(This review was originally written for my Retrorendum blog, so it is a bit dated in some areas but the review still stands true)

Pokémon Pinball is likely one of the most obscure and forgettable spinoffs the Pokémon franchise has spawned in it’s bountiful 20 year lifespan. Pinball games themselves aren’t terribly popular. Pinball machines are good fun and video games are great, but together… not so much. You can’t have the metallic bings and flashing lights of a pinball machine or the adventurous excitement of a video game, so it isn’t very eventful. Not even the exquisite Pokémon brand name being slapped onto a game can gain it merit.

Title: Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire
Available On: Gameboy Advanced
Reviewed On: Gameboy Advanced
Info: Jupiter Corporation, 2003

Story: This being a pinball game, there obviously isn’t a real story within the levels themselves, so I’ll take the opportunity to share my personal story with this game instead. Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire was the second Pokémon game I ever personally owned, and the very first Gameboy Advanced game I ever owned. This gives it an air of nostalgia for me, but the background of how I actually obtained the game sheds some light on why this game leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. One day when I was about 8 or 9, I went with my friend and my brother to a party at my the house of my mom’s friend. Since it was a party geared toward adults, the three of us didn’t have very much to do, and ended up pretty bored. At the time, we had all just gotten into Pokémon, with the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl just being a few years earlier. The son of my mom’s friend, who was about 16 at the time, overheard us talking about our Pokémon games, and offered some of his older games to us. He told us to each take one from his hand with our eyes closed, and one by one we each grabbed a brand new piece of our childhood. My friend got the Generation 1 remake Pokémon LeafGreen, and my brother grabbed the counterpart for that game, Pokémon FireRed. As you can probably guess, I chose Pokémon Pinball. That made me pretty pissy, considering I had gotten by far the worst of the bunch. When I finally got around to playing it, I found it to be incredibly repetitive and dull, but also a little bit too difficult for me to handle. All of this leads to the fact that I eventually grew to resent this game and the chance it had ruined in my childhood.

Visuals/ Music: The game being built on the Gameboy Advanced means that the graphics that it’s capable of generating might not be incredibly detailed, but it makes up for that by having great contrast and by being vibrantly colorful. The ball itself is actually a Pokéball, and surprisingly enough the pseudo-3D effect rendered on the ball as it travels is pretty impressive, and it really does look like it's rolling around. The music also is nothing special, and unfortunately there aren’t many original songs from this game. About 80% of the soundtrack you’ll hear as you play are blatant remixes of songs from Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and while they may be nostalgia invoking, also leads to the soundtrack feeling more lazy and repetitive than anything.

Gameplay: The gameplay is quite simple, bounce a small ball around a board-shaped map and bounce off of different objects to gain points and earn a high score. It certainly delivers that, as there really is nothing else in the game except the menu, two maps, and very simple bonus stages. But of course, this is Pokémon, so they managed to work catching, evolving, and collecting weird creatures into the pinball gameplay. By hitting certain objects you can activate catch or hatch mode, where it gives you the opportunity to obtain a new monster for your collection by bouncing the pinball off of them a few times. There is also a coin and mart system, where you can collect currency while playing around the edges of the map and then spend them in the Pokémart if you can get your ball inside the door. You can buy things such as a ball saver so you don’t lose a life when you go down the hole, or instant access to a bonus stage. Along with your two bumpers at the bottom of the stage, you have access to shifting the board around using the A, L, and R buttons. Unfortunately, because A) I wasn’t terribly savvy to how pinball games worked when I was a child and B) Because there isn’t a tutorial or control guide, I legitimately did not know of the existence of those extra controls until I replayed the game in the last few days leading up to this review.

