For a while this was my favourite game of all time, years later i played both the PS4 remake and the original and here's what i have to say: this is the better version.

Gameplay is hands down the best, with reworked controls, bosses and enemy patterns. Not too hard nor too easy, unlike the horror that is the PS4 remake. The humour is true to the original and even expanded upon, i personally find Al-Zalam very funny and overall a good addition to the story. Every single character is more fleshed out and there are more cutscenes for a better narrative experience. Graphics are among the best on the PSP honestly, boasting both a good res output and a distinct style that enhances the visuals of the PS1 game. Music is both revamped and faithful, with some additional tracks.

And now, addressing the criticism:
- Yes, some changes in the levels music is a little bothersome.
- No, two-wielded weapons are not a bad choice, shields are useless in
every version.
- Economy is improved period, you no longer need to "repair" swords and
money is more plentiful.
- SOME of the cut levels were very shitty to begin with (fuck the ants level),
also the pumpkin gorge levels are just fused together.
- The so called Dark Burtonian Atmosphere™ of the original was just the
limit of the 3D rendering hidden behind black fog, many games were like
this in those times. In a remake i prefer to see what i couldn't see before
due to technical limitations.
- Minigames are fun and best of all OPTIONAL.
- Pro Tip: just use cheats if you want the Odin Blade.

This is the best MediEvil game, you guys are just crazy.

every time a visually stunning indie game with a long-ass dev cycle has shitty combat and tons of flaws in general, an angel loses its wings.

this one took me years to finally get through, and for good reason. there's a lot here that just... doesn't feel fun. combat is pretty bad - even though owlboy's mechanics are fairly unique and fun to get acclimated to. you don't do enough damage, swapping between characters is clunky, sometimes aiming with the controller doesn't feel right, and every hit slams you against a wall and stops you from doing anything for several seconds. i think i got through every boss by face-tanking half the hits and just hoping i didn't die before it did.

there's also no map at all - which for a game like this is really bad. while the game itself is decently linear, you're put off from looking for any collectibles or secrets after you're done with that area out of fear of getting lost or just never finding something.

my least favorite part, however, were the stealth sections. personally, stealth sections are my least favorite gimmick in any game - they're slow, boring, and the stakes often don't matter so i just end up making a mad dash whenever i can. owlboy is filled with TONS of these - and each one is worse than the last. pirates will see you behind cover, the safe areas are few and far between, and don't even get me started on the bugs. NONE of these are executed well at all.

i kinda hate to tear into this game so much, because tbh it IS really beautiful - and despite all these downsides i don't hate it. it's got some of the best spritework of any game i've played, the music and worldbuilding are spectacular, and while i didn't get the best ending i loved the story regardless. the character designs are great too - your main cast is a ton of fun, and the NPCs and enemies have great designs as well. there's a ton to like in this game, but there's also a ton to dislike. give this one a try if you don't mind getting slammed against a wall every few seconds i guess.

What?! It isn't amazing?!

But... but...

But it has Popple in it!

I remember finally picking this game after so long of wanting it, it took three years, but I finally managed to buy it, and man, what a blast. It was packed full of creativity, it was funny, it was entertaining and it was unique; what a great game... Looking back on it and after several attempts of relpaying it, I can't shake the feeling that I only felt that way 'cause this was my first experience with the series, and as time has passed, its flaws have become more and more apparent.

The combat is by far the best in the series, or at the very least on par with Bowser's Inside Story. It's feels like a natural extension of its older brothers: more snappy, more options, faster and with more interesting enemies; the Dream battles are a treat to play, giving a whole set of options even tho technically you only use one of the brothers, and the bosses in both the real and dream world make you use all of your options, make you think how to defeat them and their attack patterns and one of the most inspired in all the series. It's honestly amazing and... and sadly that's were my compliments with the game mostly end.

The fast pacing that went into the combat clearly didin't to the rest of the game. It's slow, very, very slow, the game's tutorial is infamously long and impossible to skip, but I wouldn't have as much as aproblem with it if it weren't because it just.


Keeps.



Going.


