Very solid classic 3D platformer, but not without it's flaws. In terms of this remaster, a lot of elements are added to make it more accessible and easier, such as a flutter jump, reworked bosses, and other QOL improvements. I think they did an amazing job making it more accessible to new players. All of the levels are vibrant and unique in aesthetic, and the new level themes help to diversify the game's aesthetics as a whole. However I think what will make or break the game is how progression is held is completing different objectives to get 100%. A lot of the time you'll need to backtrack and find different objects and doors, which makes it very tedious and harms momentum. Additionally this is not helped by the lack of movement from the camera, making it hard to see certain objects from a distance. Some design quirks from the original game, keeping in tradition with archiac design in 90's platformers, are also retained giving a bit of age to the game. As a minor side, the cutscenes are nowhere near as fun and expressive as the original game, and certain characters are changed around due to legal issues. While not a detriment it was certainly distracting. All-in-all though this is a pretty solid time and for anyone who just wants a fun platformer you can kill a little time with, I'd say go for it.

Wow this is like shockingly really bad. Like damn, for a console with so many bangers and hidden gems I was surprised how awful this game is. First off what is with the art direction in this game it’s so ugly. Everything looks like it was hit with a goddamn cartoon frying pan. Second off, these levels man. I think the general concept is stellar, 2.5D worlds you can go in and out of the foreground. Sounds great to me right? It’s terrible. The movement from Bug is so stilted and stiff and going anywhere always feels like a challenge. Doesn’t help these levels are so fucking long and the boss designs really don’t help matters. Idk man, only look into this if you are like me and are really curious about the Saturn’s history. Otherwise, just play any other game from the console it’s not worth it.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is a genuine masterwork and a huge accomplishment from Monolith Soft. I have played every game in the Xenoblade series, and I can safely say that this entry is my favorite one so far.

For starters I want to talk about the narrative, it's characters, and the game's themes. As a departure from the series' normal themes, the focus is less on godhood and more focused on humanity. The main theme of the game is about time, specifically grief, generational trauma, and how we move on from tragic experiences, and even accepting death. I won't go too deep into spoilers, but many of the characters struggle with having to move on from their own difficult experiences. In a way it's a story about self-acceptance and learning to come to terms with your shortcomings. It's all about growing up and becoming a stronger person. All this is rounded out by a wonderful cast that all feel very deep and all shine in their own special qualities. The main cast in particular is one of my favorites in a JRPG, as they all go through so much character development, and in the end feel like a family to one another. Each Hero character as well all feel great to explore more of and learn more about them and their identities further. This is complemented by excellent voice acting and writing which really makes all the characters come to life.

Now to talk about the gameplay. Xenoblade's combat has always been divisive as it's always leaned towards fairly unconventional MMORPG combat which some may find unintuitive or sluggish compared to other RPGs on the market. However I can safely say that I think Xenoblade 3's combat strikes an excellent middle ground by offering something that's both fast-paced and engaging. Battles are much quicker than in previous installments and give you much more approach options. For starters you now have a dash button which makes fights a lot faster especially if you want to traverse to a certain area. Another thing that improves the combat is Fusion Arts. Like in previous games you can customize your Arts, however there is a whole separate selection of Arts you can equip from your partners. This allows you to form stronger moves between two Arts which creates more variety.

Two completely new additions to the combat are the Ouroborus system and the Class Change system. For Ouroborus attacks you can fuse between two partners that are linked with one another to form an Interlink. This is between three levels, when to switch to Interlinking is up to you. Do you do it at a lower level to quickly deal up more damage, or do you wait till it gets to max level to get more benefits from it? It all depends on your approach. For the Class System this is tied to the game's Heroes system. Heroes are different characters you can recruit to fill a seventh slot in your party, you do this by doing certain quests which also allows your party to equip their skills depending on who the inheriter is. The Class Change system adds a lot more variety to battles, as you'll never have the same approach if you keep changing classes.

Then there is the world and map design. Out of all the games in the series this is probably the most robust and expansive world as there's just so much to do. There's aformentioned Hero and Ascension Quests, but outside of that you can find secret areas like dungeons, locations such as Ferronis's which give you special benefits, and find tons of rare Monsters to fight. There's so much to do in the world and I especially enjoy doing the Quests which are the best in the series and really help to flesh out the world of Ionis. This is backed by a beautiful score by Yasunori Mitsuda, from the sweeping orchestral tracks to the metal guitarist battle themes, not a single track in the game fell flat for me.

All-in-all, in the three months and 100 hours total I spent on Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I think it's one of the finest games I've played in some time. I felt so many different emotions while playing and was moved to tears up to the very final moments of the game. I think this is a game everyone should play at some point in their lives, and I could not recommend it enough. This is a game for the ages.

