334 reviews liked by stovetop


This game was one of my favorites as a kid. I love Star Wars and as a kid I really loved legos and even had a few lego star wars sets, so when i saw this game at Big Lots(Yes that store sells games, im not sure if they still do but i remember getting games from there whenever it wasn't pre owned gamestop games) I knew i wanted it. When i got it, I loved it so much. Playing throughout the prequel and original trilogy was so much fun and I loved freeplay and just playing as different characters throughout the movies was so cool. I loved playing as yoda because i just liked the way he would run around with his lightsaber and the noise he would make when he died, it was so FUNNY i loved it. I loved the cantina being the hub world and loved listening to the band. The comedy in this game is so funny i fucking love it. This game is just so fun, it reminds me so much of my childhood.

Super Mario Galaxy is the greatest game ever made. Mario controls beautifully and the platforming is all built on his movement, which allows you to just move around elegantly through the level, even the water levels are good.The gravity mechanic is easily the best mechanic in any platformer, it makes the movement so fluid so seamless, and the spin move makes the platforming so satisfying as it helps you adjust a mistake and gives you a boost that allows you to come up with ways to jump longer or higher and its just so satisfying when it comes in clutch to make that shortcut. The design of the galaxies were hand crafted by god, each planet already has the best level design but gives it that charm. All of the galaxies are filled with life and got so much personality but some of my favorites are Good egg Galaxy, Honeyhive Galaxy, Bowser's star reactor, Bowser's galaxy reactor, Gusty Garden Galaxy, Freezeflame Galaxy, Toy Time Galaxy, Battlerock Galaxy, and Beach Bowl Galaxy. The music, oh my god the music is so majestic, it is the greatest OST in gaming history, every galaxy has tracks that just add to its charm. Gusty Garden Galaxy is the best song in gaming, nothing will ever come close, but its not to shine out other galaxies such as Good Egg Galaxy, Beach Bowl Galaxy, Ghostly Galaxy, Space Junk Galaxy, Melty Molten Galaxy and many more. The Comet Observatory is the best hub in any game with such a majestic song. Now, this game can get very emotional as its the most dramatic a Mario game has gotten, the first cutscene is so cinematic and it makes Bowser the most menacing he has ever been. The fist cutscene where bowser takes the castle is so dramatic and cinematic that it instantly makes this journey feel much more important. It also installs wonder in the player as they traverse the game and the final scene where you storm Bowser's Galaxy Reactor and the level being a combination of every mechanic makes it truly feel so epic. Another emotion this game makes you feel is sadness with Rosalina's Storybook. The music that plays as you read the story paired with the emotional story never fails to make me cry. No words can explain it, you truly need to experience it. Some may have issues with the motion control but i like the manta ray and star ball mission. The manta ray is so fast paced and the music is so catchy, and the star ball is so anxiety inducing as you try to maneuver the ball to the end goal without falling, and the music adds to it as it slows down or speeds up depending on how you move. Super Mario Galaxy is simply the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. 100/100 you need to play this masterpiece

This game lets me experience Dragon Peak with my self insert oc and its awesome. However, when you hop online the game become super ass

Boy oh boy where do i begin...Goku my glorious king Goku isn't just a character; he's a beacon of inspiration, a symbol of indomitable spirit that ignites a fire within my soul. From the electrifying battles to his unwavering determination, every moment spent with Goku feels like an exhilarating journey through the cosmos of courage and strength. His infectious optimism and unwavering belief in doing what's right resonate deep within me, reminding me that even in the face of insurmountable odds, anything is possible. My love for Goku isn't just a fleeting admiration; it's a boundless passion that transcends time and space, lighting up my universe with the radiance of his unparalleled heroism.

Time travel is not alien to the world of videogames, let alone RPGs. Partners in Time though treats timeline shenanigans in a clever, weirdly somber and mature approach, considering the depressing and oppressive turn the game's story takes: it is now the Shrooms whom act as cruel and memorable villains in this story, having conquered the Toad Kingdom past.

