Hey pretty good stuff actually! They actually made the timings fit for an LCD so I found it much more playable than the first game. The songs aren't as memorable as the studio's PS1 games but I quite like the Big song tbh.

It's too bad this game was a flop and this type of game fell out of style, but when it cost $90 adjusted for inflation I really can't blame people for the lukewarm response. Parappa 1 was considered innovative, but Parappa 2 competed with quite a lot of juggernauts like DDR so the hour long runtime didn't really impress audiences. Which is a shame, since I think it still holds its own rather well next to the titans.

Also the game has Lammy in it, so automatically a 10/10 game in spirit. I was surprised just how much she was featured since I remembered her only having a 5 second cameo in the anime!

Anyway who all eating the Parappa 2 pizza with me? https://i.imgur.com/lukW4xd.png

not a bad game at all, a pretty good one in a lot of ways but incredibly messy. the conspiracy in this one maybe tests your suspension of disbelief a bit, but there's so many good moments and it's not nearly as boring as 3's conspiracy so it's still an enjoyable time, at least when the game has you in onomichi. kamurocho feels like a drag regardless of how unfinished it is, but that's mostly because onomichi is just such a great hub and where most of the actually compelling story and character moments take place. characters like hirose and someya are also incredibly compelling, especially when the rest of the cast is just kind of there in my opinion. iwami more than anyone is a very bad and unenjoyable character but that's kind of the point and why he's so effective in his role, but then you have everyone else who's just kind of boring or vaguely evil and it just doesn't do much for me personally and it maybe doesn't help my wider thoughts on the characters that the western release is missing all of the tatsuro yamashita vocal tracks so cutscenes involving those songs just feel kind of empty and stilted since the original japanese version lets the vocals and facial animations do more talking than.. actually talking. the most striking thing to me about this game though is that even if it's not the last step in his journey, a lot of kiryu's story in this one basically has him in the passenger seat for a lot of events he went through in the first game, which i think works really well for a game that's supposed to be the end of his tenure as the sole lead of this series (more on that later).
very much a game that i enjoy but one that i don't find intensely remarkable most of the time. in terms of enjoyability though, the ending is where my thoughts on this game become more complicated, and while it really doesn't impact my thoughts on the game that much it's still something that constantly irks me and i find very hard to divorce from this game.

there's this pervasive idea in the yakuza fanbase that 6 was meant to be an end all be all finale to his character, that this would be the last time we would ever see him. however this idea falls apart pretty quickly; even while playing the game it becomes obvious that either this assumption is full of shit or that kiryu just got the worst send off ever, and to this day you'll see people upset about kiryu's inclusion in the post-6 like a dragon games. more than any other game in this series when like a dragon 8 was revealed there was this vocal fan outcry, people were upset that kiryu was coming back as a protagonist in this one and the more and more time i think about i just don't get it? on its own terms, as an ending to the individual game it's fine, but it's such an awful way to hypothetically conclude our time with this character and it's just perplexing to me that a non negligible amount of fans felt like kiryu's inclusion in games like 7, 8, and gaiden were even capable of "ruining" it. did kiryu fans really want his story to end with him once again falling back onto his deepest fatal flaw? the one thats been haunting him since the finale of the first game in this series? kiryu is constantly running away, he feels like people and especially the people he loves only get hurt when he's around, so he keeps running, and him not learning from that and just doing it again is supposed to be the final send off to this character? this grand finale that the newer entries tarnished? never has the fanbase of a series made me more happy that the loud voices in fandom are not the ones in the writing room because never before have i seen such a widespread misunderstanding of a character and his arc than with kazuma kiryu after yakuza 6.
hopefully as we get more fans in this series after the release of 8, a game that actually has what feels like a natural finale for the character, the idea that 6 was not only supposed to be a total finale for the character of kiryu but that it was a even a remotely good one for him dies down and yakuza 6 discussion can finally shift solely to how it has the worst version of kamurocho in the series, just like god intended.

Note: haven't done the second campaign yet, maybe that'll change my views, IDK

Hotline Miami is a game about violence. "Do you like hurting other people?" the game regularly asks you. It's meant to be a commentary on game violence itself, and separating the actions of the avatar from the player commanding them to do said actions. Issue is, I didn't enjoy hurting other people. Not because of the hyperviolence or intense pixelated gore or whatever, I just found the whole thing stressful rather than fun.

