(Copied from my Hitman III review since they're the same game)

If it weren't for the always online bullshit, this would be a 5 star game. While it lacks the attention to detail, atmosphere, music, and great story of Blood Money, it absolutely makes up for it in terms of ease of play, fun factor, and an astronomical amount of content. I really thingk the World of Assassination trilogy is the best Hitman game, alongside its much more interesting, if jankier, predecessor. Really a game of all time.

But again, fuck the always online.

This review treats Hitman 1-3 as one big game.

If it weren't for the always online bullshit, this would be a 5 star game. While it lacks the attention to detail, atmosphere, music, and great story of Blood Money, it absolutely makes up for it in terms of ease of play, fun factor, and an astronomical amount of content. I really think the World of Assassination trilogy is the best Hitman game, alongside its much more interesting, if jankier, predecessor. Really a game of all time.

But again, fuck the always online.

A cute, interesting game, but with some issues that kept me from fully enjoying it. The vpet mechanics are both simple and obtuse, but the latter is almost certainly intentional, or something that the instruction manual would have explained (namely the LCL management). Getting to explore NERV (and apparently Tokyo-3 in new game+) is also fun, but that's where the problems start to arise too.

Aside from the hard to find events, every day feels the same. The main reason for this is that every character has the exact same dialogue every day, giving you no incentive to explore and talk to everyone more than once, other than finding respawning items or trying to find gosr secret events or sidequests. This instantly took me out of it, as every other game I've played that took place over one small, looping time period generally tries to make each day feel different, and the world at least a bit alive.

That being said, I think the exploration is meant to be a fun, semi-optional extra on top of the vpet, so if you play with that in mind you might have a much better time! It also looks like the game might open up a LOT more in terms of world content after the first playthrough (which isn't too long), but I did have to push myself to finish it despite the short length. Not sure if I really want to play through it again, but I might at least poke around to see what changes.

Oh, I guess I should also mention that the little card combat game you unlock after raising an angel doesn't seem very interesting, but at least the endings seem fun!

A very cute, simple game, that got me surprisingly invested in the just as simple and cute story. This is definitely a game that's meant for an ULTRA casual audience, with the expectation that you wouldn't be playing many, if any, other games beside it for a LONG time. This can make it feel a little tedious when you're trying to collect or unlock certain things, and the style-at-the-time motion controls definitely don't help. But there's still plenty to enjoy, and I'm glad I stuck with it! It's a game with a lot of personality, as barebones and almost Grandma Game as it can feel in a few places.

If anything, it only got me more excited to check out the 2nd game on the Wii, and the new Switch game coming out (which is why I picked this back up off the shelf). I'm looking forward to a smoother control experience, not having to do weird grinding to fill out the information on the wildlife, and a generally more "gamey" experience (what with the sequels giving you more stuff to actually do and unlock).

I've also been on a bit of a diving game kick lately, between this and b.l.u.e. Legend of Water, so it might be fun to check out the Everblue games on PS2 that this is a spiritual successor to...

Definitely better than the first game, but I think I like them equally. The first game was something special, relatively simple (and clean), and had a lot of history behind it for me, but KHII improves SOOO much of the gameplay. Also had a fantastic ending they could've ended the series on if they liked. Only real gripes were some of the worlds not feeling a little small or not fleshed out, normal difficulty being too easy and button-mashy compared to KH1, and the post-game being for Certified Freaks Only (but I also undertand lol).

Even if I'm not as reverent about 2 as other people are, I totally understand the reputation it has.

This game didn't feel like it was going to grab me at first, and I def had to push myself at a few points, but I'm glad I stuck with it to the end. While I generally prefer diving games to focus on wildlife or treasure collecting, an underwater adventure game is a very novel idea. The middle chapter takes a little too long, but overall it's a game you can beat in about 7.5 hours that doesn't overstay its welcome.

Even when I got the end and the story revelations seemed like stuff I saw coming halfway through the game or earlier, it still ended up taking it in a surprising, or at least interesting direction. I even got a bit emotional at the ending!

Sometimes a game has a theme song or opening so cool you just HAVE to play it, and I'm glad I did!

Sakura Wars is definitely one of the better-paced strategy RPGs I've played, although that's because it's only half that. It doesn't waste your time with damage sponge enemies, fights don't take too long and there's not that many of them, and since XP isn't a factor you can just focus on strategy rather than "oh no I gotta hit this guy then let THIS guy finish him off, but I also gotta do the objective," etc.

The anime visual novel parts are a ton of fun, aside from all the Iris stuff, or worse, the REALLY bad chapter dedicated to her. Whoever decided a game based around picking a girl that you're into and going for her needed a literal child should not be allowed to participate in society. But the fact that most dialogue windows have a timer to force you to make a quick decision, or remain silent (which is sometimes the right call!) really adds a lot to the immersion. And don't get me started on how cool the LIPS system is, with mouthflaps matching the syllables, even for non-voiced scenes. Great 90s animated sequences here and there too!

Also, I won't spoil it, but the store goes COMPLETELY bonkers towards the end in a way I think I really liked?

Again, if not for the Iris stuff, this would probably be a solid 4 stars.

The Medarot games are never as good as you want them to be, and this one is a bit more in the middle, or even lower end, in terms of quality. It's very weird, feels like it should've focused on different characters, the menus are terrible, and it's waaaay tooo looong aaaand slooow.

Also, not the game's fault, but the fan patch is ATROCIOUS. Nonsensical descriptions for a lot of stats and abilities, awkward, swear-filled dialogue, broken music and graphics which I've NEVER seen a fan translation do, and of course, transphobic slurs.

Copied from my Steam review:
Fantastic game. Super fun, super funny, with plenty of unlockables, secrets, and replay value. As much as the "AMERICA **** YEAH" type of humor doesn't necessarily land the same these days, it absolutely works here. Everything is completely absurd, and President Michael Wilson and his secretary, Jody Crawford, are a constant delight. Even the nasty conservative coup-leading villain is hilarious with how oddly delivered all the dialogue is.

If you like robots even a little bit you gotta try this. It's the best game FROMSOFT ever made.

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I would like to add on to this, and mention that the game does have some pretty big flaws. It can get a bit too janky and frustrating at a few points, and unless you start a brand new file there's no way to revisit some of the between-level story segments, which make up a LOT of the plot.