Mario, Luigi, Mario Jr. & Luigi Jr. work well enough together as a team, but it's not as effective as in Super Star Saga: instead of using points to use combo attacks, they are now essentially items you can buy. Since money was never an issue in M&L games, you can see where the issue lies: the game's difficulty takes a nosedive each time a new combo item is introduced, making enemies' health bars just a matter of time, instead of strategic thinking. Platform sections and puzzles are fun enough, but despite having more bros, there's much less to do in terms of combo and exploration. I'll be blunt, the game takes a lot of steps forward in settings, story, characterization, with the four protagonists weirdly well characterized despite never speaking and Prof. E. Gadd stealing every scene he's featured in. The soundtracks also kind of rocks?

At the same time, it takes away a lot of ingenuity and platforming\puzzles from Super Star Saga, not taking real advantage of the dual screen if not for the occasional battle animation. It tries striking a balance between funny and emotional, which doesn't always land. To me it'll always be charming, but there's a lot of things to consider and wade through before getting to the "good stuff". Strong beginning, weak middle, padded ending but satisfactory experience don't make for a game I'd recommend easily.

In terms the average game journalist can understand, it's a A24-produced, genre-redefining, trope-subverting, 40 KB JPG atmospheric, dark and eerie, emotionally draining [...] game.

Looking back now, I really, truly understand why Nintendo didn't make a new Mario Kart on Switch and instead opted to simply port the one from the previous gen and make it better, because honestly, how do you even begin to try and top Mario Kart 8? The pure levels of fun, innovation, and creativity present in this one silly Mario Kart game are insane and more than other games could ever even dream of. If Mario Kart 8 was on the brink of perfection, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the push that got it there.

Starting out with the gameplay, it's the same old tried and true kart racing formula that's worked for the series for many years now, only this time with a few notable inclusions that refine it to feel the best it ever has. The customizable vehicle parts system from Mario Kart 7 returns here and it works tremendously, there's so many interestingly designed vehicles and so many combinations to try. Experimenting with different combinations till you find the one that's just right for you can be a fun process and switching it up every once in a while to try a different playstyle or to impose a challenge upon yourself can be fun too. Then there's the game's main new feature, the anti-gravity racing. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe's tracks almost all have an element of anti-gravity infused into them, allowing you to drive on walls or ceilings of the tracks you're racing on which ultimately just leads to some of the most inspired track designs in the series. Some of my absolute favorite tracks in the entire series originate from this game and its legendary track design, such as Mount Wario, Toad Harbor, Wild Woods, Big Blue, and Shy Guy Falls just to name a few. The game is no slouch in its retro track selection either, choosing just the right amount of fan favorites as well as left field picks that got remakes that completely redeemed them. The base track selection is the biggest in the series as well and yet never at any point feels like it values quantity over quality, each track has the same expert amount of care and details put into it and that's what really sets this game apart.

In terms of content there's nothing really different from any other Mario Kart game here, but when the base gameplay is as fun and distinct as it is, I'd argue that there doesn't really need to be. The main mode is of course Grand Prix mode and there certainly is a lot to tackle here. There are 12 cups worth of races in the base roster of the game (being doubled entirely in the Booster Course Pass but I'll get there momentarily) which means you'll have a lot to do if you want to master them all over the game's five CCs, surprisingly though this process never felt tiresome or drawn out as it might seem to be (I should note that in this playthrough, I didn't go through and do all of this, as I had already done so and didn't feel like starting my file over again, I instead just opted to playthrough every course in the game once and call it a playthrough). The game combines the 50, 100, and 150 CC modes progress into one, meaning if you get the gold trophy on one cup's CC, you get it for all the corresponding CCs as well, meaning you don't have to tediously go through each grand prix three times and have roughly the same experience each time. The other two CCs are Mirror mode and 200cc. Mirror mode, being a staple of the series at this point, has you race through the courses on 150cc just flipped, so it does feel kind of similar but overall offers enough of a different experience to justify its existence I guess. The main event here though is clearly 200cc. 200cc is a blisteringly fast game mode that really captures the chaotic and fun vibes of Mario Kart perfectly. It made me not even care that I was completing the same tracks over again for the third time because the adrenaline pumping speeds made it a blast to play through. Apart from this there's also the online mode, which surprisingly enough for NSO, I've found to work pretty darn well. The online mode places you in a lobby with other players and allows you to choose between three different course selections or just choose random if you don't like any of the selections and honestly I've always been a fan of this system. In Mario Karts past the games online modes would allow you to choose whatever course from the roster that you want, the only problem being that everyone would always choose the same few fan favorite courses and there would be no variety, this system however lends itself to variety every time you play the game and lets you see more of the courses while playing online with people around your skill level and it's honestly just refreshing to see it work so well. In terms of unlockables Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes a different approach than any other Mario Kart game before it. The game has every character unlocked already, which some might see as a bit of a bummer, and even I'll admit it does take a little bit of the excitement out of things but its also just kind of convenient at the end of the day. Apart from that the only other unlockables you get are car parts which you get by collecting coins in races and hitting certain milestones. While this is a bit disappointing as it doesn't really test your skill at the game, I can see understand why they did it and it doesn't bother me that much.

