shrimblo_male2
2023
Although Im yet to make my way through all of remedys portfolio, I can see a clear progression from the games I've played starting off with the poorly written and poorly designed slog that is the original alan wake to the much more competent and interesting control to the even more competent and interesting alan wake 2. While I havent loved any of these games and think one of them is just bad i still think they are intersting games and a interesting studio especially with alan wake 2 which feels like it has a singular cohesive vision rather than a lack of one as is the case with most games and the previous two games I've played from remedy. I know the main creative force behind all these games is sam lake but I fail to see his voice in alan wake and control which I think was a result of sam lake not being the main director for either of those games but with this it feels like sam lake is having a conversing of ideas and themes which is refreshing considering the general landscape of gaming. While I definitly appreciate this aspect I still don't think this is amazing but it is very good and has some super interesting ideas and at some points feels very personal mainly the stuff revolving around alans sections and how he reflects on his past work and how they've been handled throughout the years. The game is also ligitimatly scary and tense mainly due to the excellent sound and fantastic art direction and enviromental design with competent level design with tight narrow paths not much room to move making for tense and ligitimatly scary moments. Sam Lake has improved as a writer, instead of copying and making worse versions of much better work it feels like sam lake has found his own style and voice and has been able to distiguish himself. Of course there are still elements from other works such as twin peaks but it feels more like inspiration than Pastiche unlike the other two remedy games I played.
While i really liked this game I do also have problems such as the brain place feeling kinda unecessary since there is no penelty to getting the answers wrong bascially playing itself if you do get on of the connections wrong. Could've been pretty cool if the story could be impacted from your judgments but I do understand that this would be hard to implement while retaining the linear narrative so it was probably a good call but then I think the mind place needed to be reworked to be something more interesting. Also I think the alan sections are much more interesting when compared to the saga parts mainly due to the more creative levels and more abstract story elements that arent featured in saga parts. It feels like the alan sections is a worse version of silent hill and the saga parts feels more like a worse resident evil not featuring the solid level design of the resident evil games and not featuring the incredibly effective level design in silent which tells the story through the levels. Also I found the story got less interesting as the game went on especially with the ending of the game which features some uneared introspection for saga and only lightly touches on the themes that I found interesting and were well presented and the live action elements actual feel purposful to the story and what the game is trying to communicate. Also, interms of game design, this just feels like a ripoff of resident evil in terms of most of the way it plays, the ui is similar, the camera function is similar, the level design, most things except for the story and style but it doesnt mean that its bad just feels more like a pastiche than its own beast. I think that some concepts could be taken further such as the usage of music, the part that everyone is talking about is cool but it more of you just walking and watching rather than intergrating the music into the gameplay. Also, the game is somewhat unpolished, with animations sometimes being janky and collision detection with the ground can be janky as well and there was a point at the end of the game that i fell through the floor and it happened twice in a row, not a huge problem but still kinda annoying. Its not a huge problem and Im willing to not put much effort into it due to the developer being smaller when compared to other AAA developers. Also, the pc port is kinda bad, I have a 3080, 32gb ram, AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the game is struggling which it honestly should not since the game doesnt look too demanding, its definetly looks good very good in fact but noting mind blowing or spectacular.
I really liked this but there are still problems here from being a game that I loved but I do think remedy can do it and make a game thats super interesting and something I love. I think sam lake and the devs at remedy have the ambility and ambition to do something truley special but this is a really big step up from the original alan wake and control. I really appreciate the fact that this exsists and that there is a high art AAA (maybe AA) game thats getting a lot of attention, hopefully this will inspire more big developers to take artistic risks instead of leaving all the interesting games to indie developers.
While i really liked this game I do also have problems such as the brain place feeling kinda unecessary since there is no penelty to getting the answers wrong bascially playing itself if you do get on of the connections wrong. Could've been pretty cool if the story could be impacted from your judgments but I do understand that this would be hard to implement while retaining the linear narrative so it was probably a good call but then I think the mind place needed to be reworked to be something more interesting. Also I think the alan sections are much more interesting when compared to the saga parts mainly due to the more creative levels and more abstract story elements that arent featured in saga parts. It feels like the alan sections is a worse version of silent hill and the saga parts feels more like a worse resident evil not featuring the solid level design of the resident evil games and not featuring the incredibly effective level design in silent which tells the story through the levels. Also I found the story got less interesting as the game went on especially with the ending of the game which features some uneared introspection for saga and only lightly touches on the themes that I found interesting and were well presented and the live action elements actual feel purposful to the story and what the game is trying to communicate. Also, interms of game design, this just feels like a ripoff of resident evil in terms of most of the way it plays, the ui is similar, the camera function is similar, the level design, most things except for the story and style but it doesnt mean that its bad just feels more like a pastiche than its own beast. I think that some concepts could be taken further such as the usage of music, the part that everyone is talking about is cool but it more of you just walking and watching rather than intergrating the music into the gameplay. Also, the game is somewhat unpolished, with animations sometimes being janky and collision detection with the ground can be janky as well and there was a point at the end of the game that i fell through the floor and it happened twice in a row, not a huge problem but still kinda annoying. Its not a huge problem and Im willing to not put much effort into it due to the developer being smaller when compared to other AAA developers. Also, the pc port is kinda bad, I have a 3080, 32gb ram, AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the game is struggling which it honestly should not since the game doesnt look too demanding, its definetly looks good very good in fact but noting mind blowing or spectacular.
I really liked this but there are still problems here from being a game that I loved but I do think remedy can do it and make a game thats super interesting and something I love. I think sam lake and the devs at remedy have the ambility and ambition to do something truley special but this is a really big step up from the original alan wake and control. I really appreciate the fact that this exsists and that there is a high art AAA (maybe AA) game thats getting a lot of attention, hopefully this will inspire more big developers to take artistic risks instead of leaving all the interesting games to indie developers.
Insomniac have proven themselves to be the pinnacle of the corporate developers. Their games aren't interested in being rewarding and interesting expirences or works of art rather they are mass consumer products designed to be as inoffensive as possible to appeal to lowest common denomenator, this has been what they've excelled at during the ps3 era and perfected in ps4 era with their ratchet and clank remake and their spiderman games which is reinforced here tenfold. I wouldn't call any of their more recent works bad but I would say they lack any voice and soul with the main direction to make something that looks presentable but nothing artistically interesting and create mechanics that look cool but arne't interesting on mechanical level. Spider-man 2 may be the product that insomniac has strived to make for all of this period of the developers history and I can't blame them, people like the game and its selling well but if you were to look at the vastly more interesting space of games as a whole and not just the AAA space then you'd see that spiderman 2 isnt very interesting and is just fine, average, completly inoffensive struggling to improve on previous entries instead adding more but not improving on much at all and unlike the similar approach nintendo took with the legend of zelda: tears of the kingdom, the original spiderman ps4 game was not a very interesting base to build on.
This review contains spoilers
Nintendo has succeeded in creating a promising first step to what could be a fantsatic series of 2d mario games that is already miles more interesting and ambitious than anything present in the new super mario bros franchise. However, while I'm happy to see nintendo taking mario in a more creative and expirimental route this game still comes to a very safe and mechanical design philosophy that platformers in recent years have endlessly expirimented with and come to some incredible outcomes while nintendo are fine with resting on their laurels and sadly don't do much to play with what mario level design can be in 2023.