Verdict: Although met with critical and commercial acclaim when it first released, selling over 1,000,000 copies worldwide, I honestly cannot recommend this game to anyone unless they are really into pinball. The gameplay isn’t very smooth between the classic pinball and Pokémon aspects, and you can seriously see all the game has to offer in a span of 30 minutes. There isn’t any replay value except high scores, which is pointless because you're playing on an offline device, and completing the Pokédex, which is too tedious and time consuming to actually feel gratifying or rewarding. This game may just be bad in my eyes because of a difficult past relationship, but I really just don’t think it’s fun. Pokémon Pinball: Ruby and Sapphire earns itself the reward of being my lowest rated game I’ve reviewed so far, getting a 3.4/10.

(Reviewed on July 12th, 2017)

Barely works as a video game, especially in the stamp mode. All of these card games that make up over half the game lineup not only feel and look the same, but are so reliant on luck that it becomes an exercise in patience and willpower to slog through minutes-long games that boil down to "flick the stylus once every 60 seconds while you wait for the CPUs to finish their turns, and hope that luck goes your way".

Atrocious game, genuinely one of my least favorite ever. At least the box art is cool.

I'm ashamed to say that I was skeptical of Super Mario Sunshine before I really dug into it. I had heard so much from multiple angles that the game was rushed and awkward, so all in all I avoided it. This is really a shame though, because within the 15 or so hours I spent with the game, I really had a fantastic time.

The thematic consistency of Super Mario Sunshine is its greatest strength. The visuals in each level spanning outward from Delfino Plaza is amazing, and makes me look back with more criticism on Super Mario 64 (another game that I really like), since it just throws random things at the wall in each of its worlds. I love how creative Sunshine is within its tropical limits, creating levels like a haunted beachside hotel casino and construction site suspended over a port, concepts that would never appear in a platformer otherwise. Delfino Plaza itself is also fantastic, with mini platforming challenges and secrets hidden everywhere. I wish it was a bit bigger, but only because I just wanted MORE of it. I know this is heresy, but as someone who didn't go for 100% completion, I really loved the Blue Coins. Secrets hidden around the environment, rewarding me for exploration and a sharp eye or attempting trickier gameplay sections was incredibly satisfying, and through my playthrough I collected about 80 of them.

The water visuals are INSANE for an early gamecube game, easily beating out how water looks in many games from following console generations. On top of that water is a color palette and art style that exudes charm, and in the Super Mario 3D All-Stars collection that I played it through, the widescreen HD visuals are crisp as all hell.

Honestly, although I do love the visuals, style and tone that the game has, its Mario's movement mixed with FLUDD that makes this game one of my new favorites. Hovering makes exploration engaging and allows you greater access to the complex worlds, belly sliding on water is immensely satisfying, and the upgrades backflip that's so easy to use made me feel like I was more in control of Mario's movement than I ever expected to be. The absence of the long jump from 64 frustrated me at first, but when I realized you could gain a similar amount of speed from jumping out of a dive, that was completely nullified.

The problems I have with this game come in very specific sections, so let's just list them out. The slot machine panels controlled FLUDD and the associated King Boo boss fight, fuck that. The chuckster level in Pianta Village? WHY. The FLUDD controlled boat section in Corona Mountain? That's just not fun. The Fluddless levels that constantly increase the difficulty in unfair ways, completely drain away the charm of the game, have terrible design and just annoy the hell out of me? Yeah, I'm not a fan. These are sections you're unfortunately forced to play, and it kills the pacing. I had some levels I got stuck on for a half hour at a time, which just yanked me out of the experience.

These crappy, untested and obnoxious moments however, only served to increase my appreciation for the consistency of the rest of the game. When I returned to Delfino Plaza after being shoehorned into a terrible platforming area floating over an 8-Bit Mario void it felt like a breath of fresh air, and the return of FLUDD to my back made me enjoy having him that much more.

I fully understand the complaints that this game constantly has thrown at it- most of them are valid honestly- but for me the weekend I had jam-packed with Super Mario Sunshine and... little else, honestly, will always be a great memory.

