danlur
2021
New Pokemon Snap delivers on exactly what the name implies, an updated version of the 1999 N64 classic that provides a stunning and thoughtful portrayal of the behaviors of Pokemon's ever-expanding cast.
Like the first game, the player is tasked with traveling on rails through courses filled with Pokemon to snap photos of them for a professor and ultimately uncover secrets within the environment that lead to new paths and courses.
The decision to stick to the classic formula has been somewhat controversial with some folks hoping the new game would add more freedom, but ultimately I find Pokemon Snap to be more of a rail shooter than a photography game.
Through this lens, I think the game most excels at guiding you through paths that allow you to take in gorgeous scenes and the exciting interactions the Pokemon have with the environment and each other on your first run through and then use subsequent runs to try to set up your perfect shots. Some of my personal highlights involved being surprised by a Pokemon I did not expect to see in a certain area or an interaction between two or more Pokemon.
New Pokemon Snap's visuals are breathtaking with a wide range of environments spanning from quiet fields and serene beaches to lush jungles and dank caves. The Pokemon animations also do so much to bring each creature to life.
Capturing photos of Pokemon for the professor still follows the somewhat nonsensical rubric of judging your photos based on size and how centered the Pokemon is in the frame.
New to New Pokemon Snap, however, are star ratings for photos and course levels.
Each Pokemon has a slot of 1- to 4-star photos that denote different poses with the higher stars often requiring special conditions to be met to set up the snap. The work to find these stellar photos is often ultimately worth it but can be made frustrating by the fact that the tools you gain to interact with Pokemon don't really have defined roles. Much like the first game as you progress you gain access to fluffruit, apple-like fruits that Pokemon will eat and react to when struck by, illumina orbs which make Pokemon glow and can interact with some environmental elements and the ability to play music which can cause some Pokemon to dance or perform special actions. This ultimately gets muddled as all three methods can be used to do things such as wake a Pokemon up or get them to perform a specific action and in some cases, a combination of two or all three is required and the only means to determine what is necessary is trial and error.
Course levels use points that you are granted for having photos scored by the professor on each run to unlock new variations of the levels with different Pokemon that appear and occasionally different optional paths. Some courses also have a day and night version with their own individual level system, meaning each course can contain as many as six different versions without factoring in alternate paths within them.
These two factors combined with the ability to alter the zoom and framing of your photos after a run and further alter them with filters, stickers etc. that can be earned by completing requests (which essentially offer tips to 3- and 4-star photos) make each level incredibly dense and provide dozens of hours of replayability.
Outside of the standard courses, each area contains a special Illumina Pokemon course where you are tasked with following around a single (usually supersized) Pokemon and pelting them with illumina orbs to take their photos. These sequences were the weakest part of the game for me taking a lot of the most frustrating elements from the Mew final boss stage in the original game and eliminating much of the spectacle that makes the main courses interesting.
After more than 20 years of waiting New Pokemon Snap provides an update to the original that feels both modern and faithful, while offering nearly endless possibilities for those who want to go the extra mile and track down each and every shot.
Like the first game, the player is tasked with traveling on rails through courses filled with Pokemon to snap photos of them for a professor and ultimately uncover secrets within the environment that lead to new paths and courses.
The decision to stick to the classic formula has been somewhat controversial with some folks hoping the new game would add more freedom, but ultimately I find Pokemon Snap to be more of a rail shooter than a photography game.
Through this lens, I think the game most excels at guiding you through paths that allow you to take in gorgeous scenes and the exciting interactions the Pokemon have with the environment and each other on your first run through and then use subsequent runs to try to set up your perfect shots. Some of my personal highlights involved being surprised by a Pokemon I did not expect to see in a certain area or an interaction between two or more Pokemon.
New Pokemon Snap's visuals are breathtaking with a wide range of environments spanning from quiet fields and serene beaches to lush jungles and dank caves. The Pokemon animations also do so much to bring each creature to life.
Capturing photos of Pokemon for the professor still follows the somewhat nonsensical rubric of judging your photos based on size and how centered the Pokemon is in the frame.
New to New Pokemon Snap, however, are star ratings for photos and course levels.
Each Pokemon has a slot of 1- to 4-star photos that denote different poses with the higher stars often requiring special conditions to be met to set up the snap. The work to find these stellar photos is often ultimately worth it but can be made frustrating by the fact that the tools you gain to interact with Pokemon don't really have defined roles. Much like the first game as you progress you gain access to fluffruit, apple-like fruits that Pokemon will eat and react to when struck by, illumina orbs which make Pokemon glow and can interact with some environmental elements and the ability to play music which can cause some Pokemon to dance or perform special actions. This ultimately gets muddled as all three methods can be used to do things such as wake a Pokemon up or get them to perform a specific action and in some cases, a combination of two or all three is required and the only means to determine what is necessary is trial and error.
Course levels use points that you are granted for having photos scored by the professor on each run to unlock new variations of the levels with different Pokemon that appear and occasionally different optional paths. Some courses also have a day and night version with their own individual level system, meaning each course can contain as many as six different versions without factoring in alternate paths within them.
These two factors combined with the ability to alter the zoom and framing of your photos after a run and further alter them with filters, stickers etc. that can be earned by completing requests (which essentially offer tips to 3- and 4-star photos) make each level incredibly dense and provide dozens of hours of replayability.
