i was so excited for uncharted 3 after starting/shelving it nearly a year ago. when i finished among thieves, i was so into the series and the characters. but after this playthrough, i felt like i was just so caught up in the things that were frustrating that any redeeming qualities felt difficult to appreciate!

shooting feels clunky at times & lacks any sort of feedback, leaving me emptying entire magazines into regular enemies only for them to flinch. getting in/out of cover is inconsistent. i'd also oftentimes feel confused as to where i was supposed to go/what i was expected to do (not necessarily in a fun, puzzle-y type way), running around a small area trying to find where the game wanted me to hit triangle. any time i was exploring/traversing an area, it felt as though i was always bumping into something/not quite where i wanted to be.

i don't think that the series as a whole is lackluster, and im not saying that i dont think this game didn't have anything to offer. i did enjoy the shipyard chapters, music, and action set-pieces, but about halfway through i found myself just speeding through trying to get it over with! just my experience with this one.

my favorite parts about this game were fighting a toilet boss, making a murder-mystery/heist movie for owls, and discovering a book titled “Proof of Ethical Consumption under Capitalism” that had the pages blank.

remember that crazed moment in the late 2010s when people was losing their minds over getting the banjo-kazooie era 3d platformers back? and it couldn't have just been a new 3d platformer - it HAD to be like the n64 days. then yuka laylee came out and flopped.

I loved how this game seems to take inspiration from games passed and then adds its own identity to the mix. even if this game could be boiled down to cute mario sunshine x mario odyssey (down to how you take fire damage) it felt like a very charming & light-hearted experience that, by the end, had me feeling like I'd played something both new and familar at the same time.

pros: level design, characters, writing, art direction, progression, rewards/unlockables, sound design & ost

cons: inability to invert vertical camera controls, depth perception infrequently being janky due to lighting

i never made it to the end as a kid. past that, i don't think i even collected more than one treasure in the second zone. i mean i was in a perpetual cycle of days 1-3, heartbroken at the sight/sound of one of my little friends dying and losing their soul to the atmosphere. it was just so much easier to play pokemon/mario where i didn't feel guilty when my videogame friends died. as an adult, the first pikmin game was a fun and quick game that was a perfect slice of game for me. the moment i started to feel like i had gathered everything that this game wanted to tell, it was just about over.

as a child, any boss that wasn't a bulborb was monstrous. but, replaying this later in my adult years, i LOVED discovering each new boss and seeing how kooky they were. i also felt so smart when I figured out how to solve a puzzle/get a bunch done in a day/beat a weird looking boss! siding with all the pikmin lovers that the ost and charm are here. haven't played other games in the series yet but super excited to jump in!

i liked it! i spent the first hour farming rupees so i could gnab every trendy item i could. thats how you know its good.

my greatest fear in turning this game on was the threat of getting lost in yet another expansive & beautiful world with no clue of what to do/where to go next. that feeling of hope as I would try to piece together where im meant to venture to next would transition into an aimless rigamarole without end, ending with me inevitably giving up and moving on to something else. that feeling of excitement & wonder quickly transforming into frustration & confusion is a challenging feeling to come back from, for me.

that being said, links awakening didnt just rectify this concern of mine - it erased it, keeping me continuously engaged in what possibilites exist at any given time. hints houses, chats with the owl, the ability to revisit any conversation you've previously had at any time, and, most importantly, visual feedback regarding what abilities do what in a certain space, ensured for me that i was able to assertain my wareabouts and goals whenever i desired. i constantly stumbled into areas/rooms that were clearly designed for the utilization of some piece of gear. what works about this, for me, was how the game earned my trust in how if i didn't have a certain item at any point, i would soon be able to revisit this space with said gear. that is to say, it felt to me as if the game was saying, "if you can't complete a challenge, the solution is close by".

outside of the general adventure-gameplay loop, links awakening also does a fantastic job at interconnecting its story, writing, and music, all of which work together to spin this beautifully melancholy tale of a hero saving a dream world from nightmares. music is both cheery & somewhat offputting, indicating that despite everything's glossy & textured exterior, something amiss is lurking underneath. the sound design, in my opinion, does this fantastic job of blending that upbeat, triumphant music of zelda with an uncanny, unsettling feeling that works well with the narrative.

the ui is clean & user friendly, the quests are silly & touching, and the combat is responsive & satisfying. there are parts of this game that make it links awakening and parts that make this a zelda game. both support each other wonderfully for a product that had me feeling content as the credits rolled.

while I've explored most of mario's journeys throughout my life, SMW always sort of felt like more of a mysterious adventure, most likely due to what was, at the time, my very young brain's limitations in discerning how to solve each level's varying puzzles & secrets. as a child, i felt frustrated that I was clearly missing something in vanilla dome. by the time i had reached the forest of illusion, i just stopped trying altogether.

i'm glad that I gave this gem another shot as an adult, where i was really able to appreciate the tight controls, beautiful artwork/sprite design, puzzles, and progression. taking a lap around dinosaur island was colorful and rewarding as I was able to find nearly each secret and see for myself a fully explored world & uncovered paths. while the music did sort of blend into the background after awhile, i seldom felt as though any given level felt exactly like the last.

