Y con Trials and Tribulations siento que se le da un cierre digno a la trilogia de Phoenix Wright no solo ofreciendo la experiencia definitiva con mecánicas nuevas y mecánicas pulidas, sino que también se le da cierre a varios arcos que se han venido construyendo desde el primer y algunos desde el segundo juego. Me encanto como cosas que no tenían mayor importancia, aquí le dan un giro que hace que todo esté conectado y referencien muchas veces casos y eventos de los anteriores juegos.

Regresan personajes que ya hemos conocido en anteriores entregas, pero también tenemos nuevos y antes de hablar de Godot, tengo que mencionar que... vrga, tenía años que no sentía el impulso de partirle la cara con solo ver al personaje, en este caso me paso con el puto de Ron y el del Restaurante francés, no solo por su físico, sino por su personalidad que me dieron asco (ojala no me funen por haber dicho esto xD). Ahora si, en cuanto a Godot pues bueno, si has estado en foros desde hace más de 1 década ya habrás visto a varios usuarios que tienen como foto de perfil a Godot y creo que habiendo terminado esta entrega puedo entender porque, es un personaje lleno de carisma, con excelentes diálogos y la historia que se va desarrollando con él es muy interesante (y además es latino), pero siento que está un poco sobrevalorado... Digo, me gusto, pero siento que no es un personaje legendario o algo por el estilo y esto siento a que se debe que fui con altas expectativas y al final su resolución me pareció pobre en muchos aspectos, al punto que hasta me hizo sentir mal, puesto que se merecía mucho más que un final como ese (que tampoco es como que se deje muy en claro que sucedió con él).

Otra cosa que me encanto fue que no se centraron solamente en Wright, sino que muchos de los casos los tomamos desde perspectivas de personajes diferentes y cada uno se siente único y eso fue excelente debido a que dio mucho juego para no solo ver cosas del presente, sino del pasado. No lo he jugado aún, pero siento que esto fue la inspiración para "Investigations".

Tiene sus fallos como lo es que algunos casos se siguen sintiendo que tienen finales anticlimaticos o apresurados, pero por suerte a diferencia de la anterior entrega, en esta son la minoría los que son así, de hecho mencionaría el último caso que aunque tiene sus momentos "meh", en su mayoría fue excelente y ese final con arto fanservice de la primera entrega fue hermoso.

Irónico que me tomo más de 4 años terminar el primero, pero solo 1 mes terminar el 2 y 3. Le pondré pausa por el momento, me siento medio quemado de la saga (no en el mal sentido, solo que he jugado demasiado en tan poco tiempo), hace unos días se anunció la trilogia de Apolo para el próximo año así que lo retomaré cuando salga, aunque creo que mínimo jugaré antes que se acabe el año al "Great Ace Attorney", le tengo ganas y me dijeron que no es necesario haber jugado a la trilogía de Apolo para disfrutarla.

As of the time I've logged this, I'm fairly new to Backloggd, so I thought, hey, why not make my first review about my favourite game of all-time, right? And that game is none other than Sonic Colours DS.

I don't think many fans knew that a DS version of Sonic Colours even existed. And when they did, they only passed it off as okay or not worth noting, due to the Wii version being much more preferred by the fandom. But I personally feel like this version of the game is absolutely phenomenal in every conceivable aspect, and now I'm here to explain why I feel that's the case.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as Rush and Rush Adventure: boosting on a 2D plane as you speed through levels. As it stands, I believe that the Rush games have the best and most refined gameplay out of any Sonic game, with controls that feel incredibly tight, responsive and flowing, working wonderfully for both incredibly fast paced sections and the miscellaneous platforming challenges they throw at you. And Colours DS not only carries that over, but makes them even better with the additional moves you can pull off; Stomp, Slide and Wall Jump, all of which are utilised wonderfully throughout the levels and are really fun to make use of in their own right. It even makes the Homing Attack better (in spite of having a short delay between attacks) because while the one present in the Rush games was cool, it had one jarring issue: It could home in on enemies that you're not even facing, and there's a tendency to take damage if you're near the ground while the Homing Attack is ongoing. Colours DS fixes both of these problems with the addition of the reticle that you'd see in the 3D boost game, and there's zero chances of it ever backfiring on ground enemies, plus the fact that it's now mapped to the jump button instead of the R button, so people will actually know the Homing Attack exists (I did not know about the Homing Attack in Rush until, like, 2018). All of these additions and fixes really help make the gameplay a lot smoother as a result.

