(This review was originally written for my Retrorendum blog, so some things are outdated.)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

(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)

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

Overwatch is by far one of the fastest growing, yet consistently supported games that have ever been released, in any genre. The game came out under a year ago, and there are over 25 million players, over PC, PS4 and XBone. It’s a game that anyone can play and still have fun with, yet still with a very steep learning curves for game sense. You need to understand team composition, ability and ultimate combos, hero move sets, flanking routes, which heroes work better on which maps versus which teams on which game modes, and general map memorization.

Title: Overwatch
Available On: PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One
Reviewed On: PC
Info: Blizzard, 2016

Story: There isn’t a story within the game of Overwatch, but instead was released through multimedia, in online comics, HD animated shorts, story bios, and an Alternate Reality Game the developers ran with the players for almost half a year. The world of Overwatch is a futuristic dystopia where robots known as Omnics have rebelled against the people that created them and begun to develop cognitive abilities, which allowed them to build their own army to attempt to destroy the humans. All across the world, different types of deadly war machines and clever artificial intelligence began wars with people, and the many countries learned to defend themselves in different ways. America started a super-soldier program, Germany made gigantic metal suits of armor for their soldiers, and Korea developed mechs controlled by professional gamers, but some places like Africa developed peaceful relations with the Omnics. In order to end the Omnic Crisis, all the members of the United Nations banded together an elite team of their finest soldiers and scientists to create a task force known as Overwatch. They managed to end the war, but in the process, Overwatch itself was disbanded and many of it’s top members were presumed dead. Years after these events, with Overwatch no longer around, the world faces the threat of a second Omnic Crisis. The world is in disrepair and people and omnics alike are struggling to discover the truth to life spent alongside each other. This is where our story begins, and although you won’t be finding anything more in the game itself, the world of Overwatch is still developing as Blizzard released new shorts, maps, comics and heroes.

Visuals/Music: The amount of effort put into the level of detail on everything in Overwatch is incredible, and at times breathtaking. Every corner of every street on all of the maps is chock full of small things to look at, plants overgrowing castles, posters on walls, and small signs all around that really give the impression that this truly is a living world not so different from our own. Every piece on the characters has it’s own level of attention, you can see light glint off of metal clasps, fabric pulsate in the wind, and anything that produces light has a small glow around it. The graphics have multiple settings (on the PC version at least) and even the lowest you can go is still great to look at and won’t break your immersion. There isn’t too much actual music in the game, there are short songs that play when you load a new map or the main theme that echoes around the menus, but honestly this isn’t too much of a letdown. The music that is there is perfectly balanced and beautifully orchestrated, providing you the feeling that you really are the hero the world needs. The lack of music in the matches themselves also contributes to the atmosphere of the game, where instead of dark beats of drums or epic swells of strings, you hear the soft whir of the payload floating inches off the ground or birds chirping in the trees in the distance. The lack of music also helps the gameplay, as every single hero has unique footsteps you can listen for, and each ultimate ability has its own line you need to pay attention to. This contributes to a feeling of absolute control over your surroundings that it really is rare to find in FPS games of today.

Gameplay: The gameplay of Overwatch is where the game truly shines, even on top of the incredible graphics and intriguing storyline. The goal of any round of Overwatch is to finish one of 4 goals. Escort a payload to a destination, capture a point and hold it until you have 100%, capture an objective, or a combination of 1 and 2. Each round is incredibly different, and that is what makes the game fun to come back to, even though there technically isn’t much to do. You must cooperate intensely with your team of 6 people, each filling their own role to help the team as a whole. In all my years of multiplayer games, I have never played a game so focused on teamwork and team building, and when you finally do find a group, with your friends or online, and they all listen and give constant feedback, it’s one of the most amazing feelings you can have. Each person must choose a role from the four classes of heroes. Offense; your characters who are intended to do the killing on your team. They have high damage weapons designed to make you feel powerful, but in turn they don’t have much health. Defense; these are the most unique characters on the roster, and picking one is highly situational. As Torbjorn you build automated turrets, as Widowmaker you are a classic sniper, as Bastion you become the turret yourself, and as Mei you can control your surroundings by freezing people and building walls of ice. Tank; tank heroes are your heavyweights. Slow with okay damage output,, but mostly designed to be a meat wall protecting the flimsier heroes on the team. Support; support characters are the ones who keep the team alive. As support you have abilities that give your team buffs, such as damage increase, speed boost, or extra health through shields. When you first start playing Overwatch, you may not know what role you want to fill. You may enjoy being the damage taker, or being the one who gets the kills, or the one who zips around providing help to your teammates. No matter what you do enjoy, you still have a place on your team where your role is incredibly helpful and if you get good at what you do, everyone you play with will appreciate it.

