A really cool ARPG battle system that I felt I used to it's full extent by the end of my Proud difficulty playthrough. At times I felt like I was playing Shin Megami Tensei, what with dying in 2-3 hits and needing to cast defensive magic constantly to offset it. Way past the point of no return I was begging for an option to switch difficulty mid-playthrough. It's a shame that the options seem to be 'extremely easy' or 'ball-bustingly hard'.

Graphics and effects are gorgeous, perfectly marries the Disney & Squaresoft aesthetic which helps sell the story as well. A perfectly fitting narrative for a kid's game by framing Sora's childlike wonder as a literal force for good with the light/dark analogy. Also appeals to adults who have long lost sight of their inner child; Riku is so dead-set on growing up that he caves in to negativity (Darkness) as a means to an end. A perfect analogy for a game matching universe-ending stakes with Disney cartoons.

Despite never playing this growing up I still think this game is quite special and it makes me wish I knew more about this series before I decided I was too old for it, at least before real adulthood replaced puberty and I got over that.

Simultaneously relaxed yet tense atmosphere. Fresh but easy to understand mechanics that are explored well but don't wear out their welcome. Very unique and easy to recommend to anyone.
Funny and often interesting writing that alludes to a larger story with most conversations, though I personally found it hard to discern a narrative that lives up to the complexity implied by the abstract dialogue. Regardless, still can't fault the worldbuilding even if it's not building up to much other than setting the scene and providing an excuse for the bizarre cast of characters and designs to exist, which are all excellent.

I beat this in a single day, can't remember the last time I did that for a game.

Easily most atmospheric Rayman game with some incredible vistas and music that still feel special even among other games of the time and today. Definitely captures the 'magical' feeling that I've maybe only felt elsewhere in the Night Elf zones in pre-Cataclysm WoW. Has some really well-done cartoony 3D graphics achieved with relatively simple animations, not unlike MDK.

Gameplay was just good enough to carry me through the varied environments and music, combat is also quite novel for a 3D platformer and is thankfully sparse as to not become too boring.

There are some weird difficulty spikes that had me raging. Checkpoints generally are plentiful but some of the more difficult segments would space them out way more. Motion/inertia physics for many segments also haven't aged well and don't stand under the scrutiny of the punishing level design for those parts. Still, I prefer this over them not being there at all otherwise it would be far too easy.

Game doesn't wear out it's welcome but gets close considering how little variety there really is when you consider how the same very basic platformer control scheme is used for every segment. Regardless, I couldn't pull myself away from the lovely feeling I got from pretty much every aspect of the game and it differentiates itself from everything else enough to be special.

An extremely unique game with cute visuals and a very old-school design sensibility that proves frustrating at times and exciting at others. You really have to think and plan your strategies based on trial and error and you're forced to explore the areas properly as if you were actually there. The adorable sound effects and creature designs betray the difficulty of this thing and I think savestates are permitted here to at least remove the busywork from progressing through some long, easy challenges just to get another crack at the one that kills you in seconds.

I really adore this game even if I kind of hate playing it. They really packed in so much using this concept and bespoke engine to squeeze as much as they could out if it. Yet the ceiling is still the limit and I would have loved to see an expanded sequel. One of the few games I feel would have made for a really fun open world game, imagine possessing all the different creatures to traverse certain biomes easier or attack certain enemies. Alas, I doubt Take Two will ever allow for this to be rereleased or licensed out in any format, and DMA Design will forever be cursed to the GTA mines.

Crams in a huge amount of story and gameplay without any filler. A couple of the internal logic to the puzzles threw me off, one was moving to a specific object automatically always triggering a timed event no matter what, which I hadn't really noticed in other missions before this point so I figured I was just not moving fast enough. I just looked up one or two very specific moves I had to make, but I probably would have got it eventually if I kept on with it.

The generally light tone was very well executed considering the amount of death but I did find it hard to feel much impact from anything going on until near the end which, to be fair, is easily the most important to get right for any story. The mystery itself still served as an excellent main hook.

