avant-garde in how little it cares for the casual kart racer audience, forcing you to complete an excruciating tutorial that can take between 30 minutes and 1 hour. To complete one grand prix before you can unlock multiplayer (or use a cheat code). To complete FIVE grand prixes before you can unlock the ability to use old SRB2kart MODS! (or use a cheat code). To stay with one color for your character unless you collect the others, and collect all 82 to unlock time trials. Never has there been a game so obsessed with making players master its mechanics before letting them play with others, as if they were preparing you for real-life war or something.

The game even opens slowly walking you through every option, unlocking each thing in the menu, everything contextualized with Tails and Eggman speaking to you, as Metal Sonic. Clearly, the devs tried to defeat Sonic Robo Blast 2's unnecessarily long intro cutscene, and in their quest for Genesis nostalgiawanking, they made the awful choice of only having the button prompts of the Genesis controller in menus and tutorials, not a huge issue in controller, it is on keyboard, especially because this game just has way too many mechanics and when you finally have to use an obscure one, you gotta press every key or go to the menu to check what key you assigned as the Y Genesis button.

Back to the tutorial, what did they think they were making here, Final Fantasy XVII?? It doesn't even explain things that clearly and there's so much dialogue, no option to reread, just once and trial and error.
It'd be one thing to make a kart racer with a lot of complex mechanics if they all feel cohesive and the races really push you to your limits, like Sonic Riders or even Bomberman Fantasy Race, but I don't think this is it when the mechanics are like 8 different types of boosts, one for each hazard, a charged melee attack? A parry? Two different types of roulettes that by default you have to stop manually???
A lot of this doesn't even come up in the races, it's for the single-player challenges, if it is in the race, you can also probably brute force it and use boost mechanic #54 instead of boost mechanic #301 as originally intended.

There's potential here, but it doesn't feel as good as SRB2kart to be honest. I gave up at the drift section in the tutorial cuz I just couldn't get it to work and the only drift you HAVE to do to proceed is the ultra charged one that gives you max boost #302! If the kart stops moving while you try to drift you instead initiate, you guessed it, another boost mechanic, one that has its own separate dedicated button so why make the drift worse by putting it on that button as well?

I usually don't rank games if I know that they're just not for me or if I played that little, but I don't see how the things I complain about would really do any good to any game in any genre, and even if all players use a save file with everything unlocked, I'll have to stand my ground unless they rework everything.

They tried to make a kart racer with more complex mechanics than Sonic Riders, and thought they had to have THE MOST mechanics to do that. They saw that some Riders players missed mechanics because of the lack of a tutorial and thought they had to overtutorialize EVERYTHING and demanded they mastered the game before even letting them race.
Don't think this will ever catch on and most will probably continue to just play SRB2kart.

Permit me another formalist critique. When I was talking about this game with others, the subject of Sonic inevitably came up. Now, I have nostalgia for those 16-bit Sonic games, but many people, myself included, feel frustration with those old 2D Sonic games because they “don’t let you go fast”. They throw spike traps in your way, they make you bump into walls, they make you do annoying sliding block puzzles. And it doesn’t help then that getting back up to speed feels incredibly slow sans spindash. But a 2D Sonic Defender dissented. There are people who insist that Sonic was never about going fast, and I find this patently absurd. Speed was a heavy aspect of Sonic’s marketing and it’s incredibly hard to ignore. However, the 2D Sonic Defender changed the angle a bit: it’s not a matter of speed, but of momentum. This seems like a fine distinction, but it’s one that’s worth taking up. Because momentum, rather than speed, doesn’t prioritize the rate at which things happen, but rather the duration and weight of player agency. Momentum is not just speed, but also slowness, and the way we move between them. When a Sonic game throws road spikesin your way as you’re trying to move through a level, and then you have to rev up again, the game robs you of your momentum. At its worst moments, Sonic does not respect your inertia.

So here’s how Freedom Planet 2 takes numerous steps to maintain, respect, and foster your momentum. If nothing else, I think it should be remembered as a game that did this. The first game, Freedom Planet, felt like a serious attempt to turn the elements of those early Sonic games into a game that felt good for players who weren’t prepared to master Sonic’s weird physics and memorize its sometimes uncompromising level design. I think it succeeded at that pretty well, and enjoyed it. But Freedom Planet 2 feels like a step above, creating a new echelon that every game in this lineage is going to have to reckon with. And while I’m a bit of an outsider (I like Sonic but I’m not one of the gremlin crew) as I’ve not been completely dedicated to all those games and their fan projects or things that take it as inspiration, I feel very confident in saying that this game did a better job of allowing me to have fun with inertia than any of the ones I’ve played. Freedom Planet 2 empowers players to harness and control their momentum, and I think it blows every game that inspired it out of the water.