Verdict: Overwatch is a game that will last for a lifetime, alongside Blizzard’s other IPs like WOW and Starcraft. With constant support from it’s playerbase, its developers and anyone who appreciates teamwork, the game will continue to grow and cement itself in history as one of the greatest new IPs of this console generation. I personally have been playing this game almost every week since its release, and I seriously don’t have any plans of stopping in the forseeable future. It’s an incredible game to connect with new friends on, build bonds with people and increase your sense of self pride when you discover that you are essential to your team. Everyone who plays video games should try Overwatch and see the true power that a game like this can give to the world of desolate and dark FPS and increasingly bland yearly releases. This game is one of thevery few that earns, and deserves, the legendary 10/10 rating.

(Reviewed on June 3rd, 2017)

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

Title: Journey
Available On: Playstation 3, Playstation 4, PC
Reviewed On: Playstation 3
Info: Thatgamecompany, 2012

WARNING SPOILERS FOR JOURNEY

Story: Journey is a game about visuals, through and through. There isn’t a clear story or even a narrative, as the game shows progress through the level and world design as well as a set of short clips between levels. The “story” as it is follows a wandering nomad placed in a barren desert as they try to discover the nature of their existence and the destruction of an ancient group of people with incredible magic and technology throughout the varied levels of the game. The “cutscenes” between each of the levels has your character interacting with the spirits or deities of the lost civilization, and they describe the history of the world you play in through wall carving pictures and hieroglyphics.

Visuals/ Music: The art style in journey is one that is almost completely unique, it takes aspects of cell-shaded graphics like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and also a more realistic approach at times with high definition textures for the sand, rocks, and sky. The quality of the graphical engine really shines its brightest when there is a lot of sand or snow in the air, because the detail in the wind effects and how the particles float really makes the game become an immersive world more than anything. The music consists almost entirely of orchestrated pieces, and although you won’t catch yourself humming them later on or even placing them on a list of great music, each piece is epic, heartfelt, and really is what makes the game become so touching, by adding swells in the sound or changing the mood as you progress. This game can give you a wide range of different emotions through all that it does. It feels adventurous and carefree when you’re gliding along the sand or soaring through the sky, but it can feel stressed and intense as you reach the climax of the story.

Gameplay: Journey has some of the most fluid controls you can experience on a Dualshock 3, and although your character’s abilities are extremely limited (walking, pinging, jumping), you learn to control all of what you can do very quickly. Your main source of movement comes from your scarf, which grows longer as you go through the levels. The scarf allows you to fly, and the more scarf you have, the longer you can stay afloat. You can’t fly forever though, as you need to pay attention to the glowing glyphs that appear on your scarf because the amout of glyphs indicated how many more midair jumps you have left. The focus on this game is the ribbons, which is what your robe is made of as well as all of the “wildlife” you find around you along your quest. There are kite creatures which fly alongside you, bits of ribbon which can recharge your scarf’s glyphs, ribbon jellyfish that are used as floating platforms, and monstrous ribbon whales that you can ride on top of. All of these can be interacted with by using your ping ability, an area of affect that allows you to interact with your environment as well as the creatures. The main gameplay here is 3D platforming through the open levels, to find shrines and collectibles, but mixed throughout there are also downhill sliding stages where you glide smoothly through canyons to reach the bottom.

