you know how in super metroid the game barely tells you where to go so you just kinda explore shit at your own discretion? yeah it's like that

on a more serious note the exploration in this game is nearly unrivaled. there is such a legitamate sense of wonder as you enter a new area, deliberately crafted and enhanced by tiny little touches like how, depending on the area, you might get a map super early on or way late. this is my favorite game to just get lost in. the amount of stuff in this little guy is staggering - I never really cared if where I'm going is the way the devs wanted me to go or not because there is just so much stuff to find everywhere you go, whether it be lore, items, money, upgrades, etc. compared to metroid this game has a relatively small amount of upgrades to collect. this is kind of a double edged sword - the small amount of items grants an amazing sense of freedom to the world since progression in metroidvania titles tends to be locked behind certain upgrades. on the other hand there are few things to really spice up the combat. the fundamentals of it are rock solid - every swing feels satisfying and impactful and being able to pogo off of enemies and obstacles is always a good time. that being said, it can feel pretty basic and overly simplistic, especially at the beginning. great enemy and boss movesets rectify this problem to some extent, but I can certainly understand when people tell me that they think the combat is a little boring.

the visuals are needless to say stunning and the music does a great job of setting the tone. special shotouts to the frequent usage of dynamic music

yoko taro's wild ride, full of bad gameplay, awful graphics, and an uncomfortable amount of sex jokes. and yet it all comes together to create an unforgettable experience.

I'd say the theme of drakengard 3 is contrast. now to be fair, contast was already the theme of taro's previous game, NIER, but this game has a very different spin on it - the contrast this game makes the player experience is beauty and sereneness clashing with grotesqueness. it is a game that has some of the most genuinely touching, human moments in any game I've ever played, while simultaneously making you want to throw it at the nearest wall with absurd difficulty spikes, awful frame rates, and boring, repetitive gameplay. at the same time it tells some of the best jokes in video games right next to some of the worst jokes and that is right next to some extremely dark, mature themes and that again is right next to some DMC style bullshit happening. I doubt aspects like the bad frame rate were an intenional part of the experience, not even yoko taro has enough balls to do that, yet it somehow works so well in unison with everything else that I can't help but appreciate it.

there is nothing else quite like drakengard 3 and I absolutely believe that it is worth trying for yourself, whether you are a hardcore drakennier fanboy or not. oh and play the DLCs - it shows how little square enix thinks of their customers that it is DLC in the first place but the added chapters really go a long way to not just improve the main game, but also stand on their own as some of the most interesting stories told in the gaming sphere.

just play bayo 1 man like fuck visually it's nicer yknow like you got colors going on and somehow even more super impressive animations but god man the enemy design in this game is the fucking worst dude, like on normal they're annoying and on either of the harder difficulties they're pretty insufferable, same goes for the bosses of which I'd say a good 90% at least suck complete wiener. still tho this is a 3/5 cause a) the combat is still bayo combat and bayo combat fucking rules and b) the new weapons, like all of them are great, in bayo 1 a lot of weapons felt like repeats but here you got a ton of them that feel very unlike the others