Now, the game does this in a number of ways, with a lot of level design affordances to keep you speedy. (Even the puzzle sections here are snappy and fast.) In fact, almost every other new level mechanic the game springs on you is a way of playing with and transforming inertia. And I could get into specifics there, but I think it would be both tedious to write and read descriptions of levels. So I think the most prominent and immediately understandable way that Freedom Planet 2 powers up your momentum is through its player character design. There’s one thing that every character has that, if it were alone added to a game like this, would be great: the player has a guard button they can simply tap to evade damage. The guard has a marginal impact on your speed, and lets you dodge the knockback and slowdown you’d receive if got hit. So even in the event that you are moving too fast, aren’t prepared, and careen into a laser blast, if you’re quick to dodge (or turn on the auto-guard option in the assist menu!) you won’t suffer that consequence, and your momentum is maintained.

But there’s more! Every character also has a moveset that enables them to quickly gain speed, so even from the get-go, and even if you do get hit, it won’t be long before you’re back to zooming. I played through the game with each character (this is not normal for me, I just think this game is very good) and here is a rundown of how that works

Lilac: Water dragon protagonist. The most straight forward in this sense, Lilac has a super dash that does damage as she rockets off in a straight line, and even bounces off wall in that mode. It reminds me a bit of Epsilon Eagle’s dash. She also has a dive kick, and a spin attack double jump. But a lot of Lilac’s speed comes from that dash and using it right.

Carol: Bad bitch catgirl. Carol’s special throws a disk attack that she can zip to. She also has a little dash she can perform after jumping, but if performed close to the ground before landing, will give her a real boost. Holding down as she runs will also turn her into a little ball of fury and deal damage to what ever she rolls through. She can also snag a motorcycle power up that boosts her speed by a lot, and actually acts as her jump disc!

Milla: Green magic dog scientist. Milla is weird but that weirdness makes her really cool. At first she doesn’t seem to have a lot of speed options. Her jump ability is a flutter jump. Her special is a projectile/shield and her melee attacks dont move her forward. However, when you guard, Milla gains a floating green cube beside her which powers up her projectiles and also completely transforms her melee. Now, her melee unleashes a big column of green energy which does a ton of damage, but more importantly blasts her back. Newton’s third law, fucker. Utilizing this lets you jump higher and move faster. Building speed with Milla is probably best done by summoning a cube, jumping just a little bit, and then blasting behind you to propel yourself forward. Done repeatedly, you can really start zooming, and combined with the flutter, the air time Milla can get is unbelievable.

Neera: Icy nationalist panda knight. Neera works the least for me. She has the tools but they never feel quite right to me. Neera can enter a “Frost Art” mode, when she can freeze enemies, and one of her abilities spawns a bunch of frost spires that she can bounce off of. The main way Neera gains momentum though is by attacking twice. When you attack the second time, in the air or on the ground, Neera gets a boost. This works and you can get some major speed, but feels like her only tool for momentum. Also, she has a spear, but you can’t even pogo with it, which is frankly a crime. Unfortunately, this ends my little list on a down note. The irony is that in most other games Neera would feel like a standout, but in Freedom Planet 2, where all the other girls feel dynamic and snappy, Neera feels a little incomplete.

The result is a game that feels invested and supportive of player inertia, enabling you to zoom around and have fun in its environments. It’s a triumph, and not just for that. There are a lot of reasons this game owns bones beyond this: the soundtrack is full of bops, the spritework is beautiful, it’s got a million cool boss battles, the story gets really serious about colonialism, and also there’s lesbians, too. There’s a reason it’s a GOTY contender. Treasure-tier shit. I’m not even a furry. I just think it rules.

Anyway, please consider playing Freedom Planet 2. It’s very fun and I liked it.

because of all the praise it gets, i tried to stick with this game for as much as i could, but i guess it's not for me. Even though i generally like metroidvanias, i did not enjoy this game exploration: i think the map is too big, and the worse thing, the rewards for exploring are just not interesting. The combat is not challenging enough for you to crave the next "expand your health" upgrade or the amulets that give you a boost on combat. Most of the times that i have back-tracked to a spot i can finally reach!! with my new time power!!! have just not been worth it.