Verdict: Overall this game is such a unique experience, or at least for it’s time, and it is almost unfair to compare it to any other game. This epic experience shouldn’t take you more than a few hours to complete and is easily done in an afternoon, but the effect a wordless adventure like this one has on your perception of the world will last you a lifetime. In a world so oversaturated with explosive first person shooters and perfect graphic open world RPGs, this game deviated from the norm and showed us that video games as a medium can be so much more than just games, they can become life changing experiences. I give this game a 9/10, a must buy for any PS3 or PS4 owner.

Sidenote- This game is available primarily on the online Playstation store, but was also released on a physical disc called the Journey Collectors edition which also includes two other small games, Flower and Flow, both of which i might review later on.

(Reviewed on June 1st, 2017)

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

Title: Katamari Damacy
System: PS2
Info: Namco, 2004

Story: This is a weird game. Not necessarily in a bad way, but it’s just quirky and odd. The first thing you’ll most likely notice when you pop this disc in is the hilariously random intro, which includes giant mushrooms, dancing pandas, and an insane amount of rainbows. To be honest, it looks like a drug hallucination. After the intro you begin the story, which entails the King of the Cosmos getting drunk and accidentally destroying all of the stars in the sky (Don’t ask me how that works). After he breaks out of his drunken state, he sends you, the Prince, on your mission: Roll up objects on a ball called a katamari to sufficient size in order to replace the stars. After each level, a short movie plays telling a side story about two kids, their mom who refuses to believe the stars are gone, and their dad who is an astronaut, preparing to board a rocket. These have some funny animation and story, but the voice acting is god- awful.

Visuals/ Music: The graphics in this game are surprisingly good for an early PS2 title, and they would probably look even better if I was using the optimal video connectors and wasn’t on my low-res boob tube. The cartoony art style has really aged well, and although this game is long overdue for an HD remaster on PS4, you still feel the bouncy, lighthearted feel of the game through the smooth, simple textures and quirky world. The music in this game is also great, not really one of the best, but it fits the atmosphere well, so it works. Every song you hear is catchy and upbeat, and puts you in a good mood as you play. One song, called Que Sera Sera, surprised me at first because it used actual english lyrics. After my initial shock, I listened to the song a few times and found that it tells a funky story about a man and his true love, and how he wants to lump her up into his katamari to become a star… I didn’t say it had profound lyrics, but I actually appreciate how they managed to turn a game about pushing a ball of random crap into a romance story.

Gameplay: The game play starts off with a simple tutorial teaching you how to use the simple yet complex control scheme in an efficient way. To move, you push both DualShock 2 joysticks in the same direction, and in opposite directions to turn around. There are also techniques you can use like jumping over your Katamari to point-turn 180 degrees, but after the tutorial I never found myself using them in normal gameplay. Your objective in every level is to roll up any objects smaller than you to grow your volume until you reach the goal size, and by any objects, I really do mean any. There’s only one map in the whole game as far as I can tell, but it doesn’t seem to get repetitive because you play in different parts of it depending on your size, such as one room, a whole house, a city, a continent, or the whole planet. Every object you see can be picked up eventually. Crumbs, toys, furniture, people, cars, houses, skyscrapers, clouds, tornadoes, islands, and everything in between. Everything you grab makes you slightly bigger, and by the end of the level you feel unstoppable.

Verdict: This game is quirky, and funky, and I can guarantee it is unlike anything else you have ever experienced. It quickly became one of my personal favorites in the expansive and classic PS2 library, and I’m not alone because this game has a serious cult following. Pick up Katamari Damacy if you enjoy unique gameplay and unusual comedy, or just want something different to try. I give this game an 9/10, an awesome classic for PS2.