Outside of the standard courses, each area contains a special Illumina Pokemon course where you are tasked with following around a single (usually supersized) Pokemon and pelting them with illumina orbs to take their photos. These sequences were the weakest part of the game for me taking a lot of the most frustrating elements from the Mew final boss stage in the original game and eliminating much of the spectacle that makes the main courses interesting.
After more than 20 years of waiting New Pokemon Snap provides an update to the original that feels both modern and faithful, while offering nearly endless possibilities for those who want to go the extra mile and track down each and every shot.
Chicory is a charming puzzle/adventure game with clever mechanics and level design, endearing characters and an emotional story.
The game has you take the role of a janitor working for Chicory, a kind of mystical official known as a wielder who is responsible for providing color to the game's world. At the outset Chicory and all of the color of the world have vanished leaving you to pick up her magical brush and solve the mystery of where the color has gone and the origin of strange black trees that have appeared throughout the world.
As the new wielder, the brush grants you the ability to color in your surroundings and earn new ways to interact with the paint, such as swimming in it a la Splatoon or using it to illuminate dark caves.
The core gameplay loop has you uspgrade the brush's powers and use them to solve environmental puzzles to navigate to the sources of the corruption infesting the world, obtain collectibles such as clothing for your character and new ways to paint with your brush and complete tasks for NPCs.
Puzzling can be a little dry in some of the early sections where your brush's powers are limited, but as you gain new abilities the game does an excellent job at introducing new mechanics that combine your skills in interesting ways and force them to think about them differently. The game also has an excellent tip system, reminiscent of Link's Awakening, if you find yourself stuck and one of my personal highlights was taking some time to backtrack and paint in areas I left blank to take a break from a puzzle that gave me some trouble.
There are no hostiles or combat outside of boss battles, which begin by simply having you swipe your brush over an enemy while avoiding their strikes but evolve mechanically with each encounter ultimately leading to some pretty stellar battles.
Outside of the gameplay, Chicory really shines in its writing and world building. All of the characters you encounter have memorable and endearing personalities and NPCs will often show up at shops or on random screens throughout the world to comment on how you've colored them in.
This all helps feed into the stellar story which offers commentary on the demands of being a public creative, as well as exploring your path in life and the impact you have on others.
All of this is underscored by an absolute banger of a soundtrack that emphasizes everything from tender emotional moments, the adrenaline of a boss fight, the spectacle of a big city and a reference to another popular game series that made me laugh out loud.
Chicory draws on the spirit of 2D Zeldas and other adventure games, combining those inspirations into a modern and polished package with a well implemented gimmick and satisfying gameplay mechanics.
The game has you take the role of a janitor working for Chicory, a kind of mystical official known as a wielder who is responsible for providing color to the game's world. At the outset Chicory and all of the color of the world have vanished leaving you to pick up her magical brush and solve the mystery of where the color has gone and the origin of strange black trees that have appeared throughout the world.
As the new wielder, the brush grants you the ability to color in your surroundings and earn new ways to interact with the paint, such as swimming in it a la Splatoon or using it to illuminate dark caves.
The core gameplay loop has you uspgrade the brush's powers and use them to solve environmental puzzles to navigate to the sources of the corruption infesting the world, obtain collectibles such as clothing for your character and new ways to paint with your brush and complete tasks for NPCs.
Puzzling can be a little dry in some of the early sections where your brush's powers are limited, but as you gain new abilities the game does an excellent job at introducing new mechanics that combine your skills in interesting ways and force them to think about them differently. The game also has an excellent tip system, reminiscent of Link's Awakening, if you find yourself stuck and one of my personal highlights was taking some time to backtrack and paint in areas I left blank to take a break from a puzzle that gave me some trouble.
There are no hostiles or combat outside of boss battles, which begin by simply having you swipe your brush over an enemy while avoiding their strikes but evolve mechanically with each encounter ultimately leading to some pretty stellar battles.
Outside of the gameplay, Chicory really shines in its writing and world building. All of the characters you encounter have memorable and endearing personalities and NPCs will often show up at shops or on random screens throughout the world to comment on how you've colored them in.
This all helps feed into the stellar story which offers commentary on the demands of being a public creative, as well as exploring your path in life and the impact you have on others.
All of this is underscored by an absolute banger of a soundtrack that emphasizes everything from tender emotional moments, the adrenaline of a boss fight, the spectacle of a big city and a reference to another popular game series that made me laugh out loud.
Chicory draws on the spirit of 2D Zeldas and other adventure games, combining those inspirations into a modern and polished package with a well implemented gimmick and satisfying gameplay mechanics.
2017
L.A. Noire is a promising experiment from Rockstar's past that in many ways has still not seen its full potential realized.
The core gameplay of L.A. Noire has you take on the role of rising star cop Cole Phelps as you collect evidence, famously use facial cues to interrogate suspects and engage in boilerplate Rockstar shootouts and car chases. in 1940s Los Angeles.
The investigation aspect still largely holds up as novel to this day and scrounging around crime scenes for clues (although the game does hold your hand slightly by alerting you when you've found everything of note) adds an extra layer of accomplishment when you pull it out to catch a suspect in a lie. The game does tend to litter the areas with an often repeated supply of irrelevant items that can be inspected and while things like matchboxes will be crucial evidence in some cases and meaningless in others, the game doesn't do this quite enough to justify the junk.
