The fact that this never made it to America until the special edition for PS2 is a crime. I love Space Channel 5, and this game improves on it in every way. The low resolution prerendered backgrounds are gone, the side characters and bosses got fleshed out, and there are fun bonuses like endless mode and unlockable costumes. It's my favorite rhythm game of all time, which isn't REALLY saying much because I haven't played many, so I guess I'll say it's my favorite game released for Dreamcast. It's really, really cute, and equally fun. It's also on Steam for some reason, so really, you should give this game a try.

I have a lot of respect for this game, in how a horror-themed Mario spinoff was what Nintendo made to sell the Gamecube. When you play it though, you can kinda see why it was chosen to take point. The way you control Luigi with the two analog sticks and almost never use the face buttons feels suspiciously like they wanted to train kids how to use the new controller before they got into more complicated games. It's about the only thing the game expects of you, and while there are nice touches and some cute theming, it's not novel enough to hold up the entire experience anymore. Not a bad game, but things have moved on since then.

The debate about Silent Hill 3 is the eternal flame of the fandom. A lot of people love it, a lot of people think it's mediocre, and it's a stalemate that's hard to break even on a personal level. It's great in a lot of ways, and if you analyzed it in a vacuum, there wouldn't be much doubt regarding its quality. The problem I have with it is that Silent Hill 1 and 2 both introduced a brand new type of horror to gaming which I can still appreciate today for how original they are. Silent Hill 3 doesn't carry the torch of innovation, instead just using the existing parts to make more. More can be fine, but just making more of the same doesn't feel like the Silent Hill ethos.

This is the gaming equivalent of puberty. You look at Resident Evil 2, you look at Resident Evil 4, and you're like wow, Resident Evil 3 must have been awkward. And it was. This attempt at combining action and horror didn't end up being polished, like having a dodge function which isn't bound to a button of its own, but activates when you try to shoot an enemy. Riposting zombies like you're in Bloodborne sounds neat, but because the ability is also tied to your attack, its usage as an alternative to attacking is a confusing thing to wrap your head around. Nemesis chasing you around also sounds pretty neat, but he's easy to shake just by transitioning zones and not very scary after the second encounter. The splitting narrative paths were fun, but the binary selection is a far cry from how much RE2 accomplished with its multiple playthrough system. The strides it took are admirable, but it remains an awkward transition game instead of a great game in its own right.

Yakuza rocks. Ever since Yakuza 0 came out in the west, it's been enjoying a little renaissance where people have had a second chance to jump into such an iconic series. Kiwami 2 maintains the legacy of quality, and provides another solid Yakuza experience. That experience is admittedly pretty formulaic by now, but the new engine makes the game beautiful, and enhancing the combat with ragdoll physics is exactly what Yakuza deserves. If you already liked Yakuza, you'll like this, if you haven't played any, go play 0.

What a weird little game. It doesn't even feel like this should be a Nintendo game, with the bizarre mix of cartoony visuals and terrifying implications having a Sega-like feel. The learning process is uncharacteristically hands-off, letting you make mistakes and be unable to finish without starting over. That's what I like about this game though, it treats you like a smart guy who can figure stuff out, take risks, and plan on his own. Nintendo's characteristic polish without Nintendo's characteristic patronizing design philosophy can be a beautiful thing.

This game sits next to Gravity Rush on the bench of mediocre games I absolutely adore. The 60's retro-future aesthetic is a perfect fit for a rhythm game, with excessive grooviness blasting from every detail. The soul and passion that went into its development is palpable, and I don't think there's anything quite like it out there (other than its excellent sequel, of course). Just be aware that it can get pretty difficult, especially if you have a laggy display, but even with some trouble it won't take you more than three hours. Might as well give it a try, right?

I have mixed feelings about this game. It's all about the narrative, and while it succeeds in telling a good story, but it rests on top of mediocre character drama. You're meant to feel like you naturally fit in with your Scooby gang, when you can interject dialog and steer conversations naturally to react to the situation or bond with people. Or maybe you're not meant to feel that way because certain people aren't likable, or maybe you're supposed to follow the personality of the strongly characterized protagonist? I honestly don't know, especially when the endings seem to judge you for not role playing correctly, but even the best ending is pretty bleak. The plot and characters just don't quite gel, so even if it has some great writing, I feel unsatisfied by it. Luckily, it's pretty short and pretty cheap, so it barely walks away with a positive assessment.

It's what it says on the box, a game development tycoon game. It does its job about as well as you could expect, with how vague the factors contributing to a game's success are compared to something like a theme park. Trying goofy game concepts is fun, and when you make your personal dream game into a big hit, it's extremely gratifying. That said, you're pretty much doing the same thing over and over when you make games, instead of expanding and evolving like you would with a park or a building. I still give it a recommendation, because it's a neat little distraction for the price.

As an active member of the Gravity Rush fan community, I cannot ethically say I'm giving an impartial review. Luckily, I never claimed any of these reviews are impartial, and these games are the cat's pajamas. I love the picaresque narrative with the world's most plucky and lovable protagonist, I love using gravity shifting to stumble around like I'm a drunk who wandered onto the set of Doctor Strange, and I love the musical and architectural details that flesh out the world of Hekseville. Is the combat good? Nope. Do I care? Nope. Please play these games, they make me happy and need more love.

The first Danganronpa was a big surprise to an anime skeptic like myself. Even though it was a visual novel steeped in anime tropes, it created an air of mystery with its unique premise and setting that got me hooked. It's kind of a shame that the sequel doesn't try to replicate that mystery. To give my best spoiler-free example, in the first game, when everyone's locked in a school and told to murder each other, they quickly begin to appreciate the locks on their doors. The inability for students to get into each other's rooms was relevant to how the plot progressed, and something you had to remember as you conducted your investigation. In Goodbye Despair, someone accidentally breaks the lock on your room early on, and... it's just never brought up again. If anything, it's played for laughs. There's still some good investigating and debating to do here, but the mood that pulled the first one together is gone. The ending is also laughably bad, so even if you liked the first game, this might not be worth it. Maybe if you're really in the mood extremely specifically for more Danganronpa it'll be fine, but otherwise, give it a pass.

It's easy to forget that one of the biggest gaming franchises started out with an innovative title that actually worked to distance itself from its parent series, Prince of Persia. The obvious reason for that is because so many iterative Assassin's Creed games have come out since then, but the subtle reason might be because the game in the series most celebrated for its innovation is an absolute disaster. I played Black Flag because it had been called "the GOOD Assassin's Creed game" for years, only to find it's entirely half-baked. The missions on land are uniformly terrible with their clunky stalking sequences, the ship combat is only visually interesting, the mobile game style ship management is mind-numbing, and I found the story to be hilarious in how much it missed the mark. Imagine you're at a design meeting and asked to make a story about pirates. Chances are, you'll write the words "fighting over treasure" in the middle of a sheet of blank printer paper, hand it in, then go for drinks. For some reason, Black Flag opted for a slow story about politics in the piratical community, with the Assassin's Creed signature of standing next to historical figures as they do the thing they're famous for, as they give a wink to the camera and say you're a cool dude. Honestly I could go on for ages about all the things I don't like about this game but this has already gotten too long so whatever just don't play this.