An interesting cross between a soulslike and a lighthearted 3D platformer. It’s clear where its influences lie and I kinda feel it rides the line between being inspired and just copying stuff (“The Sands Between” is not very subtle for instance), but for the most part it stands out as its own thing and enjoyable

It draws from many of FromSoft’s titles obviously (specifically Sekiro with the addition of parries and a stance meter which works well enough here), but the use of shells that give different stats and special abilities added a good amount of variety to combat despite being limited to just your fork. Can also make it into a hammer weapon by attaching shells to it which was cool

Aesthetically SpongeBob comes to mind along with Battle for Bikini Bottom in how it plays as a platformer, but that’s an easy comparison to make really (even has a Mr. Krabs costume you can wear). I thought Kril was a bit obnoxious past the whole playing as a crab novelty, but the sea world and dialogue were charming enough. It’s a surprisingly sizable game too, took about 20 hours to finish

What holds it back though is mainly a general lack of polish. Mechanically it doesn’t really match the refinement of its contemporaries, combat and platforming has an ever present feeling of jank to it that just gets more noticeable the longer you play. Numerous times I’ve gotten stuck on terrain, dodges or parries can be inconsistent to register, the camera tends to bug out especially when you’re often in enclosed areas, for some reason using the hammer would launch Kril into the air sometimes, occasionally the audio would cut out entirely unless I restarted the game, etc. I’ve heard performance is rough on console platforms also, but was mostly alright on Steam Deck for me so can’t really verify that. These are all things that can be improved with patches at least, so hopefully it gets more work there over time

A huge leap forward for the franchise. An amazing sequel with solid storytelling, world building, and mechanics.

I have to say this has been my favorite of the originals so far. Being my 8th FF game to play (only 5th finished though) I enjoyed this one from beginning to end. It truly feels like they pulled everything that worked from the prior games and utilized the better tech available to create a near perfect game.

The story is not dissimilar from the prior 3, and is nothing to write home about, but the storytelling and worldbuilding are the best yet. It's the same old fated heroes tasked with saving the world from evil, and it involves crystals. This one changes things up a bit though where you start out as a dark knight, on the wrong side of things and makes the decision to leave that path behind. All of the characters feel truly unique with pretty decent dialogue. This one also offers a lot more storytelling through cutscenes (including battle sequences) that truly add to the depth of the game. The story is fairly linear, with an open world, but there are some side quests you can miss out on if you're not paying attention. The end game was a challenge, but was pretty rewarding in my opinion.

Gone are swappable classes (or jobs), and magic is no purchased this time around. You learn new magic at certain levels based on the characters predefined class. Though characters swap out in your party throughout the game, it did not feel like a burden. You had a pretty consistent core of characters with one or two that change periodically. There weren't a whole lot of puzzles, and the dungeons were fairly straightforward, with secret paths throughout.

Combat felt really good and varied. You had to use your characters abilities and specialties more, and it didn't feel forced. Mini-bosses and bosses felt like a proper challenge, and progression made feel like you had to grind too much to continue on in the story.

Exploring the world was pretty straightforward as well but you get an airship much sooner. There were a number of dungeons littered throughout the world, and a couple other zones related to the story (no spoilers).

The game felt cohesive, challenging, interesting, and fun. All of the game systems, story, and world made for a remarkable experience.

I played this entirely on Steam Deck and it ran flawlessly. 60hz/60fps and didn't break a sweat (not surprising, but still nice). I had 0 crashes or frame dips. The deck is tailored for this kind of experience. It took me just over 22 hours to complete.

Overall, this is one of my favorite Final Fantasy games. It had awesome storytelling, the progression and combat felt solid, and it was just a fun experience. Highly recommend for any RPG/JRPG fan.

A hilarious little game that harkens back to the 90's era of non-Square Enix RPG's with buckets of charm and that classic Nintendo spark. However, it lacks the focus of a game that you can get your teeth into after around 10-15 hours.

I started this game and absolutely loved it from the get-go. The style and level of polish is immediately apparent and it's sense of child-like humour is utterly charming and really makes the player smile.

The issues arrive a few hours in though. It's actual direction is lacking and the tutorial segments crop up far too often and are easily forgettable. If you take a few days off the game, you will likely forget what you were doing, where you were going and what the hell is going on. You can chalk this up to player error but to me, it needs a little something to help focus the story.

