I didn't play this game back in the Game Boy days and it is pretty rough to play today on the Switch's emulator. It's no wonder we've gotten both a great official and unofficial remake for it. I shouldn't be too hard on it though. It was doing some cool stuff for the Game Boy. It feels pretty atmospheric with some interesting music and you do feel like you're descending into this scary alien planet. Unfortunately, the lack of map and all the environments looking very similar (especially when it never got a colour version for the GBC) make it incredibly difficult to navigate. I know getting lost can sometimes be the point of these games but when you can't discern one area from another, it just becomes a frustrating experience. I did still get some enjoyment from hunting down all the metroids despite the repetition. I'm glad to have played through it but any revisit will be through either of the remakes.

It's somewhat disappointing that this series escaped me back when it was coming out because I likely would have really enjoyed when I was younger. Like a lot of PS1 games, it hasn't aged the best but I still had a decent time with it and it certainly has a lot of charm to it. I wasn't aware there were actually Dualshock exclusive games for the PS1 and Ape Escape uses analog controls quite extensively. In some ways, it can be frustrating where you would just rather press a button but it does give the game its own personality. The levels are decent and there's a number of ways to interact with them with the various gadgets you gradually unlock. Admittedly, I wasn't that enthused on my first run through the levels but once I went back with all the gadgets and focused on getting all the apes and spectre coins, I was more into it. That is pretty typical of me since I'm into the collectathon nature of these games. I'll have to give the sequels a go.

On the surface, Untitled Goose Game comes off like a dumb meme game. There is a bit more to it than just that. It's a puzzle adventure where you have to figure out how to ruin everyone's day as a goose which I feel it executes on very well. The solutions to the puzzles aren't particularly challenging but I did really enjoy working out the various tasks which elegantly organised in a to-do list. There are extra tasks in the list which I also really liked working through. There are also speedruns which challenge you to do the main tasks in each of the four main areas within six minutes and there is definitely some fun in coming up with an effecient route. The game is short and sweet and totally worth a playthrough.

It's a damn shame this game can't seem to find any success. It sold poorly on the Wii U even by that console's dismal standards and the wider release on a number of systems that people actually own and it again feeling like a bit of a dud. Granted, I'm probably part of the problem since I didn't buy it a second time and only played this remaster on PS+ Extra. All this is to say that this game is incredible and deserves more love. The Wonderful 101 is a very unique game and offers all the things people usually love about Platinum games.

It's a character-action game where you control a team rather than a character. The main combat technique is the unite formation which gather your team together to take the form of a weapon. The main unite formations are fist, sword, gun, whip, hammer, claws and bomb. Rather than learning a long list of combos, it's more about picking the right formation for the particular scenario. The more teammates you shove into a unite formation, the bigger and more powerful it is. You can combo the different unites in interesting ways and it's fun to figure out which weapons are best to counter certain enemies. You also have a dodge into slow motion from Bayonetta and an attack counter from Metal Gear Rising which are fun to use.

The boss fights are fantastic which isn't surprising considering the developer. There's a lot to discover with these fights as some weapons are more effective against some bosses or are used to counter certain moves. The game generally leaves you to figure this out. The finishers on these boss fights are all really satisfying and the quick time events work really well in this game. A lot of the QTEs are using a unite formation at the designated time which wonderfully utilises the main game mechanic in the cinematics rather than just tapping a random button. There are some regular button tapping QTEs but this game has the singular best one in all of video games. The set pieces are really great and keep you surprised about what's coming next. Whether it be a boss fight turning into Punch-Out or a bullet hell.

It nails the Satuday morning cartoon vibe it's going for which kept me smiling and it has deep and interesting gameplay which kept me replaying in quick succession. It only comes second to Metal Gear Rising in my favourite Platinum game. Clearly not enough people have played it. We're never going to get The Wonderful 102 so I'll just have to appreciate this for the unique gem that it is.