Wow, who knew toning down the difficulty of your game could still make it enjoyable? Anyways I really enjoyed the game, I picked Protoman obviously because he has the abilities they painstakingly took away from Mega Man. Outside of some of the quirks in the design of the game like a couple bottomless pits and spikes it was really well-designed. The sprite animations were also great and the Robot Masters and bosses were generally pretty good too. Overall a huge improvement from 9 and a solid game that proves you don’t need to be mercilessly difficult to have a good time.

Game that has very good ideas but middling execution.

I feel very similarly to Tunic as I do with Hollow Knight, in the sense that I like a lot of the ideas that it has, and think it has strong worldbuilding, good core gameplay, and amazing art and sound design which all complement it as a strong qualities.

However, where I think the game falters is with the game’s direction. The game doesn’t really tell you much about what you’re supposed to do, leaving it for you to find instructions that tell you it. However the way this is presented is confusing as well. Sometimes it’ll be in the game’s made up language while other times it won’t, which makes it unclear what you’re suppose to do. The design of the game was incredibly confusing at points and I frequently got lost.

I think where the game’s weakest quality lies is with balancing and the game’s bosses. The game is very difficult but there are issues with how the bosses are handled. The issue with the game not directly telling you some things is that combat and abilities are dependent on an upgrade system. I didn’t know about this till a friend pointed this out to me on the first boss, and I could’ve gone the entire game not knowing about it. I think there is an inherent issue about having a game progress like a puzzle box while also having an ability tree. This is not helped by the design of the bosses which are all very archaic and don’t really give you a clear objective on how to defeat them.

Finally there is the endgame. You do not fight any bosses during this and only fight one circumstantial boss. However, this was worse than any of the previous bosses. For me it was literally half going to an area and inputting a complex code you can only find through hints on the instructions, and half backtracking to preexisting areas to get your abilities back. This all culminated in a very tedious experience that wasn’t worth the trouble I had to go through.

So all-in-all, Tunic is a game I like the ideas of, but has problems in execution. That being said I commend it as an effort as it was largely developed by one person and feels incredibly polished in spite of this. I hope whatever the developer makes next it builds off the foundation this game set and makes something better.

Castlevania The Dracula X Chronicles is a remake of Rondo of Blood that improves the game in just about every aspect. Not only does it add 3D graphics and voice acting as well as a new art style that helps modernize the game, but the game also has several other improvements such as better movement options for Richter and Maria, as well as new content in the form of games that can be unlocked by the player and different pathways that spruce up the game’s progression. The game feels a lot better to play as a whole than the original thanks to these QOL improvements. It does come with the original game as well as Symphony of the Night which is a direct sequel to the game, for people who have not played those I highly recommend experiencing them too, even if I do consider Dracula X to be superior overall to the original Rondo of Blood.

Still peak gaming what can be said?

Okay but to actually talk about the game in general it's one of the most welcoming and rewarding hack-and-slashes I've ever played. The game is absolutely brutal and does not hold back with how unforgiving it is. Despite this, I never once found the game to be unfair or archaic in it's design. This is complemented by the fact that unlike most hack and slashes you are not punished for using the same moves. The game encourages you to experiment with button combos and to try different things, never once did I feel demoralized when I wasn't doing well at the game.

Additionally there are tons of options and playstyles for how you can play the game, you get stuff like a katana, a shotgun, a whip, and even ice skates are all different ways you can use to kill. This is complemented on top of a bunch of well-designed bosses and enemies, some of which are absolutely giant, that you feel encouraged to try different techniques on, outside the box thinking is this game's memo and where it shines the most.

In terms of the story, characters, and writing, the game is incredibly quirky and charming and has a wonderful cast of characters. From the stone cold bartender Rodin who is just the coolest, to the lovable goofball Luka Redgrave, or even the adorable Cereza (Who I won't get into here because of spoilers) there's plenty to love with the game's cast. Additionally, the game has plenty of goofy and over-the-top memorable moments that'll get you jumping out of your seat. The story is very complicated and might be hard to understand as it's an amnesia tale, but once you get the general gist of it you'll find a pretty engaging narrative overall.

All-in-All, Bayonetta is one of the hack-and-slash greats of our generation, and one that I can wholeheartedly recommend to just about anyone who wants an entry point into the genre. Great for first-timers and for seasoned players.

I’m not finished with the game actually but I think I’ve played enough of the remaster to purely critique it, this will be entirely about the remaster itself, what it adds, and some of the issues I’ve encountered.