Although, tricking is no longer present, which I don't mind, since it still maintains the element of the Rush formula of making good use of the Boost while you still have some energy in your gauge, and the addition of the Wisps more than makes up for it imo They're beautifully implemented into the levels, as they can be used to find alternate pathways, make gameplay faster, or make use of some pretty cool gimmicks. And in some instances, they can be used to find hidden pathways or different ways to approach existing pathways, and doing both is incredibly satifactory to do. The fact that they have equal amounts of mandatory and optional uses makes them feel balanced without taking too much away from the core game. One thing about Colours DS as a whole that really makes it so replayable is the amount of experimentation you can do, and while I will go more in depth with that more with the level design, there's still a lot of that with the Wisps. It's already great how they can be used in the areas designated for them to reach branching pathways, but there are also several areas where a casual player wouldn't think to use a certain Wisp because it's not designated as one where it would be useful, yet it rewards you all the same for thinking outside the box. As for how each Wisp functions on their own...

Cyan Laser - You're sent flying in any given direction, but unlike the Wii version where you have all the time in the world to aim yourself, you're given 2 seconds before you're automatically sent flying in the aimed trajectory, or you can press any of the face buttons to shoot faster, and I prefer this approach way more because you really need to think fast about where you want to aim, and this ensures that the flow and fast pace of the levels is kept. Plus the Laser specific gimmicks in the DS version are a lot better utilised in the levels as they build onto the amazing exploration and experimentation that make Colours DS's levels and gameplay so amazing.

Yellow Drill - This turns you into a, well, drill that allows you to navigate diggable areas and traverse water faster. There's not much difference between this and the Wii version in terms of functionality, but I think this one has the advantage over the Wii's Drill because the physics are a lot more manageable to control at higher speeds, helped by the transition from normal speed to fast speed when holding down one of the face buttons feeling more natural. On top of this, there's a great sense of risk and reward with this WIsp. If you have the controls mastered, you can get through particularly challenging sections in a breeze or access new pathways. But if you accidentally bump into a wall, it can be a pace breaker and it's quite the challenge to gain back control quickly. In other words, utilising the Wisp in a fast but steady manner is immensely rewarding thanks to the way it controls in the DS version and the challenges designed around it.

Orange Rocket - This sends you flying upwards at high speeds before free falling after the gauge runs out, and it's the one Wisp shared with the Wii version that has the most technical differences between them. Compared to the slow build-up, and slow free falling that you can't break out of at all and have no horizontal control when trying to speed it up of the Wii version, the DS version has the Rocket take a single second to start shooting up at high speeds, enhanced by a really nice looking squash and stretch animation. And free falling is the biggest upgrade here because you have much better horizontal movement, and you can break out of it any time by either stomping or jump dashing, plus the falling speed is more akin to Unleashed, which makes it feel a lot faster.

Red Burst - This turns you into a red fiery ball that allows you to bounce anywhere in the air until the gauge runs out, and the amount of aerial control you have with your bursts is what makes this such a blast to use. You can either choose to do small bursts by pressing any of the face buttons once or charge them up a slight bit to get a faster and longer distance one. Not only does it feel great to pull both of these off, but you can utilise both burst speed and distances to your advantage in a level when properly utilised, and at absolute best, you can find a lot of new hidden pathways or even create your own with it. And the massive flame shockwave you can pull off by fully charging up a burst makes it even better as while you're charging it up, your falling speed slows, but your horizontal speed is maintained and when the shockwave is released, it clears out every enemy and obstacle in you current vicinity, and there's a lot of satisfaction to be found with using both of these elements to get through the levels faster.

