I love games that are super easy to make fun of but are also genuinely really good.


Peter, which is better? Mario Wonder or Sonic Superstars?

Doesn’t matter Uncle Ben, Pizza Tower is better than both of them!

It’s… rough right now. At its core, it is a great game. I appreciate the effort to make KSP more accessible to newcomers with all the tutorials and more user-friendly U.I.. It should help offset a lot of intimidation that might have existed in the first game. However, that accessibility is squandered by the fact you need very high end equipment to run the game consistently. On top of that, the game still being in early access means that at this current moment, it’s hard to recommend over its predecessor, which not only is less expensive, but also runs better and has a wide variety of mods to spice the game up. Despite all its faults, at the end of the day, it is still Kerbal Space Program, which is incredibly fun and rewarding to play. Even better is the fact that the graphics and sound design in this game are sublime, offering a refreshing shakeup that even mods of the first game can’t quite achieve. At its current moment, I suggest sticking with the first game, as KSP 2 currently doesn’t offer much that its predecessor doesn’t have (in fact KSP 1 has more things in a few areas such as robotics). But later down the line, I think this game will be able to emerge from the shadow it’s stuck in and forge its own path to success.

This feels like it was intended to be a DLC for Spider-Man but was instead made into a full game so Sony had something to show off at the PS5’s launch. It’s still really fun, in fact I think it has better gameplay than the first game, but the story is a lot weaker than the base game’s, following very similar story beats but lacking the same kind of strong emotional moments and interesting villains. It’s really the gameplay that strengthens it for me, though I still don’t think it’s worth $50. I’d say $40 at most.

Hmmm… man I don’t know…
To be honest, I was kinda looking forward to trying this game out. A lot of my friends really love it. And it does have a lot of strengths. Running around and combat can be really fun, as well as how much it feels like the writers really tried to course correct the characters after years of screw-ups. There is stuff to like here, and I don’t fault anyone who really likes this game at all. However, for me, I have quite a few problems that really hold the game back for me. First, and probably the most notorious, the worlds. These words feel incredibly out of place, they are very sterile and dull, they’re visually inconsistent with all the weird tech-y stuff and rails floating in mid-air everywhere, and the plains just feel like a chore to move through. As much as I enjoy running around as Sonic, in my opinion, running around such boring environments really takes me out of the experience. Not to mention the INSANE levels of Pop-in present, which really do have an impact on knowing how to traverse. It’s rough. I know the joke has been made a million times, but it does look and feel like Mario in Unreal but with Sonic. SEGA does what Nintendon’t I guess, they hired that man.

My next issue is the cyberspace. On their own, they’re whatever. They’re fine, they’re harmless, they’re cute. My problem is that to me, they reek of asset reuse, and they feel very shoehorned in and they feel padded out by having them split up into different levels. It just doesn’t feel natural at all. Not to mention yet another use of Green Hill.

Finally, and perhaps my biggest issue, this game just feels rough, and like it lacks a real identity. It feels like a tech demo. Everything feels held together with strings and glue, and so much about this game feels unpolished. From the pop-in to many of the bossfights, from the bland worlds to all the jank I experienced. This game feels unfinished, and moreover it feels like it has an identity crisis. I agree with the sentiment that it’s a good foundation for the next Sonic game, but that’s all this game really feels like. A foundation. A giant testing ground sold as a full game. And at $60, I do not believe it is worth the money. Here’s hoping the devs take what worked and use it for the next game, but with a more focused vision, as well as more time to iron everything out.

I want to love this mode. The actual gameplay is very fun and addicting. It has a very satisfying drift and boost sysem, with thrilling feelings of high speed that you don’t get from something like Mario Kart, even on 200cc. With all that said, however, I have 3 MAJOR problems with this game. One: most of the tracks are boring. Almost all of them use the same desert Mesa/mountain style and it gets old very fast. Of all colors, why dull brown? It’s uninteresting, and a massive disappointment especially considering how bright and colorful Fortnite is. Problem Two: the game is an absolute sweat fest. The fact you can only play ranked means you always have to be on edge if you even want a chance at doing well in a race. Plus, at least in my case, I end up getting disconnected way more than in the other modes. I already play enough Halo Infinite, I don’t need extra sweatiness in my gaming routine. Problem Three: the cosmetic prices are disgusting. Who the heck is gonna pay $40 for a bundle you can only use in like 2 modes? These prices have to me some of the worst MTX I’ve seen in a major AAA release since Halo charged $8 for the color blue. It’s absolutely absurd.

Overall, despite this being the most potentially exciting mode of the 3 new modes, it is also the mode I have the most issues with, and it just really disappoints me because I feel this mode could be truly spectacular with a few changes. Fingers crossed that this mode gets some improvements down the line.

