If reviews for video games were a simple game of math, adding and subtracting with strengths and flaws to find a raw number that serves as some semblance of an assessment of quality, then I don't think I could give Xenogears too high of a score. But I don't think that's helpful. The art we experience isn't meant to adhere to a rigid set of criteria. It's fun to be sure, but is it productive? Is it accurate? Because truth be told, I don't think it is. A review primarily serves to tell other people what you think of a video game, and if it's worth playing. And Xenogears is worth playing.

This probably sounds like the game is horrendously flawed, but it definitely is not. That being said, there are MANY issues with this game. The combat is fairly shallow, especially in Gears, the random encounters really disrupt the flow of gameplay, some dungeons are confusing and boring, there's a few minor translation errors, and of course there's disc 2 which was so rushed to get the game out on time that there's barely any gameplay and huge story beats are squeezed into brief narration segments.

These flaws are real, and I don't want to dismiss them. But did I enjoy Xenogears? Yes, wholeheartedly. It's so clearly a passion project and something everyone who worked on it cared deeply about. The story is so intricately detailed and well-told with probably the best worldbuilding I've ever seen in a video game. The characters are likeable and fleshed out. The music is by Yasunori Mitsuda so you know it's amazing. The spritework is amazing. Despite my gripes with it, the combat is really flashy, satisfying, and pretty fun. And, for what it's worth, most of the flaws with this game were things that couldn't be controlled - time and budget constraints placed on a pretty small team without a whole lot of experience who just wanted to create something incredible. And I they still did, despite all the compromises.

I think this is why we should judge games as a sum of their parts. Individually, a lot of things in Xenogears are rough and difficult to get over. You should go into this game with the expectation of being frustrated at times. I honestly recommend having speed-up during some sections. But... I still think you should go into this game. It's a magical experience that is absolutely worth trying. Just keep pushing through the rough patches and you will experience a phenomenal work of art. I'm going to go read Perfect Works now.

- Mom, mom! Can I have RHYTHM HEAVEN™?
- We have RHYTHM HEAVEN™ at home, dear.

Set in the surreal landscapes of the dreams of a young man who, even in his sleep, cannot escape the trappings of modern life, Melatonin is a rhythm game that takes mundane, momentaneous actions of our day-to-day, like the swiping of a credit card, or swinging of a pendulum, sets them to a beat and turns them into a rhythm game.

The game is rendered in a cartoon style with soft pastel colors, which match its low-fi, low energy audio design. As enticing as this presentation is at first, it's at the core of the issues with Melatonin that ultimately turn it into a deeply disappointing experience. The game does not let go of this chill aesthetic to its detriment, resulting into multiple issues with the gameplay. Lack of effective cues within the minigames is the most important one: the sounds that are meant to guide the player are low-energy and hard to make out, like the almost hum-like whirring of a printer, echoes of thunder in the distance, a ding sound that's easily drowned out... all of them far too timid, too reserved.

The contrast is evident when the game is placed side by side with its (obvious) inspiration Rhythm Heaven, as in that game, cues lean on the side of loud and energetic: animal noises, clapping, verbal commands.. even the more artificial prompts are loud clanks, screeches and the like, all of them unmistakable for anything else. The sound design is so intense, in fact, that some cues are committed to memory forever. Anyone who played Rhythm Heaven can probably hear these:

And buh buh buh TAP TAP TAP!
JAB, JAB, JAB, GOGOGO!
Wubbadubbadubbadub, is that true?! EH!
Two flipper rolls!

Sure, not all Rhythm Heaven minigames are perfect, but most Melatonin ones veer on the side of bad due to a widespread unintuitiveness and lack of clarity. The game has to rely on a visual indicator during practice to explain each minigame, and sometimes, the cues are so obtuse, even that doesn't help much. Time is an example where not even the game can explain how the minigame is supposed to work; Money and Stress reuse sound cues for different inputs, forcing reliance on visuals only; Work and Dating take it a step further and change the sounds midway to throw the player off...

Melatonin even commits a cardinal sin for a rhythm game in that, in some levels, such as Shopping and Exercise, the stage track itself doesn't match the intended inputs at all, meaning it's far easier to play with the BGM volume set to 0 -- a depressing way to play a rhythm game, where vibing to the music ought to be a pillar of the experience. On that note, the remixes between nights are another way in which the game performs disfavorably: the basic gist is taken straight from RH, with multiple minigames interspersed with each other as a unique song plays, but Melatonin does not visually change anything to make the remix feel new, and while the tracks featured are unique, they're neither memorable nor exciting, resulting in remixes that lack the cathartic release one yearns for after practicing multiple minigames in a row.

Among those hardcore rhythm gamers desperate for a fix, I suppose some might see value in Melatonin. I, however, and I'm left confused at the glowing reviews it received: despite playing the game to the end, I can't remember a single song, a single motif nor a single sound cue from Melatonin's many underwhelming levels. The experience was about as exciting as its main character's life, and all I could think of as the credits rolled was that we all could really use a new Rhythm Heaven.

no game this pretty should have to suffer from writing THIS bad. i don't like to be too hyperbolic, i love video games and i just wanna be chill about em, but Solar Ash has some of the most aggravating writing i've experienced in a game. the core appeal here, to me, is getting to effortlessly glide around gorgeous landscapes and soak in the atmosphere - but your protagonist NEVER shuts the fuck up!!!! you'll see a glowing red eye on a goop obstacle and she'll blurt out "that must be its weak point! i should attack it!". the game constantly patronizes the player with obnoxious hand-holding quips, the tone of which never really matches the world's. there's an area with hazardous green acid that causes a vignette and a warning indicator to appear on screen - obviously, that isn't obvious enough of an indicator of danger so she says "Even the water here is hazardous, because... of course it is."

Hyper Light Drifter managed to have an interesting world without any dialogue. it's strange to see how much of an emphasis this game places on story, with a fair amount of sidequest NPCs and text logs that no human being has ever read. a lot of its meat ends up being exposition and a stream of meaningless sci-fi proper nouns. the back end of its narrative has that YA-fiction blatant stating of themes in an attempt to be about 'something.' the final boss is the manifestation of the protagonists' self-hatred and guilt that gets defeated by reaching out to others, i couldn't help but groan.

part of me thinks this game's focus on story is more a reflection of how empty the rest of it is. a lot of its systems seem entirely superfluous - health points never matter (why can you even take damage?), the only thing you can spend currency on is on getting more health, you can collect more suits but they have a negligible effect on gameplay. there's a lot of time spent on boss fights but all of them play the exact same way - you home in on a bit, glide around hitting little needle things, and then home in on their eye. it's fun the first couple of times but gets repetitive. for a roughly 5-6 hour game, a lot of it feels like filler. it never stops looking gorgeous, it never stops being fun to skate around in its world (tho i disagree with how its momentum is so easy to lose & never really builds in a tactile sense), but i wish it was designed tighter. and that whoever wrote it is never allowed to communicate in any language ever again.

"Well Koei-Tecmo-San, we finished the last FF. It has ghosts, a scary hospital and of course, a paranormal camera, anything else you want?"
"Add boobie physics"
"What? But Koei-Tecmo-San, this is a survival horror I don't unders..."
"Jiggly titties"
"But sir..."
"Bouncing boobalongas"