Interrogations themselves are the main draw of the game as it allows its focus on performance capture to shine as one-off suspects become memorable characters. The actual mechanics of investigations as a whole are kind of a smoke and mirrors trick as no level of failure really has any material effect on the game's trajectory but the performances make even small mistakes notable experiences and the writing allows for a botched question to still provide some semblance of information.
The remastered version also replaces the classic "Truth, Doubt, Lie" with "Good Cop, Bad Cop and Accuse" and while "Bad Cop" in particular is a more fitting description, these still don't quite go far enough to convey how Cole might respond to a suspect. Dialogue choices can occasionally lead on tangents that wind up frustrating, such as identifying that a suspect is lying about something but having Cole call them out on something tangentially related you might not have evidence for.
The open world is where this system starts to fall apart and actually lags behind more linear and abstract detective worlds like the Ace Attorney series where it could have expanded on them. Some later missions do progress differently depending on what order you choose to tackle tasks in but most cases do not involve the kind of backtracking and cross-examining that make both L.A. Noire's predecessors and successors interesting.
Instead, the open world is largely just a stage for car chases, gunfights and tailing missions both in main story missions and side quests that don't really feel distinct or interesting. I often found it grating for a case to end with Cole tackling or gunning down a suspect, when it was infinitely more tense to have to bring multiple suspects into the interrogation room and decide who to charge.
This is especially heartbreaking because the world is so well constructed that in a late-game car chase I crashed my car into a building only to realize "Hey this is the laundromat from mission 3" and the final homicide mission that has you use clues to travel to specific landmarks. Unfortunately, the game doesn't really require you to treat its fictional L.A. as a lived-in and interconnected place, instead just pushing you along from point A to point B.
Much of this is understandable when considering L.A. Noire's true intention is to tell a linear story, which it fundamentally does well. The rise and fall of Cole Phelps is essentially a mishmash of noir tropes but the game does a good job of elevating secondary characters such as Cole's partners and his former military teammates to make the story worthwhile. Cole himself fits pretty neatly into the standard Rockstar protagonist at the time as he is naive enough to act as an audience stand-in but tortured enough to add emotional weight.
My primary gripes with the story are that we don't really get to see much of Cole's life outside of his police work and the war, which takes away some of the gravity of a late-game twist. Also, the homicide desk is one of the most satisfying sections of the game from a gameplay perspective but ultimately reads like a non sequitur as the story ramps up in the second half.
Looking back, L.A. Noire is nestled in an odd space where it was not quite as innovative as it could have been. It does well to bring aspects of the more visual novel-style detective games to the AAA space but fails to fully connect the dots as much of the open world aspects feel like filler.
The core gameplay of L.A. Noire has you take on the role of rising star cop Cole Phelps as you collect evidence, famously use facial cues to interrogate suspects and engage in boilerplate Rockstar shootouts and car chases. in 1940s Los Angeles.
The investigation aspect still largely holds up as novel to this day and scrounging around crime scenes for clues (although the game does hold your hand slightly by alerting you when you've found everything of note) adds an extra layer of accomplishment when you pull it out to catch a suspect in a lie. The game does tend to litter the areas with an often repeated supply of irrelevant items that can be inspected and while things like matchboxes will be crucial evidence in some cases and meaningless in others, the game doesn't do this quite enough to justify the junk.
Interrogations themselves are the main draw of the game as it allows its focus on performance capture to shine as one-off suspects become memorable characters. The actual mechanics of investigations as a whole are kind of a smoke and mirrors trick as no level of failure really has any material effect on the game's trajectory but the performances make even small mistakes notable experiences and the writing allows for a botched question to still provide some semblance of information.
The remastered version also replaces the classic "Truth, Doubt, Lie" with "Good Cop, Bad Cop and Accuse" and while "Bad Cop" in particular is a more fitting description, these still don't quite go far enough to convey how Cole might respond to a suspect. Dialogue choices can occasionally lead on tangents that wind up frustrating, such as identifying that a suspect is lying about something but having Cole call them out on something tangentially related you might not have evidence for.
The open world is where this system starts to fall apart and actually lags behind more linear and abstract detective worlds like the Ace Attorney series where it could have expanded on them. Some later missions do progress differently depending on what order you choose to tackle tasks in but most cases do not involve the kind of backtracking and cross-examining that make both L.A. Noire's predecessors and successors interesting.
Instead, the open world is largely just a stage for car chases, gunfights and tailing missions both in main story missions and side quests that don't really feel distinct or interesting. I often found it grating for a case to end with Cole tackling or gunning down a suspect, when it was infinitely more tense to have to bring multiple suspects into the interrogation room and decide who to charge.
This is especially heartbreaking because the world is so well constructed that in a late-game car chase I crashed my car into a building only to realize "Hey this is the laundromat from mission 3" and the final homicide mission that has you use clues to travel to specific landmarks. Unfortunately, the game doesn't really require you to treat its fictional L.A. as a lived-in and interconnected place, instead just pushing you along from point A to point B.
Much of this is understandable when considering L.A. Noire's true intention is to tell a linear story, which it fundamentally does well. The rise and fall of Cole Phelps is essentially a mishmash of noir tropes but the game does a good job of elevating secondary characters such as Cole's partners and his former military teammates to make the story worthwhile. Cole himself fits pretty neatly into the standard Rockstar protagonist at the time as he is naive enough to act as an audience stand-in but tortured enough to add emotional weight.