Mario Wonder is a fantastic looking game with so much charm and personality bursting at the seams with fantastic new models and gorgeous animations to accompany those new models. They have a almost clay like quality to them which really makes them pop and mario seems to have inherhited some of that confiedent snark that his spikey blue friend making for a mario with more personality than featured before. Enemy designs are also fantastic perfectly communicating their function through the use of soft and sharp shapes while also being full personality and charm. While I think the presentation of this game is far beyond anything the 2d series has ever seen and feels like a natural progression from the snes games rather than the stagnation of the new series, I still have problems here namely with the music which the most bland boring and generic slop they could've possible come up with especially considering how creative the game is. The OST is just more of the same stuff from the new series failing to expand the musical world of mario in any exciting or interesting way, there are maybe two songs I thought were pretty good those being the special world overworld theme, which is fantastic, and the music promiant in the fungal world. The soundtrack also just has a lack of songs, several songs are reused throughout the game and they become stale fast making for maybe the worst soundtrack I've heard all year due to its lack of interesting ideas. There are so many directions you could take the music of mario be it big band jazz, funk, rock, electronic, orechestral, advant gard, all of these would be interesting directions for the sound of the franchise and have been used in the 3d games namely games such as mario galaxy and 3d world but it seems koji Kondo and his fellow composers want to keep the 2d series music stale and forgettable which is a shame, even sonic superstars had some absolute bangers in there such as speed jungle, pinball carnival, lagoon city, even that game with as mixed bag a soundtrack had a different song each act and had some variety this just feels bland especially when compared to some of the better soundtracks this year such as pizza towers and tears of the kingdome both having fantastic music that fit each of their games respectivly. Also, this is a minor point and doesnt really affect my opinions on the game but the voice acting for mario and co is actually pretty good for the most part but their are times when mario sounds off especially his mama mia which is actually bad and the talking flowers fucking suck, they're not funny or charming just annoying with dialog just going 'woah that just happened, wow man that was crazy' which sucks, Im fine with voice acting in a mario game but the flower is just annoying and barely helpful. Also, I think the level themes are super uninspired and boring, I'm sick of seeing grass world, sand world, lava world, forest world. Why can't we see some truley weried shit like a level in a crystalised mosolium, or a level in a mario rendition of rome or paris, why can't we have level that takes place on a circuite board and the world map could be little city with each part of the circuite borad acting as a city in and of itself. Why can't we have something visually distinct and cool instead of the same themes regudated over and over again. The only one I can think of that was different was the dounut level that is something that has been done better in other games like sonic colours where it took the whole desert gimick and made it appart of the level instead of deligating it to the background.
In terms of gameplay I have some thoughts. Controls are fantastic and tight, super responsive and fun to use, I think its a testiment to how good this game controls that when using the invisibilty badge that despite not seeing mario on the screen I still have a very good idea as to where he is on the screen. Now in terms of level design, this is just bogstandard mario level design with very little done to evolve what a mario level can be in 2023 outside of the wonder flower abilities. Each level follows basic standars of level design that being showing a level mechanic in a safe enviroment, showing how the mechanic interacts with the enviroment and continuously evolving it until the level ends. This is not the problem, the problem is that mario wonder does a poor job of actually evolving the mechanics in each level making each level feel underwhelming and unsatfisfying to play through. I love that the game doesnt throw away the mechanic after one level like mario galaxy does and instead evolves the mechanics throughout the game but I still don't think it does a good enough job of doing that for example the game has these pulley ropes that are initally used for coins but later are used to show plaforms in the level and are used for two enemies, this is fine but it never goes beyond that, never showing anything I havent seen in different platformers and done more creatively. What about using the rope pulleys to unpeal different parts of the level and hiding secrets in those, this could be used in conjuction with the background and foregrounds, peeling away different parts of the level to go into the background or foreground and bouncing between them to complete the level, maybe using the pulleys to shift the level around playing with perspective. Maybe there could be a level that is tied to the pace of the music and the pulleys could be used to determine the pace of the song and therefore changing the level. These are just some ideas I came up with that, I think, really could've achieved the sense of wonder that I was really expecting from this title and had while playing mario growing up in both 3d and 2d games but sadly I don't think this game ever achieve this. I've seen a lot of people saying this feels like a 3d mario game but in 2d and while I can see they're coming from I don't because if this was a 3d mario game then the mechanics would be used in much more creative ways and would be used to their fullest but wonder is fine with not trying this and instead using its selling gimick to fill that void. The wonder flower is the part that is supposed to make the game feel as if it full of wonders and it does this... Ocassionally since the many times the wonder flower is used it almost feels like a slight detour or its something thats completly seperate from the level making the game feel somewhat unfocused and divorced from the main part of the game, the level design. There are few times where I was pleased with the implementation such as the second to last level in the special world and the level with the ship in it, I also like the marching parade and the ninja hideout but even the music oriented ones get old as they are repeated constantly throughout the game, the first time was really cool and charming but after that it got kinda stale like it was treading old ground constantly which is a shame because there are really awesome ideas here such as the one where mario is walking on the background of the stage but even that is only a surface level of enjoyment because it only lasts a couple of seconds and before it really starts to feel like something really cool and awesome it ends which is unfortunate. I'm not saying the game is lacking ideas that are interesting becasue it definelty does not, this is probably the most creative mario game yet but I just wanted it to go further in its creativity. Reading an interview with the developers, it says they came up with over 2,000 ideas, that is staggering but it seems the ones that were the most wacky or funny were cut out such as the idea of having a sports commenting track while playing the level and having a Tsundere option or the idea for there to be a live action mario in the background whistling to the song playing. These are amazing ideas and I would've loved to have seen these and others like them in the game because they would've actually made me feel something which the game just didn't do much. When I finished wonder I felt kinda hollow, I didn't really feel much while playing if anything I was getting annoyed at how much better this game could've been and I'm so confused by the response to this game making me wonder if this is enough for most people, a standard mario game with a new visuals and the minute long detour, is this it, is this good enough when compared to incredibly creative and engaging plaformers out there such as pizza tower, sonic mania, celeste, donkey kong torpical freeze, rayman legends, shovel knight and many many more. Shouldn't we be expecting more from the face of gaming, the pinicle of the medium showing off how amazingly creative our medium is and can be. I don't know if I think this is good enough for mario when compared to the sea of more interesting platformers out there that push their gimicks and are branching and expirimenting with the form instead of settling for the stausque of game design. I was hoping mario was going to reinvent and shake up the platformer but instead it still feels like its trying to play catchup. Like I said there are cool ideas here but they kinda just come and go kinda like the new badge system, they're cool, offering a way for different playstyles in the levels but your probably only gonna stick with one or two because the levels don't offer enough expirimentation for you to want to play around with them and levels that are built with them in mind are some of the best in the game since they do push what they can do and it shows that they can be cool but why would I not use the one that gives you a double jump or why not use the one that makes water levels actually fun. Also, mario continues to have the most uninspired and boring bosses in gaming history with bowser junior bosses feeling increibly samey and lacking in difficulty and the final boss and general ending being incredibly underwhelming and honestly unintersting.
I feel like I could write about this game forever and why it dissapointed me but with all this said I still recommend mario wonder. It's an above average game that I did enjoy playing but I never loved playing outside of a few examples. A game I wanted to love but ultimatly came up short. Who knew that my two favourite frachises would come out with games that ended up dissapointing me within the span of a week. I'm glad people are loving this game but I just couldn't. This may be the best 2D mario since super mario world but thats because nintendo tried to put the franchise in a state of perpertual staggnaiton until poeple started to complain. I'm happy nintendo is being more loose with mario but I don't expect them to let mario go crazy ever which is a shame. I'll say that if this game was filled with the type of stuff it gives you when 100%ing the game then I think it would've been better.