(This review was originally written for my Retrorendum blog, so it is a bit dated in some areas but the review still stands true)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. I started this blog, or at least the idea of a game review blog, as a school project about two years ago. The very first game I reviewed was a wacky PS2 game called Katamari Damacy that I’d found by the happy accident of my friend owning an old disc, and I quickly grew to love it, completing the game in under a week by playing a few hours each day. That love never died, and over the last few years I’d find myself pulling up the Katamari soundtrack on YouTube or popping in the disc to roll up a few towns and relax. Enter the Nintendo Direct that happened on September 3rd of last year. We got the announcement of Luigi’s Mansion 3, Town, Animal Crossing Switch and more, but to me the biggest moment of the show was the reveal of Katamari Damacy Reroll, an announcement that literally had me standing on my chair and yelling in excitement as my friends watched me with growing concern. I got the game for Christmas this past year courtesy of my brother, and I played it non-stop for days until I once again rolled up the moon and the credits rolled. The next day, once again consumed by Katamari fever, I ordered a copy of the original game’s PS2 sequel, We <3(Love) Katamari. This is the game I’ll be reviewing today, as I completed it this morning.

Title: We <3 Katamari
Available and Reviewed On: PlayStation 2
Info: Namco, 2005

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINIMAL SPOILERS FOR CONTENT IN WE LOVE KATAMARI

Story: The King of All Cosmos may have royally screwed the planet and all its people a few years ago, but after they played the game Katamari Damacy, they can’t help but crave more of it’s addicting gameplay, unique style and ear-worming tunes. It’s your job, as the King’s son, Prince, to return to the surface of the earth and aid any Katamari fan with what ails them- by rolling up anything and everything in your path. Each level you select from the newly renovated hub map is a different task from a different fan, each with their own small tale to tell that ties in to what you’ll be doing in the following level. There’s also a subplot that is told through a cutscene every few levels that depicts the life of the King, through all his successes and hardships. This plot provides much more character to the quirky characters in the royal cosmic family, and also introduces you to the King’s father, who has his own small character arc as well. This story is told without any dialogue or text, and while that does miss the greatness that is Katamari’s charming writing, it makes sense in the context of a flashback over a cosmic being’s lifetime. Combined, these two tales make We <3 Katamari a much more engaging game since it provides small goals in the form of the cutscenes as well as giving the characters more depth and development. It’s wacky, fourth wall breaking, and just so Katamari. 9/10

Visuals: This is a department where We <3 Katamari isn’t too far from it’s predecessor, but the minor changes that are provided make the visual treat that the game does provide much more satisfying. The visuals are virtually identical, although this game has a much wider variety of creative items and diverse locales that make the best of the simplistic art direction and flesh out the world that you’re plodding through. This change in world design is most apparent in the game’s new types of levels, such as the firefly level (see picture below), where the entire level takes place at night, with peaceful french-inspired music playing in the background and a thick layer of gently swaying fireflies that glow softly as you roll them onto your sticky ball. Another fantastic level is the under water one, where schools of fish of all shapes and sizes zip by and you collect colorful stones and other aquatic goodies. It’s levels like these that make We <3 Katamari into a much different beast than Katamari Damacy, since it provides you with a more intimate sense of scale in the world, as well as showing you just how much beauty and creativity you weren’t shown during the relatively catastrophic events that took place after the King’s drunken rampage. Overall the visuals aren’t actually improved over the first game, but much more creative usage of Katamari’s art style lends itself to a more coherent and satisfying experience. 9/10

Music: Katamari music is an acquired taste. It’s all over the place -drawing inspiration from tons of genres and creating its own style with multiple recurring themes- all the while attempting to be drilled into your skull as some of the most memorable and uplifting tunes that any video game has provided. I think the reason the music in We <3 Katamari stuck with me as much as it did is because of how much I’d enjoyed the soundtrack of the first game. This soundtrack is heavily influenced by that one, taking the main theme in many different directions including but not limited to awkward acapella, softcore rock, and animal noises (yes that is real). Once again however, it’s diversity where this game truly shines. The tunes playing in each level are wildly different, matching the aforementioned variety of unique stages. Guitar melodies may be followed by a soothing chorus in a vast field of flowers, or a sound-effect filled chaotic tune may play while you race across an island at 5 times the normal speed. One other thing this game does allow is the ability to choose which song you want to play during each level before you play it, although I personally stuck to whatever the game had preset. I greatly enjoyed the music of We <3 Katamari, and I look forward to creating a playlist that incorporates the best of from both games. 10/10