My primary gripes with the story are that we don't really get to see much of Cole's life outside of his police work and the war, which takes away some of the gravity of a late-game twist. Also, the homicide desk is one of the most satisfying sections of the game from a gameplay perspective but ultimately reads like a non sequitur as the story ramps up in the second half.
Looking back, L.A. Noire is nestled in an odd space where it was not quite as innovative as it could have been. It does well to bring aspects of the more visual novel-style detective games to the AAA space but fails to fully connect the dots as much of the open world aspects feel like filler.
2016
Ratchet & Clank is a relatively modern game that feels shackled by design flaws of a different era.
While the presentation and overall flow of the game are good, it struggles to do any one thing exceptionally well despite presenting a modest scope.
Beginning with the positives the levels are mostly well-designed offering sufficient opportunities for exploration while maintaining a steady pace for combat encounters and platforming.
The highlight of the game for me was the Clank levels, which feature smartly crafted puzzles that make good use of the kit given to Clank. Aside from making these rare sections more frequent, it would have been ideal if they were not completely divorced from Ratchet gameplay or at least if Ratchet had some more complex puzzling to do on his own.
Combat is one of the major areas where things begin to fall apart. Wielding Ratchet's weapons generally feels good and hits against larger enemies and bosses, in particular, feels satisfying. However, in some encounters with smaller and more mobile enemies they can tend to drift into the background.
There is also a pretty significant lack of feedback when Ratchet is hit and he tends to lose health in chunks rather than at a consistent rate which can make some deaths feel cheap.
Ultimately, the most pressing issue with combat is the lack of variety in enemy types. While the game gives you a large arsenal there are very few reasons to alter your weapon choices after you find a strategy that works because it will be applicable to every encounter throughout the game, with even bosses susceptible to the same tactics.
It would have been interesting, for example, if some enemies had armor that required damage from Ratchet's wrench or heavier artillery to break or if an enemy type was immune to or could shut down your AOE attacks. The game instead ramps up difficulty by simply adding more enemies or increasing their damage input, leaving the only decision for you to make in any encounter whether you should take out the larger, stronger enemies first.
The platforming is also extremely undercooked, with a complete lack of any interesting ideas or novel mechanics to make traversing obstacles feel interesting. This leaves most gaps as things you feel annoyed to have failed to clear, rather than challenged to oercome.
A lot of this builds up to a general issue where the game struggles to communicate progression. The new weapons you acquire don't really alter the way you engage with combat past a certain point and the game occasionally gives you new tools for traversal, but they are often limited to very specific situations and the game also frequently takes them away entirely at times.
Upon release, the game was praised for its visuals and while they do largely hold up some levels don't make use of the gorgeous color palettes and lighting used on the beach-themed Pokitaru, often falling into drab industrial designs or washed out oranges tones.
The narrative is hardly present and at times even seems to be missing key elements from the movie that released alongside it, but it graciously doesn't insert itself too frequently to interfere with the gameplay.
Overall, Ratchet & Clank remains a fun game despite its flaws and its brief runtime makes it a pretty low-investment game to give a spin but it ultimately winds up feeling dated beyond its actual age.
While the presentation and overall flow of the game are good, it struggles to do any one thing exceptionally well despite presenting a modest scope.
Beginning with the positives the levels are mostly well-designed offering sufficient opportunities for exploration while maintaining a steady pace for combat encounters and platforming.
The highlight of the game for me was the Clank levels, which feature smartly crafted puzzles that make good use of the kit given to Clank. Aside from making these rare sections more frequent, it would have been ideal if they were not completely divorced from Ratchet gameplay or at least if Ratchet had some more complex puzzling to do on his own.
Combat is one of the major areas where things begin to fall apart. Wielding Ratchet's weapons generally feels good and hits against larger enemies and bosses, in particular, feels satisfying. However, in some encounters with smaller and more mobile enemies they can tend to drift into the background.
There is also a pretty significant lack of feedback when Ratchet is hit and he tends to lose health in chunks rather than at a consistent rate which can make some deaths feel cheap.
Ultimately, the most pressing issue with combat is the lack of variety in enemy types. While the game gives you a large arsenal there are very few reasons to alter your weapon choices after you find a strategy that works because it will be applicable to every encounter throughout the game, with even bosses susceptible to the same tactics.
It would have been interesting, for example, if some enemies had armor that required damage from Ratchet's wrench or heavier artillery to break or if an enemy type was immune to or could shut down your AOE attacks. The game instead ramps up difficulty by simply adding more enemies or increasing their damage input, leaving the only decision for you to make in any encounter whether you should take out the larger, stronger enemies first.
The platforming is also extremely undercooked, with a complete lack of any interesting ideas or novel mechanics to make traversing obstacles feel interesting. This leaves most gaps as things you feel annoyed to have failed to clear, rather than challenged to oercome.
A lot of this builds up to a general issue where the game struggles to communicate progression. The new weapons you acquire don't really alter the way you engage with combat past a certain point and the game occasionally gives you new tools for traversal, but they are often limited to very specific situations and the game also frequently takes them away entirely at times.
Upon release, the game was praised for its visuals and while they do largely hold up some levels don't make use of the gorgeous color palettes and lighting used on the beach-themed Pokitaru, often falling into drab industrial designs or washed out oranges tones.