Finally I get to my last talking point about this game, being it's pretty great DLC in the form of the Booster Course pass. The Booster Course pass took the number of cups from the base game and doubled it in a massive expansion that's main goal was to bring back mostly fan favorite retro tracks from the series' past as well as sprinkling in some surprises like a few entirely new tracks, new characters, and extra game customization modes to really make this game the ultimate Mario Kart. This happened over the course of six waves of DLC, each introducing two new cups worth of tracks to the mix spaced a few months apart. This made the release of each new wave an event to look forward to and I have plenty of fond memories of waking up in the morning and seeing the reveal trailer on Nintendo's YouTube page of what 8 new courses would be in the next wave of DLC, it was a really exciting time to be a Mario Kart fan and one that I'm glad I got to experience as it happened.

Overall, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is just the definitive Mario Kart experience in every way and definitely one that has earned its great reputation and sales figures. The game achieves nearly everything it sets out to do by being just pure unadulterated fun and having so many good ideas that it doesn't know what to do with them. The game's longevity is a testament to its staying power and even in a few years when we have the next Mario Kart in hand (hopefully) I'll still always look back fondly and appreciate everything that this near perfect video game did for the series.

Tomb Raider III is the red-headed stepchild of the series. For the general public, it's the most inaccessible, and for me, it's the only game in the series I have no substantial childhood memories of; I went into this game with none of the emotional connection the other titles have for me.

Which is just as well. This game hates you. When people say this is the hardest game in the series, they're lying. Tomb Raider II is hard. Tomb Raider III is 'go fuck yourself.' Actual combat is fairly easy, and the last half of the game is surprisingly devoid of devious traps or narrow escapes. Instead, this game is deeply tedious: it's player-unfriendly to the point that I'm convinced the point was to get people to buy the strategy guide (GameFAQs didn't exist back then). I dare anyone, in the year of our Lord 2024, to beat this game without referring once to Stella's Tomb Raider site for a walkthrough. God bless that lady. It simply can't be done.

But it's no fun playing a game you have to Alt-Tab out of every few minutes to make sure you're on the right path or not. It's no fun reading ahead to make sure you won't be fucked over by the game's myriad asspulls, and it's no fun wondering to yourself if it's really worth doing this instead of just YouTubing the cutscenes and calling it a day. I tried, I honestly tried, to beat the game honestly - that was part of my intention with marathoning this series. But I also want to do it while I'm still in my twenties, and without developing hypertension. Halfway through, I caved.

If the first Tomb Raider was about the joy of exploration, Tomb Raider III is about the misery of being lost. This is a game where you do not want to find secrets, because it means you're not on the right path. And all of this is by design. When you pulled a lever or pressed a switch in the first two games, the camera would show you which door had opened so you'd know where to go. Tomb Raider III often eschews this in favour of leaving you to wander around wondering, "Now what did that switch do? Did it even do anything?"

Right from the beginning levels you know the game hates you, where certain sections of the walls are actually movable blocks - except they have the same texture as the walls on either side, and no context clue to suggest they can be interacted with. Going around tapping on walls on the off chance there will be some way out of here isn't what I play this series for. Neither is being forced to backtrack and re-do the entire level because I missed a key somewhere. The first two games were really good about closing off areas once you were done with them, and only letting you pass certain sections if you had all the items you needed. Not so in this game.