Gameplay: Here’s the big ‘un. The most important aspect of any video game, especially one so based around the uniqueness of video games as a medium- gameplay. This is where We <3 Katamari differs most from Katamari Damacy, although it may not be apparent at first. The controls (unsurprisingly) are unchanged, and you have no new abilities or upgrades to your ball- but the important part is everything surrounding the actual Katamari mechanics. The level design and pacing and progression have all been majorly overhauled between entries, and I’ll devote time to the changes on each aspect. First with the level design. As I’ve mentioned in the previous sections, this is the way We <3 Katamari stands furthest apart from the original. Every level is much smaller in scale, taking place in one type of location, such as a campground or a zoo, in one building, such as a single school, or even just one kid’s room. Tied into these more focused stages are many unique mechanics, which vary wildly from level mechanics. In one level you’re be tasked with keeping a ball aflame to grow big enough to light a bonfire, making it necessary to manage your fuel levels by focusing on collecting burnable objects, as well as avoid water to make sure your Katamari doesn’t instantly go out- which would force you to restart the stage. Another level has you rolling a skinny sumo wrestler around a town, picking up food and allowing him to grow in size so he can fulfill his dream of winning a sumo tournament. Next is pacing and progression, which is the part of this game I had the biggest issue with- and unfortunately is the main reason this doesn’t get a perfect score (spoilers). The problem originates from the exact thing the level design does so well, which is smaller scale missions and more consistent size. This means the game as a whole doesn’t have the same sense of progression that made the first game so addictive. You no longer start out small then consistently grow until you’re absorbing literal continents, but instead stay approximately the same size, except for one level in the middle where you’re able to reach over 1000m. This means that the final level, which I won’t spoil, is oddly anticlimactic since its scale feels completely out of place. This same final level has another side though, because it’s actually given to you early- but you aren’t able to finish it quite yet. This isn’t necessarily a good thing, since I think the game would have been fine without this change, but it’s still an interesting way to show progression. Gameplay gets a 9/10.

Verdict: We <3 Katamari is a fantastic game. It’s lightyears ahead of the original in some ways, that lead to a much more diverse experience, but also takes a step back from one of the main aspects that made the first game so addictive. It’s quirky, unique, and most of all a ton of fun. It’s a game I’d recommend to anyone who enjoyed the original game, and even to those who just want something new. In my opinion these two games, We <3 Katamari and Katamari Damacy, are two different beasts that work best in a pair. One gives you a more grand and god-like story with an incredible sense of progression, while the other shows you the intimate side of the world and its people, along with a hearty dose of well… heart. We Love Katamari is a must play, and gets a 9/10 from me.

(Reviewed on January 4th, 2019)

(This review was originally written for my Retrorendum blog, so some things are outdated.)

ARMS is Nintendo’s second new IP since the Gamecube, and it has given the people who haven’t actually played it with a mixed set of reactions. After the original reveal trailer back during the Nintendo Switch press conference in February, many people thought that it was just a gimmick game to show off the joycon’s power, and wouldn’t end up being much deeper than Wii Sports boxing. Will ARMS hit it’s mark or take a punch to the face?