Violet Void - This turns you into, well, a huge void that can suck in everything within your current radius, and while there's a lot of appeal and fun to be gained from that alone, there's more to this Colour Power on a substantial that makes it fantastic to make use of. The size of the void dictates your speed, so there's a lot of satisfaction with building up more speed as you suck in more objects. It also dictates the range of which things are sucked in, meaning that you can also suck in enemies and Wisp capsules that are inaccessible otherwise, the latter being really useful to finding additional pathways. But my favourite thing about it is how it controls. You can move it in any direction, but once you tap said direction, it will not stop for anything, meaning that moving it in a different direction is no easy task. However, it's not a case of having worse controls, it's a case of it being a Colour Power that's not the easiest to get a proper grasp of since it's using the negative energy of the Wisps, much like the Purple Frenzy in the Wii version. Mastering the Wisp and using it to find hidden paths and get through platforming challenges effectively is a lot more fun than it should be.


Complimenting this amazing gameplay is the fantastic level design. The main things I want to see in a Sonic game is to see a nice balance of speed and platforming, with some little touches of exploration. And Colours DS handles all of these elements perfectly. Whether you're looking for the Red Rings or finding alternative pathways through your own skill or the Wisps, there's plenty of worthwhile and satisfactory exploration in this game. And adding onto the experimentation element I talked about earlier, the way it ties into the level design is playing around with the "highest pathway = fastest pathway" philosophy present in several other Sonic games. This philosophy did work well enough in previous games, and definitely worked well in the other two Rush games, but it's taken a step further in Colours DS because the fastest pathway isn't always the highest one you can take, incentivizing you to explore every inch of any given level to get the best time, and, in turn, the best rank. Although, speaking of the ranking system, this is another thing that's perfectly carried over from the Rush games. In those games, you had to take advantage of every single element of the gameplay to rack up enough points for them, including holding onto as many Rings and pulling off as many tricks as possible, while also getting the fastest time on a level to obtain that juicy S rank. Colours DS carries this same philosophy, having to hold onto Rings and utilise Wisps in the best way possible to get points for both of those categories, with the "getting the fastest time" element enhanced with the experimentation present in the level design. It's definitely no walk in the park if you're a casual player, and I love that. It makes getting an S rank for the first time in a stage super satisfying. And if you get good enough, you won't even need a lot of Rings to get an S rank.

Plus, the platforming is overall really creative, with stage assets that fit perfectly into the levels they're in without sacrificing any sense of speed and offering some really fun challenges that get better and better the further you get into the game without ever feeling cheap. What's really impressive about the platforming challenges in this game is that this is made by a studio who has become quite infamous for throwing cheap bullshit at certain points or at every turn with their Sonic games, particularly the Advance trilogy and 4 Episode 1, which are filled with plenty of needless bottomless pits and enemy/hazard placements that you'd never be able to account for. Even the previous two Rush games aren't safe from some of these caveats. But Colours DS is completely devoid of any baffling moments like this, to the point where bottomless pits are almost non-existent throughout the entire game. All the challenges the game throws at you are things you can fully account for and are intricately designed around everything the game allows you to do, and mastering these challenges to the best of your ability to keep up the flow of the levels is always a blast. As for my thoughts on each individual world in the game...

Tropical Resort - An amazing starter stage that introduces plenty of its design philosophies in the best way imaginable by giving you a lot of branching pathways and a lot of ways to approach them, having simple, but engaging platforming, and establishing the sense of speed to familiarize you with how fast it's gonna be, all before you even get the boost ability. And when you do, all of these aspects are amplified as more pathways are opened up in Act 1, and there are plenty of them to go around in Act 2. Not even mentioning just how much you have to experiment with once you unlock the Red Burst.

Sweet Mountain - The way the level specific gimmicks like the gummy rocket and the hot air balloon that you can send upwards if you're in Burst form, incredibly creative platforming built around food themed assets, and the utilisation of the Red Burst in general make this level an absolute blast.


Starlight Carnival - The exploration and experimentation are two of the best things Colours DS has going for it, and Starlight Carnival has these at their absolute peak because it is by far the most open ended level in the game, enhanced by the gimmick of grind rails being activated with enough speed when going through switches, as they open up even more pathways that add to the already fantastic experimentation. Although if I had to lodge even a slight criticism with this game as a whole, it's the fact that there's an autoscrolling ship section near the end of Act 2 that takes up an entire minute

Planet Wisp - Undoubtedly the best level in the entire game, and definitely my favourite level in the entire Sonic series. It encapsulates everything that makes a Sonic level great, having the best platforming challenges out of every other level in the game, particularly clever Wisp capsule placement, tripling down on the phenomenal Wisp utilisation by incentivizing you to hold onto an Orange Rocket before you find a specific place to use it at several points, and even having two branched out Wisp sections in some areas, topped off with fantastically designed Yellow Drill sections (especially the ones at the end of both Acts).