The narrative is hardly present and at times even seems to be missing key elements from the movie that released alongside it, but it graciously doesn't insert itself too frequently to interfere with the gameplay.
Overall, Ratchet & Clank remains a fun game despite its flaws and its brief runtime makes it a pretty low-investment game to give a spin but it ultimately winds up feeling dated beyond its actual age.
Resident Evil 7 carries on the strong legacy of the series at the forefront of the survival horror genre, flaunting both its greatest strengths and flaws.
The primary loop of RE7 has you looking to navigate small spaces while avoiding unkillable enemies as you unlock secrets to move forward and collect resources for your ultimate showdowns with the individual members of the Baker family.
In the first half, the game masterfully sets up a thrilling cat and mouse game where every step you take is a gamble between finding what you need to move forward or initiating a chase that will leave you running for your life.
The game achieves this tension by establishing clear rules in the stalkers' AI that allows you to know when you are safe and when you run the risk of danger. This is bolstered by strong sound and visual design that serves both to alert you of an oncoming enemy and occasionally make you jump at the sight of a shadow cast by a coat rack or a branch tapping on a window.
The new first-person perspective also adds to the tension as turning corners becomes especially terrifying and the game cleverly picks moments to send enemies and other surprises in from your blindside.
On normal difficulty (the highest available on an initial playthrough) combat encounters are pretty sparse and can be pretty easily dealt with if you manage your ammunition well, especially as you gain more powerful weapons.
Ammunition and other resources are ample enough that if you can temper your nerves to work your way around the roaming Bakers and make efficient use of your knife in the early going you're unlikely to find yourself in a tough situation.
Boss battles generally have enough of a gimmick to present interesting puzzles to solve but the stakes don't feel particularly high at any point.
The game also sheds the stalker mechanic about midway through and while a late-game puzzle sequence and another where you're left unarmed do shine but the game loses a lot of its charm as more of your time is spent emptying clips into walking piles of goop.
From a narrative standpoint, the game gets points for neither taking too much time to explain itself or relying to heavily on knowledge of previous games and the setting does a lot to contribute to the tense atmosphere but the actual beat-by-beat story being told is not particularly compelling.
Ultimately, the game starts off on an incredibly strong foot with a well-developed atmosphere and a white knuckle gameplay loop taking lessons from the gams the series itself has inspired but it unfortunately loses some of its steam as the lackluster story starts to ramp up.
The primary loop of RE7 has you looking to navigate small spaces while avoiding unkillable enemies as you unlock secrets to move forward and collect resources for your ultimate showdowns with the individual members of the Baker family.
In the first half, the game masterfully sets up a thrilling cat and mouse game where every step you take is a gamble between finding what you need to move forward or initiating a chase that will leave you running for your life.
The game achieves this tension by establishing clear rules in the stalkers' AI that allows you to know when you are safe and when you run the risk of danger. This is bolstered by strong sound and visual design that serves both to alert you of an oncoming enemy and occasionally make you jump at the sight of a shadow cast by a coat rack or a branch tapping on a window.
The new first-person perspective also adds to the tension as turning corners becomes especially terrifying and the game cleverly picks moments to send enemies and other surprises in from your blindside.
On normal difficulty (the highest available on an initial playthrough) combat encounters are pretty sparse and can be pretty easily dealt with if you manage your ammunition well, especially as you gain more powerful weapons.
Ammunition and other resources are ample enough that if you can temper your nerves to work your way around the roaming Bakers and make efficient use of your knife in the early going you're unlikely to find yourself in a tough situation.
Boss battles generally have enough of a gimmick to present interesting puzzles to solve but the stakes don't feel particularly high at any point.
The game also sheds the stalker mechanic about midway through and while a late-game puzzle sequence and another where you're left unarmed do shine but the game loses a lot of its charm as more of your time is spent emptying clips into walking piles of goop.
From a narrative standpoint, the game gets points for neither taking too much time to explain itself or relying to heavily on knowledge of previous games and the setting does a lot to contribute to the tense atmosphere but the actual beat-by-beat story being told is not particularly compelling.
Ultimately, the game starts off on an incredibly strong foot with a well-developed atmosphere and a white knuckle gameplay loop taking lessons from the gams the series itself has inspired but it unfortunately loses some of its steam as the lackluster story starts to ramp up.
2021
Bowser's Fury is a short expansion that ports the mechanics of Super Mario 3D World into a more traditional ... Mario ... 3D ... World, with the unique twist that after a set period of time "Fury Bowser" appears on the map and alters the landscape while attacking Mario.
Once Fury Bowser appears there are only three ways to force him out of the map: Survive long enough for him to go away on his own, collect a Cat Shine (this game's main collectible) or use a Giga Bell power-up that appears when you collect enough Cat Shines to engage and defeat Fury Bowser in a boss fight.
When Fury Bowser is on the screen he both creates new platforms that grant unique access to some areas and his attacks can destroy "Fury Blocks" placed throughout the world that hide Cat Shines. This can force you to decide whether you want to try to continue the current quest you're on despite Bowser's attacks, or take advantage of his presence to get one of the collectibles only available during his appearance.
This mechanic is a spectacle at first, but ultimately wore thin for me as the Shines available to you in Bowser's Fury Mode are not nearly as interesting to collect as those in the standard levels. Both the levels and the boss AI are designed well enough that trying to get a normal Shine while Bowser is present is usually more thrilling than annoying, but occasionally you'll be put in a place where Bowser makes a Shine too difficult to attain and you don't immediately have an eye on another.