Title: ARMS
Available On: Nintendo Switch
Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch
Info: Nintendo, 2017

WARNING MINOR SPOILERS FOR ARMS

Story: ARMS takes place in a world where a mutation exists that allows the effected individuals to stretch their arms out to almost unimaginable lengths. According to the ARMS Laboratory this “ARMS” mutation has existed for around 1500 years, and effects a very very small slice of the population. No one knows how the mutation occurs, those who receive it just wake up one day and have extendable arms. Of course with a mutation such as this it is natural to create a world famous championship fighting show, and that show is what you play in ARMS. As of the day this article goes live there are 13 characters/ fighteres in the world of ARMS, as well as a secret boss character that I’ll leave out for spoiler reasons.
Spring Man - A classic upbeat pretty boy fighter
Ribbon Girl - A famous pop star turned brawler to please her fans
Master Mummy - An undead freak seeking revenge for his family
Mechanica - A genius young girl who built a suit with extendable arms to participate in the league
Ninjara - A ninja student who joined the fight as his graduation project
Kid Cobra - A popular streamer and snakeboarder who was born with the ARMS mutation
Twintelle - A well-known actress who uses her stretchy hair to fight
Byte and Barq - A robot dog and cop duo
Min Min - A ramen shop girl with noodles for arms
Helix - A green gooey failed experiment from the ARMS Lab
Max Brass - The reigning champion of the ARMS league (also planned to be the first new playable fighter)
And finally,
Biff - The friendly announcer for the ARMS League who has one hand on the top of his head.
Each character has their own signature arms, backstory and goals for winning the ARMS League, but aside from what I’ve mentioned there isn’t much story. This might not be the case forever though, because Nintendo has stated that they will be releasing free fighters, stages and ARMS as DLC later on, with included lore tidbits alongside. ARMS’ story and lore is pretty interesting, but it really is bare bones at the moment, so I can’t rate it any higher than 6/10.

Visuals/ Music: The art style and tone of ARMS is one that feels like is was custom tailored to the springy, colorful world the game takes place in, and never leaves you bored while you’re experiencing it. Each locale you visit while brawling is bright and vibrant, and no two stages feel even remotely similar in tone, shape or lighting. There aren’t any texture problems in the game, and the only thing that ever bothers me while I’m playing is Spring Man’s character select model (if you play the game you’ll see what I mean, but that’s just a personal gripe). Aside from that, every character is beautifully modeled and the unique character design rivals the likes of Overwatch and Pokemon in creativity and detail. Even the menu system is slick and bright for the most part, the only exception being that the main menu (which you don’t spend too much time on) is pure black and yellow which some people find obnoxious. ARMS also has the single smoothest and most satisfying Party lobby system of any multiplayer game I’ve ever played. Each stage has a special theme to accompany it as well, and while you probably won’t hear them much during the fights, listening to the soundtrack outside of gameplay is great. My only complaint with the music is that it’s really obvious they wanted the main theme to be integrated into the game everywhere, because chunks of it are woven into over half the stage themes. It’s a great main theme, and very catchy, but it annoys me that it shows up everywhere. The visual and audio design of ARMS gets a 9/10.

Gameplay: Finally, we can talk about ARMS gameplay. ARMS is a fighting game unlike any other, so much so that I honestly don’t know what to compare it to. 2-4 players are thrown into an arena, each equipped with extendable springy limbs and a set of 3 different fists or “ARMS” to choose from. Each character has different stats in speed, strength, and health, as well as an interesting ability ranging from self heal and time slow to quadruple jumps and an arm turning into a dragon. These differences allow you to really find a character that fits your playstyle, and along with every character being able to equip any ARM eventually by spending currency in a minigame called the ARMS getter, any person can customize their own fighter. The main focus of the single player content is the Grand Prix, which is essentially the Arcade mode of ARMS, you play through ten consecutive battles against AI opponents, with the occasional minigame mixed in. Through the Grand Prix you can learn a little about the lore of each character, as Biff tells small snippets before each match starts. There are currently 7 game modes in the game that you can play single player with bots, local multiplayer with up to 4 players, or online in a rotating lobby. Of course you have 1V1 battles, which is the core experience of ARMS, but you also can play 2V2 with each team tied together to force teamwork and communication, and 1V1V1 which is unbalanced and annoying. On top of the fighting there are also 3 different minigames to choose from, Hoops, V-Ball, and Skillshot. The final gamemode is 3 players versus a boss, which can be incredibly fun and challenging on the higher levels. The fighting of ARMS is fast-paced and addicting, but isn’t perfect. It’s difficult to play two player local online, as the lobbies don’t always have room for an extra player, 1v1v1 always ends up with one person being ganged-up on so the other two can just play a normal fight, and grab spamming is definitely an obnoxious (but effective) tactic many people use online. Despite these issues and a lack of a true campaign/ story mode, ARMS delivers some of the most intensely gratifying gameplay I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing in the last few years. Gameplay receives an 8/10.

