A really fun platformer which offers variety between its playable characters, has a bunch of fun mini games, collectibles, and a really fitting soundtrack. Story diverges partially from the movie and that comes with some ridiculous things happening, as well as some genuinely funny moments. Sometimes it's too ridiculous for its own good, the collectibles are hidden under really dumb circumstances and the lemurs look so lifeless to the point of it being kinda scary. It can also feel a bit strange going back to a level and finding all your upgrades/powers gone again, which I can somewhat understand with the way the levels are designed to be played strictly around one gimmick and using any later ones could easily break the game. Overall though this has to be one of the best licensed games to exist by far and it's worth a try for sure. It's quite short as well, only taking around 3 hours when excluding the side content, so you don't lose much.

This could've so easily been a 5/5 if it didn't suffer from 3rd case syndrome and some really iffy content, which could be removed without affecting the narrative whatsoever. And yet V3 succeeds in so many ways, it wouldn't be too far off to consider it the best game in the series. It features a rich cast, the best version of the franchise's gameplay yet, great soundtrack and a metanarrative that will challenge your enjoyment of this series like no other. It's also got the most post game content and collectibles, making replays feel like an almost natural part of the playthrough. A controversial game, a controversial series actually, no less thanks to its impact online, but undeniably special too. Any sequel would negatively affect the ending of this game so I hope it never happens.

Deserves all those stars for the cultural reset which was the Rasputin dance, but it also offers a genuinely good and varied music collection with a solid mix between original tracks and remixes which do their job just well enough to cover for the original. The choreography may not be subtle, actually it's quite silly for the most part, but just like the background artworks they match every respective song perfectly. Definitely more enjoyable with others rather than a single player workout; most modes are not playable by yourself and other than aiming for full five star scores there isn't much to do on your own.

Most pointless DLC they could've possibly come up with. Playing as Shadow is absolutely unrewarding, there is nothing about his controls or levels that differs from how Sonic plays in Forces, and even though there's hardly anything you could label a (well developed) story worth telling, they still manage to screw up Shadow's character somehow, again.

Infinite's motivations for becoming the main antagonist in Forces are revealed! They're bad. It's not even so bad it's good territory, it's just plain bad and makes him seem so much more underwhelming than he already was in Sonic Forces. I didn't even think that was possible but here we are.

The only redeeming quality this game has over Sonic Forces is that the level design sometimes is significantly less empty, meaning you can't just dash your way to the finish line and be done with it, at least in the 2D sections of the levels. You will have to actually do some platforming and avoid running into obstacles here, which offers a change of pace and ups the difficulty Forces offers. The levels are still too short for their own good though and reused from the base game. What these few more challenging parts of the stages also do is make you question why the same wasn't done in Sonic Forces to begin with, why all the decent stages were put into a DLC that didn't even need to exist.

Yes, this DLC is a waste of time, but it was also over before I noticed so you honestly lose very little from playing it, since you get it for free alongside the main game.

Went back for Pirate Sonic and Captain Shadow only, but figured I might as well leave a review while I'm at it. As far as endless runners go, this one is up there with a solid sense of speed and graphics that can still keep up for a game released 8 years ago. It's straightforward with its gameplay and neither visually nor sound wise does it ever get annoying. It's pretty good if you feel the need to kill some time or enjoy these types of mobile games. Even for those who aren't fans of Sonic this game provides a more polished and enjoyable experience than its predecessors in the market, like Temple Run.

So what does it do wrong, or which aspects of the game could easily ruin your experience with it? For one, farming resources is quite time consuming. Like any other mobile game in the industry, Sonic Dash leans strongly towards in-app-purchases to obtain a character/skin of your choice and really encourages you to invest, even though you can obtain characters without spending a single cent. This aspect also shows in how in-game currency is used, as you not only need it to acquire characters, but also to upgrade your skills or to continue your run after a game over. When it comes to the characters though, the only reason to get them is due to personal preferences and the rewarding feeling of having your favorite character be playable, since the gameplay doesn't vary even remotely between any of them.