Mario Wonder is a fantastic looking game with so much charm and personality bursting at the seams with fantastic new models and gorgeous animations to accompany those new models. They have a almost clay like quality to them which really makes them pop and mario seems to have inherhited some of that confiedent snark that his spikey blue friend making for a mario with more personality than featured before. Enemy designs are also fantastic perfectly communicating their function through the use of soft and sharp shapes while also being full personality and charm. While I think the presentation of this game is far beyond anything the 2d series has ever seen and feels like a natural progression from the snes games rather than the stagnation of the new series, I still have problems here namely with the music which the most bland boring and generic slop they could've possible come up with especially considering how creative the game is. The OST is just more of the same stuff from the new series failing to expand the musical world of mario in any exciting or interesting way, there are maybe two songs I thought were pretty good those being the special world overworld theme, which is fantastic, and the music promiant in the fungal world. The soundtrack also just has a lack of songs, several songs are reused throughout the game and they become stale fast making for maybe the worst soundtrack I've heard all year due to its lack of interesting ideas. There are so many directions you could take the music of mario be it big band jazz, funk, rock, electronic, orechestral, advant gard, all of these would be interesting directions for the sound of the franchise and have been used in the 3d games namely games such as mario galaxy and 3d world but it seems koji Kondo and his fellow composers want to keep the 2d series music stale and forgettable which is a shame, even sonic superstars had some absolute bangers in there such as speed jungle, pinball carnival, lagoon city, even that game with as mixed bag a soundtrack had a different song each act and had some variety this just feels bland especially when compared to some of the better soundtracks this year such as pizza towers and tears of the kingdome both having fantastic music that fit each of their games respectivly. Also, this is a minor point and doesnt really affect my opinions on the game but the voice acting for mario and co is actually pretty good for the most part but their are times when mario sounds off especially his mama mia which is actually bad and the talking flowers fucking suck, they're not funny or charming just annoying with dialog just going 'woah that just happened, wow man that was crazy' which sucks, Im fine with voice acting in a mario game but the flower is just annoying and barely helpful. Also, I think the level themes are super uninspired and boring, I'm sick of seeing grass world, sand world, lava world, forest world. Why can't we see some truley weried shit like a level in a crystalised mosolium, or a level in a mario rendition of rome or paris, why can't we have level that takes place on a circuite board and the world map could be little city with each part of the circuite borad acting as a city in and of itself. Why can't we have something visually distinct and cool instead of the same themes regudated over and over again. The only one I can think of that was different was the dounut level that is something that has been done better in other games like sonic colours where it took the whole desert gimick and made it appart of the level instead of deligating it to the background.
In terms of gameplay I have some thoughts. Controls are fantastic and tight, super responsive and fun to use, I think its a testiment to how good this game controls that when using the invisibilty badge that despite not seeing mario on the screen I still have a very good idea as to where he is on the screen. Now in terms of level design, this is just bogstandard mario level design with very little done to evolve what a mario level can be in 2023 outside of the wonder flower abilities. Each level follows basic standars of level design that being showing a level mechanic in a safe enviroment, showing how the mechanic interacts with the enviroment and continuously evolving it until the level ends. This is not the problem, the problem is that mario wonder does a poor job of actually evolving the mechanics in each level making each level feel underwhelming and unsatfisfying to play through. I love that the game doesnt throw away the mechanic after one level like mario galaxy does and instead evolves the mechanics throughout the game but I still don't think it does a good enough job of doing that for example the game has these pulley ropes that are initally used for coins but later are used to show plaforms in the level and are used for two enemies, this is fine but it never goes beyond that, never showing anything I havent seen in different platformers and done more creatively. What about using the rope pulleys to unpeal different parts of the level and hiding secrets in those, this could be used in conjuction with the background and foregrounds, peeling away different parts of the level to go into the background or foreground and bouncing between them to complete the level, maybe using the pulleys to shift the level around playing with perspective. Maybe there could be a level that is tied to the pace of the music and the pulleys could be used to determine the pace of the song and therefore changing the level. These are just some ideas I came up with that, I think, really could've achieved the sense of wonder that I was really expecting from this title and had while playing mario growing up in both 3d and 2d games but sadly I don't think this game ever achieve this. I've seen a lot of people saying this feels like a 3d mario game but in 2d and while I can see they're coming from I don't because if this was a 3d mario game then the mechanics would be used in much more creative ways and would be used to their fullest but wonder is fine with not trying this and instead using its selling gimick to fill that void. The wonder flower is the part that is supposed to make the game feel as if it full of wonders and it does this... Ocassionally since the many times the wonder flower is used it almost feels like a slight detour or its something thats completly seperate from the level making the game feel somewhat unfocused and divorced from the main part of the game, the level design. There are few times where I was pleased with the implementation such as the second to last level in the special world and the level with the ship in it, I also like the marching parade and the ninja hideout but even the music oriented ones get old as they are repeated constantly throughout the game, the first time was really cool and charming but after that it got kinda stale like it was treading old ground constantly which is a shame because there are really awesome ideas here such as the one where mario is walking on the background of the stage but even that is only a surface level of enjoyment because it only lasts a couple of seconds and before it really starts to feel like something really cool and awesome it ends which is unfortunate. I'm not saying the game is lacking ideas that are interesting becasue it definelty does not, this is probably the most creative mario game yet but I just wanted it to go further in its creativity. Reading an interview with the developers, it says they came up with over 2,000 ideas, that is staggering but it seems the ones that were the most wacky or funny were cut out such as the idea of having a sports commenting track while playing the level and having a Tsundere option or the idea for there to be a live action mario in the background whistling to the song playing. These are amazing ideas and I would've loved to have seen these and others like them in the game because they would've actually made me feel something which the game just didn't do much. When I finished wonder I felt kinda hollow, I didn't really feel much while playing if anything I was getting annoyed at how much better this game could've been and I'm so confused by the response to this game making me wonder if this is enough for most people, a standard mario game with a new visuals and the minute long detour, is this it, is this good enough when compared to incredibly creative and engaging plaformers out there such as pizza tower, sonic mania, celeste, donkey kong torpical freeze, rayman legends, shovel knight and many many more. Shouldn't we be expecting more from the face of gaming, the pinicle of the medium showing off how amazingly creative our medium is and can be. I don't know if I think this is good enough for mario when compared to the sea of more interesting platformers out there that push their gimicks and are branching and expirimenting with the form instead of settling for the stausque of game design. I was hoping mario was going to reinvent and shake up the platformer but instead it still feels like its trying to play catchup. Like I said there are cool ideas here but they kinda just come and go kinda like the new badge system, they're cool, offering a way for different playstyles in the levels but your probably only gonna stick with one or two because the levels don't offer enough expirimentation for you to want to play around with them and levels that are built with them in mind are some of the best in the game since they do push what they can do and it shows that they can be cool but why would I not use the one that gives you a double jump or why not use the one that makes water levels actually fun. Also, mario continues to have the most uninspired and boring bosses in gaming history with bowser junior bosses feeling increibly samey and lacking in difficulty and the final boss and general ending being incredibly underwhelming and honestly unintersting.