Aquarium Park - Imagine Water Palace from Rush, or Coral Cave from Rush Adventure, but with Colours DS's platforming challenges and Wisp utilization all over it. That's pretty much this level as it also offers a lot of fast paced and fun platforming both in and out of the water, enhanced by how you can use both the Yellow Drill and especially the Cyan Laser throughout the stage


Asteroid Coaster - Despite being the most linear level in the game, it still manages to be on par with the levels prior to it by ramping up the difficulty of the platforming challenges to provide a perfect test of the skills you've been learning throughout the game, almost giving Planet Wisp a run for its money with how immaculately designed said challenges are, and the little exploration and experimentation present being some of the best in the entire game.

Terminal Velocity - A highly challenging, but rewarding final level that perfectly encapsulates the intensity of the current situation within the story. The amusement park is now crumbling to pieces and yet in spite of all that, Eggman’s still out to get you, which the latter further adds to the intensity because if you slow down for too long, the snake head of one of the Nega Wisp Armor’s arms is gonna come for you, so you need to keep a consistent speed while not using up all your boost energy and avoiding all the other obstacles your way. Doing all this is no easy task, but it’s also incredibly fair with how you can see what’s coming from the bottom screen due to the top down perspective, and it is incredibly satisfying to be able to get through the entire thing without taking any sort of damage.

I think I've made it clear that the base game is amazing, but the content beyond just the main levels is also top tier. Starting with the Special Stages. They're a lot similar to Rush where you're on a halfpipe and you use touch screen controls. They were a lot of fun in Rush due to how much precision you were given for the overall design of them, and they're based in Colours DS for the same reason. Although nowhere near as demanding as Rush's stages, there's still a fair amount of challenge here to keep players on their toes, as you still have to use the Touch Screen's ultra precise controls to your advantage. And unlike Mania's special stages, the difficulty progression here is actually consistent. Plus, I love the approach they take with them here. Going for a 3 lap structure to collect different coloured orbs while going through the stage faster with each one is a blast. And with the added challenge of ensuring you don't collect certain coloured orbs before you need to collect that colour, it's insanely satisfying to end up getting all the orbs I need to move on and get the Chaos Emerald, especially when it feels like I'm just barely gonna get enough of them.

There are 3 side missions in each world that you can tackle if you want more to do. The fact that these missions have little cutscenes including pretty solid interactions between Sonic and his friends, depending on who he meets in the locations he's in, makes this game stand out from the Wii version in terms of the story, and I'll elaborate more on that later. Plus, these missions are a lot of fun, ranging from collecting a lot of Rings, to beating stages in a small amount of time while using time boxes to your advantage, to defeating a lot of enemies before the time runs out. Not only do they have creative uses of the game's based level design, but some of these missions, you really gotta up your game with how fast and skillful you can be if you want the highest rank. And they have 2 Red Star Rings each if you like exploring the levels for them. I love how much replay value these missions give to the game. Speaking of the Red Star Rings, you don't unlock Super Sonic by collecting them like you do in the Wii version. Instead, you unlock music for the sound test, cutscene events and concept art for the game, something that would carry over to Generations, and much like that game, I'd say they're pretty worthwhile rewards for exploring the levels, and there’s even a worthwhile reward for getting all of them which I won’t mention here.

Then there are the bosses. Pretty much all of them offer a fun challenge for the casual player, having a lot of creativity with their designs and attacks. And the Wisp utilisation for all of them is especially fantastic. But the best thing about them is If you have the correct speed and timing in regards to attacking the bosses and then using the Wisps, you can skillfully take them out within seconds, adding a sense that you're taking these fuckers out at the same speed that Sonic would in real time. And I love how this still holds true for the one boss that actually requires the Yellow Drill to beat it, the Drillinator, which is defo my favourite main boss in the game with how you can utilise the Yellow Drill to beat it faster.