(Reviewed on April 12th, 2017)

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

Uncharted 2 is the sequel I never thought I needed. I had heard great things about it, it being one of the top rated games of all time, but I was still content with the story and characters of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. When I got the Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End PS4 bundle for christmas from my dad, I decided to buy the other sequels so I could work through the story until I could play the fourth installment. After blasting through the game over President’s Day weekend, I can successfully say that it has become one of my new favorite games and really excites me for what is coming in the next games.

Title: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Available On: Playstation 3, Playstation 4
Reviewed On: Playstation 3
Info: Naughty Dog, 2009
WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS FOR UNCHARTED 2: AMONG THIEVES

Story: Uncharted once again follows the marvelous misadventures of Nathan Drake, cocky-badass-treasure hunting-history nerd. Uncharted 2 follows his journey to continue Marco Polo’s quest to find the Cintimani Stone and the mythical city of Shambhala. The game begins with Drake waking up bleeding profusely from his chest whilst in a train car dangling off the side of a mountain in the Himalayas. It then cuts to a flash back that is the first half of the game, and Drake is now on a beach with his friend Harry Flynn and ex-lover Chloe Frazer, planning a museum heist to steal a lamp found by Marco Polo. After completing the heist, Drake is then betrayed by Flynn and sent to prison in Turkey. After 3 months, Drake is let out by Chloe and his old adventuring pal Victor “Goddamn” Sullivan. It then is revealed that Flynn is working for a Soviet Warlord Zoran Lazarevic, whose goal is to find the city of Shambhala and claim it for his own. Nathan and Sully go to Lazarevic’s camp in Borneo, with Chloe acting as a mole on the inside for them. There they find a phurba dagger, which becomes intrinsic to the plot later on. With the dagger is a note saying that the dagger is the key to Shambhala through a temple in Nepal. The epic journey through the mountains of Tibet and a wartorn city in Nepal begins, and you feel the true scope of this incredible story as Nathan Drake travels across the world. The game also greatly improves on characters over the original, as Flynn and Lazarevic are both 10 times more memorable antagonists than Mr. British-rich-power hungry-guy from the first one. (That isn’t to say that Lazarevic isn’t a stereotypical bad guy as well, but at least he’s more involved in the story.)

Visuals/ Music: Uncharted 2 is one of the best looking games, environmentally speaking, available on the PS3 or Xbox360. Every single part of the mountains, snow, villages, jungles, temples, and rubble is beautifully rendered in painstaking detail which lends an even greater sense of adventure to the whole game. You can spot rust marks on metal signs, cracks in every brick, and textured grit on the walls of the buildings. The water physics are great as well, and give an air of realism to the puddles and lakes you wouldn’t expect to notice so much. The biggest complaint with the game’s graphics are the character models, which at times really stick out of the world because they’re so much less detailed. When comparing the original Uncharted 2 on PS3 to the remastered 1080p 60FPS version on PS4, you can notice the difference in the character models quite a bit, and the eyes of the characters are weirdly the best thing that was improved. (Am I the only one freaked out by Chloe’s eyes and how shiny they are?) The music is the largest letdown of the game but still manages to be good, which says something about the overall quality of the game. The music isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t memorable at all. You get the classic horn-filled Uncharted theme when you boot up the game, but after that you become so engrossed in the puzzles and action the game provides, that the music just becomes background noise. Some of the more noticeable moments in the game come when there isn’t music at all, when you’re high in a mountain or sneaking around an enemy camp with only the ambiance of the wind and crunching of dirt to guide you.