There's a brilliant amount of side content here which was surprising. It's more than just 'babys first RPG' which many of you will be glad to hear. It also has an absolutely stellar sound track which should really surprise no-one.

Despite the many many good points to the game, I am sad to announce that I couldn't quite see it through to the end. I took too long of a break from it and the desire to continue wasn't there.

This hasn't put me off the series though, far from it. From what I hear, the series actually improves hugely with it's next couple of entries so I will absolutely be checking them out soon!

I've never been much of an FPS guy, and I've had no interaction with Xbox consoles. I always had either a Nintendo system or a PlayStation console.
And the reason why that is simply because I never was too interested in what Xbox had to offer. Just wasn't for me.
But in the last few years, I've begun to have an interest over playing the Halo series, especifically the Halo: The Master Chief Collection, to get an idea of what the games are like.

While my PC can barely run these games, I was able to get the collection on Steam, and I was able to play through the 1st game, using the old graphics. I should note that this review is only based around the Single-Player Campaign, as at the time of writing this review, I have not experienced the Multiplayer.

Halo: Combat Evolved revolves around Master Chief and Cortana's mission to stop the Convenant (an alien species) from causing havoc and investigating what this Halo is.
While the story isn't complex, it does have some twists here and there, which I won't spoil here. One thing that I did like was the dynamic between Chief and Cortana. While they don't always interact, the moments they do were nice to watch, and I hope to see more of their conversations in future titles.

For the presentation, I did play with the older graphics, but I was surprised that, for a 2001 game, this game doesn't look half-bad. Sometimes, it even looks pretty beautiful! Of course, there are definitely low-res. textures and models that haven't aged gracefully, but I think the game looks decent overall.

For the music, of course everyone knows of the main theme of the series. So much so, many guys have sung it in a school bathroom! But I was also surprised that the rest of the soundtrack holds up pretty well.
There's a part of it that is pretty atmospheric, but there's another that can be really catchy. It strikes a nice balance between being atmospheric, tense, blood-pumping, and epic!
Like, the moments where you hear the main theme got me hyped, not gonna lie.

Now, the biggest part of the game, the gameplay! It's a first-person shooter, and one of the most influential out there, alongside its older sibling, Doom. Since I was on PC, I decided to play it with mouse and keyboard, which felt pretty comfortable. I assume using a controller would also feel nice, but I am not the greatest at using a right analogue stick to aim.
This might be because I am noob when it comes to FPS's, but I was surprised that this game does not have a run button. And sometimes, I did really want to run in the game's missions.
Oh well, if this is the case for now, then I'll get used to it.

Besides that, you can crouch, switch weapons, use a flashlight, and jump. You know, the usual stuff.
I'm glad to say that Master Chief controls great!
The game also has some vehicles for you to control, and they were fine. The Warthog was a bit slippery at first, but I got used to it.

As for the level design... it's alright, but it definitely gets repetitive the further you go.
It's not all bad, because I did like revisting some locations later on in the game, but Mission 7 was one of the worst when it comes to that. It kept on going and going, and did not change its level design much, which annoyed me.
Other times, I feel like the game's world was a bit too big, and going on foot was simply too slow. Thankfully, most of the time they give you a vehicle, but the world could've been a bit more "used", if you catch my drift.
Thankfully, I don't think this is a game where you'll get lost much. It's pretty linear and objectives are easy to figure out.
Rule of thumb would be: If it feels like you are backtracking, but you're seeing new enemies spawning, then you're going the right way.

Overall, I came away from this game pleasantly surprised! While the game's level design could've been better, I had fun playing through Halo: Combat Evolved's campaign!

If you are on the hunt for a wholesome, chilled and rewarding little adventure, you are right here.

You will embody the little flappy bird Claire on her journey up to Hawk Peak to grab some cellphone reception to receive an important phone call. Along your way you socialize, engage with the islanders and get sugarcoated by a delightful soundtrack.

The game feels just so well paced, as you decide, what activities you want to engage with, which path you choose and where to stop and simply enjoy the view. A Short Hike contains what the title promises on its cover: Animal Crossing-Cozyness with some dope-ass flying system, you improve with every step taken.

This game proves, it does not always have to be a mind-bending, epic meta-story. Sometimes a simplistic yet straight-forward adventure is enough, to put a smile on your face after a rainy day.