Wonderful to pop onto now and then and get my brain just activated enough thinking about synergies and how to pivot between different strong combinations to let the time pass without feeling a strong compulsion to play a ton. I'm not very good, but the extreme depth is evident and if I ever felt like it I'm sure I could get really into improving my skills. There's a special kind of richness to rolling with the punches of RNG or exerting your will over it that is very enticing to the TCG player part of my brain.

You piece.

The cool retro spy theming for the story mode is super cool and as I recall it was completely absent from the marketing and I've never ran into anyone talking about it. The cutscenes are minimal but stylish as hell and were honestly most of what I was playing for.

The puzzle mechanics themselves work and are extremely frantic (careful not to hurt your wrist!) but aren't super compelling...other than playing faster I never really put together any strategies or felt like there was much to learn. It's fine enough and I'm sure one could find additional depth, but Trozei never really clicked with me like that.

and hooo boy Aquarella,,,

In many ways, this is exactly the broken piece of garbage you already know it is, but god damn it SV are so ambitious and heartfelt that I can't help but like them. While technically playable on Switch, emulation is the far better experience if your PC can manage it, as the image quality and performance are so utterly fucked that you really need to just brute force through it with a beefy machine to get something presentable. It's still a mess afterwards, but the bs is reduced enough that it's easier to peek through and see what's actually going on here.

If you want to enjoy gen 9, you've really got to approach this one the same way you might Jurassic Park Trespasser or Spore, filling in the blanks of an incomplete pile of ideas which were loosely stitched together with your imagination. If you come at it with a charitable outlook, there's just enough there for you to, for moments here and there, fall into the massive 3D open world Pokemon game we all always imagined growing up. You'll feel like a child, and match Nemona's glee at every battle. (also Nemona is the best I love her so much aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa) Inevitably something will break that illusion and you'll be back to playing a broken mess, but chasing those moments is absolutely worth it.

Game Freak absolutely needs to get their shit together and take their time at actually finishing games again, but these are still special experiences if you're willing to wade through the massive list of flaws.

It's thrilling seeing 2D Mario back to heights it hasn't reached since the 80s. No longer relegated to low effort (but still decent) nostalgia bait, this has been given the love, attention, and sheer bombast that has been reserved only for the 3D entries ever since they came around.

This is a game of beautiful setpieces and a barrage of new ideas only used for exactly as long as they still feel fresh. That is, Nintendo recognizes that while solid platforming and smooth level design can make for a good enough 2D Mario, in an age where those fundamentals have been mined again and again, the series is in desperate need of novelty. The wonder mechanics make every level an opportunity to try something new, exciting, and beautiful and it makes for the most memorable experiences the series has offered in decades, moving it far closer to the rapidfire paradigm shifts in Odyssey than the straightforward simplicity of NSMB.

Wonder is adorable, joyful, and gorgeous in every way. It genuinely feels like Nintendo packed every little idea they've had in the last 30 years into one game. On toward 100%!

Exactly the direction sports games in general need to go. While not quite as stylish as NBA Street, these series together emphasize ridiculous exaggerated fun adapting the vibes of their given sports rather than the overly literal interpretations and franchise worship of the squeaky clean Maddens and 2Ks of the world.

Truly a delight, and I'm sure I'll love this a hell of a lot more when I actually get someone to play it with me as the AI is pretty flat to play against and the campaign feels a little empty. If that roleplaying element was given the level of detail of the mid 00s Maddens, that'd really elevate this spin off series.

While plagued with the repetitive and sometimes oddly difficult missions (there are really only ~3 different kinds) that remind you this is a licensed game primarily targeting children, Hit & Run is filled with so much love for its source material that it more than makes up for it. Getting to explore Springfield colorfully realized in 3D with references to tons of classic Simpsons gags is the true appeal. The repetition of the final "fight" is mind-numbing but the experience was still good fun overall.

And I'm sure if you played this as a kid not allowed to have GTA, it did a great job filling that role.

While conceptually very cool and initially plenty engaging, the rolls are tuned extremely poorly to the point where it no longer feels like tactical prowess is the primary factor...you've just got to hope you get a string of 3 players failing to pick up the ball rather than 6.

Management of and accounting for RNG is a skill, but it has its limits. I don't doubt that the better player will usually win, but the relationship between those two things feels far too loose to keep up the fantasy of a master tactician. Oh, and the Warhammer setting is as drainingly cynical as ever.