I feel like I could write about this game forever and why it dissapointed me but with all this said I still recommend mario wonder. It's an above average game that I did enjoy playing but I never loved playing outside of a few examples. A game I wanted to love but ultimatly came up short. Who knew that my two favourite frachises would come out with games that ended up dissapointing me within the span of a week. I'm glad people are loving this game but I just couldn't. This may be the best 2D mario since super mario world but thats because nintendo tried to put the franchise in a state of perpertual staggnaiton until poeple started to complain. I'm happy nintendo is being more loose with mario but I don't expect them to let mario go crazy ever which is a shame. I'll say that if this game was filled with the type of stuff it gives you when 100%ing the game then I think it would've been better.
2023
Sonic Superstars has the potential to be a great 2d sonic game, it has nice visuals, it has the creator of sonic on the team making this game, it has the same physics from sonic mania however, sonic superstars, while being fun to play, doesn't manage to hold much attention with a lack of inspiring level themes, music and overall game design that feels adequate, scraping above mediocreity but never leaving a lasting impact that would make this a classic mainly due to sega and artzest thinking that recreating the classic physics was good enough to make a great game without realising that the game design needs to also be a prominant aspect that other 2d sonic games put much attention into which is why those games are some of the best pieces of art that the medium has to offer and why sonic superstars can't stand along side them.
The controls here are solid with each of the playable characters feeling like they came straight from sonic mania with all the physics manipulation that entails and the welcome addition of amy makes for characters that are fun to play each with their own abilities that don't completely deter from the core gameplay instead allowing the fast platforming to be viewed from a different perspective which is hightened by levels specifically designed for each charcter allowing each character to show how they are best played with some these being some of the better levels in the game. However, the spindash has been severly nerfed making it nowhere near as helpful as it has been in the past and its a shame as it means there is less oppitunities for expirmentation with sonic and cos movement which has always been integral to 2d sonic games. Although the levels are mostly well desinged they are never anyhting other than adaqutate with mostly flat terrain meaning a lacking of expirimentation to be used in conjunction to the physics of the game. Levels also struggle to show interesting level gimmicks that are used in conjunction with the speed making them either annoying or a pace breaker and unlike sonic 3 or mania the levels are paced in a way where you do platforming and are then hit with a burst of speed it feels much more closer to the expansive design of sonic cd but never embraces the expansive explorative design making for levels that feels constrained and limiting especially as the game progresses. Also, the new emerald powers are pretty useless for the most part, they aren't incorporated in the levels in any meaningfull or creative way instead oppting to showing you where to use them in the level which is antithetical to how this mechanic should be implented, this should be optional to use but still useful in navigating the level and should conplement the high speed explorative gameplay but the only emerald that does that is the fireball one and the rest are used in situational ways that dont change how the level is played. My biggest complaint with the game is easily the boss fights, at first I thought they were decent reincorporating level aspects into their design was something that the classics and even mania didn't do that much but most of the bosses are boring slogs that have you waiting for most of the fight instead of actually fighting.
Sonic Superstars has good visuals and features good animation for sonic and co with really fantastic models and expressive animations that havent been present in a sonic game probably since mania but while the visuals are decent they also feel bland and lifeless, all these levels feel like slightly altered versions of previous sonic levels and given new names to disguise the lack of originality passing them off as new stages but there isn't much to seperate them from many of the other zones in the series history. Also the music is all over the place, there are fantastic songs here but they're covered by a plethora of middiling or mediocre songs that are trying so hard to recapture a feeling rather than making a whole new one for a new generation. I think many of the compositions are actually good but the instruments used just make them a bit of a chore to listen to which is dissapointing. I miss when sonic was about trying to impress new generations with actual concepts that weren't taking from the past and repackaged as new to try and appeal to nostalgia. Maybe conjure that nostalgia by making something so good that it causes me to think back to other sonic games that made me feel similarly thats actual nostalgia not this cheap attempt.
Overall Sonic superstars is a game that I do recommend as I did like it, there are many ideas here that could be expanded upon in future 2d sonic games but when compared to past entries and other games coming out in a couple of days cough mario wonder cough sonic superstars comes of as unambitious and lacking in originality, style and charm making for an above average 2d platformer that should be so much in carrying the legacy of one of the most beloved franchises in the world rather than settling for good enough.
Last thing, I havent gotten the true ending yet and I havent tried the multiplayer either so my thoughts may change depending on how I feel about those aspects when I get to them.
Edit: Found out that the spin dash is tied to the framerate, I was playing at 165fps since my monitor supports that but the spindash only works properly if the game runs at 60. This is ridiculous.
edit: the mario wonder thing did not age well for me since I think these two games are of similar quality.
The controls here are solid with each of the playable characters feeling like they came straight from sonic mania with all the physics manipulation that entails and the welcome addition of amy makes for characters that are fun to play each with their own abilities that don't completely deter from the core gameplay instead allowing the fast platforming to be viewed from a different perspective which is hightened by levels specifically designed for each charcter allowing each character to show how they are best played with some these being some of the better levels in the game. However, the spindash has been severly nerfed making it nowhere near as helpful as it has been in the past and its a shame as it means there is less oppitunities for expirmentation with sonic and cos movement which has always been integral to 2d sonic games. Although the levels are mostly well desinged they are never anyhting other than adaqutate with mostly flat terrain meaning a lacking of expirimentation to be used in conjunction to the physics of the game. Levels also struggle to show interesting level gimmicks that are used in conjunction with the speed making them either annoying or a pace breaker and unlike sonic 3 or mania the levels are paced in a way where you do platforming and are then hit with a burst of speed it feels much more closer to the expansive design of sonic cd but never embraces the expansive explorative design making for levels that feels constrained and limiting especially as the game progresses. Also, the new emerald powers are pretty useless for the most part, they aren't incorporated in the levels in any meaningfull or creative way instead oppting to showing you where to use them in the level which is antithetical to how this mechanic should be implented, this should be optional to use but still useful in navigating the level and should conplement the high speed explorative gameplay but the only emerald that does that is the fireball one and the rest are used in situational ways that dont change how the level is played. My biggest complaint with the game is easily the boss fights, at first I thought they were decent reincorporating level aspects into their design was something that the classics and even mania didn't do that much but most of the bosses are boring slogs that have you waiting for most of the fight instead of actually fighting.
Sonic Superstars has good visuals and features good animation for sonic and co with really fantastic models and expressive animations that havent been present in a sonic game probably since mania but while the visuals are decent they also feel bland and lifeless, all these levels feel like slightly altered versions of previous sonic levels and given new names to disguise the lack of originality passing them off as new stages but there isn't much to seperate them from many of the other zones in the series history. Also the music is all over the place, there are fantastic songs here but they're covered by a plethora of middiling or mediocre songs that are trying so hard to recapture a feeling rather than making a whole new one for a new generation. I think many of the compositions are actually good but the instruments used just make them a bit of a chore to listen to which is dissapointing. I miss when sonic was about trying to impress new generations with actual concepts that weren't taking from the past and repackaged as new to try and appeal to nostalgia. Maybe conjure that nostalgia by making something so good that it causes me to think back to other sonic games that made me feel similarly thats actual nostalgia not this cheap attempt.
Overall Sonic superstars is a game that I do recommend as I did like it, there are many ideas here that could be expanded upon in future 2d sonic games but when compared to past entries and other games coming out in a couple of days cough mario wonder cough sonic superstars comes of as unambitious and lacking in originality, style and charm making for an above average 2d platformer that should be so much in carrying the legacy of one of the most beloved franchises in the world rather than settling for good enough.