The real triumph of Bowser's Fury is how seamlessly the individual challenges flow into the areas that house them and the larger open world.
The open world is filled with a series of smaller areas each individually sectioned off by gates that feature their own challenges where you collect Cat Shines that allow you to unlock more parts of the map to explore.
It took me a while to get out of the first area which is probably the least interesting to navigate but later levels present interesting traversal challenges that evolve as you collect more Shines and force you to interact with them in new ways.
As a Mario 64 baby who did not play 3D World prior I think some of my unfamiliarity with the movement sets and powerup from the main game soiled my early impression of Bowser's Fury.
The powerups provided in the 3D World are mainly sneaky difficulty sliders, while powerups in most 3D Marios enable exploration. I wound up using a lot of these powerups in a way that lessened the challenge of some of the earlier stages, thinking they were necessary, and didn't realize until a late-game challenge left me with mostly just normal mushroom powerups that a lot of these situations were designed to be navigated by simply running and jumping.
Outside of the gameplay, the visuals are stunning (although the framerate did wind up dipping pretty badly for me at some points) and while I'm not necessarily a connoisseur of Mario music this soundtrack would certainly rank among my favorites.
I'm also personally a sucker for the "everything is cats" motif and they did a great job making the cats you can find and play with throughout the world mimic the behaviors of their real-world counterparts.
Once Fury Bowser appears there are only three ways to force him out of the map: Survive long enough for him to go away on his own, collect a Cat Shine (this game's main collectible) or use a Giga Bell power-up that appears when you collect enough Cat Shines to engage and defeat Fury Bowser in a boss fight.
When Fury Bowser is on the screen he both creates new platforms that grant unique access to some areas and his attacks can destroy "Fury Blocks" placed throughout the world that hide Cat Shines. This can force you to decide whether you want to try to continue the current quest you're on despite Bowser's attacks, or take advantage of his presence to get one of the collectibles only available during his appearance.
This mechanic is a spectacle at first, but ultimately wore thin for me as the Shines available to you in Bowser's Fury Mode are not nearly as interesting to collect as those in the standard levels. Both the levels and the boss AI are designed well enough that trying to get a normal Shine while Bowser is present is usually more thrilling than annoying, but occasionally you'll be put in a place where Bowser makes a Shine too difficult to attain and you don't immediately have an eye on another.
The real triumph of Bowser's Fury is how seamlessly the individual challenges flow into the areas that house them and the larger open world.
The open world is filled with a series of smaller areas each individually sectioned off by gates that feature their own challenges where you collect Cat Shines that allow you to unlock more parts of the map to explore.
It took me a while to get out of the first area which is probably the least interesting to navigate but later levels present interesting traversal challenges that evolve as you collect more Shines and force you to interact with them in new ways.
As a Mario 64 baby who did not play 3D World prior I think some of my unfamiliarity with the movement sets and powerup from the main game soiled my early impression of Bowser's Fury.
The powerups provided in the 3D World are mainly sneaky difficulty sliders, while powerups in most 3D Marios enable exploration. I wound up using a lot of these powerups in a way that lessened the challenge of some of the earlier stages, thinking they were necessary, and didn't realize until a late-game challenge left me with mostly just normal mushroom powerups that a lot of these situations were designed to be navigated by simply running and jumping.
Outside of the gameplay, the visuals are stunning (although the framerate did wind up dipping pretty badly for me at some points) and while I'm not necessarily a connoisseur of Mario music this soundtrack would certainly rank among my favorites.
I'm also personally a sucker for the "everything is cats" motif and they did a great job making the cats you can find and play with throughout the world mimic the behaviors of their real-world counterparts.
THIS IS ONLY A REVIEW OF BOWSER'S FURY
(I have no history with 3D World and only played this version for a bit before diving into Bowser's Fury)
Bowser's Fury is a short expansion that ports the mechanics of Super Mario 3D World into a more traditional ... Mario ... 3D ... World, with the unique twist that after a set period of time "Fury Bowser" appears on the map and alters the landscape while attacking Mario.
Once Fury Bowser appears there are only three ways to force him out of the map: Survive long enough for him to go away on his own, collect a Cat Shine (this game's main collectible) or use a Giga Bell power-up that appears when you collect enough Cat Shines to engage and defeat Fury Bowser in a boss fight.
When Fury Bowser is on the screen he both creates new platforms that grant unique access to some areas and his attacks can destroy "Fury Blocks" placed throughout the world that hide Cat Shines. This can force you to decide whether you want to try to continue the current quest you're on despite Bowser's attacks, or take advantage of his presence to get one of the collectibles only available during his appearance.
This mechanic is a spectacle at first, but ultimately wore thin for me as the Shines available to you in Bowser's Fury Mode are not nearly as interesting to collect as those in the standard levels. Both the levels and the boss AI are designed well enough that trying to get a normal Shine while Bowser is present is usually more thrilling than annoying, but occasionally you'll be put in a place where Bowser makes a Shine too difficult to attain and you don't immediately have an eye on another.
The real triumph of Bowser's Fury is how seamlessly the individual challenges flow into the areas that house them and the larger open world.