Gameplay: The gameplay is the most incredible part of Uncharted 2, and is what (in my opinion) makes this game so incredible and memorable. Unlike Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune which had a handful of distinct gameplay sections, (shootout, vehicle, puzzle, platforming) Uncharted 2 blends the sections together seamlessly into the story to make the whole experience more meaningful. You can now shoot and perform takedowns while climbing, and the game focuses on making you feel as if you’re the underdog by constantly putting you in complex situations. The most memorable part of the game comes in the action gameplay sequences. If you’re getting shot at by a helicopter, fighting yetis in a cave or narrowly dodging explosions set off by an enormous tank in a Tibetian village, you certainly will remember it. Another thing Uncharted 2 beats its predecessor at is its puzzle solving. You now have free reign over the notebook Nate carries while in puzzle sections, and although its usage is scarce, you have to use your brain to figure out which pages you need to use to solve what is at hand. The final thing that makes this game better than the first is the combat you have to do throughout. You now have many more options to take out your enemies, including riot shields, handheld gatling guns and grenade launches. You can also throw propane tanks at the baddies and explode them, taking the idea of blowing up barrels to a whole new level. You are now no longer constricted to obvious fight areas while in combat, and foes can come at you at any time rather than just in a wide area with conveniently placed waist high boxes. (This is probably my favorite upgrade to the game) The difficulty also spikes about 2/3rds way through the game, as if the game is saying to you “you better know your stuff now punk, because it’s about to get real”. You start finding less ammo, the amount of enemies in an area just about doubles, and the platforming becomes a puzzle in itself, as you really need to start scoping out your environment before bounding off, lest you find a death pit or dead end.

Verdict: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a game you buy a console for. Seriously, it's that memorable. The game provides you with constant crazy action and deep character interaction, but remains upbeat through witty dialogue and incredible open environments to explore. If you’re a fan of action movies (especially Indiana Jones) or just cinematography in general, this is a game for you. The game ends up feeling like a true cinematic experience, and takes you into its action with pride. The occasional frame rate drop and odd graphic glitches might bother some people, but the overall experience is so incredible you’ll be willing to overlook the small issues it does have. This is one of the highest rated video games of all time, and rightfully so. If you own a PS3 or PS4, don’t hesitate to pick this up as it is only 10-15$ at GameStop. Uncharted 2 changed the action adventure game genre, and rightfully deserves an amazing 9/10.

(Reviewed on September 17, 2017)

(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)

Super Mario Land, honestly, is incredibly underrated. I may be more glowing in this review than most people are, but I think that’s because my weird connection to this game comes from the fact that I feel like I discovered a hidden Mario gem. Among all the classic (NES,GB,SNES) Mario games, this is the one that is BY FAR talked about the least, and honestly I find that kinda sad.

I’d been watching a lot of The Gaming Historian and I saw the episode on the Super Mario Land series, and one day thought that it would be pertinent for me to give the first one at least a try. I then proceeded to hop onto Vimm’s lair, download a Gameboy emulator and a ROM of the game in a couple of minutes, then get sucked into the game for a couple of hours while simultaneously putting off my homework.

This is a different Mario game than its contemporaries in some ways- its far smaller than the rest, sitting at a smooth 4 worlds with 3 levels each, but it manages to pack that tiny length with so much variety and charm that it blew my friggin’ mind. I think this bite/pocket sized length is my favorite aspect of this game. It does so much within the limitations of a Gameboy launch title in terms of getting the most out of the power and visuals of the early development of the system that it really did impress me. Each level in this game is SO visually and mechanically distinct from the last because it has to compact everything down to such a short length, and this makes the game feel much more varied than even Super Mario Bros. 3 or Super Mario World. On top of this, there are two shoot-em-up levels dispersed throughout the game, with one being the final level, and this is something that (as far as I know) no other Mario game has. That fact alone makes this a super special game, but honestly it goes even further than that for me.

I’ll come out and say it, this heavy, drops-like-a-stone Mario is my favorite Mario controls I’ve played. I always felt so in control of my movements with where I fell and with the lack of any sliding when you stop running, it was super refreshing to come off of SM3 and World which are so incredibly momentum based. This enjoyment I had with the controls in Super Mario Land meant that I was finally compelled to get good at a Mario 2D platformer, and that was a great feeling to have coming from someone who historically wrote off the genre as too simplistic to fully dig into.