Last thing, I havent gotten the true ending yet and I havent tried the multiplayer either so my thoughts may change depending on how I feel about those aspects when I get to them.
Edit: Found out that the spin dash is tied to the framerate, I was playing at 165fps since my monitor supports that but the spindash only works properly if the game runs at 60. This is ridiculous.
edit: the mario wonder thing did not age well for me since I think these two games are of similar quality.
2011
Manged to unearth my vita to play this and it wasn't the worse game in series I still think thats me and my katamari mainly since the controls here are much better and the game doesn't drag like that game did but this is still a low point of the series and is still the last new main entry in the series and I think thats for the best. I don't say that because I think this game is nesessarily bad, its not, but I do think amplifies many of the aspects of the series that it has struggled with ever since keita takashi left the series. Those were a lack of originality, a lack of artistic purpose, and lacking original content. Touch my katamari new selling point is that you can actually manipulate the katamari itself through the use of the vitas duel screens, you can strech the katamari to make it longer horizontally or squeez the katamari to make it longer vertically. On paper I don't think that this is a bad idea, the main problem every katamari game has had after we love was a lack of new ideas and orginality to the point where forever was just a compilation title, a very good one but still a collection of old katamari levels and this new gimick could offer new ways to interact with the enviroment more than any offer game in the franchise however the level design is not built around this new gimick and as a result this more of an idea rather than an actual gimick. The only time they utilise this is by having items be more spread out horizontally or by having some more narrow areas of the levels but nothing that has you interact with the levels any differently making the gimick feel uncesessary for the most part. The level design also suffers from a general lack of openess, the levels feel restricting and linear with items being spread to thin which makes the game feel somewhat unfair at points and sometimes the game starts you off way too small and the lack of many other objectives other than size objectives can make the game feel poorly paced, this is a 2 hour game that feels like a 5 hour game, which is a similar problem with me and my katamari and beautifle katamari. Also the microtransactions in a katamari game come on now, this shit is predetory and shouldn't be here, its clear namco knew katamari was a more niche IP and decided to milk their fans for all they're worth and its honestly disgusting especially since it lacks levels behind these transactions or tedious grinding which I refuse to do.
Although I did have many negative things to say about this game there are also many positives such as the soundtrack being fantastic once again. The games ost decides to go some directions I haven't heard from katamari before such as the expirementally edm banger known as alien or the synth pop from hello world blending in some more jazz and shibuya kei from the other games and some remixes such as the jazzy remix of lonley rolling star which is great. Also, this game looks really great on a vita, colours just pop and everything still fits in that katamari artstyle but everything is much more round making for a very visually pleasing game which extends to the cutscenes which are actually great and genuienly pretty funny. Animation group akbu who embue a strong artistic direction for the series and manages to make the story of goro the slacker into something incredibly entertaining to watch. Speaking of story its honestly one of the things I enjoyed the most here, its clear that the king is comentating of the katamari series as a whole and how the games have declined in quality wanting to make katamri fun and pleasing the fans. Its clear that developers really wanted to make this a great katamari game maybe as good as the originals but clearly they weren't given enough time or budget to make that a reality and its a shame because there are good ideas here that are brung down by the level designs and the microtransactions that were probably put in due to some dumb corporate mandate.
While I didn't love this or really think much of this game at all and I can't really respect it due to the predetory nature of the microtransactions I can still respect the devs for putting a lot of passion into this project, maybe in a different world this game would've came out great but that isn't the reality that we live in which is kind of ironic. Katamari Damacy was a game that critised the nature of consumerism and capitalism through its gameplay, you were this little guy rolling up a bunch of junk to solve a problem you didn't cause and the person commanding you to do so takes all the credit for your hard work. It was a game that while cynical was also balanced out by a huge sense of senerity and love for the world that we live in. Those two first katamari games were some of the purest expressions of joy and love for the world through the artistic medium of video games and that was what made katamari so fun to play but after Keita Takahashi it's clear that was no longer the goal for katamari. It was seen as something to pump out and make money rather than make something that felt as sincere as those two first games. This isn't to say that the devs were lazy or untalented, I'm sure that they were doing the best with what they had to work with that being namco who clearly saw the series as something to make money from. Katamari became obsessed with it's own world rather than the world we live in and I think that lead to a decline in quality of the series, not a huge decline I don't think any mainline katamari is bad, they are all games that are fun but only in bites and never offer that much of a fullfilling expirence maybe outside of those first two and katamari forever and thats a shame, in a perfect world katamari damacy wouldn't have gotten a sequel but unfortatly the game was birthed in a system that nessetates growth so if anything is mildly successful from a financial perspective then it must be milked for all its worth.
Also the vita was way ahead of its time like its such an impressive console and its a shame that it didn't catch on because it really is a special device.
Although I did have many negative things to say about this game there are also many positives such as the soundtrack being fantastic once again. The games ost decides to go some directions I haven't heard from katamari before such as the expirementally edm banger known as alien or the synth pop from hello world blending in some more jazz and shibuya kei from the other games and some remixes such as the jazzy remix of lonley rolling star which is great. Also, this game looks really great on a vita, colours just pop and everything still fits in that katamari artstyle but everything is much more round making for a very visually pleasing game which extends to the cutscenes which are actually great and genuienly pretty funny. Animation group akbu who embue a strong artistic direction for the series and manages to make the story of goro the slacker into something incredibly entertaining to watch. Speaking of story its honestly one of the things I enjoyed the most here, its clear that the king is comentating of the katamari series as a whole and how the games have declined in quality wanting to make katamri fun and pleasing the fans. Its clear that developers really wanted to make this a great katamari game maybe as good as the originals but clearly they weren't given enough time or budget to make that a reality and its a shame because there are good ideas here that are brung down by the level designs and the microtransactions that were probably put in due to some dumb corporate mandate.
While I didn't love this or really think much of this game at all and I can't really respect it due to the predetory nature of the microtransactions I can still respect the devs for putting a lot of passion into this project, maybe in a different world this game would've came out great but that isn't the reality that we live in which is kind of ironic. Katamari Damacy was a game that critised the nature of consumerism and capitalism through its gameplay, you were this little guy rolling up a bunch of junk to solve a problem you didn't cause and the person commanding you to do so takes all the credit for your hard work. It was a game that while cynical was also balanced out by a huge sense of senerity and love for the world that we live in. Those two first katamari games were some of the purest expressions of joy and love for the world through the artistic medium of video games and that was what made katamari so fun to play but after Keita Takahashi it's clear that was no longer the goal for katamari. It was seen as something to pump out and make money rather than make something that felt as sincere as those two first games. This isn't to say that the devs were lazy or untalented, I'm sure that they were doing the best with what they had to work with that being namco who clearly saw the series as something to make money from. Katamari became obsessed with it's own world rather than the world we live in and I think that lead to a decline in quality of the series, not a huge decline I don't think any mainline katamari is bad, they are all games that are fun but only in bites and never offer that much of a fullfilling expirence maybe outside of those first two and katamari forever and thats a shame, in a perfect world katamari damacy wouldn't have gotten a sequel but unfortatly the game was birthed in a system that nessetates growth so if anything is mildly successful from a financial perspective then it must be milked for all its worth.
Also the vita was way ahead of its time like its such an impressive console and its a shame that it didn't catch on because it really is a special device.
This was honestly way more than I was expecting from this update like this is bascially a whole ass sonic game released for free and for that I gotta respect it, this game is longer than sonic forces let that shit sink in and its also much better than that but there are significant problems here.