The difficulty increases quite quickly in this game, and while this may not sound unusual at first, the real problem lies in the obstacle placement. Level layouts here can get ridiculously unfair at times, having spikes right in front of a wall or rows of enemies behind one, a column behind another obstacle you have to spin dash through, you get the picture. You're usually unable to see them or respond in time either. Regardless of skill or reflexes, these specific obstacles feel very purposefully placed in order to stop players right on their tracks and make them spend resources if they want to keep going for that record score. Overall though, at its core lies a fun game. There is a reason I played this countless times inside waiting rooms or at train stations when I had nothing better to do, if you want a mobile game that tests your reflexes and offers a challenge, this is it.

So many of the bad things said about Sonic '06 still hold up, this game peaks at its opening cutscene. There's honestly no point going into detail about its flaws, since they're quite well-established by now. Therefore, I want to dedicate this review to the parts I deemed enjoyable and well executed.

This is somehow still the most recent Sonic game to give Shadow a noteworthy role and treat his character with some damn respect. He gets such strong writing and interactions with Team Dark instead of being forced into the role of an edgelord with a superiority complex, and that's all I can ask for in a game featuring him. I will always get chills from the end of his campaign, it's my personal highlight from the entire game and I miss the days where writers understood what his character was about. Team Dark in general is wonderful in Episode Shadow, their story improves greatly upon their interactions in Sonic Heroes. I like Silver's introduction to the series as well and he manages to get some solid development in an otherwise completely hopeless story, it's just a shame he had to be introduced through this game in particular. His contributions as a character end up being overlooked by many solely due to the bad reputation of Sonic '06, poor direction in many of his cutscenes and especially his broken (literally) boss fights.

The soundtrack also gets many things right. How much you like it ultimately depends on your taste, but it does its job and works well for a Sonic game. Dreams of an Absolution in particular fucking goes. The quality of the graphics is a mixed bag really, some cutscenes look stunning, especially for a game from 2006, while many models in the game are really rough around the edges or simply ugly. The locations though can be quite visually appealing, Soleanna which is modeled after irl Venice and Crisis City in particular standing out to me, among other locations.

That's where the good things I have to say about Sonic '06 end though, it's unfortunately not enough to save this game from being one of the worst experiences one can have with the Sonic franchise. If you're interested in the game, perhaps due to the previously stated positives, I recommend doing so by simply watching a playthrough, unless you really want to experience the hard way why people loathe the controls, gameplay and overall story in Sonic '06.

This game has such lousy, inconsistent controls that it's absolutely impossible to find any enjoyment in the few things it gets right. There's clear thought put behind the track designs and equipment you can purchase in the store, plus it's the first HD title in the Riders series, so you'd think that alone would be a strong selling point. However, all of it is for naught if you're dealing with one of the most unresponsive games out there, featuring mandatory full body motion controls. You don't even need to be an hour in for the feelings of sheer frustration to take over, once you start up this game you'll quickly realize that it's not the game's difficulty or other players online which are your biggest obstacle, but the controls alone. It doesn't help that the story mode ranges from mediocre to outright bad. So yes, while not everything is as terrible as the gameplay, anything positive you could say about this game is hardly noteworthy and completely overshadowed by its flaws. The worst offense of Sonic Free Riders though is how it managed to singlehandedly ruin the Sonic Riders series and give it one of the most shameful final entries to a series it has yet to redeem itself from.

Twewy really is a game that can be categorized as "seeing is believing"; there's no way to truly understand why this game is as highly regarded as it is and has resonated with so many people without experiencing it for yourself. You look at the cover art and think it might be because of the unique art direction. You start up the game and then think it might also be due to the unique soundtrack and interesting premise, which is set up with a very distinct style and solid pacing. You may already connect with a character or two but you haven't exactly reached the point yet where you'd say you just went through a life changing experience. They're charming at best and carried by dialogue which feels pretty natural and can be quite endearing due to just how much you can tell this was made in the 2000s. This goes for the setting as a whole, but it never feels too alienating or like you can only appreciate it because you've been there, done that so long as you embrace the general vibe the game is aiming for.