The open world is filled with a series of smaller areas each individually sectioned off by gates that feature their own challenges where you collect Cat Shines that allow you to unlock more parts of the map to explore.
It took me a while to get out of the first area which is probably the least interesting to navigate but later levels prevent interesting traversal challenges that evolve as you collect more Shines and force you to interact with them in new ways.
As a Mario 64 baby who did not play 3D World prior I think some of my unfamiliarity with the movement sets and powerup from the main game soiled my early impression of Bowser's Fury.
The powerups provided in the 3D World said are mainly sneaky difficulty sliders, while powerups in most 3D Marios enable exploration. I wound up using a lot of these powerups in a way that lessened the challenge of some of the earlier stages, thinking they were necessary, and didn't realize until a late-game challenge left me with mostly just normal mushroom powerups that a lot of these situations were designed to be navigated by simply running and jumping.
Outside of the gameplay the visuals are stunning (although the framerate did wind up dipping pretty badly for me at some points) and while I'm not necessarily a connoisseur of Mario music this soundtrack would certainly rank among my favorites.
I'm also personally a sucker for the "everything is cats" motif and they did a great job making the cats you can find and play with throughout the world mimic the behaviors of their real-world counterparts.
(I have no history with 3D World and only played this version for a bit before diving into Bowser's Fury)
Bowser's Fury is a short expansion that ports the mechanics of Super Mario 3D World into a more traditional ... Mario ... 3D ... World, with the unique twist that after a set period of time "Fury Bowser" appears on the map and alters the landscape while attacking Mario.
Once Fury Bowser appears there are only three ways to force him out of the map: Survive long enough for him to go away on his own, collect a Cat Shine (this game's main collectible) or use a Giga Bell power-up that appears when you collect enough Cat Shines to engage and defeat Fury Bowser in a boss fight.
When Fury Bowser is on the screen he both creates new platforms that grant unique access to some areas and his attacks can destroy "Fury Blocks" placed throughout the world that hide Cat Shines. This can force you to decide whether you want to try to continue the current quest you're on despite Bowser's attacks, or take advantage of his presence to get one of the collectibles only available during his appearance.
This mechanic is a spectacle at first, but ultimately wore thin for me as the Shines available to you in Bowser's Fury Mode are not nearly as interesting to collect as those in the standard levels. Both the levels and the boss AI are designed well enough that trying to get a normal Shine while Bowser is present is usually more thrilling than annoying, but occasionally you'll be put in a place where Bowser makes a Shine too difficult to attain and you don't immediately have an eye on another.
The real triumph of Bowser's Fury is how seamlessly the individual challenges flow into the areas that house them and the larger open world.
The open world is filled with a series of smaller areas each individually sectioned off by gates that feature their own challenges where you collect Cat Shines that allow you to unlock more parts of the map to explore.
It took me a while to get out of the first area which is probably the least interesting to navigate but later levels prevent interesting traversal challenges that evolve as you collect more Shines and force you to interact with them in new ways.
As a Mario 64 baby who did not play 3D World prior I think some of my unfamiliarity with the movement sets and powerup from the main game soiled my early impression of Bowser's Fury.
The powerups provided in the 3D World said are mainly sneaky difficulty sliders, while powerups in most 3D Marios enable exploration. I wound up using a lot of these powerups in a way that lessened the challenge of some of the earlier stages, thinking they were necessary, and didn't realize until a late-game challenge left me with mostly just normal mushroom powerups that a lot of these situations were designed to be navigated by simply running and jumping.
Outside of the gameplay the visuals are stunning (although the framerate did wind up dipping pretty badly for me at some points) and while I'm not necessarily a connoisseur of Mario music this soundtrack would certainly rank among my favorites.
I'm also personally a sucker for the "everything is cats" motif and they did a great job making the cats you can find and play with throughout the world mimic the behaviors of their real-world counterparts.
2020
Carto is a puzzle game that has you guide a young girl (the titular Carto) as she travels to various locales to reunite with her grandmother by organizing and manipulating pieces of a map.
The gameplay splits largely into two modes: one where you explore locations in order to interact with the world, talk to NPCs and find new map pieces and a second where you rearrange pieces of the map in order to alter the terrain in the overworld or allow yourself to move to new locations.
A lot of these puzzles are easy to parse and fun to execute as you watch the effects that your meddling has on the world and in most instances there's a good amount of leniency in how the game allows you to solve the problems.
Some of the puzzles, however, require you to repeat an action multiple times with sometimes unclear indications that you're actually progressing toward your goal.
None of the puzzles are particularly difficult but the solutions can sometimes be obtuse or in some instances struggle to demonstrate progress.
The story is a strong point as Carto is adorable and the various characters that you come across are all incredibly charming. In each area Carto helps the characters solve obstacles often relating to the cultural customs of their fictional lands.
These stories along with a pleasant art style help to make each location memorable while adding to the overall charm of the game.
Ultimately, Carto is a clever puzzle game with a unique mechanic that is bolstered by a story with a heart.
The gameplay splits largely into two modes: one where you explore locations in order to interact with the world, talk to NPCs and find new map pieces and a second where you rearrange pieces of the map in order to alter the terrain in the overworld or allow yourself to move to new locations.
A lot of these puzzles are easy to parse and fun to execute as you watch the effects that your meddling has on the world and in most instances there's a good amount of leniency in how the game allows you to solve the problems.
