depresston
2017
An extremely charming and engaging platformer that wears its inspirations on its sleeve in a very cool way. Served as a very nice pace-breaker in between the 50+ hour games I've been playing recently, and it was very nice to 100 percent a platformer for the first time in a while.
AHIT borrows heavily from the core gameplay loop of the mario galaxy duology, with the mission objectives and set pieces changing drastically based on any given act. AHIT blends its colorful cast of characters along with a deceptively complex set of movement options and abilities able to be swapped on the fly to create a fluid and satisfying experience throughout, one that introduced enough wrinkles to its core formula that it never felt derivitive.
The highlight of my playthrough was definitely alpine skyline, a chapter that differs from previous chapters by more fully embracing a free-roam, non-linear style of gameplay that kept me glued to the screen, and left me wishing that more of the runtime had been dedicated to a more similar style of structure.
Other than some movement options feeling a bit sluggish and not quite as satisfying as they maybe could have felt(the wall climbing felt awkward and stilted at times) and some minor graphical bugs and pop-in, I really enjoyed A Hat in Time! Will definitely be playing the DLC at some point:)
AHIT borrows heavily from the core gameplay loop of the mario galaxy duology, with the mission objectives and set pieces changing drastically based on any given act. AHIT blends its colorful cast of characters along with a deceptively complex set of movement options and abilities able to be swapped on the fly to create a fluid and satisfying experience throughout, one that introduced enough wrinkles to its core formula that it never felt derivitive.
The highlight of my playthrough was definitely alpine skyline, a chapter that differs from previous chapters by more fully embracing a free-roam, non-linear style of gameplay that kept me glued to the screen, and left me wishing that more of the runtime had been dedicated to a more similar style of structure.
Other than some movement options feeling a bit sluggish and not quite as satisfying as they maybe could have felt(the wall climbing felt awkward and stilted at times) and some minor graphical bugs and pop-in, I really enjoyed A Hat in Time! Will definitely be playing the DLC at some point:)
2023
Finally decided to play the original Pikmin after the ports were announced in lieu of the release of Pikmin 4-it was good! Even in 2023 Pikmin purely as a concept feels deceptively simple and yet ridiculously innovative, the atmosphere of the world is intoxicating, and the bond the game manages to create between you and your Pikmin due to their cute appearance and charming quirks was definitely a highlight, and made every occurrence in which I accidently committed a mass Pikmin slaughter that much more horrifying. The game's 30 day time limit keeps the sense of progression moving at a steady pace, and while you are very unlikely to actually reach that 30 day limit due to the forgiving nature of the first title, it is restrictive enough to constantly serve as a reminder that you must use your time wisely. My issues with Pikmin arise in its relatively intrusive bugs and design quirks, such as pikmin clipping through bridges and off cliffs and subsequently dying through no fault of the player, as well as at times very poor pathfinding, leading the Pikmin to die seemingly at random even when taking the obviously intended path, as well as Pikmin often tripping, even when flowered, which only serves to add to the frustration. All of these issues would thankfully be addressed in later entries in the Pikmin series, but that doesn't lessen the impact they have in the first title.
This review contains spoilers
A genuine landmark in video game history. No game has replicated the feeling that botw gave me upon my first initial playthrough until this game. Improves on every aspect of the first game, from more in-depth mechanics and abilities, intersecting overworlds that almost never felt tiring to explore due to the vast amount of interesting and varied collectibles and many more traversal options to explore said world, and a difficulty level that stayed consistent throughout my playthrough due to interesting wrinkles in gameplay, such as the depth's gloom mechanic lowering your maximum hearts no matter your defense level. While a significant improvement over the first, I still found the dungeons left a bit to be desired in mechanical depth over previous zelda entries, as well as a story that tends to repeat itself a bit too often with near-identical post-boss cutscenes after climactic story encounters. However these issues are relatively minor in comparison to the sheer wonder and depth of mechanics I experienced throughout my playthrough, and any game that makes botw look like an alpha build deserves to be considered one of the greatest games of all time.