You make it through week one and now you're probably much more emotionally invested. The stakes feel higher, the connections more personal. The game continues to build on these aspects and establishes its themes more firmly through its characters, who with their stories and interactions just feel so realistic, you can't help but sympathize with or relate to them. You reach the end of week three, the end of the game, and watch the last cutscene. Like most people you may or may not need a few minutes as the words "what the hell" echo through your mind and you process all the events which brought you to this point. And if you've seen things even remotely like me up until now, you've most likely come to the conclusion that you just had a once in a lifetime experience only a few games can provide the way twewy did it. Unless the style wasn't for you, you absolutely do not care about story in games (in which case why are you playing such a dialogue heavy game to begin with) or the themes didn't resonate with you, you'll have to acknowledge that the game you just played was truly something special.

That doesn't mean the game has no instances that are worth nitpicking and deserving of criticism: the pacing at the end of week three and a new day drags much more than it should and is plagued by repetitive enemy dialogue and a significantly increased difficulty curve. I'm not one to complain about an extra challenge or two near the end, but if the game gives you a full star for a boss fight which took 17 minutes to beat on average, you know there's a problem. This may not sound like a lot to the average rpg enjoyer, but trust me when I say this is excessive for twewy standards, which were established roughly 15 hours before that point. You can freely jump between chapters once you complete the game (which you absolutely should to collect the bits of lore you couldn't access on your first run) and its autosave function is very reliable, but having more than one save file would have made this experience much more comfortable. It simply feels out of place not to have such an option. A New Day used to feel like a pointless addition which ruined an otherwise perfect ending, but its existence is now justified thanks to neotwewy, so all it does is suffer from the same pacing and difficulty issues as the end of week three.

As for gameplay, I plan to go more in-depth on the original twewy's gameplay whenever I write a review for that one, but overall I believe it was translated as best as possible for the new system, even if it suffers from issues, which I believe were somewhat inevitable. The DS version also had issues with pin powers getting mixed up in practice, and this carries over in final remix with touch controls which, depending on your in-game status, may get mixed up with one another or ignored entirely. This is rather common when things get hectic in the game or you're simply not sure what is going on and scratching and tapping for your dear survival on hard mode. But other than those distinct instances, twewy's touch controls work as they should on the switch. If you can, play with a stylus though and avoid docked gameplay at all costs unless you must stream it.

Well, what else remains to be said? Any version of twewy is a brilliant game which is fully deserving of the praise it gets. If you haven't played this game, please do. Now if only someone would get me that hidden Joshua lore/origin story I'd be the happiest person alive.

What's not to love about Aria of Sorrow? Wonderful level designs, solid music and art style this series is known for, great controls and gameplay which is perfected thanks to the Tactical Souls system AoS features (more on that later). It also has one of the most beloved and sympathetic protagonists in the Castlevania franchise and a short but memorable story, taking the series into a direction never seen before.

This game has multiple endings and they all do an amazing job of handling the game's story no matter the player's outcome: the good ending will make you want to continue playing, hinting at there being more to the game but also giving you a solid conclusion should you wish to stop here, meanwhile the bad ending is miles better than a generic game over screen. Not to mention the true ending, which for all I care could just as well have been the perfect thematic conclusion to the Castlevania series as a whole.

I've seen complaints about the difficulty of this game, calling it too easy, and I honestly cannot relate. Not only do I think this game has the perfect difficulty curve, the difficulty itself very much depends on how you utilize the Tactical Souls system, whether or not you decide to take advantage of all the different souls (aka abilities) the game throws your way as you naturally progress through the castle. Yes, you can get by with only using the souls of bosses and you most likely won't have a hard time reaching the end, but that way you're not taking advantage of the sheer amount of variety this game offers you, encouraging you to try out various combinations until you find what works best for you. And if you do end up grinding for that 100% and collecting all those souls, obviously it'll make beating the game easier. But it's not like the game cares about your setup, for all I care you could be old fashioned and just use your fists or throw cats at your enemies, you'd have a much harder time defeating bosses, but no one's going to stop you if that's what you want to do. The freedom of choice is all yours, live your truth and experience this game however you may prefer.