The game's premise is pretty simple. You're a nameless guy who keeps getting phone calls to go into random buildings and kill everyone there. The main method of achieving this is by going in guns blazing and dying. You die a lot here and then respawn instantly. And by dying, you eventually figure out the perfect route to kill everyone and move on.

Only issue is, the game is clearly trying to reward skill in planning and getting better through repetition, but a lot of issues arise in the execution.

Enemy AI is a main issue here, in that it seems completely random how competent it'll be in a given run. One run I'll walk into a room, shoot a guy, and the guy in that room doesn't react at all, the next run I shoot a guy and half the map seems to be alerted and ready to turn me into a fine red mist, and another run I'll walk into a room holding a knife, and the shotgun guy in the room will instantly rotate 180 degrees and blow my brains out. As well as the small chance everyone has to tank an attack, meaning I'll think I'm done only for the second guy I killed to actually be alive and now my face is splattered on the ceiling in a way that's probably just inconvenient for the cleaning staff, you prick.

It's about getting the perfect run after practicing a lot, only all these variables weren't leaving me satisfied at the end of a level and instead made me think I was just lucky this time around. Doesn't help that some levels spawn random weapons around that change each run. So sometimes it'll be the effective 6 blast shotgun, the less effective but okay 2 blast one, or the AR which felt more unwieldy and inaccurate. I was in the A- to B- range for a lot of the game, so maybe I was doing things right? I genuinely could not tell you. I won't lie in saying there's no fun in walking in and doing a good run, but those moments are fleeting amongst the mounting frustrations.

But everything else about the game does admittedly go hard. The story of whose calling you as well as what's real amongst the 80's aesthetic is really intriguing, as well as what kept me in the game. The downtime as you go to random locations in an infinite void around you is also well done, adding to the mystique. And I will praise the ending of each level having you manually leave the building and let you walk past the carnage you just caused. It's an effective way of driving the main game's theme home, I really like it.

So overall, I can't say don't play Hotline Miami. It's cheap, goes on sale for like a couple euro pretty regularly, and I seem to be one the few people who don't like it. It's good ideas and vibes hiding some really annoying gameplay.

I always preferred symphony of the night over aria of sorrow, but my opinion has changed... I am now part of the aria of sorrow gang💯

Anyways this is a metroidvania game where you play as the best boi Soma Cruz. Soma Cruz is just a regular dude who wanted to see a solar eclipse but he accidentally awakens in a castle with monsters and now he has to find a way to escape.

In this big ass castle you will find many different items that you can equip. You can stumble upon many weapons that have different speed, range and damage. You can also find stuff that will increase some of your stats such as armours and rings.
Something new that aria of sorrow introduces is the amazing soul system. Every enemy can drop a soul that you can equip, and these souls can change your stats, give you a new attack and give you an ability. The soul system is such an amazing new feature to the game since it makes Soma Cruz a very fun character to play as thanks to the huge variety of souls that he can equip.

The story is actually pretty memorable because of its great cast of characters. My favorite character is the GOAT Hammer who is a soldier that sells you a bunch of stuff that can be very helpful and he will buy all the items that are useless to you but obviously our protagonist Soma Cruz is also goated.

This time the castle is actually fun to explore UNLIKE A CERTAIN CASTLEVANIA CIRCLE OF THE MOON! And i barely got lost in this game because you can find castle maps which are super helpful.
Oh and the progression is very satisfying UNLIKE A CERTAIN CASTLEVANIA CIRCLE OF THE MOON!

This game probably has my favorite boss lineup in any castlevania game. There's many great boss fights such as headhunter, balore, legion, graham and chaos, but the best boss in the game is easily Julius Belmont, his fight feels like you're against another player and i love it.

The ost is obviously really good.
My favorite tracks are: heart of fire, forbidden area, you're not alone, top floor and chapel.

I don't have many complaints with the game.
The first 4 bosses of the game become normal enemies for some reason and getting the best ending for the game was pretty tedious (not as tedious as getting sotn's best ending tho) but other than that i can't think of any other complaint.