And the two final bosses are just incredible. Nega Wisp Armor utilises every single Wisp you've ever used in the game into attacks that can be harder to dodge than any other obstacle the previous bosses have thrown at you. And it has you utilising what you've learnt with taking out the previous bosses because you need to actively save the Wisps by boosting into the boss every time it stops attacking, which is also how you had to obtain the Wisps for the other bosses. And the best part is that the amazing skillful timing element that was present with the prior bosses still applies here. And it's all topped off with an amazing final blow where you gotta mash the boost button with the massive Rainbow Boost powered by all the Wisps you just saved, and plowing straight through it to save the remaining ones that Eggman trapped in his machine.Then you have Nega Mother Wisp, which ups the intensity by a lot. Having to avoid attacks that either limit your movement or just bring you to a stop while needing to aim your own attacks to send asteroids flying at her arms is intensely challenging, and it's even more so when you get to a section where you gotta avoid said attacks as you're flying towards her weak spot, because there's a lot of pressure in doing that and making sure you lock onto said weak spot! And having to do this 3 times has me on edge every time I replay it. It's easily my favourite final boss in the series for all these reasons!

Now, I want to talk about the versus mode, the game's solution to a multiplayer mode in the vein of the Wii version's Sonic Simulator levels. Except you play through actual game levels here instead of just block levels with a LEGO theme. In this mode, you fight against an opponent that’s shown on the bottom screen and use items to hold them back as you try to reach the goal before them. I love the intensity that comes as a result of the items as you and your opponent are constantly at odds trying to screw the other over while trying to make itn through the platforming challenges that the levels themselves bring forth. Speaking of, I really like the fact that it has some levels that are exclusive to this mode in particular, all of which offer the aforementioned plaforming challenges that could easily pass off as main levels because they're just as well designed here. It would have been easy to just use the main levels because nobody would have cared, but they took the extra mile and it paid off wonderfully to further enhance this mode.

Okay, now that I’ve covered everything I wanted to with the gameplay, I want to talk about the story. The premise is the same as the Wii version, with Sonic and Tails entering Eggman’s newly built amusement park in space and discovering that he’s using it as a base to hold Wisps captive to power up his mind control beam, but as someone who actually has some appreciation for how the story is written in the Wii version, I cannot deny how amazingly the DS version writes the story. It gets straight to the point with how it goes through the plot without dragging things out with jokes that are either too childish for most people to laugh out or just break the tone of a certain scene, with the comedy that is here being legitimately effective. And the main element I liked about Wii’s story, the interactions between Sonic and Tails, are still present in the DS version, potentially even more so here, and it’s always entertaining to see how they play off each other. Plus, when going to a planet for the first time, you get to see Sonic and Tails actually interacting with each Wisp that you’ll get to use in said planets. They’re not major, but it adds a lot of charm to the story as we get to see Sonic actually connecting with these Wisps to some degree, and it’s definitely a step above them only interacting with Yacker in the Wii version.

One major problem I had with the Wii version’s story is that Eggman’s amusement park is established as something that would be impossible to miss, yet absolutely no-one but Sonic and Tails bothered to come here, and it’s hard to buy that only they would be interested in this huge ass amusement park in space that just got built. And the DS version actually fixes that problem through the game’s side missions, because you get to encounter a few of Sonic’s friends that were intrigued by the park. This not only helps the amusement park feel more lively with the amount of characters you come across, but it also leads to a lot of entertaining interactions between the cast, and it helps that they all have really great characterization across the board. Another element that makes their inclusions so great is that in almost every side mission, the characters are coming across what they describe as intriguing rides that they want Sonic to check out, and this furthers adds to the feeling of being in a theme park because Sonic actually tries out these "rides" in the side missions, as opposed to just speeding through every single inch of what Eggman built. And in Shadow and Omega’s case, their contributions actually add a lot to the story, because the side missions in Asteroid Coaster build up to Sonic and Tails breaking into Eggman’s headquarters and finding the database for the Nega Mother Wisp that actually does come into fruition if you’ve gotten all the Chaos Emeralds.

