I originally beat the first Mass Effect game about a decade ago, and to be honest I don't think I really appreciated it then. My poor laptop wasn't well suited to running the game, and my inexperience with shooters made for a cumbersome experience. Returning to it now, via the Legendary Edition remasters, my greatest impression is how good the world building is. You play as Cmd. Shepard, the first human soldier to join an elite arm of the galactic special services. You find yourself embroiled in a plot to continue a cyclical pattern of galactic genocide taking place over the course of millennia, and you have to make allies of various unique and interesting species to stop the threat. It's a game where your choices really do matter, both in how other characters treat you, but even towards who lives and dies and how the ending plays out. These choices can directly carry over to the sequel titles, giving a level of storytelling that even now hasn't really been surpassed. I really enjoyed the look of the future presented in this game, not just with the technology and alien races, but even things like how human fashion will evolve. It's a well thought out and cohesive vision. There are a variety of different combat methods, but those are somewhat locked depending on what class you choose at the beginning of the game, which is a bit of a shame. I ended up going pure third person shooter, which is rather enjoyable, if not terribly original. Any complaint I have towards this game is pretty minor. It's surprisingly shorter than I recall for one. I did nearly all the side quests available to me, but I think there's only five or six stages in the main campaign. The side quests have interest premises, but all take place in one of two copy pasted enemy bases, which can feel a bit silly. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable replay, and I'm looking forward to continuing on to the rest of the series, which I never got around to finishing back in the day.

The weekly Playdate releases are an interesting bunch of games. Many of them are trying some really unique twists on typical ideas, but while some of those ideas work really well, others... not so much. Executive Golf DX is one of the ones that unfortunately fall into the latter category. It's a golf game, but instead of hitting a ball across a field, you are trying to ascend or descend an office building, complete with desks, chairs, bookshevles, etc. as obstacles. This sounds like a great idea on paper, but the combination of fighting gravity along with trying to navigate through gaps in furniture makes this a tedious affair. It doesn't help that this game has no tutorial of any sort. It took me quite a long time to figure out how the power gauge worked, and I still don't think it's a good system. The entire game is very short, only eight levels taking me about 30 minutes, but I don't think I beat any level in less than several dozen hits. Even trying to align the ball with the elevator at the end of the stage often took several tries, due to the lack of precision you have. While it's not my least favorite Playdate game, I do think it's well made with good graphics and some good ideas, the core concept just isn't a strong one.

When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with Sonic. Any game I could get my hands on I played over and over again - Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, even Shadow the Hedgehog. Another game I had around that time was the first Sonic Rush, and I think the fact I barely remember playing it says a lot about my opinions of it. Decades later though, I've decided to try out its sequel, Sonic Rush Adventure. This game, for lack of a better word, is mid. Everything about it is just mediocre. The earlier levels do allow you to maintain your sense of speed, but at the cost of having some very bland level design. The later levels overcompensate for this, and are a classic example of awful Dimps design. Bullshit death bits, finicky platforming sections, all while not being really interesting at all. The best part of this game might be the short sailing minigames, as there is a world map for you to explore (although there's not much there for you to find). The game does require a little bit of grind to progress at a few places, but I never had to replay anything other than the first two levels, so I might have gotten lucky. The plot as well is pretty worthless. Blaze returns, but doesn't have her own campaign, unlike the original Sonic Rush, and newcomer Marine is kinda fun, but constantly disrespected by the rest of the party. All-in-all, I can finally say that I've played through this game, but I think I was right in not picking it up back when it was new.

Finally someone has answered the age old question -- what if I could play Asteroids with a crank? Enter Hyper Meteor, an arcade-esque game where you steer a ship around a small arena, attempting to destroy obstacles by ramming into their vulnerable sections. It's a quick and simple game, with the only goal being to get the highest score. It reminds me a bit of Whitewater Wipeout in that way, although I think this genre personally appeals more to me. The controls feel good, it's fun to get into, but the nature of the game prevents it from really being any higher on my list. It apparently has Switch and PC ports, but I can't imagine those would be too entertaining without the novelty (and free giveaway) of the Playdate version.