Overall this is easily the best gba castlevania game and i highly recommend it if you are looking for a good metroidvania to play.
10/10

Cave Story is one of the all time indie classics. It has some of the most charming designs in a video game, with the paper white look of every character from the Mimigas to Quote and Curly being very iconic. The Amiga-like feel with the 50 FPS gameplay really gives it a vibe that's unlike other 21st century video games. Not to mention the music is some of the most elaborate I've heard from a composer wanting to emulate chiptunes https://youtu.be/IdAzVhCof_4

Yet every time I try to play Cave Story I simply have fun in the first few areas, reach the sand area, and just lose all my momentum. I forced myself to get the best ending today and I'm kind of at a loss. Keeping track of the weapon levels is annoying, finishing the sand zone is the longest hour of my life with the collectathon elements, there's a total lack of QOL due to the player being unable to do things like equip multiple items (ie jet + mask) at the same time, the weapon levels forcibly reset near the end, the true ending is some of the most cryptic and unintuitive nonsense in a video game....

I have endless respect for Cave Story. I love the graphics and music, I enjoy some parts like the early game and some bosses, and the Spur weapon and jet can make movement actually pretty fun near the end of the game. But having to keep in the back of my mind how easy it is to screw myself out of a proper ending, as well as constantly swapping weapons and even having to make sure not to level up the Nemesis... it all adds up to making me not actually enjoy playing the game overall.

It's a well made game, and I think there's a lot to like. I'm not a huge metroidvania player and I'm someone who primarily likes quick and kinetic sidescrollers I can speedrun endlessly, so I reckon bigger metroidvania fans have every reason to get more out of the game than I did. It's also not terribly long, being roughly 5 hours with a guide, so it's honestly worth a playthrough once for anyone who wants to see an influential indie work in action. It's super impressive work, but I just find myself enjoying the creator's other games much more.

I'm glad I went through it, and I'm glad I got to meet Balrog and Curly my beloved, but I'd definitely call it one of the better games I'm happy never to touch again personally.

Shoutout to the godlike Aeon Genesis translation btw, much prefer it to the official translation. Balrog's HUZZAH is the superior catchphrase, I'm sorry https://www.deviantart.com/extreme-sonic/art/Cave-Story-HUZZAH-374739229

i dipped back into jak II last night, mainly out of spite re: druckmann’s recent comments on ai. tbh i’m mostly ambivalent towards games’ adoption of genAI. what can i do, i’m just one man, etc., and that train is already in motion anyways. i’ll save my energy. what irked me more was druckmann shitting on his own studio’s legacy.

it was always clear that naughty dog wanted the world to forget its pre-uncharted history. they claimed it was important to move on, that ND must mature if they were to make truly impactful experiences. this line continued in many of druckmann’s post-uncharted 4 (the most boring one) comments, now indicating fresh disdain for the first three games, striking them from the record. it seemed tlou was the pinnacle of achievement. i guess it makes sense. it takes a certain type of person to (co-) create one game and immediately crown themself the king of videogaming.

i don’t have much to say about tlou here, except to note that it laid bare ND’s conception of ‘maturity’ – ultimately that of an angsty, childish teen firing on all cylinders, begging to be taken seriously. to no one’s surprise, violence and unsubtle cynicism were in, while dynamism, colour, and fun were out. time gave us uncharted 4 and tlou 2, eliminating any lingering doubt in our minds. it’s still crazy to think this was ND sending their best.

jak II though? it’s fun as hell. shades of gta III, of blade runner, of rayman 2, of tony hawk’s pro skater, filtered through the saturday morning cartoon machine. if there’s one thing naughty dog have always done well, it is their skirting of genre boundaries with an approach grounded not in whiplash, but holism. it’s a shame they now only mix things up as far as, for example, letting you ride a horse for all of five minutes in tlou. even better, jak II has some actual teeth, with ND still riding the coattails of challenge-based play. it is willing to demand that we keep our focus. beyond that, as a cursory mention lest i keep waffling: environments, visual language, characters, dialogue, etc., are all simply fun. uncomplicated, but fun. i can’t truly say i’m in love with the game, but it’s hard not to respect what it’s putting down.

let’s go back to druckmann’s AI comments:

“at naughty dog, we transitioned from hand-animating jak and daxter to using motion capture in uncharted, significantly enhancing our storytelling. ai will allow us to create nuanced dialogues and characters, expanding creative possibilities”

where to begin… maybe with this being a straight up lie. ND have always championed fine-tuned manual animination. does druckmann think everyone forgot the pains he took to express how tlou 2’s visual cohesion was only made possible through the attention to detail of their expert animators? because mo-cap alone couldn’t cut it?? i know he’s now blowing smoke up some corporate asses but damn, it’s crazy to state you’re oh-so over it while throwing some of the studio’s most formative work under the bus.

taken for what it was (is), jak II’s animation quality is superb, both in cutscenes and gameplay. again, saturday morning cartoon vibes. wind waker levels of expression. they are as vibrant and dynamic as the rest of the game, emblematic of an experience that never kowtows to a self-conscious sense of ‘maturity’ or ‘dignity’. for druckmann to bristle at this, yet again placing ND above such ‘childish’ things, feels like a rosetta stone for the studio’s future. time to pack it up. we’ll never see anything like this—anything so fun—from this bunch again.

anyway. hope everyone is excited for tlou 3. surely genAI, hand-in-hand with the power of the PlayStation®5, will be harnessed to enable the most pro-genocide game yet seen.

Obviously a really bad version of the game, I can absolutely see why this had such a miserable reputation during its time. Particularly the hitboxes being so unforgiving to the point ghosts can kill you when you're practically in another lane is rough. (Combined with the hitboxes on the pellets being bad in the exact opposite way, borderline phasing through you) The screeching sound FX, the flickering visuals...Some would consider this an assault on the senses, perhaps most but I'm a virtual boy stan.

Still, 40 years removed from the context of what made this so offensive during its not so glorious days...This is just a goofy lil' oddity that I get a kick out of. I've played so many versions of Pac-Man why do they all have to be good? There's merit to a version of a game being different to the other 20 releases of the same game. (Seriously, type in Pac-Man into the search bar lol) Taking bad design elements as they are and just accepting they're part of the mechanics can be fun. Obviously there's nothing to really praise here and it's not gonna keep anyone entertained very long when they could play more accessible, better made versions of the same game. But this is so different than anything they'd allow to be preserved in the modern era, that I kind of wish they'd let it chill in a modern compilation someday.

If I rated this on how good of a port it is, I'd definitely have to lean significantly lower. But as a game it's just Pac-Man. Not anywhere near as good but it's fundamentally still playable, at least to a casual degree. At least it lets you change the speed of the ghosts and Pac-Man, helps find a balance that you're happy with.

Well, now I definitely know that RGG isn't for me. It is a huge pity, because in concept it has a lot of things I would love.

Following my disappointment with 0 years ago and not enjoying the couple hours I put into both Kiwami 1 and the original Yakuza, I decided to give this series one last chance. While diehard Yakuza fans will protest, this game is often seen as another alternate entry point, just like 0, with Infinite Wealth being the one where you have to play everything from 0 to 6, as well as Judgement, which I would've done had I loved Y7.

So, anyway, the thing I usually like the least in media are usually generic, unambitious stories that just try to be "good" and not push themselves. In my opinion, both 0 and this game fall into this category despite being solid in most aspects. At the end of the day, despite all the silly side stuff (which 1) isn't my type of humor generally and 2) I was mostly doing to "experience what Yakuza is about" without sticking to just the serious main campaign, though the place it was most useful was getting money for gear) and the cool action sequences for some bosses, it's still just what I'd consider "a normal yakuza story", and crazy maneuvers and humorous side quests aside, I feel like everything in both this and 0 acts within the confines of that. Stuff about drugs, counterfeit bills, revenge, life after crime are cool ideas, but they're not that crazy to me. It's a very straightforward execution of what you'd expect from a yakuza-themed game. I would take a more flawed story that tries to be something more yet fails any day over this. I see both 0 and this as almost on the same level as just a normal fantasy JRPG which has a heroic hero defeat the big bad or a dragon with absolutely nothing else to add.

The gameplay is weird because it both has AoE and doesn't, which manifests itself as a pretty important factor since enemy positioning (and even your positioning), as well as positioning of some stuff like bikes or boxes that you can pick up to deal extra damage being completely out of your control. This leaves a bit too much to chance for my tastes. This game is also grindy as hell, which was pretty unexpected from a 2020 JRPG. I also like the idea of a turn-based yakuza-themed JRPG with an MC who images it as Dragon Quest, but unfortunately this gets old rather quickly due to the grind and other systems, especially encounters, which get really tedious compared to the action side of Yakuza when you're on your way to your next objective and are overlevelled.

