My only gripes with this game are the fact sometimes it's took dark to see anything (that could very well be a problem with my TV though) and the boss lineup aside from Ridley and the final boss. I would say the backtracking is also a negative but part of what makes metroidvanias so special is going back to previous areas and discovering new things with the new abilities you've acquired and this game was full of that. Other than those possible shortcomings, this is one of the best Metroid games.

A mixture of the platforming and traversal system of Sunset Overdrive, the hack and slash combat system of Devil May Cry, and the visual aesthetic and soundtrack of Jet Set Radio, Hi-Fi Rush pretty much dropped out of nowhere like a surprised album dropped. The vibe itself just gives me an early 2000's Xbox game, reliving my childhood of playing games like JSRF. And I mean that in the best way possible. A vibe I never had the experience on getting since 2003. So glad that this game finally cured that itch almost 20 years later. An absolute blast to play and I cannot wait to revisit this game again in the future.

It still makes me sad just how many kino ingredients there are in the finale of this game (and the og by extension) and it still manages to fumble it so hard thank god the later games stick the landing way better for the most part

Anyways, having actually played the og Yakuza 2 before this replay I can pretty definitively say that I prefer this remake, the removed content sucks but at the end of the day I like K2's more streamlined structure way more than Y2's cryptic bullshit and at least the new content is mostly pretty dope

So, originally, I wasn’t planning on covering this game at all. I didn’t even know too much about it, until I decided that I wanted to try out Alien Syndrome, because why not. I was gonna play the version featured on the Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection, but in order to unlock the ability to play it, I had to play through this game’s first couple of stages without dying once, and I went ahead and set out to do that. Ultimately, I did this challenge, and I unlocked Alien Syndrome to play, but then I realized something: I was having a good amount of fun with this game, even when I was only a couple stages in, so I said to myself “You know what, fuck Alien Syndrome”, and decided to play through Alien Storm instead.

Now, in theory, I should hate this game instead of loving it, because in a lot of ways, it is VERY similar to Golden Axe, a game that I didn’t really like too much. It features a lot of the same gameplay aspects, a lot of the same direction when it comes to how the sprites look, and even some of the same modes of that game. But, what ultimately pulled me in where Golden Axe didn’t was that this game is ACTUALLY GOOD. In fact, it is REALLY GOOD, and I had a great time discovering and experiencing it. It isn’t too unique compared to other games out there, but regardless, the gameplay and theme of the game pulled me in.

The story is incredibly generic, about aliens invading and you having to kill them, but then again, the story really doesn’t matter, the graphics are on the same level as Golden Axe, except they are better here with the color choices and designs of the enemies, the music was pretty good, although I can barely remember any of it, the control is a little weird to get used to, especially with some of the moves you can pull off, but it isn’t too bad to handle, and the gameplay achieves the great beat-’em-up that Golden Axe WISHES it could pull off.

The game is your typical side-scrolling beat-’em-up, where you take control of one of three characters, go through various stages, defeating an endless horde of alien menaces, using super attacks that you fuel with various energy capsules throughout the game, and you take on bosses and other threats along the way. Yeah, it is all what you would expect, and it is almost identical to Golden Axe in the presentation and how you play, but this game ends up being much more fun than Golden Axe for several reasons.

First off, the combat in the game, rather then being slow and clunky and weird, is actually pretty fast, energetic, and intense, which makes the game so much more enjoyable as a result. Sure, it does have some beat-’em-up hiccups, like getting hit by enemies when you feel like you shouldn’t but this game fixes that by giving you a dodge-roll button, which helped me out of a lot of tight situations that I wouldn’t have been able to get out of without. Not to mention, I prefer a sci-fi theme over a medieval one, and there are plenty of options for difficulty and for the energy bar, so of course I would enjoy this game more overall.

In addition to this, there are also several gameplay changes that mix things up and keeps the entertainment value going. The first of these are shooting gallery sections, where you shoot up a bunch of aliens from a POV angle, and you gather a bunch more energy capsules and health. Again, not too new of a concept, but the fast action, reaction times, and reward for these sections are what make them much more memorable and enjoyable. Secondly, there are also fast running segments, where you will be shooting aliens while running from left to right in a shooter fashion, and it follows the same trend as the other segments: not too original, but very satisfying and exciting to take on.

Now, of course, there are things that are holding the game back from me considering it perfect, even if these complaints are pretty minor.. First off, while I do like the sci-fi theme more for this game, and the designs of the aliens are pretty great, they don’t really go anywhere after a while, and they can become stale. Again, they aren’t bad, but I just wish more was done to really make the designs that much more memorable. Secondly, there are barely any bosses in the game at all. There are only three, with one of them being repeated, and they are spread out too far over the eight stages you run through, which does kind of suck, but at least the bosses themselves aren’t really the worst ones I have seen in a beat-’em-up.

The other complaints I would have about the game are even more minor compared to the other ones, such as the game getting a little repetitive at points, such as with the last stage, and the fact that they brought back The Dual mode for the game, which functions pretty much exactly like in Golden Axe, and still gives you no reward, so you wonder why they put it in in the first place. Having said that though, I still thought that the game was a hell of a lot of fun, and a blast to play through. It may not be as remembered and beloved as Sega’s other beat-’em-ups, but it definitely deserves to be right up there with them.

Overall, despite being basically Golden Axe but with aliens, the game manages to takes a lot of what that game tries to do, and makes them more more fun, fast, and accessible, while also providing new spins that keeps things interesting throughout. I would definitely recommend it for those who don’t really know about it, and especially for those who didn’t like Golden Axe. It will feel like a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Game #225

I'm torn. This has some of the moment to moment funnest gameplay in the series. It also has flatout the worst story. It also has a million setpieces of mixed quality.

You can tell Kaimya & Co. took a lot of stuff from Scalebound to use here and I think that stuff works great! The various Demon Slaves are really fun (with a few exceptions), and the Masquerade system also opens a lot of neat opportunities.

Viola the newcomer is fun but very limited. Her skill tree can be maxed really quickly & the game's insistence on giving every weapon a traversal option with a universal input of R x2 or Fwd+R while putting her main mechanic of parrying on the same button is madness. Her variation on the Demon Slave system felt worse overall as well.

The many setpieces are mixed - the first arc in Japan with like 5 goddamn chase setpieces was awful but later ones like the Queen Butterfly or the Paris shmup sequence were great. I just wish there were maybe....15% less of em.

The multiple AU Bayonettas all have pretty cool looks (that you can unlock ofc). I will say the Chinese Warlord costume was the worst. Far too busy.

The Jeanne chapters were... a thing. I didn't hate them. I didn't like them. I still don't understand, like, a lot of the gimmicks.

I won't get into specifics of the story but my main complaints could be summarized as "one of the most nothing villains possibly ever" and "the mechanics the entire story are based on have almost zero explanation". I also have qualms with it wanting me to be emotionally invested in certain things I had no reason to be.

In conclusion I'm glad we're now 3 for 3 on Bayonetta games being super fun but wildly inconsistent in terms of weird things that hurt the experience.