Verdict: ARMS is a game that I can only hope will grow. It’s in very early stages now, so it’s not clear whether or not it can climb up to be a major franchise for Nintendo, but things are looking pretty good for this wacky fighter as far as the first week goes. I’ll definitely be playing it for a while with my friends, and I should be dipping back in every time a new character, game mode or map is released. ARMS has surpassed Mario Kart 8 Deluxe as my second favorite Nintendo Switch game, and will likely hold that spot until Super Mario Odyssey and Skyrim come out in the winter this year. I can’t recommend ARMS enough, but if the lack of single player content is a let down for you, you should still consider picking it up maybe in a year or at christmas when more content has filled in the gaps. ARMS gets a solid rating of 8/10.

Side Note: Since this review I played over 120 hours of the game, played all the post-launch content and collected literally every item in the game, and my opinion has gone wayyyyyy up.
(Reviewed on June 23rd, 2017)

I've never liked a rogue-like before Hades, and in fact I was nervous to get into this one since the genre had been such a turn off to me in the past. I tried it for about an hour and was intrigued but not hooked- but when I put another session into trying it, I was pulled in and played for over 4 hours.

This game is a dream to control- you have a whole host of variable weapons that allow you to fit the combat to your liking, and an absolutely LUDICROUS number of upgrades items and ability perks which you can either get purposely before a run or randomly within one. Each run allows you to get just a LITTTTLE bit stronger, collecting just enough gems, darkness or cthonic keys to get to that next unlock, making the gameplay loop immensely addictive. You always feel like you're just on the edge of getting something cool, the drip feed of new mechanics and upgrades to old ones is just delicious.

On top of that, the die-and-start-again nature of rogue-likes actually factors into the story, which makes it incredibly unique. The game features tons of incredible characters to interact with who have some of the best voice acting I've heard in a game, and their relationship with you, other characters and the world around them grows as you slowly become stronger and more intimately connected with the depths of hell.

This game also has BEAUTIFUL art, and the amount of environmental detail is mind-boggling. While you're in combat everything in the background fades away while you engage in super-high speed battles of slashing and dodging, but as soon as that high calms down, you're given the chance to explore the room you just demolished and relish in the art that's presented to you, while Zagreus reflects on his current situation.

This game is just a gem, man. It got me to like a rogue-like, reinterested me in Greek mythology, told me a surprisingly compelling story, and just in general surprised me all around.
I highly recommend everyone give this a shot, especially because if it does hook you, you can use cloud saves to continue the same game across PC, Switch and I think PS4- which is just fucking rad.

This game is actually pretty damn solid when you're able to use the rewind functionality to avoid NES era BS level design. Outside of weird difficulty spikes and the aforementioned BS, this is an incredibly forward thinking and influential action platformer with a ton of charm. The designs of the enemies and bosses and the levels they reside in have a lot of personality and variation, which makes each level have its own flavor.

The basic Mega Man ideas of choosing your level order and acquiring new weapons that can be used in different scenarios is super forward thinking, and tbh was handled incredibly well from the very beginning. This carries into Wily's castle, which gives you 4 levels that you have to use all your abilities to conquer- the platforming areas of which are really quite fun.