For positives, while there is not many, there is a few things I have enjoyed about what it has added. On the overworld, enemies chasing you now have an icon that shows them coming after you. This makes it much easier to escape random encounters. Additionally, animated cutscenes can be skipped, and you now have the ability to close the game wherever you are.

Unfortunately as I mentioned before the positives were a very short list. In truth there has been a myriad of issues I have encountered with the game, Obviously one of the most noticeable is the reduction of the framerate from the original’s 60 to 30 but it goes further than that. There’s frequent frame drops, stuttering, and poor performance all around, particularly in battles especially ones with detailed backgrounds or when Collette is in battle because of how the game renders her angel wings. Additionally there are missing graphical effects such as the iconic screen transition (on the switch version at least) and very odd-looking AI-upscaled textures. All of the issues from the PS3 version return in this one, including missing and quieter audio. The load times are also very long, where I can’t tell if the game is loading a cutscene or if it’s just taking awhile.

Overall I’m disappointed with this version of the game and have had a plethora of issues with it, I hope Namco will patch the game but otherwise I recommend just sticking with it on GameCube.

Okay let’s actually review the game this time

I was looking forward to Bayonetta 3, all the way since it was announced. But the long radio-silence form the developers, the constant deflection from them in interviews, the short-lived controversy with Bayonetta voice actress Hellena Taylor, and overall the game just… Not looking very polished eventually dampened any excitement I would’ve had for it. But looking at a game and playing a game are two separate things, with that said, how do I feel about it?

I’m very disappointed saying I did not like the game very much and consider it a very, very, very big step down from the first game. What exactly went wrong here? There’s a lot to go over but I’ll just say I was left very disappointed with the end result and how I ultimately felt about the game.

Let’s start with the gameplay. Whereas the previous two games had you managing your magic meter usually to pull off finishing blows in the form of Torture Attacks, Bayonetta instead supplements this by using a new system called the Demon Slave. I found this mechanic incredibly intrusive and clunky, not to mention the game basically expecting you to use it as if combat is designed around it. Another big drawback is the areas in this game are fucking HUGE no doubt because they designed them for Demon Slave. There’s also Demon Mascarade which I have very little to say about since it’s just an alternative means of traversal replacing Panther within. The game doesn’t even explain it in continuity so why should I give a fuck?

The game juggles a bunch of alternative play styles and different systems, honestly it makes me miss the mini games from the first two games just because of how intrusive these are. In one you do a clunky as fuck kaiju battle. Another is a random rhythm game. You do these 2D stealth missions as Jeanne where you can’t use magic. If this is making your head spin I don’t blame you because the game keeps shifting styles on a constant basis and there’s just a general lack of consistency.

Then we come to… Viola… I like her as a character in the story (I will get to that though) but her gameplay sucks, like it just sucks. Basically she sorta plays like Nero in the recent DMC games where she uses a sword to fight and has a grapple gun as well. The problem with her comes with her parry mechanic. It’s triggered by holding it down as soon as an enemy strikes but it’s so precise and hard to land you’ll constantly miss. It makes combat with her really awkward and in general she just doesn’t feel as good to play as Bayo. She’s only in four levels so it’s not a dealbreaker but when you have to play as her it is not fun.

Music is not as good as the previous games, I love the game’s rendition of Moonlight Seranade and they even got the license for the Frank Sinatra cover in the credits, outside of that I can barely remember a single track in the game, which is crazy to me because the first two games had some bangers in them so the fact I can barely remember this game’s soundtrack really speaks volume. The only track I remember is Viola’s theme which is basically just Paramore. Isn’t she like some punk person why is it Paramore?

Then there is the story… You know what I’m just gonna say it this is probably the worst aspect of the game bar none. It made me feel secondhand embarrassment for being a fan of the series. Everyone is mischaracterized, it has very little if anything to do with the previous two games (you don’t even fight angels), it takes itself way too seriously, and the ending… What were they even thinking with that? The writing is also really bad, Bayonetta barely feels like herself and is just spouting quippy one-liners like this is an MCU film. You made her feel more like Gex than Bayonetta. Jennifer Hale does a great job with what she was given the material just sucks. I do like Viola and I think she’s an excellent inversion of a typical action game protagonist but her backstory sucks and what they do with her in the ending just comes out of left field. It feels like they wanted to do a DMC5 but just had none of the time or effort to pull it off in a satisfying way.

All-in-all I was left very disappointed with Bayonetta 3 and I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to the future of the series. I can see why this game ended up the way it did, with multiple staff leaving during development, including losing the director, Hellena Taylor’s tantrum, and the fact they reworked the game from being an open-world game, and the game having four different screenwriters and likely going through drastic rewrites during development, it’s honestly not surprising how the game ended up how it did. But it does suck thinking about what could’ve been.