If I'm being completly honest I did not find this update that hard at all, there is only one section of the third or fourth tower and some of the trials which doesn't make up that much of the update as most of this is playing as the other characters who are pretty fun. The best thing about these characters is that they play like sonic but have slight differences like tails can obviously fly but he also cant homing attack making control similar but have different abilities is how sonic games should have always handled playable characters and its done well here. However, the biggest problem with them is that they are not scaled for the point you will be at in the game making the guardians pretty much useless to fight despite them all being ramped up and some having different movesets. Another problem is that tails can just break the game when he gets the cyclone and its fun but the fact that you can fly pretty mcuh forever makes it so you can just skip platforming sections. Knuckles kind of has this problem as well but most of his challenges are built specifically around him and limits him as a result. The most well rounded is probably amy as she doesn't really have anything that could break the game and is mostly really solid for platforming. Also I think the platforming challenges are better than the ones in the base game actually pushing what the game couldve done with that and the towers were also pretty fun and some really creative stuff with the platforming except for a couple of secitons.
While I did come out of this mostly positive there are still many problems such as the trials just being flat out broken. The first one is annoying but it isnt unfair its just got you fighting a really annoying enemy who constanly put up their sheilds. The second one is downright terrible where the only option is to abuse the parry system instead of doing what the game told you to do. The ninja one is fine, not very hard and is just kinda a normal fight but the last one is terrible. The last trial is a boss rush which sounds good on paper until you realise you only have 400 rings and that doesnt replenish after you defeated one so you have to be extreamly quick and if your playing on hard mode then you have this one frame parry which just shows that this game was not built with this type of parry in mind because the bosses do not telegraph thier attacks well at all meaning you just have to guess when thier attacks will hit or just spam the parry until it connects. Do yourself a favour and lower the difficulty to normal or easy since the parry window is much bigger and its dumb that this is tied to the difficulty your playing on. Parries should be consistent among all difficulities and every attack should be abled to be parried which was a problem with the base game as well.
This was a low point in the game however it did come back since the final boss is awesome. Not really from a mechanical perspective but the spectacle is immense and the music is awesome. Also I did not expect cyberspace to be a highlight but damn cyberspace is actually one of my favourite parts of this update, they are full of branching pathways and are full of other objectives to do and they have loops and ramps that dont have boost pads and launch you in the air its so actually cool and I hope it shows what the next game could be. The levels are not completly original but there is I think one that is a is in zero gravity and is actually really fun.
Final horizon, while being clearly unfinished, is still a fun time that offers more interesting platforming, three new characters and a cool as hell last boss but is undermined by a lack of polish and the broken trials. I really don't think this was hard for the most part but I can also see how others maybe would but I very rarley got frustrated or angry while playing, this isn't a git good thing either I just didn't realise people were having such a hard time finishing this thing. Im impressed with how much has been added but I do think it came at a cost of polish which is sad, I thought this was going to come out in november or december but having it come out so soon was clearly a bad move and was probably done to distract people from the unfortuate cancellation of hyeanas and mass layouts at creative assembly and other projects cancelled at other sega studios and for that sega can go and fuck themsleves for allowing that to happen and using this to distract people from thier obivious bad buisness decsions. Remember that layoffs are a consequence of bad managment and while the people actually making the games and doing the work are getting fired and are getting underpaid the people at the top and who don't get the work done are profitting of them and their misfortune fuck sega.
If I'm being completly honest I did not find this update that hard at all, there is only one section of the third or fourth tower and some of the trials which doesn't make up that much of the update as most of this is playing as the other characters who are pretty fun. The best thing about these characters is that they play like sonic but have slight differences like tails can obviously fly but he also cant homing attack making control similar but have different abilities is how sonic games should have always handled playable characters and its done well here. However, the biggest problem with them is that they are not scaled for the point you will be at in the game making the guardians pretty much useless to fight despite them all being ramped up and some having different movesets. Another problem is that tails can just break the game when he gets the cyclone and its fun but the fact that you can fly pretty mcuh forever makes it so you can just skip platforming sections. Knuckles kind of has this problem as well but most of his challenges are built specifically around him and limits him as a result. The most well rounded is probably amy as she doesn't really have anything that could break the game and is mostly really solid for platforming. Also I think the platforming challenges are better than the ones in the base game actually pushing what the game couldve done with that and the towers were also pretty fun and some really creative stuff with the platforming except for a couple of secitons.
While I did come out of this mostly positive there are still many problems such as the trials just being flat out broken. The first one is annoying but it isnt unfair its just got you fighting a really annoying enemy who constanly put up their sheilds. The second one is downright terrible where the only option is to abuse the parry system instead of doing what the game told you to do. The ninja one is fine, not very hard and is just kinda a normal fight but the last one is terrible. The last trial is a boss rush which sounds good on paper until you realise you only have 400 rings and that doesnt replenish after you defeated one so you have to be extreamly quick and if your playing on hard mode then you have this one frame parry which just shows that this game was not built with this type of parry in mind because the bosses do not telegraph thier attacks well at all meaning you just have to guess when thier attacks will hit or just spam the parry until it connects. Do yourself a favour and lower the difficulty to normal or easy since the parry window is much bigger and its dumb that this is tied to the difficulty your playing on. Parries should be consistent among all difficulities and every attack should be abled to be parried which was a problem with the base game as well.
This was a low point in the game however it did come back since the final boss is awesome. Not really from a mechanical perspective but the spectacle is immense and the music is awesome. Also I did not expect cyberspace to be a highlight but damn cyberspace is actually one of my favourite parts of this update, they are full of branching pathways and are full of other objectives to do and they have loops and ramps that dont have boost pads and launch you in the air its so actually cool and I hope it shows what the next game could be. The levels are not completly original but there is I think one that is a is in zero gravity and is actually really fun.
Final horizon, while being clearly unfinished, is still a fun time that offers more interesting platforming, three new characters and a cool as hell last boss but is undermined by a lack of polish and the broken trials. I really don't think this was hard for the most part but I can also see how others maybe would but I very rarley got frustrated or angry while playing, this isn't a git good thing either I just didn't realise people were having such a hard time finishing this thing. Im impressed with how much has been added but I do think it came at a cost of polish which is sad, I thought this was going to come out in november or december but having it come out so soon was clearly a bad move and was probably done to distract people from the unfortuate cancellation of hyeanas and mass layouts at creative assembly and other projects cancelled at other sega studios and for that sega can go and fuck themsleves for allowing that to happen and using this to distract people from thier obivious bad buisness decsions. Remember that layoffs are a consequence of bad managment and while the people actually making the games and doing the work are getting fired and are getting underpaid the people at the top and who don't get the work done are profitting of them and their misfortune fuck sega.