This game also has one of my absolute favorite video game soundtracks of all time. Birabuto and Muda kingdoms are incredible tunes, and the ending theme has no business being as killer as it is. Seriously, go give it a listen. It does so much with the simple tune chips of the gameboy, and I absolutely love it for that. I also just love how weird this game is. It’s incredibly visually distinct from the other Mario games, the only consistency being power mushrooms, stars and goombas. You fight robots that throw their heads at you, fish skeletons, fireball-shooting seahorses, flying and running moai heads, and even jumping vampires that can’t be beaten by jumping on them. Even the Koopas act differently in this than any other Mario, with their shells exploding shortly after you bounce off of them, giving even that simple enemy a unique flair.

There are also a few mechanics that this game has that I wish were translated into other Mario games, because it would be great to see them fleshed out more. The only new power-up here (well, really the only power-up) is the Super Ball, which is incredibly satisfying to use. It bounces around the stage, turning the level into a mini game of breakout. It can also collect coins, leading to some fun bonus areas, and can deal a lot of damage to an enemy if they end up trapped in a corridor with it. I also really love the stage exits and associated chutes-and-ladders style 1-Up mini-game, giving you a small platforming challenge that rewards you for taking a risk and then giving you a chance to earn some lives back at the end of each level. This is my favorite of the level end bonuses in Mario, far surpassing the cards from 3 or the stars from World. There are also hidden elevators in a few levels that allow you to get on top of some of the levels, which is satisfying to learn about, even though it's one of the simplest hidden level gimmicks in the series.

This game isn’t all roses and daisies (pun intended) for me though. The last world and last level of the last world in particular, are such a crazy difficulty spike that it isn’t that fun to get to. I ended up having to learn to use save states on the mGBA emulator I was using to get past the STUPID ASS CHICKENS in the last level, and I had a really hellish time beating Tatanga, the final boss, because it was such an insane shakeup from the rest of the game and required a genuine level of shmup challenge that I really was not expecting. This final area really did knock my enjoyment of the game down a solid notch, leaving a bad taste in my mouth as I finished it up (though that credits tune certainly helped alleviate some of that), which is unfortunate because I do really like this game a heck of a lot.

It’s short, it’s weird as hell, and it’s significantly different in a lot of ways from the games that surround it in its own series, but I really cannot recommend Super Mario Land enough. Give it a whirl some time on the 3DS e-shop or an emulator, this game really needs more love.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is a game I was honestly skeptical of going in. It's widely renowned as one of the best of its already highly regarded genre, and has the seat as the most hyped game of all time when it came out- but as someone who isn't super into straight up 2-D platformers, I didn't expect to personally get much out of it.

I'm pleasantly surprised though, to say that I really do like this game a lot. It's not quite flawless or the peak of the Mario series (I actually still like the original Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros. 2 more, personally), but it's a damn charming game absolutely dripping with innovation and creativity.

I'll just get my complaints out of the way first, starting with the repetitiveness of some of the level theming. While each world has its own general theme, ranging from the usual grass and desert to the wild sky and pipe worlds, there are levels in each world that feel functionally and visually identical. The main contenders for this unholy category are the airship and castle levels, which ended up pissing me off as the game progressed because they were just SO DAMN SIMILAR EVERY TIME. I mean seriously, ending each world with a nigh identical cutscene and setup is bad enough, but making each final level look like sections of the same map is just boring and frustrating. It doesn't help that the boss fights in both the castles and airships are also incredibly underwhelming and repetitive, so much so that I was so used to slightly remixed Boom Boom fights and lame Koopalings that the Dark World at the end just left me bored. Unfortunately this also extends to some of the regular levels in certain worlds that just feel the same and slightly remixed versions of previous worlds, leading to a lot of the game being visually samey and lacking in terms of thematic variety.