The only downside to the weapons system is that some boss battles become extreme pushovers if you know the weaknesses, and I just wish they were balanced a bit better to fit in between crap like Fireman's obnoxiously fast attacks and the like 2 hit kill I was able to get on Iceman. I also found some of the Wily's castle bosses to be more frustrating than fun, namely the bubble bots which weren't engaging to fight.

A few final things to mention- the dropping platforms in Guts Man's stage aren't that bad, Yellow Devil is actually a fun boss with rewind because of it's unique mechanic, and the Magnet Beam is a great item that combines excellently with the rest of your arsenal.

7/10

Alright- I'm gonna be the one to say it- as the official Yoshi fan of Backloggd (the only one with a rating above 4 stars), this is an absolutely charming and addicting puzzle game that stacks up (pun intended) to Dr. Mario and Tetris, both of with I love. The mechanics of swapping the stacks allows for a lot of precision in how you control the board, the egg sandwiching mechanic is IMMENSELY satisfying, moreso than getting a tetris imo, and both the high score and challenge modes are a ton of fun, and are different enough to warrant playing.

There's also a lot of freedom in how you set your options before starting a game, including playing all of it in competitive multiplayer! Honestly I randomly selected this on NES Online the other day knowing nothing about it before hand, and I instantly was grabbed by the addicting gameplay loop and score systems and had played for well over two hours.

It might not be on the level of impact of Tetris or Dr. Mario, but I really do think Yoshi is great and totally worth putting a few hours into to see if the mechanics grab you like they did with me. Especially now that it's so readily accessible on NES Online, and is free because of that!

This game honestly really really surprised me. Not only with its quality and creativity, but with just how much damn heart it has. I usually steer away from pure first person shooter campaigns, as I generally feel like they're lacking more depth and nuance that you get out of RPGs or even adventure games. Wolfenstein: The New Order doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to gameplay philosophy, in fact it's kind of the opposite, but it places that classically designed gameplay loop into the context of a game with a great story, well rounded characters and modern production value.

Unfortunately this game starts off on the wrong foot, with a relatively generic opening scene. It introduces the villain and a couple of the side characters as well as the basic mechanics, but on the whole it feels vastly out of place from the rest of the game. I was ready to put it down and write the game off as a base level FPS campaign, but I pushed through that first couple sections and was treated with a wonderful surprise.

There's a moment pretty early on in which you're introduced to the central area of the game, a place that acts as a base to return to throughout the story and introduces you to a whole host of characters that flesh out the cast. This completely recontextualizes your actions and motivation for the rest of the game, and made me connect to the world a lot more.

It's at this point where the game also takes a turn in terms of story creativity, introducing more science fiction type elements that kept me even more engaged when mixed with the historical rewrite of the Nazis winning WWII. The character Set brings with him a whole host of lore expansion that I found to be super fascinating, and wish it had been delved into a little more- or at least wish I was given the opportunity to do side quests and such related to it so I could learn more. The game handles its lore in a great way, laying newspaper article clippings around the environment. This feels so much more natural than random notes I.E. The Last of Us or audiologs in Bioshock (both of which I still LOVE), so I liked that.

The game has great pacing in terms of environments, jumping around incredibly varied locales and set pieces that mean each chapter has their own unique feel. Unfortunately this comes with the side effect of the progression of the story feeling rather convenient at times, with characters like Anya and Caroline just spewing expository dialogue while they tell you exactly where when and how you're going to do your next mission. This is pretty ridiculous when you consider that the Kreisau Circle is going up against essentially the rest of the planet, so it feels a bit underwhelming that they can just figure out how to get into the most secure locations on the planet just by decoding audio or something.

Surprisingly enough, while it's certainly solid and doesn't have any glaring issues, the First Person Shooter gameplay was actually my least favorite aspect of the game. It's fun to run around the unique levels that the game jumps between through the campaign, but I just found myself not caring too much for the gunplay itself. I did enjoy dual-wielding two of the same weapon at the same time, as well as the introduction of the laserkraftwerk, which reminded me a lot of Half-Life. Honestly a lot of this game reminds me of the Half-Life franchise, in terms of pacing, mechanics and level design- though that's a compliment- they learned from the best of the best.