It's great to see Princess Peach finally get the spotlight after roughly 20 years since the last game, with a different and unique approach. The game follows her in an adventure in which she assumes different theatrical roles in order to save the actors of each stage from the enemies, who have taken control over the entirety of the theatre and now it's up to Peach to come to the rescue (this time). Each play has different abilities and proposals to its adventures, creating a lot of variety in playstyle and the overall experience, you'll always get surprised by what the game has to offer. Many costumes are presented: ninja, cowboy, kung fu, baker, superhero, mermaid, and many others, with peach looking even more stunning one after another in my opinion. The game also allows you to custom the base outfit of peach by purchasing new dresses at the store using coins, making you feel like you're playing dress-up and having fun in general!.

The game, however, is fairly easy, it's clearly made for a younger demographic, but i don't think it makes it bad or anything. Having a game that is more relaxing and less based on skill level makes it a relief to play after a stressful day or after playing complex deep RPG. But of course, because of the lack of difficulty, the game is fairly quick to beat, with the main story lasting around 7-8 hours, which is concerning due to the $60 priceline. For more extended playtime, it's highly recommended to 100% the game, which can be a very fun trip, considering that getting all collectibles also isn't very hard, so it should feel like a breezy fulfilling experience.

Overall it's a cute pleasant experience, that you should give a try.

When I heard that the Sonic Mania team were making an original 3D platformer of their own it was an instant day one purchase for me no matter what. Despite obvious Mario Odyssey / Galaxy inspiration, this is really going to be unlike any platformer you've played before. At first the movement feels strange and it's a lot to learn and get used to, and this will cause some people to fall off it and give up on it much like with 3D Sonics, but if you are willing to put in the time it eventually becomes second nature to rack up massive stylish combos in these stages. Using the right stick for the yoyo makes everything feel so much better. Skill ceiling is crazy high here and there's so many ways to use momentum to your advantage to save so much time. Visual style is remincent of the later SEGA consoles and Tee Lopes has outdone himself with the soundtrack.

I'm not going to pretend the game doesn't have its fair share of jank, but it was honestly such a refreshing joy to play and I have already replayed its levels a bunch and can see myself continuing to do that. I remember Mania having problems at launch too so I think it will become more polished over time. If you like deceptively complex platformers that have lots of player expression, or liked Odyssey movement but want challenging level designs that actually make use of all those tricks, I think it's going to be a game for you. I'm not so bitter about the fact Mania 2 will never exist anymore...

[played on Nintendo Switch]

If you've known me for a while, then you'll know that I absolutely love Sonic Mania! It's a masterclass in 2D platforming, spearheaded by Christian Whitehead and his insanely talented team. When I learned that the crew had split off from Sega and started working on a fully original project, I was naturally intrigued. Eventually, that project was revealed to be this very game, Penny's Big Breakaway.

I was definitely excited for it, but still had some reservations: could the team live up to what they accomplished with Sonic Mania? How would their take on a 3D platformer turn out?

But despite my minor worries, the game was absolutely fantastic, and I’d love to gush about all the reasons why!


Like usual, I’ll start off with the controls and movement, which are probably my favourite things about the game! Penny’s moveset is fairly small, but the way each move seamlessly flows into one another makes for some insanely fun traversal once you master the basics and start to chain actions together. This is one of those games where just moving around is fun by itself, and honestly, I don’t think I’ve played a 3D platformer with movement this smooth and satisfying since Mario Odyssey!

The game’s also got a lot of very thoughtful design choices! A good example would be how the camera’s completely automatic, meaning you can just focus on the platforming and not have to worry about constantly fiddling with it to get the right angle. I also love how the approach to enemies is handled; outside of the few boss fights, your only foes are Emperor Eddie’s penguin army, who’ll frequently pop up to swarm you in rather large numbers. If five are able to grab hold of Penny, you’ll be kicked back to your most recent checkpoint. It’s basically a genius inversion of the ring system from Sonic, and a really clever way at handling enemies in a more linear 3D game! They’re still dangerous and need to be avoided, but you’re never slowed down to fight them in combat arenas.

Unsurprisingly, the level design was top-notch! Each stage is fun no matter whether you’re taking it slow and hunting for secrets, or blitzing through with your yo-yo abilities. They also do a great job at keeping things varied, with super creative gimmicks that I’ve never seen done in any other platformer! Additionally, I really liked how each stage had three mini missions for you to complete in a specific area, it complimented the typical hidden items nicely and really helped to spice up various segments.