So the first game was on the GBA which mean they couldn't really do any very interesting kinda inputs so it just uses very simple inputs which is perfectly fine but then the sequel on the DS used the DS's screen in such a brilliant way, consiting entirely of tapping and flicking. The brilliant part is not the input itself but how its contextualized. Flicking the screen to the beat is such an unbelievably satisfying action when put in the right context, like strumming a guitar.
Why am I bringing all this up? Well you'd expect the devs to use the motion controls for this one similarly to how they used the touch screen of the DS but they didn't. Rhythm Heaven Fever is played with even less buttons than Rhythm Tengoku on the GBA. You have exactly two input variations: A and A+B. I'm sure it was decided that there were gonna be two inputs based on Rhythm Heaven on the DS also having exactly two, and the decision not to use the motion sensor for the rhythm games must've stemmed from the devs realizing that the motion simply wasn't precise enough in a game as timing sensitive as this. So why is it A+B and not just B like in Rhythm Heaven Megamix? Well it comes down to the placement of the buttons. The Wiimote has the A button in front and the B button trigger-style on the back. Basically, what I am thinking is that by asking the players to always press those two buttons simultaneously they want to simulate the feeling of squeezing the remote as a new, creative way of input. Sadly it just doesn't compare to the sheer joy of flicking the touch screen of the DS. I will give bonus points though for once again, doing a great job of contextualizing squeezing the remote like this.
[Post game spoilers for Rhythm Tengoku and Rhythm Heaven DS ahead]
Sadly Rhythm Heaven Fever lost something quite special in its transition back to such a simple control style. In Rhythm Tengoku, you could play several different drum kits with a much higher level of complexity than any other mini game. In Rhythm Heaven DS you could play the guitar to several songs from other mini games, which is a lot less complex than the drums are in Tengoku but just as much, if not more fun, once again because of how greatly it is contextualized. I know I'm talking about that ad nauseum but like. Flicking the DS screen and seeing your little dude flick their guitar just feels fucking orgasmic. At the very end of Tengoku and DS you could even play multiple concerts consisting of multiple songs from across the games played in a row, which is an amazing way to end these insanely memorable games.
Rhythm Heaven Fever doesn't have this.
I assume the developers realized that with the A and the A+B button, there simply aren't any instruments they could do a very interesting job of portraying. They try to make up for this by letting you play a handful of remakes of mini games from Rhythm Tengoku, now in English for the first time (at least officially). It just doesn't cut it. It simply isn't anywhere near the hype levels of the first two games.

This is a compilation title. As someone who has already played every other game in the series, this is immediately rather disheartening. They did do a nice job remaking all the old mini games and making them feel right in line with those from Rhythm Heaven DS and Fever but it still doesn't make them very exciting. What is very exciting are the new mini games. Sadly, there aren't too many of them, but those that there are are all absolutely fantastic, some of my personal favorites in the entire franchise even. The remix stages are also all entirely new and also blow it out of the park, even if largely based on mini games from the previous games. However, they also put focus on this game's weakest aspect: its structure.
Rhytyhm Heaven Megamix is the first time a Rhythm Heaven game has a story with cutscenes and dialogue put between the mini games. Quite frankly, I am not thrilled about the writing here. All of the prior games have writing in them through the descriptions, tutorials, and most importantly the unlockables and throughout these three games all of those are written impeccably. They're full of heart, hilarious, and short and to the point. The writing in Megamix is really convoluted, the characters just keep talking in the cutscenes and its a real pace breaker. The things I mentioned earlier have equally suffered in quality, with the writing for descriptions etc. simply not being anywhere near as funny or endearing as its predecessors.
The game also does something rather interesting that I am not at all a fan of: each of the mini games played for the first 1-2 hours are bastardized, shorter, and easier versions of their original counterparts. There's no remix stages for these either. Only a couple hours in does it feel like the game is actually starting, providing the original versions of the old mini games, which are far more enjoyable. That's where remixes are introduced back into the game too and as mentioned, these are lovely.
If you're a Rhythm Heaven fan you've probably already played this but if not, and you're asking yourself whether this is a good entry point, I would wholeheartedly recommend you to seek out any of the other titles.

god giggly goo god damn. god fucking jiggle goo ga goo god. you got all the bitches, you got small bitches, you got big bitches, you got shy bitches, you got angry bitches, sometimes you even got not absurdly sexualized bitches so if the pastor finds you playing nikke in church he won't get mad at you.
gameplay is fine. it's simple and satisfying but of course it's being held back by the usual gacha bullshit like 20 different currencies and power levels and management shit outside of the actual game. got some quite nice quality of life tho like being able to raise other characters to the level of your highest characters automatically.
the main problem with the game is that you need at least two people at all times to get the most out of it. it's real hard to focus on the ass while still aiming at enemies so optimally you'd grab your favorite bozo and rotate every 5 seconds or so, have one aim and the other stare and repeat that process until one of you cums