Good game that should not have been $60. For what it is, it’s a fun time with some solid feeling controls and fun levels to explore. And though some of the boss fights can be rough, specially the final boss, I don’t think it detracts from the overall experience too much. I must say though, I found the Chaos Emerald abilities to be pretty useless, especially as Tails. Again though, the game itself is very fun, but it is not worth $60 if you ask me. I’d recommend it but only if it goes on a good sale.

This is genuinely the first time I’ve been excited for Halo Infinite in a long time. Not only are we getting new cosmetics and modes, but we’re also getting even more new maps, a new playlist soon, and PVE! I am so happy with that last one in particular, as I believe Infinite has the strongest gameplay in the entire series, so I really can’t wait to put some lead in the heads of the Banished!

Of course, this season isn’t perfect. Having CE Mark V locked behind a paywall is pretty lame if you ask me, and shop prices have raised once again annoyingly. But otherwise, consider me impressed. I’m genuinely excited to play Halo again!

While still a good wave, I don’t think it’s quite as good as the last one. First of all, I do quite like the new playable characters added this wave! I’m so happy Kamek finally gets a chance to shine in a mainline Mario Kart game, and having Petey Piranha reunite with King Boo brings a tear to my eye. However, if I were to nitpick, to my eyes, the character models look just a tad bit lower fidelity than the characters for the base game, specifically with Kamek and Wiggler. It’s not incredibly jarring, but my ADHD will never let me not notice the slightly more apparent polygon edges on their character models. Regardless, Wave 5 still has some good tracks included. Squeaky Clean Sprint was a surprise hit for me. It’s very creative and full of charm. Other classics like Daisy Cruiser and Moonview Highway are done well here thankfully. However, starting with Koopa Cape, this is where I have some issues. Fist off, with Koopa Cape, ignoring the changes made first in 7, I think the camera can be pretty awful sometimes, specially with the pipe section and the half-pipes. It’s still a fun track, but it’s not perfect Imo. Besides, it looks a bit play-dough-y visually. Speaking of play-dough visuals, Athens Dash has some really rough visuals. The background trees and buildings look straight out of something like Mario 64 if I’m being honest, and really stick out to me in a bad way. And on Athens Dash, there is one turn in particular which is really bad and almost impossible to see coming on your first playthrough. Not a bad track but I think it isn’t a great one either. And of course, we can’t ignore the tragedy of Sunset Wilds, de-emphasis on “Sunset”. Like, why bring back this track if you’re going to end up gutting it of what made it special in the first place? At least with something like Sky Garden, it could just be chalked up to a difference in interpretation. With this, it’s straight up removing a gimmick that helped the track stand out. Fingers crossed this gets updated in the future. Finally, there’s LA Laps and Vancouver velocity. While I think the latter is very good, the former is a bit on the eh side in my opinion, especially with that one section where you drive through the oil field. On the whole, I still think it’s a solid wave, but it’s really brought down by the stinkers imo.

Also, I just wanted to rant really quickly. With the announcement of Daisy Circuit for Wave 6, it really helped me realize how oversaturated Wii has been in this DLC. Yes, I do agree that Wii has a strong selection of courses, but there are plenty of standouts from other games that could use some love. Luigi’s Mansion, Airship Fortress, Wario Coliseum, these are all tracks that would’ve been awesome to see. But no, another circuit track from a game with an already high number of tracks included. I just hope this kind of thing doesn’t happen again.

They just keep getting better and better, my goodness. While we do end up getting 3 city tracks this wave, at least they’re all fun, and Singapore Speedway in particular is fantastic! Speaking of fantastic, Yoshi’s Island is probably the best course of not only this wave, but maybe the entire DLC with maybe the exception of 3DS Rainbow Road. It’s so incredibly faithful to the game it’s based on, and the custom sound effects and stylized visuals are just the cherry on top. On that subject, the visuals this wave are probably the best out of any wave so far, even including Wave 5. I don’t think there’s a single bad looking track this wave. They’re all pretty good looking, even the weakest looking ones like Mario Circuit DS. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, you have tracks like Waluigi Stadium, which is insane to think that it comes from the same DLC that gave us Toad Circuit. Of course, the other tracks like DK Summit and Riverside Park are both fun as well, and all tracks this wave have fantastic music as per usual. The cherry on top of this whole thing is that with this wave, we are getting new characters on top of the promised 48 courses, starting with Birdo, who fits right into the existing roster like a glove! It’s so great to see each wave get better and better! I sure hope this streak of improvement isn’t broken by the inclusion of a track that completely ignores the gimmick which made said track special in the first place!