2009
Katamari Forever is such a strange game in the context of the series, at this point the franchise was only about 5 years old and to celebrate this event the game is basically a complication of the best katamari levels from the franchise at this point. The game I think is most similar to this would be mario party super stars since that is also a complation game with new additions. However, katamari forevers biggest downfall is that it is too reliant on this premise and decides to celebrate katamri in a somewhat shallow form. Is this neccessarily a bad thing yes and no, yes because this is the most fun katamari since we love katamari, never was I bored or felt like the game was dragging because it did such a great job at varrying up the gameplay. This title isnt just a bunch of size objectives with uninspired or boring layouts but actual varriaty not seen since we love katamari and the new art style change helps to make these levels feel different to experience and with absolutly incredible and creative remixes of previous tracks that breeds new life into them and kind of transforms them into new songs in and of themselves. Also the new art style is great, for the most part, the one seen most throughout the game is this illistrative art style that makes the game look like it was sketeched and it looks great making enviroments realy stand out and feel unique from their original forms. However, the wood art style doesnt really acomplish in making the game look like wood more so looks like everything was drenched in gasoline making for a greasy and unappealing look for katamari. Another major improvement would be control, this is the best a katamari game has controlled period, they're so tight and responsive however, the new ability to jump isn't taken advantage of since the level design is taken from the previous games meaning that the levels weren't made with jumping in mind making the jump pretty redundant and more or less used to get out of areas that you are stuck, the only time it really feels like it's taken advantage of is the last level. Also I would actually like to praise the narrative a bit here, I dont think it's as meaningful as the original or we love, there isnt really any commentary on connsumerism or capitalism here, but the king is explored a bit here through the roboking who, throughout the game is constantly talking about the pressures of him being king and never having any time for himself, its nothing incredible but its much more than what was in beautifle or me and my katamari. So I don't have much in the way of complaints other than I think the game should've been more of sonic generations or sonic mainia type of celebration game where level themes and asethics are used from previous games but the layouts are mostly original and work to the games specific movement and mechanics but the new additions are nice like the couple of original levels and the fantastic katamari drive which does a great job at making the levels feel fresh to replay. If I had to lobby another complaint it would be that the heart 'power up' is mostly used poorly and is completly anti thetical the design of katamari. The power up sucks in all the objects around you, in most levels this comes as a poor innovation to the series as it negates some the appeal of the game that being rolling up objects in a big ball but in some levels such as the frugal living one and the temperature one they are used more as obstacles rather than power ups which is great as it punishes mindless rolling but this is not how it is used for the most part.
Despite this clearly being a cyinacle and corporate product from the higher ups its clear that the developers did not see that way and managed to make a game that feels so genuine and loving to the franchise and the fans of the franchise and I'm assuming that their would be more new levels and modes if the developers were given more time but still I do think that this game does enough to warrent being a distinct entry in the series and builds upon the franchise more than the previous two games did. This may be imblamatic of katamari becoming the exact product that it critised in the first two games but I can't deny that this game is really fun and I think its definetly worth your time. Also one benefit of playing this game was seeing how good ps3 emulation is right now, obviously not perfect but still way better than it used to be and same goes for psp emulation, and with me mentioning that, I must say that I didn't have many technical issues with the games framerate but I've heard that the framerate is unstable on ps3.
Despite this clearly being a cyinacle and corporate product from the higher ups its clear that the developers did not see that way and managed to make a game that feels so genuine and loving to the franchise and the fans of the franchise and I'm assuming that their would be more new levels and modes if the developers were given more time but still I do think that this game does enough to warrent being a distinct entry in the series and builds upon the franchise more than the previous two games did. This may be imblamatic of katamari becoming the exact product that it critised in the first two games but I can't deny that this game is really fun and I think its definetly worth your time. Also one benefit of playing this game was seeing how good ps3 emulation is right now, obviously not perfect but still way better than it used to be and same goes for psp emulation, and with me mentioning that, I must say that I didn't have many technical issues with the games framerate but I've heard that the framerate is unstable on ps3.
2005
Me and my katamari doesn't do enough to push the franchise forward and doesn't varry the gameplay up enough making for a game that is initally pretty fun to something more of a slog to get through mainly due to the awkard controls and the incredibly repetive gameplay in levels that are not very well designed at all. Instead of a more open ended and spacious design of the previous games this opps for a more linear railroaded design that makes the game feel restricting. I know this is due to technial limitation, and this is an impressive game for the psp, it still makes for a numing expirence that doesn't fit well on the system and the mission design initially had me excited. Switching between maps in the middle of levels is a great idea and I was excited to see if the mission objectives would change as well but they don't and mixed with the poor level design makes for levels that drag and feel padded out. By the end of this I was just happy that it was over. Also the soundtrack only has a couple original songs most the songs are taken directly from the previous games and despite being incredible songs it takes away from the game since it leaves the game feeling under devloped and unoriginal. However the game is still fun, at least for a bit, and the volcano island missions are actually good mainly due to the gameplay actually having a mix up and varries the gameplay despite the levels still being poor and not being well designed for the objectives unlike we love katamari.
2007
Beautiful Katamari is a pretty decent game that is brought down by a short run time, locking a significant amount of content behind a paywall, and a lack of new and compelling ideas that push the series forward in any meaningful or significant way leaving this feeling shallow and barren when compared to the brazen originality, creativity and thoughtful design of Katamari Damacy and we love Katamari. Much of what this game offers is owed to these two games making for a game I can understand people really loving especially as an entry point to the series but for me, this had a couple of interesting levels such as the temperature one, an awesome ending that fulfills the original vision for the last level in the original Katamari, and another fantastic soundtrack that is trapped in a fun but flawed experience. Also, this game has a horribly unstable framerate, sometimes it's silky smooth, and other times it's slogging along at a really low framerate showing that this was probably rushed out the door.
This is basically just a port of the original and thats why its near perfect, there are a couple of changes here like some new effects but I think they make the game look worse so the option to turn them off is very much appreciated and I think the controlls are more tight but I'm not entirly sure if thats true. A fantastic way to play one of the best games ever.
Not judging we love katamari but looking at this just as a remake of we love katamari its really good and a good way of expirencing the orginal however, I still think that the orginal ps2 version is better mainly due to art direction which is mostly fine here but stages such as the camp fire stage look noticably worse than the ps2 orginal, however the new content and quality of life improvments make this a great way to expirence one of the best games ever. Speaking of new content, there are five new levels were you take control of the king when he was a prince and theyre pretty fun expesionally the one where you have to avoid the ghosts but most of it is stuff thats already in the game but it shows what could be a potential new entry in the franchise.
2002
Jet Set Radio Future carries all the character and charm of the orginal and maximises them making for one of the coolest games ever, this is especially true for the soundtrack which is even better than the last game with fantastic remixes, original songs and licened music that all fits incredibly well and keeps the relbious punk spirit by including a varitey of punk and hip hop songs that all fit with the games spirit and themes.
The gameplay has also seen an improvement as well with lighter more precise controlls and a better but still flawed handling of enemies that doesnt cause an imense amount of frustration along with much better tagging missions that doesnt kill the camera. While the game is an improvement on the whole there are several problems with level design that only amplifies the problems the last game had. The games level design starts off pretty good with verticallity playing a role but not being the main focus, instead the main focus was performing tricks and comboing them together and when the game is focused on this the game is actually kinda awesome, janky but still cool because of how confident the game is but the more you progress the worse the levels become leading to a frustrating expirence that doesnt reach the lows of the originals but it does leave an unfortuate taste in your mouth. The main problem with the levels is the focus on linear platforming which wouldnt be a huge problem if the camera was fast enough to keep up with you so you could see the rails you need to jump to which becomes monotonous since if you just get sent to the bottom of the challenge and just having to repeat the process over and over again. There are also levels here with huge bottomless pits that disencourage expirimentation and leads to a monotonous level that feels like it goes on for far too long.
Another problem with the game is how the enemies are handled, better than the orginal but they still interrupt gameplay and the 'combat' is downright terrible with the end game focusing on bosses that are also absolutly terrible and go down in a matter of seconds and the last part of the game is also terrible.