The presentation was also lovely! All the character designs are simple but very charming and nicely detailed, which also goes for the environments. In general, the visual aesthetic almost feels like something from the Mega Drive or Saturn era, which makes sense considering what these developers previously worked on.
Tee Lopes also returned to compose the soundtrack (helped by Christian Whitehead and Sean Bialo), which is great as usual! It’s definitely got a different vibe compared to his previous work, but it’s all excellent regardless. My personal favourite song of the OST might be Refracting Feelings, the theme of the second world.


This is the part where I’d give a few criticisms, but there really isn’t much to criticize here! The most I have are nitpicks, mainly in regards to an occasional lack of polish and some absent QoL features (in particular, it’s not always easy to see where you’re going to land and it’s annoying how you can’t see the name of a level without going into it). But aside from that, I’ve got nothing!

So yeah, as you can see, I absolutely adored Penny’s Big Breakaway! It’s brimming with creativity and originality, and really shows what this team’s capable of, even more so than Sonic Mania! If Evening Star continues to make games of a similar quality, I have no doubts that they’ll become one of the greatest development studios in the industry!

And while it’s still too early to say for certain, I’ve got a feeling this is going to be my Game of the Year!

Definitely a weird one to rate for me, as I think the presentation is absolute smash-it-out-of-the-park home run god tier shit, and I could argue that the game is great for that alone… but man, it just flops so hard in some other key areas! Super frustrating, because it really does have GOAT DNA.

The biggest issue here is that the enemy HP is out of whack. It’s fucked. Popcorn ships and destructible enemy fire take a fraction of a second too long to die, creating this weird, repetitive, thudding, subconscious dissatisfaction that builds as you play through a level. Bosses take WAY too long to bring down, especially if you die to one and lose your blade shot (which, uh, you will!)—I swear to god, some of them take between five to ten fucking minutes. Even if they don’t actually, that’s what it feels like—WAY TOO LONG.

Adding to the air of exhaustion is the fact that the game has ten stages. Ten stages of blistering breakneck shooting-em-up! Maybe this is getting more into personal preference than actual criticism, but that feels like one or two too many. When a game does not slow down even for a second, and when it makes you memorize all kinds of crazy bullshit as shmups are wont to do, ten stages feels like an eternity. As much as I love how much content they have and ideas they bring to the table, I’d prefer a more thoroughly edited, tighter experience.

I can’t complain too much though, because more stages in TFIV means more kick-ass crunchy tunes, and more mind-expanding parallax backdrops. Seriously: people call this one of the best-looking and -sounding games on the console, and that is not an exaggeration. The first level’s giant mountain ascending from the ocean into glowing clouds is maybe the most beautiful 16-bit background ever designed.

TFIV is just excessive in almost every way, to both good and ill effect: its stages span two or more vertical screen lengths, creating equal-parts thrilling sense of space and discovery and annoying sense of emptiness and FOMO. Its music drips heavy metal overindulgence. The number of bosses it throws at you could give Alien Soldier a run for its money.

If only this excess had been reigned in just a bit, especially where enemy health is concerned, the game might be perfect.

This is my FOURTH time reviewing this holy SHIT

Anyway I discovered that TF3's staff (except for the music team) left and they had all-new staff from their Devil's Crash port come in to work on this. It is factually correct to say this is a shmup designed by people who literally don't make shmups.

It's so weird cause like, you got all the mechanics and weapons that make shmups cool. The setpieces, art and style are there. All of its elements come together to create a great sense of speed and universal conflict. But the shmup design is just blatantly not there, and it feels way more like an adventure game than anything. The game is challenging you less on dodging bullets, and more on managing your weapons and memorizing every little scripted event the stage throws at you. It's not an overtly routing-focused game like R-Type, and yet you do way more of it here than any shmup I can think of. It doesn't feel natural within the confines of the genre, but it also has a very visceral, addicting appeal.

It's also a victim of not really having a 'best' version. This game's pushing the genesis to the fucking limit as far as sprite speeds and parallax go, and it causes the game to slow down a lot whenever you have your powered up weapons active. The Saturn and AGES port let you toggle the slowdown off, but there's a lot of enemies that were clearly not designed around it. Biggest offender is the desert boss, whose attacks basically have no telegraph when slowdown's removed.

TF4 is this insane amalgamation of what someone outside the shmup playerbase THINKS a shmup should be. It's this twisted portal of so many clashing visions. It reminds me a lot of Sonic Adventure 2, in the way it has abrasive difficulty and a lot of rough design choices, but also has a totally unique rhythm underneath that kinda clicks when you 'get it' and keeps you hooked. It's not 'good' when you look for anything that traditionally defines the strengths of STGs, and yet it has so much passion put into everything else it does, you can't help but be drawn to it. That, or the music is making me feel biased.