One of my favorite genres of story is "eccentric protagonist/group of characters go around to different people in need of help in order to give them the strength to overcome their problems themselves in unconventional ways, rather than just doing it for them". This is the framework that Elite Beat Agents uses to deliver some Japanese rhythm game goodness to us all, and I find it to be a genius formula. Sure, there's a lot of obvious goofiness to every episode, but in the end they're all stories of humans (or dogs or white blood cells) trying their best to overcome incredible odds, just needing a little bit of motivation and cheer. I'll admit while the "You're The Inspiration" episode didn't get me that bad, mostly because I felt like it was trying a little too hard to be emotional (not just a dead dad, but a dead dad ON CHRISTMAS), but every time I think about the mom in the "September" episode I do actually start tearing up every time. I just love seeing that kind of strength come out in people, even if it's a person in my funny DS rhythm game. It kind of happens upon a similar "world in harmony" theme that Rhythm Heaven also happens upon. Rhythm Heaven is about finding beauty and rhythm in everyday things, and how they all come together to make a wonderful song that the world sings together. Elite Beat Agents is about harnessing that rhythm to do the impossible and become the best person we can be. It's the perfect framework and presentation for a game like this, I can't praise it enough.

As for the actual rhythm game, it's mostly solid. I agree with JaxMagnetic's review that it isn't all that graceful on a DS touchscreen, in fact I'm willing to bet emulating this makes certain parts a lot easier. There were a couple too many instances of "well you didn't tap hard enough so your input was just completely ignored" or "you didn't have the stylus exactly in the middle of the ball line so you lose points", and that combined with how easy it is to wipe out in this game did lead to some levels being real headaches. Ultimately I had to learn that beating this game requires a mix of both getting into the flow of rhythm and paying attention to exactly when you need to tap certain buttons, because going with only one of these usually leads to failure. I also am not completely sure how to feel about the way song charts just sort of switch between which part of the song to follow, I get that throwing you off is the point but some of the tricks the charts can pull feel down right evil. But no matter how many criticisms I have with this game, I can't help but be in love with it. I didn't even mention how much I love the "America done by Japan" style of this game, people walking around with names like Lucy Stevens and Don Tanner, satirizing American stereotypes in a way feels like it's laughing with rather than laughing at, not that there's anything wrong with laughing at. It's got an unbreakable spirit and a beautifully 2000's soundtrack, you simply can't beat the Elite Beat Agents.

Also I think I need to get a new model of 3DS, the original model kind of sucks ass. Dumb ass retractable stylus, can't stand that thing.

okay look, sorry to everyone who says this is one of the best PC games ever made (not sorry at all actually)
but holy fuck, way too many infuriating scenarios, falls off so hard so quickly, and the worst crime of all is how shittily this game handles difficulty
the only thing that changes is how much HP you get from health pick ups, seriously so dumb
what really makes this worse is that this game is really enjoyable at points but there's a lotta things that try and ruin any fun you might have, especially certain enemy types. The game actually starts off strong and rides that high for a couple hours until that infamous stealth mission
but still
fuck everyone who lied to me and said this is the best FPS game, much less the best Wolfenstein game, TNO and TOB easily clear

Bought this at a used games store going "You know what I could go for? A forgettable 7th gen AAA game campaign." I got what I asked for!

It's not like it has nothing going for it, while it has that gray and blue filter everyone loves from this era, some of the environments manage to be quite striking, mostly when it leans more into its horror elements. This isn't a team that doesn't know what its doing, and obviously they would go on to develop a very popular game that proves this. There are bones of interesting ideas, but it's just the bones. I was broken when after beating a really boring boss that uses the exact same mechanic to fight it over and over again, I watched a cutscene and then had to fight a different boring boss that used the exact same mechanic over and over again. There's really nothing here to keep me going, so I have to just stop. In my canon, Hayden Tenno died in the middle of that Russian zombie island, never heard from again.

It seems to me that, at this point, when setting out to make a retro FPS, you need to ask yourself two questions - can I make this game (i.e. do I have the design chops to pull it off - make levels, weapons, enemies, etc.) and - as I think this game proves, more importantly - should I make this game (i.e. do I have any interesting ideas at all for what to put in it). Functionally, this game is perfect and the look and feel are as good as anything on the Build Engine could possibly be, but unless you're just looking for more shooting gameplay to pass the time, you're probably gonna find this pretty boring. Lifeless, lame one-liner voice acting and every basic-bitch reference you can possibly imagine being in something like this crammed into every corner and repeated to death doesn't cut it.