While I dont think I love jet set radio as a whole and its nowhere near as good as I thought it was when I was younger, I still think these are two very special games that opened up a whole new world of expirmentation in games and I can see why so many people love these games especially when they came out, there wasnt really anything like jet set radio when it and this game came out and its gone on to inspire many developers and different people and I think if sega did continue the series then we wouldve gotten a game that actually lived to the potential the series has but for now we'll have to look to the indie scene for games that are similar or carry the same spirit as these two games.
The gameplay has also seen an improvement as well with lighter more precise controlls and a better but still flawed handling of enemies that doesnt cause an imense amount of frustration along with much better tagging missions that doesnt kill the camera. While the game is an improvement on the whole there are several problems with level design that only amplifies the problems the last game had. The games level design starts off pretty good with verticallity playing a role but not being the main focus, instead the main focus was performing tricks and comboing them together and when the game is focused on this the game is actually kinda awesome, janky but still cool because of how confident the game is but the more you progress the worse the levels become leading to a frustrating expirence that doesnt reach the lows of the originals but it does leave an unfortuate taste in your mouth. The main problem with the levels is the focus on linear platforming which wouldnt be a huge problem if the camera was fast enough to keep up with you so you could see the rails you need to jump to which becomes monotonous since if you just get sent to the bottom of the challenge and just having to repeat the process over and over again. There are also levels here with huge bottomless pits that disencourage expirimentation and leads to a monotonous level that feels like it goes on for far too long.
Another problem with the game is how the enemies are handled, better than the orginal but they still interrupt gameplay and the 'combat' is downright terrible with the end game focusing on bosses that are also absolutly terrible and go down in a matter of seconds and the last part of the game is also terrible.
While I dont think I love jet set radio as a whole and its nowhere near as good as I thought it was when I was younger, I still think these are two very special games that opened up a whole new world of expirmentation in games and I can see why so many people love these games especially when they came out, there wasnt really anything like jet set radio when it and this game came out and its gone on to inspire many developers and different people and I think if sega did continue the series then we wouldve gotten a game that actually lived to the potential the series has but for now we'll have to look to the indie scene for games that are similar or carry the same spirit as these two games.
2012
Jet Set Radio is jam packed with stylish character and some of the biggest bangers to have ever graced a piece of art with an incredibly forward thinking sampling and a rebellious punk spirit that keeps the game from being below average as the gameplay is a constant downward spiral of poor enemy and level design with tiny shining glimmers of something that could've been one of the best arcade based sports games ever.
The main problem that I have with JSR is not even the controls which are heavy and inprecise but once got to grips with allow for that glimmer to shine but the level design, mainly later in the game, and the enemy designs which are terrible, incredibly annoying and there is no way to deal with them which leads to the game flow to be interrupted leading to a tedious and frustrating expirence expesially in the late game where enemies become downright insufferable. The level design is also a huge mixbag with levels that encourage a constant flow of tricks and this is when the game is at its best but levels that throw bullshit enemies at you that constantly distrupt the game and levels that are built with verticallity when the game doesnt encourage and or is not built for it, this is most prevelent later in the game and is really brings it down.
Its honestly a shame, a game with this much character and style came out being a game I'm confused about I want to love it and there are parts in which I was really enjoying it but thats all they were tiny moments which lead to a mostly annoying expirence and when the 6 hours were over all I could say was, I wish I loved this.
The main problem that I have with JSR is not even the controls which are heavy and inprecise but once got to grips with allow for that glimmer to shine but the level design, mainly later in the game, and the enemy designs which are terrible, incredibly annoying and there is no way to deal with them which leads to the game flow to be interrupted leading to a tedious and frustrating expirence expesially in the late game where enemies become downright insufferable. The level design is also a huge mixbag with levels that encourage a constant flow of tricks and this is when the game is at its best but levels that throw bullshit enemies at you that constantly distrupt the game and levels that are built with verticallity when the game doesnt encourage and or is not built for it, this is most prevelent later in the game and is really brings it down.
Its honestly a shame, a game with this much character and style came out being a game I'm confused about I want to love it and there are parts in which I was really enjoying it but thats all they were tiny moments which lead to a mostly annoying expirence and when the 6 hours were over all I could say was, I wish I loved this.
Guys, did you know that pcsx2 is super easy to setup and theres this guy called vim whos super helpful in getting this to run highly highly recommended
Maybe the zelda game with the best dungeons that I have played especially the stone temple which was incredible and I have very little to dislike about it or the dungeons in general the only one I thought wasnt increible was probably the woodfall temple but that was still good and better than any dungeon in breath of the wild or tears of the kingdom. Most of the dungeons here are of similar complexity to the water temple in ocarina of time which is definetly the best dungeon in that game and I think the three other dungeons are better than that so the small selection of dungeons actually helps. My main issues with the game come from the side content and the actual story both, while not bad at all, are sometimes lacking and feel more like busy work than anything, despite the huge scale of the game you can really feel the rushed development of this game in many places. My main problem with the side content is that its very samey and feels more liks busy work than anything actually enjoyable and the masks that you gain from these quests are mostly very situational and arent conjusive to the main moment to moment gameplay, the only mask that actaully is a huge help and by far the best mask in the game are the bunny ears as they allow you to move quickly speeding the games pace up significantly. The only other mask that is useful that isnt a transformation is the stone mask in one part of the game and thats it, the rest are either used for one other side quest or are just there as a joke. I feel that by making the masks actually useful it would have made the quests themselves feel useful and rewarding because the reward is something tangable rather than something midly amusing. This is espically not helped by the fact that most of these quests will have you just standing around waiting especially in the couples mask side quest which is so boring especially since you have to repeat it potentially three times to get all the rewards from the quest espically in the n64 version, the quest story is pretty cool the actual dialoge is very stillted and robotic which can be said for the rest of this game. I also wish many of the quests would actually test your knowledge of the peoples schedules rather than just showing up at the certain time and talking to them which is most of the quests in the game. I appreciate the more overtly dark tone and themes of this game but the more I think about it most zelda games are similarly dark such as ocarina of time where gannon has taken over and enslaved or killed eveyone in hyrule, the first thing you see as adult link in ocarina of time is the distorted and shambling corpses of the past residents and all of hyrule has been changed for the worse and while yes majoras mask is definetly dark it never really made me feel much more than oh thats kinda sad because it never hints or elaborates on the exersentialist themes only ever touching upon but never going deeper than that and thats the problem I have with the story, its surface level and never tries to go deeper and this can be said for pretty much all the zelda games Ive played they have fun stories with dark but hopeful undertones but not much more than that, this is very much horror for kids. Of course I'm not trying to say that if the game made you feel more that your feelings are invalid I'm just saying that the game didnt do that for me. On that I can say that game does a good job at merging the story and gameplay through the time system which does a good job at causing stress and a sense of hopelessness but this is only really true when going through dungeons anywhere else the sense of stress isnt really there since going back is so easy and Ill also say that removing all quantity of items was a good idea as it means that parts of the game cant be expoited or cheesed and actually makes the decsion of going back to the first day more of tuff one since you wont have the items you may need for a certain quest. While I clearly have a lot of problems with this I can say that this is still a great game and super impressive considering the amount of content and quality of the dungeons that they were able to produce in just one year and I can say that I did enjoy this a bit more than ocarina of time but the lackluster side content and surface level story kinda limit what it couldve been and while the story isnt bad it doesnt really make me feel what I think it was trying to make me feel.