In the end, while I might not LOVE the combat and felt like the progression was convenient at times, the game's strengths lie in the absolutely wonderful cast of supporting characters with incredible performances, it's unique concept of rewritten history, and the variety of locations and set pieces that you blast your way through. It's a dumb, explosion filled romp in some places, but damn does it sure have heart.

Honestly, I can't say I have a fully rounded opinion on this game. This "review" is coming from the impressions of playing it for 15 minutes with a friend through SNES Online (which works great btw), so keep that in mind.

So okay- first impressions. This game is, I think, the game that has aged the WORST visually of any game I've ever played. The pseudo-3D effect created by Mode-7 barely adds anything to the experience, instead creating a scan line infested pop-in riddled mess that genuinely caused me physical pain in terms of nausea and headache. I know it was probably impressive for the time, but jesus hell it's awful now.

Also man I suck at this game. I'm pretty solid at Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but this game controls NOOOOTHING like the other games in the series. Not only are the gas and item buttons poorly placed on the controller, but there's NO brake or reverse, and the drift is so overly finicky that it's a nightmare to use. I know for a fact that if I played more I could come to grips better with the physics of everything, but from square one I just felt like I was playing on ice with a kart made of butter, and it was infuriating. I spent the entirety of 5 maps with 3 laps each in last place, being lapped by the bots and confused as shit.

That's really all, this game plays bad and looks worse. I dunno what more to say.

Florence isn't like anything you've ever played before. It's a solely emotional experience about living life through someone else's eyes and trying to feel what they feel through all sorts of moments. I'm not gonna sugar coat it, this is a game about a breakup.

I first played this game about three years ago, before I had even had a single relationship, and at the time it was still incredibly emotionally resonant to me. Since then I've had a few relationships, but I recently went through a really tough breakup and honestly... now I really get the game. There's so much emotional texture in detail in this incredibly simple game that allows you to connect to its world, with fantastic use of a satisfying color palette and probably one of the greatest game soundtracks I've ever heard pulling it all together.

It's only a handful of dollars on the appstore or Nintendo Switch, and takes less than an hour to complete, and I can't recommend it enough. Especially if you're going through something rough in your personal life, give this a try. In the end it's about discovering your true self and moving on from past pain, things that I think can have a positive impact on everyone who plays it.

I really have no experience with the beat em' up genre, and as I'm trying to expand my gaming horizons and test out franchises and game styles I haven't gotten into before, Streets of Rage felt like a good starting place for what in my eyes seems to be a pretty basic and samey genre.

I played this through the Sega Genesis Classics collection, which offers rewind, speed-up and local/online co-op, and it's more than likely the absolute perfect way to experience this game. Everything about Streets of Rage holds up exceedingly well, it just feels really basic from what your characters can do- just a couple grabs, a jump kick and a punch combo.

Streets of Rage really has a ton of personality in its visuals, music and characters. It has a cliche premise of walking the dirty streets clobbering waves of thugs, but the over the top, ridiculously radical intro and detailed backgrounds make it just a totally tubular audio/visual experience.

There's probably a hidden layer of depth that I don't know about considering I haven't played the game longer than a single playthrough, but as it stands Streets of Rage is brief, rad and satisfying, but just a little bit basic for my taste.

Very interested to see how the series grows in 2 and 3 which are also in this collection!

The controls work about 60% of the time, but that's okay because the game seems to not care if you don't succeed or not because it's constantly giving you items and power ups to excuse your failure. What this leads to is a game that plays like it should be frustrating and full of friction, but is actually just a garishly colorful hour-long romp with screechy voice acting. If the game wasn't so forgiving it would be worse, but I was able to breeze through it and see the last true rhythm game from the creators of PaRappa and Vib Ribbon in just about an hour.

It's interesting that it happened, but it barely works and there's really nothing to it.