And yet, you can see they put so much effort into it. This game clearly wasn't half-assed. Everything that crazy animated Lara promised is here. The music and graphics are amazing, the environments are varied and detailed, there are so many particle effects - primitive now, revolutionary then. There's rain and snow and footprints and the fogging of Lara's breath in cold areas. There are so many vehicles to drive (the kayak level is ass though), so many outfits, so many places to visit. There are so many cinematic sequences that looks incredible for 1998. There are stealth elements (though it's no Metal Gear Solid), vengeful Hindu deities, aliens, ATVs, mutant zombies, Pacific Islanders portrayed through the extremely racist caricature of being ooga booga cannibals... This game is absolutely huge. And yet the game is so unwilling to let you enjoy it.

The story is a funny thing. Our heroine is an absolute fucking psychopath here. In the past, enemies she killed were animals trying to tear out her throat, monsters, mobsters, and genuine villains. This game, however, positions her squarely as the bad guy - there's no way around it. Without mercy, Lara kills security guards who are just doing their job, homeless people, and tribesmen who are simply defending their domain. She breaks some dangerous criminals out of an Area 51 prison to kill the guards who arrested her for trespassing, and breezily comments about how Pacific Islanders are fond of 'white meat.' It's so cartoonish it makes me laugh. This is 1998, remember. Video games no longer had the excuse of amorality.

It's a shame, but I really can't recommend Tomb Raider III to any but the most dedicated fans, who are willing to put up with it. There's no real reward to playing through this game, except learning about Lara's comically dark side, perhaps. The thought of Tomb Raider III is far, far more exciting than the actual experience. There are so many great ideas in here, and the technology is leaps and bounds above its predecessors. But the fun factor simply isn't there; it's buried under its obfuscating nature. Some folks tell me this game is better on a second playthrough. I suspect they're the same guys who told Sony, "Re-release Morbius in theatres. It'll be a massive hit."

If there is any game that champions the "short and sweet" mantle, it is Pokemon Snap.

Pokemon Snap is the on-rails phototaking game one would expect from this genre, expect it's way more endearing since you're taking photos of Pokemon in their habitat.

What also puts Pokemon Snap above other games in this genre is the gameplay loop, which also makes it a semi-puzzle game. The gameplay loop will find you replaying levels using tools you've unlocked to uncover new Pokémon you might have missed in your first run, or new poses for existing Pokemon, resulting in a higher score and therefore more tools to uncover more secrets.

While fun, it is sadly short lived and can be fully completed in an hour. It feels like a concept for a much bigger game that would be developed decades later (foreshadowing). Although the replayability factor on this is great like star fox 64 where replaying to get the best scores can become addicting.

I would have been mad if I bought this for full price back in the day, but playing today as part of my NSO subscription service totally makes this game worth your time if you are a fan of Pokemon, and on-rails games.

I've played a couple of Transformers games before this one and haven't been very impressed. It came as a bit of a surprise then that this game is pretty good. Part of the Cybertron series, along with War for Cybertron released a few years earlier, Fall of Cybertron tell the story of.... Well actually I'm not really sure. I'm not a Transformers fan and basically had no idea what was going on in the story. It seemed cool though. The game is a 3rd person shooter, a bit Gears of War esque, with some fun driving sections. It's a fairly short campaign, but its done really well. It has that Micheal Bay action movie style feel, with each section feeling like a really nicely set up action sequence. There are some great set pieces, explosions and effects. It's just the type of silly action fun that you would want from a transformers game. What I enjoyed most was the enemy and weapon variety. Even thought the levels were fairly linear, this variety kept me interested with each weapon feeling unique and useful. It also has a decent level of polish that I didn't expect. Of course it's no Halo or Gears, but it's really well made and feels like a AAA title. The music and sound effects, the great visuals, solid controls and nicely set up tutorial and campaign. Apparently the multiplayer was also excellent back in the day too. A nice little surprise package and a short campaign which I enjoyed quite a bit, a great one to have in the collection.

Everything I have said about Fall of Cybertron holds true for this one. It's a surprisingly fun 3rd person action adventure romp. It has 3rd person shooting sections and some driving too. Even as a non-transformers fan, I was drawn into this one and feel that with all the characters and story cutscenes, it would be even more appealing to fans of the series. It's difficult to separate the two games in terms of how enjoyable they are. They both have nice short and simple levels with some great action sequences which add a bit of variety to the gameplay. The voice acting and story is great and you can tell a lot of effort has been put into both games. I'd put this one slightly behind Fall of Cybertron as, while it is a very similar game, I found the environment in this game slightly blander and more gray. That being said, it's a great game in its own right and well worth picking up.