I just cannot praise the soul system enough, combined with the polish this game has and the precise controls it's an amazing mechanic that offers a lot of customization. It's also given relevance thanks to the story, explaining how it's even possible but also for encouraging both exploration and combat variety. The former has been improved tremendously here, you can get by and explore just fine without the map, but should you need it it's definitely useful, and no longer being sent to random warp rooms makes traveling back and forth much easier. You're not only encouraged to explore so you can fight more enemies and collect more souls, but also travel back to visit the item shop or get extra dialogue scenes at the entrance.

I really want to talk more about Soma as well but I plan to keep this review spoiler free, so take my word for it when I say he is one of the most beloved characters in this series for a reason, possibly the most beloved after Alucard. He has rightfully earned himself that title, following him through this game and seeing how these events changed him as a person is nothing short of rewarding. Even if you could cut down this game's story into 15 minutes worth of dialogue, you can so easily connect with Soma. He's one of the biggest strengths this game has to offer, and that's high praise given how strong all other aspects of this game already are.

Aria of Sorrow has truly perfected the Metroidvania formula and after replaying it for its 18th anniversary I can confirm that it withstood the test of time. It has aged wonderfully, it's just as much worth playing now as it was back in the day. If you haven't played this game and you've read this far, please consider giving it a chance.

I don't have nostalgia goggles for this game and yet it means so much to me, very few video games have impacted me the way SA2 has. I'm unable to agree with people who claim it has aged poorly or is only enjoyable from a nostalgic viewpoint. It builds upon prior games in such a meaningful way, the cast of characters has never been stronger and the story is a wonderfully paced experience with great themes and messages. It could admittedly benefit from more details in cutscenes, but it never feels like you're told so little to the point of frustrating plot holes either. It's a shame how much has gone lost in translation, so I really do think the best way to experience this game is on pc with mods to adjust the subtitles to the Japanese dialogue (plus the original audio gets rid of the sound design issues present in the Western version, making it easier to appreciate the soundtrack as well as the strong voice acting). But by all means, do check out the dubbed version as well, which features one of the best voice casts the series has yet to see and some really iconic dialogue.

All the different gameplay styles are built really well around the scoring system, rewarding you for mastering the game's use of momentum and being familiar with its environments without overstaying their welcome. The rather linear level designs help in that aspect, allowing you to focus on polishing your skills but also having a lot of replay value thanks to various missions and pathways or objects that were previously locked away, which are now accessible with the right upgrades. Some graphics may be rough around the edges but overall they suit the game really well and are quite charming, it helps that SA2 is backed by amazing art direction and has some wonderful backgrounds in its stages.

The multiplayer also works really well and is great for having fun outside of replaying stages. While I don't care much for this part of the game, it's undeniable that the chao garden is an intricate, complex and charming addition to the game, including content for both those who wish to look into it casually and those who dedicate a lot of time into it and become invested. Either way it's a very rewarding activity to master and spend your time with, the countless online sources which are dedicated to the complexities of the chao garden being a testament to this.

Because of all this I really wish I could give SA2 the full score I would've given it when being completely biased, but I have to acknowledge some issues present in the game aside from those previously addressed, which were minor in comparison. The mechs' movements are a downgrade from SA1's Gamma gameplay and stages like Eternal Engine suffer from occasionally poor enemy placement. Being able to only collect one emerald at a time in the hunting stages feels like a forced way to extend playtime and Mad Space has several gimmicks that test a player's patience, as much as I applaud the developers for the ambition behind it. But even with all that, this game's legacy is undeniable and I think it still holds up really well. I sincerely believe it to be a worthwhile experience for anyone who hasn't had the chance to play it yet and I hope the recent trend of forcing people to believe they only thought it was good due to nostalgia dies down, as it deserves to be held in high regards.

I'm writing this 3 weeks before the game's 20th anniversary, so happy early anniversary SA2, may more people enjoy their time with this amazing game in the years to come.

Honestly? You don't need to be a Final Fantasy (XV) fan to feel immediately offended by the sheer existence of this game. I played this with a friend as a joke after seeing yet another ad for it and regretted it almost immediately, deleting it only a few minutes after we checked out everything as a result. It's just so... disgustingly lifeless and commercial, relying solely on whales to keep itself going and using the FF name as a type of trophy. Very few games disgust me to the same extent as this one and if I could give it less than half a star, I would.