The voice acting (especially Ichiban's) and music are generally good, some of the tracks are just random dubstep (?) but there's some really cool ones like this which I'm sure I'd find more impactful if I'd played the other games.

I like the setting but the story doesn't live up to it, in my opinion. I feel like it plays it very safe, and in chapter 15 especially it feels like shit just happens. The way the story ended before the credits kind of cheapened a pretty decent scene that was going on before that.

Overall, it's certainly not bad, but it's not for me, and I don't really see how this is one of the greatest JRPGs and/or video games of all time. If someone reading this thinks so, I am happy for you, I wish I could feel the same. At least now I know that Yakuza isn't for me since I didn't care for 0 nor 7, which are often considered top-tier games in the series rankings, so it was a good indicator.

This is one of the most creative and clever point-and-clicks I've ever played. Unfortunately, there's a large portion lampooning pay-to-win idle clicker mobile games, and the game's commitment to the bit turns that segment into a bad time, though the game recovers and ends quite strongly.

As the title states, there is no game here! Nope. Just a locked-down title screen. But while you're there, you might as well mess around to see if you can find something to do.

If you're a fan of classic Lucasarts or Sierra adventure games, and if you enjoyed the meta humor and story of The Stanley Parable, you should definitely go into this game without learning anything else! The story is fantastically clever and engrossing, and the whole thing is only about 4 hours long. I waited for a sale ($9 instead of $13) and I honestly feel stupid for waiting that long to save 4 dollars. This game is absolutely worth it at full price, though you can get it for $5 on mobile. Since the experience is mostly comprised of clicking and/or tapping, it shouldn't be an inferior experience on a phone. Just be ready for a tedious middle segment (in which the tedium is meant as a joke) that overstays its welcome a bit, and trust that the ending will absolutely be worth it.

Little Samson is one of those games where getting a Game Over and being sent back a bit isn't annoying. It's always fun no matter what, and it's not too hard either (maybe cuz i was playing on easy), which makes it a great start to anyone wanting to get into the NES library. Easily a Top 5 game for the system.

fuck the final boss though, it's not that it's hard or anything, but the 2nd phase reminded me of the yellow devil, and remembering the yellow devil gives me physical pain. FUCK THE YELLOW DEVIL ALL MY HOMIES HATE THE YELLOW DEVIL

There are games you finish and don't know what to say because they are so unremarkable, and then there are games like 1000x resist where I sit at my computer inmediately after thinking how exactly I could do the game justice without just playing it again whilst taking notes.

I'll try to be brief, but what 1000x resist's sci fi narrative adventure game brings to the table is that its not only dense as hell plot and theme wise, feeling almost like an adaptation of some acclaimed novel, whilst also having stylistic flourishes that are both impressive and also feel purposeful in a way that a higher budget game probably wouldn't. They made a game this visually striking with what feels like cardboard sets and a few unity shaders. The starkness of the environment design and the various shifts of perspective from over the shoulder to first person to top down to side scroller in a way that feels elegant rather than whiplash to the extreme.

The credits have the usual indie game thing where one guy was Modeler, Texturer, Writer, Designer, Costum Designer, Chef, Lawyer and Defender of the Innocent. The game is so impressive as someone who does 3D modelling myself, I have taken a bunch of screenshots of the game simply because I love how they look. One small ass team somehow puts most AAA games I've played to shame in the visual department.

Thats not to say the game's budget or lack thereof doesn't become apparent with the lack of facial animation. Of course the game understands this to some extent, hence the choice of making the sisters require masks to breathe and be clones of each other (hence, only like 5 or so models had to be rigged up) but thats what taking advantage of your limitations is all about.

Story wise, its again hard for me to really comment because its dense but in a way that all great narratives are, like say, Moby Dick or The Truman show, which are enjoyable both at surface level and on a deeper read of the symbolism. Not everything worked for me, and the resolutions of the endings could have perhaps been more elegant, as well as all the Hong Kong stuff carrying the stench of liberalism about it (Incidentally the cops of the provisional government being called the Red Guard was really on the nose) but the game is otherwise so engaging that I don't mind. Strong personal contender for GOTY, it and Extreme Evolution : Drive to Divinity are the front-runners for me.