The game is also just too much for the NES to handle, to be honest, and it has more slow down and visual errors than I think I've ever seen in any major Nintendo game. The game absolutely SHITS itself when there are a certain number of moving sprites on the screen, slowing down to a crawl that makes platfoming nearly impossible. It can happen at any moment and inconsistently too, since it only takes that one extra sprite to break the metaphorical camel's back where the game switches from running great to chugging like Joey from Joey's World Tour. There's also this weird visual glitch that plagues the entire game, with sprites on the edge of the screen on the right appearing green as you run, and the sprites on the left disappearing too early. I played the game on Nintendo Switch NES Online, but I highly doubt that its the Switch port that created the errors. It really is ugly to look at and it distracted me on many occasions.

Really though, those two things aren't major enough blemishes for me to discount everything else this game does fantastically. The chug and glitch that the game experiences is wholly because this game is years ahead of its time in so many ways. Just thinking of the platformer genre I grew up with, so much of the staples of it came completely from this game. Collectable power-ups? Auto-scrolling levels? WORLD MAPS? There’s so much that this game did to innovate on the stagnation of Mario games in the 80s that it boggles the mind, and it makes the scope of the game gargantuan when compared to its predecessors. It also certainly is one of the best looking games on the NES, with sprites multiple times more detailed, colorful and expressive than the ones in the original Super Mario Bros. I personally really love the visual details in the level platforms and background flavor wise, with depth, charm and character oozing out of each sprite. On top of that the game is so much more animated than the original, with small touches like Mario grabbing his hat when he crouches and Spikes barfing up spike balls giving everything a lot more personality. A personal favorite of mine is the title screen of the game, which has a colorful logo with a fun animation of Mario dicking around in front of it, all presented like a staged play.

Super Mario Bros. 3 is also a game that set the gold standard for new mechanics at the time. There are so many new things to handle in 3 that it almost overwhelmed me at first, since I wasn’t expecting so much to be thrown at me. First, there’s an inventory of power-ups to deal with, and the new systems of collecting them in mini games, challenge levels and Toad houses. This same inventory also contains items that can be used to interact with the overworld map, letting you find secrets, extra paths or even skip entire levels, which is just so damn cool. The aforementioned power-ups are also kinda bonkers when compared to the simplicity of the fire flower and power stars of ye old days, with the Frog Suit, Racoon Leaf, Hammer Suit and Tanooki Suit each having impact on Mario’s combat, traversal ability and even just his basic movement mechanics. You can FLY with the racoon and tanooki suits, managing the P (heh) meter at the bottom of the screen, which incentivises you to find ways to speed through levels and git gud so you can use that oh-so-satisfying speed boost and take-off. You can also kick and grab and carry a bunch of crap in the levels, allowing for a lot more interactability in the levels, leading to some fun puzzle levels that help break up the pacing of the game a bit and make it feel more mechanically complex. There are also level specific mechanics that are REALLY damn cool, like the one pipe world level where you ride on these controllable arrow blocks, the giant world level where you swap between big and small, and the pipe world level where you have to go off the screen and wrap around Pac-Man style. I really like the pipe world, if you couldn’t tell.

Look, I’m not known for my supreme consistency, but I’m about to compliment this game on its level creativity. BEFORE YOU STOP READING- I’m saying this only to highlight the creativity of this game, and to accentuate my earlier criticism about the levels that stick out as repetitive and uninspired. This game has a lot of basic areas, like grass, desert, water and the spooky Bowser world at the end, but the ones that stand out are honestly some of the best platforming worlds I’ve played. I mean COME ON, Giant, Sky and Pipe World are all absolutely fantastic. The concept of a Mario world where everything is big is great, and introduces new ways to deal with even the most basic of enemies and obstacles. Sky world has the ridiculously delicious gimmick of changing up the world map halfway through, which is accessed through a vine in one of the levels, and you can see the rest of the world down below. And honestly Pipe world is probably my favorite platformer world I’ve played. Each level has its own unique mechanics, with spins on exploration and puzzle solving, and it gives a new context to the iconic mario pipe. Chef’s kiss.
Even in the basic worlds like the introductory Grass world, it has a unique spin in that the level platforms are bolted onto the background or hanging from the sky, along with environmental details.