The plot and pace are constantly broken by these little tutorials to every minor thing; there's no moment of ''eureka!'' or a fast tutorial like in past games, everything has to be explained to its last details and it just feels dragged. I'll give it to them, they did implement a lot of mechanichs and little minigames, but it's the way they are implemented that creates conflict with the rest of the experience.

Pi'illo Island had SOOO much potential to be incredibly interesting, and while yeah, the isle itself it has some pretty novel ideas and some interesting areas, it's whith the dream world where they drop the ball. Is not as bad as what Partners in Time does, or rather doesn't do with its time travel mechanic, but it's still disappointing. Dreams are such a wild concept, and the way they could be used is almost limitless; instead, we get remixes of the afromentioned areas, where a character has a whacky costume or some minions that don't do much and only extend the lenght of the game with things to do. The beggining of the game has this incredible moment where it explores Luigi's pshyche, and the story of Dreambert and his people and the war against Antasme is pretty novel, but in the end , the game never explores the condition of a character in the slightiest ever again, and it uses the context of the story to give the player some context for the collectables.

The Giant Boss battles are... meh. More spectacular than the the ones in the previous game for sure, but they all feel VERY slow, and the only one I can call exciting is the last one, which admitedly is pretty good; and the puzzles feel much less inspired, even tho there are some amazing ideas here and there.

Dream Team has clearñy a ton of good ideas but doesn't have the courage to fully explore them, it chooses to prioritize quantity before quality, and it doesn't reach its fool potential because of it. It does a lot of mistakes for the sake of giving a striking experience, but it lacks the substance of its predeccesor.

It may be still VERY fun, but being fun or at least interesting is the bare minimun a game should be.

Yoshi’s crafted world is a completely OK Platformer that offers much less than its predecessor “Wooly World”

The art-style is so much more boring than Wooly World’s and lacks so much identity, I mean all they did with Yoshi was cover him in peach fuzz when in the last game they made him entirely out of wool.

And the game is just a purely OK Platformer, and with so many other and better Platformers being on the market, it makes this game feel hollow in comparison.

I should say that while I don’t think it’s a bad game, I feel there’s little reason to go out and buy it.

I’m a huge Aqua Teen fan and even that can’t really save this game.

I mean, I’ll start with the positives:

1. For an ATHF video game on the PS2, it actually looks pretty good! Character models are nice, environments look like the show.

2. The IDEA is great on paper. A golf game/beat em up is an idea so stupid that it could totally work, in theory.

3. It’s funny. It’s the same Aqua Teen humor, the dialogue is still great. Hearing Shake be such a dick to Meatwad, Turkatron talking about his juicy metal legs when you smack him, it’s good stuff.

4. Good fanservice. Lots of character appearances and references. The Mooninites, the Plutonians, Cybernetic Ghost, etc.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t make up for the game’s big problems.

1. The big one. The gameplay. It’s just too sluggish and repetitive and monotonous and boy just plain not that fun. If they made your characters move and attack faster, I think it could’ve worked. It wouldn’t have been the deepest game out there, but it would work! But man, this game is a SLOOOOOOG. It gets a LITTLE Better when you get some better weapons, but not much.

2. The racing sections. So once every few levels you’ll do a kart racing segment against Skeeter and DP (the frat aliens). And boy, does none of it work. it’s slow, bad controls, pretty easy (except for when the physics mess you up and it takes forever to reorient yourself), and boy do I hate hearing the same three lines over and over again AD. NAUSEUM.

“Who farted?” “Turn on the AC” “Who farted?” “This thing have a CD player?” “who farted?” “Who farted?”

3. These levels are LONG. Early on it’s not a big problem, but later on when the courses get bigger, holy shit. Big levels + incredibly slow traversal speed = please let it end.

It sucks, since there’s real potential here, and the big problems seem SO OBVIOUS! Like someone HAS to have thought “hey, this isn’t very good, maybe we should fix some things up.” Maybe it was low budget, maybe it was a short time frame. But wow, whatever the issue was, it’s a real shame.

I am 30 or 40 years old and I do NOT NEED THIS.