despite giving it some thought, I'm not sure what could push this game, for me, from a 4/5 to a 5/5. it could be that its kept here due to limitations of a generation or the simple boss fights, but who is to say. for a game that came into existence about thirty five years ago, i found that this light-hearted and joyful experience had me feeling content from start to finish.

fun little golf game. as a kid, never made it past the third cup. as an adult, it was joy-inducing to see all the little uses of characters/items in each course as you progressed. so many things to love: character choices, mechanics, color pallete, modes, and unlockables.

one big thing for me were the animations for each character upon completing a hole. these are the animations I feel like i wish came back to modern games in some way - not that modern animation is anything to scoff at, but the character and charm of these old ones feels unparalleled in the present. double bogey as wario? accidently crush yourself with a boulder and then waddle around in anger. hold-in-one as yoshi? flutter around in excitement. definitley nostalgia for me, since I grew up playing prime gamecube, but those old character models/voices will never get old for me. it feels like the same boo model is in literally every mario game on the gamecube. they just never changed it.

i really enjoyed the mechanics presented here, even if I didn't know that you manually had to toggle where you're character would hit the ball, as opposed to only selecting the target pre-shot. that was fun to learn while on the back 9 of my last tournament. finessing each shot by changing up my club, power, distance, and location of where I hit the ball made it so that no shot ever really felt impossible.

lastly, if i didn't have save states playing my *legally back up physical copy" on emulator, i don't know what I would do. i was only able to complete this game in 10 hours because I could mess around with my options and see what would work best. unlocking shadow mario through completion of the ring attack mode would've taken me at least four times as long could I not have saved my spots.

a lovely, inoffensive game that is great to relax with and enjoy the vibes.

i was so excited for a game like this - it feels like in so many fantasy spaces i'm consistently interested in this idea of religion & faith being used as core expository set peice in a way that portrays the belief system as unwavering & dark.

while blasphemous does an incredible job narratively with thorough and consistent story-telling through npcs, enemies, environments, and especially ost, i did not find myself enjoying my time with it as much as i would've liked. that being said, i can't argue that it isn't a good game.

as mentioned, the world-building is outstanding here. no mechanic, including menus, is spared from being capitalized upon to further your emersion into blasphemous's setting. your progression as you explore also feels generally appropriate - improving upon dps, health, and heals as you progress. bosses feel like they belong in each level, new enemies keep things engaging, and new quests/collectibles have you always finding a use for that random item you found ages ago - all of which feel as though they belong in the game you're playing.

i just don't think i like metroidvanias. overtime, i end up feeling lost and more connected to a guide than the actual game's story & environment. backtracking feels tedious and confusing as each (beautifully designed, in blasphemous's case) area begins to blend into itself and others. i begin to only notice how frustraingly far away an objective of mine is, as opposed to feeling an excitement to prove how my mastery of the gameplay has improved, or to put to use that new item i just grabbed, along the treck. i would often find a new, interesting idea/quest only to be more relieved that i found something new to progress through, not really taking in what new information is being offered to me as a player. furthermore, i just don't think im into the souls-like genre, either. while, again, the idea of journeying into a thick, lovingly crafted & detailed world full of despair, conquest, darkness, and hope sounds brilliant and exciting - in practice, i just cannot feel compelled to lose progress due to one mistake (or bug/bs), and have to run it back for a period of time until i get another go.

more specifically to blasphemous, combat often times felt aggrivating, due to you having a perceived larger hitbox than model at times, enemies being able to travel offscreen and continue to hurl projectiles/make quick dashes toward you without you being able to do much in time, and a few enemy designs that make cheesing a priority due to their insane dps, spawn locations, and/or quick attacks.

again though, i don't think that it's fair to say that blasphemous is a "bad game" - i think its fantastic. just not for me. i'm glad that i gave it a try over and over again, completing the first 3 bosses, the siblings fight, and two more fights, with 85% map completion, as it helps me feel more solidified in knowing that i gave it a valid effort. in the end, its more the genre for me that holds me back from completion - as as of writing this, i have no clue where to go or what to do, and i've lost the interest to pull up another ign page for help at this moment.

generally for me, kirby is a fun & lighthearted reprieve from other games that i get into. after forgotten land, I was interested in playing more and getting a fuller picture of the characters and music - things that I really enjoy about the series. after playing nightmare in dreamland, I hoped for a more modern experience, and turned to star allies.

as expected, the themeing, characters, music, and artistry was beautiful and varied. with all of the free character dlc since its release, i loved checking out the palace where I could bring others into my next level, specifically characters that I remember from when I played kirby as a kid. also, the final world's boss levels and final boss fight had me surprised at how interested in the character alterations came to be, with kracko coming back and the new whispy woods.

however, this game is extremely easy, which, i think, is a plus in general. while i could've enjoyed a bit more challenge, i would have prefered to go elsewhere for it, since running through kirby's levels and plowing through everything with every ability made me feel like a true pink-puff god killer. any other way, the bubbly and whimsical nature of the game would've clashed with difficult gameplay. while this is not a game where i was interested in finding every secret & replaying levels over and over again, i'm glad to have gotten to play another kirby game and seen him dance a whole bunch.