This game also has a TON of amazing new enemies to encounter outside of the mediocre boss battles, contributing to it having a super fun and creative vibe all around. Here’s a list of some of the highlights: Spikes, little green guys that barf up spike balls, Buster Beetles, an enemy that picks up blocks in the environment and hurl them towards you (IN THE PERFECT ARC THAT ALWAYS SCREWS ME OVER), Chain Chomps that are obviously iconic, Ptooies, walking Piranha Plants that blow spikeballs over their heads, and Pile-driver Micro Goombas that hide inside blocks and jump around when you come near. ON TOP of these the game shines in the smaller more obscure enemies that are just unique and fun to look at, like Micro goombas, Walking Piranhas, Jelectros, Shoe Goombas, Hot Foots (hot feet?), Munchers, and my personal favorite, the Stretches.

All in all, I think writing this long-ass review kinda showed me that I like this game a lot more than I originally thought. There’s so much about it that I think is wacky and creative and supremely innovative, and I really do want to play it through more times to catch things I missed and give it more attention. Super Mario Bros. 3 might not be perfect, but it's a really damn charming game that I think is a must-play for any Nintendo platforming fan. Its influence can be felt to this day in so many ways across the games medium, and while I might not have the nostalgia for it that it’s biggest fans do, I can fully agree that most of its praise is fully warranted.

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.

Marvel's Avengers has so much charm and potential that it genuinely pisses me off that the final product is such a shit show. I couldn't complete the game because of a terribly designed mission close to the end of the campaign that bugged out and wouldn't let me proceed.

The game has decent combat and fun characters, but that is all hidden behind a swamp of buggy action, repetitive level design and mission structure and more texture pop in, improper rendering and glitches that invade every segment of the game.

I had really high hopes going in, but damn this is just an underwhelming, underbaked product that I'm severely disappointed in.

Super Mario 64 is a game that is simultaneously far ahead of its time, but also very clearly shows its age in some areas. The controls are just as fluid and razor-tight as Odyssey is today, with the backflip, triple jump, wall jump and long jump feeling wonderful to pull off.

The soundtrack is also classic as hell, with nearly every track being super iconic. The only issue is that those songs are re-used in multiple stages, leaving some of the later worlds feeling less unique because of it.

I also really love the flexibility and exploration that the game allows the player to have, with stars accessible in multiple orders and tons of hidden stars and secret levels scattered across the castle hub world.

The real issue with the age however, is the camera. This thing is just an obstacle, with the set angles feeling super restrictive and the locked camera movements when in certain areas preventing you from seeing where you're heading- leading to some unfair death. I also don't think that the game has consistent level design, with some of the later levels feeling unfair to traverse due to one hit kills that kick you out of the painting and send you to the start of the world. I also think that some of the visuals don't quite hold up, with really stretched out textures, and jagged, almost unfinished areas in later worlds.

I do still really enjoy this game, even with its glaring faults that provide a pretty significant hurdle for a modern gamer to get over. With an improved camera, polished visuals and some modern game design philosophies, this game would feel new today- its just that far ahead of its contemporaries. 8/10

Donkey Kong Country is a beautiful, atmospheric and infinitely charming platformer that unfortunately I'm too much of a wuss to play without rewind. I'm very glad I at least beat it, and I did have a good time because of the game's sense of humor and lovable characters, but the challenge of dying in one hit and having to get a game over after too many deaths is too much of an old-school game design philosophy for me to truly say I loved it.

In a way I feel bad about using rewind an absolutely ludicrous amount since it let me cheese my way through essentially everything, but I don't think I would have beaten the game if I hadn't, since this is a time where I really have a lot to play.

Excited to discuss it on Back Log Banter next week and also hop into Donkey Kong Country: Diddy Kong's Quest when it releases on Super Nintendo Online next week. Also Mario's Picross.