You can tell how much Ace Attorney is in this thing with how unique each character moves and acts, each with little quirks that you have to take advantage of - I would have loved for this very specific aspect to be drilled down on a lot more but the puzzles themselves are still very clever and interesting considering how much planning would have gone into them just to have them work and make sense at all.

I really enjoyed my time with it. I wasn't swept away as much as others but it's really a faultless game and it's impressive how it gels all of it's many moving parts together so neatly. The brisk pace kept me coming back daily until it was complete. Being a handheld game in scope really helped narrow the focus but that didn't stop them from achieving anything they could with the concepts and characters they created for themselves.

I think this whole review was me trying to figure out why I couldn't give this a perfect score despite the game being objectively perfect. It is very, very good.

The sound is absolutely fucked up on PC, panning all over the place, cutting itself off and not propagating properly. So many tiny elements are bugged that you can't tell if they were always there but firing up the original makes it clear that this has problems.

The new graphics are faithful but a bit over the top at points. Some textures that are clearly just upscales which clashes with the completely new ones. Missing global lighting from the original PC release which is a shame. The 2007 release is a bit of a mare to get running but just follow this guide and you should be solid (DX9 mode recommended).

Not an awful way to experience it if you have no other option but if you're on PC then you absolutely do.

Having played many metroidvanias I (eventually) appreciated how it makes movement more restrictive but fine-tunes it's difficulty as a result so you can't really steamroll bosses. Progress is fairly slow except for the charms, so character builds can be quite important and I would recommend switching things around for different bosses after respawning at the bench.

The final area was an absolute nightmare and I didn't appreciate being forced to play what was essentially Super Meat Boy with less interesting physics and hazards clearly placed just to make every single normal jump into a needle-threading exercise.

I would have preferred if they designed the map to have a couple of sideways tubes or something so you could use Crystal Heart, it was a bit annoying having a random small enemy or bit of geometry breaking up otherwise completely straight pathways and my speed boost with it. A game this long with combat this basic did not need to be so restrictive with travel options right up until the last quarter or so; I was begging for more bosses to just show up and kick my shit in at many points to break up the long repeated journeys.

I enjoyed my time with this game after taking about 4 attempts to get properly into that metroidvania-type obsession of uncovering every unexplored part of the map. I was getting a little tired of the lack of combat variety and limited player movement considering how long this game is but I overall enjoyed it and appreciate what it brings new to an otherwise samey genre. Though some of those conventions were there for a reason and the progression could have been tweaked to allow at least a bit more freedom a little earlier on.

One of the best action games ever created. Ridiculously satisfying weapons and combat with a mostly fair high difficulty. I really appreciate how quickly you can die while having enemies be very squishy themselves, keeping it tense but satisfying. There is the occasional bullshit thrown in that at least keeps you on your toes well after getting used to the mechanics and it can usually be avoided by playing carefully.

Rarely was I genuinely fucking annoyed, namely at having shoot arrows at the radio tower, spending a million years spamming the flail at ghost fish, or screaming at Alma's fucking projectiles that hit me every single time!! FUCK!!!!!!!

A lot of the levels outside of the city are not as fun since this game is best when it's more explorative but there are still plenty of varied challenges to keep each area feeling distinct, a huge plus that makes for a hugely replayable game when combined with the multitude of differences between difficulty levels. A fair bit to unlock too!

So good, so smooth, so fun, I love this game to pieces.

An absolutely gorgeous new update to the series with some fantastic additions like breakable stage props and much more insane transitions when you ring out in just the right place, though sometimes these take just a hair longer than they should considering how much you'll be replaying the same stage over and over. The normal difficulty AI feels more harsh than ever but the input reading isn't as big of a deal when the counter damage has been nerfed across the board. I still prefer the way DOA2 HARD*CORE is balanced, and the amount of content on offer here seems to be even less than the previous game, but the package is so polished and a joy just to watch unfold.