Given that, my rating for this might seem high, but other than being dull, it's so overwhelmingly well done that I can't bring myself to rate it lower. The feel is fantastic, everything works right, and the levels are for the most part very clever. Just wish there was someone on the team with a little more creativity! Feels a bit like a waste of potential.

awesome game. simply filled to the brim with energy, movement and style - the game feels alive. there's rarely a moment on screen where something isn't moving: characters bouncing around in their idle animations in the garage, enemies getting pissed off when you escape them, hell, professor k's entire body is jamming along to the beat. the game controls wonderfully as well, i've heard a lot of complaints in regards to the game's control speed but i actually think some of the most fun i had in the game was figuring out how to work around the game's limited perspective and...interesting level design. devising strategies, routes and ways to complete the levels within the time limit will never not be entertaining, and simply becoming one with the overall atmosphere and vibe of the game is an experience of its own, god i love the soundtrack. so much of the game is just full of creativity, you can really tell how much love was put into this game. easily one of the most fun experiences ive had with a game ever and another reminder as to why i love the medium so much.

on to the FUTURE

Just finished this game last night and man what a blast! So I bought this game on a whim as I heard some good things and after playing the Coffee Talk Demo, I wanted to play something like it. VA-11 HALL-A is set in the future in Glitch City, you play as a Bartender named Jill, in a Cyberpunk future and must serve the many characters who come into the bar! So let's plugin and talk about this game!

This game is just filled with interesting characters that you meet along the way, with interesting stories to uncover. I'm not a fan of visual novel games, as I can't get into most of their stories, but this game really had a fantastic story that I loved playing through. The world that Sukeban Games has created is fantastic and is rich with atmosphere. The game mostly moves your character between the bar and her apartment, to which you can read forums and newspaper articles on her phone. These are very interesting to read, not overly long and allow you to learn more about what happens outside of the bar without ever really going out of the bar.

Gameplay mostly has you read dialogue just like any other visual novel game, the interesting twist in this game is how you can mix drinks for your partons just like a real bartender. The mixing system can come off complicated at first but you quickly get used to it and mix drinks with no issues. The game doesn't have traditional dialogue choices, however, the drinks act as dialogue choices in a way as some patrons will tell you exactly what they want, others will hint at what they want and some will say they want one thing but really they want something else. You get paid at the end of each night, with a perfect service bonus if you serve all drinks correctly to what the patron wanted. The money can be used to buy things for Jill's apartment but also is needed to pay her various bills such as rent. Graphically the game has a 16-bit, anime art style which really gives this game a unique look to its world and characters. The soundtrack is also phenomenal with some very techno but also relaxing tracks in it. You also get to pick a personal playlist to play in the bar each day which really allows you to tailor the game to your musical tastes which is a nice touch. One last good thing is how the game references so many other Cyberpunk media, to the likes of Akira, Robocop, Deus Ex and more. It's a visual treat for any fan of the genre like I am.

Only negative was there was a bug on pc that would happen occasionally where my mouse cursor would lag when moving it around the mixing station, which was frustrating as that is your sole controller in the game. But otherwise, this was a fantastic game with a story that took me 15 hours to complete, so you definitely get your money's worth. I highly recommend it!

All Games Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/

Shadow of the Colossus, a perfeição em forma de jogo. Lembro quando seu remake foi anunciado e inicialmente eu tinha temido, pois estava no Xbox One e não teria chance alguma de jogar na época, o medo era do jogo ter os infames colossos excluídos, conteúdo novo ou alguma mudança interessante, mas no fim só foi uma mudança de engine, quase um remaster de luxo. Talvez se eu tivesse jogado na época teria me decepcionado um pouquinho, pois o jogo é realmente o mesmo, o gameplay é idêntico, as cutscenes e até as vozes, a única coisa que mudaram foram os sons de alguns colossos. Nem ousaram mexer com a trilha sonora, pois seria um crime de guerra.

No fim o que eu tiro de tudo isso? Bom, eu zerei Shadow of the Colossus de novo, então não tem como ser ruim, continua me cativando como sempre, e agora mais lindo do que nunca. Esse remake foi ótimo pra trazer o jogo pra um novo público fazendo mais pessoas apreciarem essa obra-prima.

With Clock Tower 3, I went in with rather low expectations considering this game got bad reviews in its time and is remembered even less fondly. I was pleasantly surprised. It's fun and quite frustration-free to play through, the story is good (best out of the Clock Tower series, for sure), it looks beautiful and the atmosphere is downright excellent in some levels. The music is good too, the voice acting is okay, and the cutscenes are a sight to behold.

They seemed very proud to have gotten Kinji Fukasaku (director of Battle Royale) to direct the cutscenes cuz they showed his name very prominently. Fair play; this was also his last major project before his death, bittersweetly enough.

While it has a few very scary and violent scenes, most of the game is relatively lighthearted, more like a funhouse than an actual haunting, and the tone of the game sometimes gets weird with the very Japanese humour. Some cutscenes are so goddamn goofy because of how proud they were of their motion-capture technology, they had actors flail around constantly to the point of hilarity. The gameplay also has a fair bit of PS2-era jank, particularly in the boss battles. But all of that adds to its charm at this point.

Side note, imo it has a really nice empowering story for young girls without being spiteful or overzealous. If I had a daughter I'd probably recommend this game to her. I'm 24 now okay. I get these types of thoughts sometimes lmao.