Some other improvements I found over the Wii version include Orbot and Cubot actually being competent and somewhat of a threat when they’re the ones to instigate challenges within the side missions, Sonic wanting to find Yacker before they leave the amusement park, Tails wanting to fight with Sonic when Eggman comes with the Nega Wisp Armor instead of lacking any confidence in beating him, and Tails making a remark that Sonic’s always super charged when he mentions how he felt a rush of energy from getting power from the White Wisps instead of the stupid scene where Tails doesn’t believe the idea of Sonic getting some strange powers from the Cyan Wisp. And the additional climax of Sonic facing off the Nega Mother Wisp is absolutely amazing with adding the sentiment that all the Wisps have a mother that has raised them, and wrapping the story up in the best way possible by having all the planets disappear after she’s been freed from the Nega energy. So, in all, Colours DS’s story may be a simple one, but the way it’s written is absolutely incredible on all fronts, giving us an engaging plot, fun character interactions, improving on the shortcoming that came with the Wii version’s story, adding so much to the writing that gives it a lot of charm, and all of it paying off in the best of ways.

And I guess I’ll cap this review off by covering the superficial elements, starting with the visuals. Definitely a hot take, but I prefer the visual style of this game over the Wii version. Not to say that the visuals in the Wii version didn’t look great, especially given what console it was on, but I could also make the same case for the DS version. I;ve always loved the visual style that the Rush games went for, and Colours DS carries that over in the best of ways. The sprite work for the map screen is fantastic, and amazingly captures the vibes of each planet. And it gets even better when you actually enter a level, and the amount of colour present in each level is incredibly appealing, on top of being able to balance out which parts are natural for the planet and which parts Eggman tampered with, offering a perfect visual balance between the natural parts of the respective world and the machinery that communicate the themes which were present all the way back in the 16-bit games. And the visual style for the bosses is just so fucking great with how it’s all 3D rendered, with said rendering being on point for a DS game. I totally get why they capped the frame rate to 30fps for the bosses and it doesn’t feel jarring in the slightest.

And finally, we have the music, which easily could have just been compressed versions of the Wii’s already amazing musc, but aside from the map screen theme, every single song in this game has been remixed to fit with the DS’s soundchip, and they all go just as hard as they did in the Wii version. In fact, much like the visuals, I somewhat prefer the music in the DS version with how amazing these melodies have been translated to fit the soundchip, especially Planet Wisp, Nega Wisp Armor Phase 1, and Terminal Velocity. And to top it off, there’s one song exclusive to this version that is one of my favourite tracks in the entire franchise: the Special Stage music. I do not have the words to describe how hard this song goes, please listen to that banger if you haven't already.

Overall, I’d say that Sonic Colours DS is not only my favourite Sonic game, but also my favourite video game in general. It’s got everything I could ever want in a franchise that I’ve been attached to for over 10 years with its masterful level design, tight gameplay, brilliantly handled game elements and gimmicks, fantastic bosses, perfectly balanced ranking system, a really charming story, great visuals and banger music, but it also has a lot of replay value with all its side content and unlockables, on top of the levels being so fun to play that they never get old, and I’ve probably played all of them over 300 times at this point. I’ve seen so many people who haven’t even heard of this version of Colours, so for those people who haven’t played, please check this out. It means the world to me and I'd love to get others to be able to experience this masterpiece in one way or another.

Every other Sonic game, I could describe my thoughts on with one sentence. Every other Sonic game I could make fun of and say "it's mid lol". This is not every other Sonic game.

Sonic Unleashed is phenomenal all the way throught. I cannot even begin to describe just how much I adore this game with all my heart. The daytime gameplay is exhileratingly quick paced and well designed, the night gameplay is an extremely fun beat 'em up platforming puzzle that, while long, is never boring. The presentation, locations and theming is so unique and beautiful, the story is by far the best in any Sonic game, the characters are all likeable as heck, with even some of the NPC's being charming in their own way. the music is amazing, and I could just go on and on and on.

Everything about this game, at least to me, is perfect and it is, no questions asked, the best Sonic game. Please, PLEASE do yourself a favor and if you have not played it, go do it. You won't regret it one bit.