TheBeautifulEric
2021
I honestly don't remember the first game very well, so I can't directly compare the sequel to the first game too much. I'm pretty sure the first game felt more like a Metroid game with the main weapon being a projectile, while the second game has more of a focus on melee combat. In Axiom Verge 2, I liked the story and the fast travel system. I wish the map (the menu, not the level design) was better. There's only one color for manual map marking and the zoom levels aren't great. I think having more save points would have been made it more convenient to get around. I kind of wish items were marked on the map automatically like in Metroid, but this game makes the player mark all items by themselves manually. If you happen to walk by an item and not notice it initially, it's a pain in the butt when you're trying to backtrack to get all of the items. All in all, this was a fun game.
I was expecting a game inspired by Gameboy Zelda, but this is definitely not that. It's actually a puzzle game that shares a similar aesthetic. I was a bit disappointed, but still had a ton of fun. My main critiques are that (1) screen transitions are awkward. The character seems to shift between screen instead of feeling like they are going along the same path you entered from. (2) Hit and hurt boxes feel wonky. They seem to be based on tiles rather than sprites, so I found myself taking damage from attacks and stage hazards when I did not expect to. (3) The game is very short. There's about 12 levels total, but for the $5 I paid for it I still enjoyed my time. One other thing I should note is that I ended up beating this game 2.5 times because it seems like one of the achievements is bugged or it has a misleading description.
This is a really solid game inspired by 2D Zelda. Well worth the $4 I paid for it when it was on sale. Really love the framework of the narrator telling a bedtime story to their grandchildren. Also love the convenience of teleporting.
Played a game called Mrs.Cat Between Worlds on Switch. It seems to be a compilation of two games: Mrs.Cat in Mars and Mrs.Cat in Neptune. Each game has 51 single screen levels. I ended up being pretty disappointed with both because they both feel like mobile games (derogatory) and controlling the cat never felt quite right. Mars is mechanically bare and it is more about memorizing where hazards are (most of them become invisible shortly after the level starts). Neptune adds wall jumping and dashing, so it's a bit more interesting for me, but there's too much visual noise. The effects they added makes the visuals harder to read. I beat both within a hour, so I'm glad I only paid about $2.
2021
I'll be talking about the Switch version of the game. I'm a big fan of the series. I've played every Shantae game that has been released so far along with their DLCs, so I was pretty excited to play the first game in the series. I ended up disappointed. World is too big, screen is too small, there's insta-deaths everywhere, and sometimes the NPCs will straight up lie to you about how to progress. This game is absolutely incredible on a technical level that it runs on the gameboy color, but I just didn't find it very fun to play. This is my least favorite game in the series.
Overall, I found this game to be a bit better than the first game. I really like the narrative of the grandpa telling his grandchildren stories. It's a good way to make a ton of adventures that have independent stories. As for the gameplay, this game takes even more things from more Zelda games: rolling, item crafting, bottle hunting, and sword skills. The trading and the side quests does a better job at encouraging players to explore and engage in things outside of combat. Both of these games scratch the itch for a 2D Zelda game. I do wish this game let you set manual map markers. There's a ton of things to keep track of in the overworld, but there's no way to track them all. Also, I wish there was more of a use for currency. Money becomes literally useless after awhile.
2018
I played the original Guacamelee, but I honestly don’t remember much about it. Guacamelee 2 is a fun metroidvania. They give you powerups pretty frequently so you get a serotonin boost from that. I like the map design, I like the powers, the combo system is fun to play with, and I’ll always love world switching in games. There are moments where the game is genuinely touching. I’m not super big on the humor, it relies heavily on referencing other media, but it didn’t bother me too much. Fun time.
2020
This review contains spoilers
Fun game, I hope it gets a sequel. It's a mix of picross (nonograms) and the investigation sections of Ace Attorney. I didn't like the writing and the pacing really slow.<spoiler>Also accusing everyone and being wrong almost every time didn't really carry the weight I felt that it should. I also found it weird that new evidence would appear despite the area not changing at all since the last time I would check for evidence.</spoiler>I wasn't a big fan of the characters for the most part, but I had a strange sense of attachment when everything was over, the same kind of feeling of comfort when you see the credits roll in Ace Attorney and you see what the cast has been up to after the game ends. It was frustrating seeing how incompetent everyone was though. At a certain point, I felt picross fatigue where the puzzles went from being a highlight of my experience to an absolute slog. I hit a point where I wanted the game to be over and to just continue with the story, but I would be hit with non-stop puzzles. I'm also upset because I got a S rank in all cases except the 3rd one because there are missable puzzles. That being said, I did really appreciate the difficulty options and the hint system they added.
2017
Very fun game, but mentally taxing. It's very open and the atmosphere is the very best in any game I've ever played. That being said, I felt a sense of isolation, melancholy, and claustrophobia throughout my experience. I found myself doing some evil things in the game and I enjoyed my experience, but I'm also glad to be walking away at the same time. I ended up getting 104% instead of 112%.
This review contains spoilers
The other game in my top two Fire Emblems. This game is a huge mess, but I still love it. I like the continuation of the story from Path of Radiance, the skill system is more freeform when compared to Path of Radiance, the Bonus EXP system is more exploitable, the support system is freeform, and the introduction of ledges in the maps is a neat way to balance the classes. I don't like how unbalanced the difficulty is. Playing through this blind is a nightmare because there's a ton of hidden items and it's hard to plan ahead when you don't know who is going to be available in your party or if you're going to need to prepare for a deficit in funds or EXP. Another thing I don't like is how hard it is to see all of the game's content. You have to have owned PoR and carried over your save data on top of fulfilling the super specific conditions to see some scenes. I wouldn't be surprised if 95% of players don't end up seeing all of the background lore. This most recent playthrough was interesting. It was the first time Nephenee wasn't the MVP of the playthrough and it also made me realize that I really don't enjoy playing on hard mode. I should probably stick to normal for all of my games moving forward.
Fun game. It was nice to see something new from the Celeste IP. Really tight controls. I'm stopping at 26/30 strawberries because I have no idea where to find the rest. Wish they gave a hint system as an option. I also struggled a bit with depth perception, but a good time for a free game.
2022
Really solid puzzle game to play with a friend. Some of the puzzles were frustrating, but I had a good time with this one and I'm interested in checking out other escape room games.
More fun than I thought it'd be, but it doesn't really explain itself well. There's a lot of loading and I think it'd be nice if there a few more QoL improvements like better explanations, the ability to access the shop and use items whenever, being able to cancel a race if you entered on accident, and more on-screen elements to convey info during a race. It definitely feels like a 3DS game ported to the Switch with its UI too. I don't regret spending money on it, but I felt like I saw the bulk of what the game has to offer within 10 minutes.
They made this game a pain in the butt to 100%. Still looking forward to a new Yoshi game eventually though.
2023
Fun game. Pretty much a roller coaster of quality though. The characters and mechanics kind of grew on me, but the low movement is rough. Map design was consistently pretty great in my opinion.