Some of the puzzles, however, require you to repeat an action multiple times with sometimes unclear indications that you're actually progressing toward your goal.
None of the puzzles are particularly difficult but the solutions can sometimes be obtuse or in some instances struggle to demonstrate progress.
The story is a strong point as Carto is adorable and the various characters that you come across are all incredibly charming. In each area Carto helps the characters solve obstacles often relating to the cultural customs of their fictional lands.
These stories along with a pleasant art style help to make each location memorable while adding to the overall charm of the game.
Ultimately, Carto is a clever puzzle game with a unique mechanic that is bolstered by a story with a heart.
2020
Helltaker is a short 2/3 puzzle game 1/3 visual novel where you navigate obstacles to reach demon girls and invite them to your harem.
The puzzles center around getting from one side of a room to the other in a specified number of steps while avoiding obstacles including pushable rocks enemy skeletons and traps that take away two of your movements.
The primary form of puzzles is satisfying and the difficulty ramps up in a manageable way, adding and mixing mechanics in a way that is challenging but not overly frustrating.
During the "final boss" section the gameplay switches to a more rhythm based structure where you have to dodge chains seconds after being shown where they will appear. This was a highlight for me, as learning the patterns and getting a clean run was extremely satisfying.
It also helps to mitigate some of the tedium of being stuck on a particular level with an absolute banger of a soundtrack and well-written hints on each level that flesh out the characters and the background of the world.
Each level also ends with a visual novel/dating sim section that forces you to restart the level if you fail, which can help you internalize the level design rather than brute forcing your way through, but you can also just skip through all the levels if you just want the story.
Ultimately the narrative is pretty light but a lot of the writing is witty and made me chuckle while dancing up to the line of being too horny but keeping things tongue in cheek.
The puzzles center around getting from one side of a room to the other in a specified number of steps while avoiding obstacles including pushable rocks enemy skeletons and traps that take away two of your movements.
The primary form of puzzles is satisfying and the difficulty ramps up in a manageable way, adding and mixing mechanics in a way that is challenging but not overly frustrating.
During the "final boss" section the gameplay switches to a more rhythm based structure where you have to dodge chains seconds after being shown where they will appear. This was a highlight for me, as learning the patterns and getting a clean run was extremely satisfying.
It also helps to mitigate some of the tedium of being stuck on a particular level with an absolute banger of a soundtrack and well-written hints on each level that flesh out the characters and the background of the world.
Each level also ends with a visual novel/dating sim section that forces you to restart the level if you fail, which can help you internalize the level design rather than brute forcing your way through, but you can also just skip through all the levels if you just want the story.
Ultimately the narrative is pretty light but a lot of the writing is witty and made me chuckle while dancing up to the line of being too horny but keeping things tongue in cheek.
2019
Down in Bermuda is a puzzle game where you manipulate the camera and environment to guide a stranded pilot through strange worlds back home.
Each area has you completing a series of tasks including finding a certain amount of hidden "star pieces" throughout the world and solving puzzles in order to complete certain tasks for residents and combat monsters.
Each level also contains additional collectibles including a map to help you find the star pieces, polaroids that flesh out the story, keys that can unlock areas throughout the various levels and hidden "artifacts" that you must tally up to 100% the game.
Many of the puzzles involve rotating the camera and moving the cursor around to manipulate the perspective and this works best on the macro scale of finding the collectibles but doesn't really ever have a significant impact on the smaller individual puzzles.
The smaller puzzles largely involve identifying and matching some kind of pattern found in the world to activate some device and/or how different mechanisms interact.
The game doesn't necessarily do a fantastic job of tutorializing these themes and some puzzles don't do enough to surface what the end goal is supposed to be but nothing is so frustrating that some trial and error can't get you through it.
Ultimately the way each world is designed leads to a snowball effect where each bit of progress you make winds up making the next step easier and the moments from the climax to the end of a level can feel fantastic.
There IS a story here but it's very sparse, not particularly original and the game doesn't really call too much attention to it.
Tl;dr: Down in Bermuda is a nice puzzler that's fun to sit down on and work on in chunks but doesn't do anything that necessarily sets itself apart.
Each area has you completing a series of tasks including finding a certain amount of hidden "star pieces" throughout the world and solving puzzles in order to complete certain tasks for residents and combat monsters.
Each level also contains additional collectibles including a map to help you find the star pieces, polaroids that flesh out the story, keys that can unlock areas throughout the various levels and hidden "artifacts" that you must tally up to 100% the game.
Many of the puzzles involve rotating the camera and moving the cursor around to manipulate the perspective and this works best on the macro scale of finding the collectibles but doesn't really ever have a significant impact on the smaller individual puzzles.
The smaller puzzles largely involve identifying and matching some kind of pattern found in the world to activate some device and/or how different mechanisms interact.
The game doesn't necessarily do a fantastic job of tutorializing these themes and some puzzles don't do enough to surface what the end goal is supposed to be but nothing is so frustrating that some trial and error can't get you through it.
Ultimately the way each world is designed leads to a snowball effect where each bit of progress you make winds up making the next step easier and the moments from the climax to the end of a level can feel fantastic.
There IS a story here but it's very sparse, not particularly original and the game doesn't really call too much attention to it.
Tl;dr: Down in Bermuda is a nice puzzler that's fun to sit down on and work on in chunks but doesn't do anything that necessarily sets itself apart.