As revolutionary as this game clearly was and is still fun today; games from this generation haven't aged the best. Mostly in the way of camera control before we figured out dual sticks. It feels like the camera is actively trying obscure where you want to jump at every turn. Perhaps there is some mod that could introduce modern camera control if I was using less official means of emulation but I was just using the official emulator on the Switch. I also found Mario could be quite awkward to control at times. His movement could be quite slippy at times and he often did a big dramatic turn when I just wanted to turn right around with a micro movement. Also getting caught hanging onto ledges. I can admit this may be a skill issue as I've watched enough Games Done Quick to know how fluid the movement can be. Still, my problems aside, it still is fun to play and tracking down stars is very satisfying. I did enjoy it more once I swallowed my pride and embraced using save states in the emulator to make my own checkpoints. Video games owes a lot to Super Mario 64 even if my patience for it these days doesn't stretch too far.

Relicta isn't particularly novel but it's a solid puzzle game that's fun to figure out. The puzzles are mainly focused of magnetism and gravity but they do a good job of layering in new mechanics and complexity gradually that gives you a nice learning curve. The new mechanics they introduce in every new segment aren't that mind boggling. It's mostly stuff like switches you can press or robots that can carry boxes but it's enough to make you have to think how to tackle a new obstacle. I shouldn't hold this against Relicta specifically but I did find myself noting just how many puzzle games are about moving boxes around. I do understand that you need an easy visual means of communicating your puzzles especially if you want any sort of difficulty to it but damn, putting boxes onto switches is something we just can't get away from in video games. I didn't find myself interested in the story this game was telling on its terraformed moon but there is clearly some effort put into the environmetal story-telling and voice acting. This game comes with two free DLCs and the second one, Ice Queen, was probably my favourite stuff in the game adding a couple new mechanics and a more entertaining protagonist.

This is a game I never would have bought so I'm glad it launched on PS+ because I really enjoyed my time with it. Doing raids is really fun and learning the various tricks that makers put into their outposts is very satisfying. Building outposts is relaxing and fairly intuitive. It's not perfect but as far as building levels with a controller, I think they did a good job with it. Having to make a clear path for the harvester can feel limiting but I like that you don't have to beat your own outposts to activate them since it allows you to make small edits consistently without the repitition of beating it again and again.

There's a good synergy between raiding and building. You get some ideas for your own outposts while raiding while also seeing menas of dealing with traps and enemies by watching other players' replays of your own outposts. You get resources from raiding as well as from players dying in your outposts which can give you upgrades which are useful for both facets of the game. You also need a certain resource to keep your outposts up. It's perhaps a little grindy with all the resources and level bars but I enjoyed the game enough that I didn't mind playing it so much. The aesthetics of the outposts could use a bit more variety but hopefully that will come with further updates if the developers keep up support. A game like this that is heavily dependent user content lives and dies on its userbase which I think is already beginning to dwindle which is not good. Launching on PS+ and the outposts being cross-platform was a good start but who knows how long the game will be active. That said, I really had a good time with the game in its first month so I'm very positive about the game.

Red Faction: Guerilla was a type of game that littered the PS3 generation and also into the PS4 generation. It takes place in a drab open world with a ho-hum story that involves Troy Baker with dull main missions and a slew of collectibles and meaningless side content. It does have a USP though, that being, the destruction. Almost everything is destructible and it sure is fun blowing it all up. You really can make your own fun messing with the destruction physics to make some of the missions a bit more interesting to play. I actually did like the timed destruction side missions as it introduces a puzzle solving element. There is also a bare bones DLC episode that I didn't really enjoy. I didn't play the original game so I don't know how different this re-Mars-ter (points for the dumb name) is but it seems to look and play fine despite a couple of crashes. Ultimately, I think the game is solid due to one factor and I suppose that can be enough.

Last Day of June tells a story of regretfully reliving old memories, going over what you could have changed to divert a tragedy. The time loop gameplay with some light puzzle solving serves the story well even if the ultimate point is the futility of it all. They fortunately use some shortcuts to cut down some tedium of replaying certain segments. The artstyle is interesting even if I didn't really like the empty eyeless holes but there definitely seemed like there was budget constraints there and the little voice acting. It's a decent story and it's worth playing through.

Virginia is a game where you play as a detective that has zero dialogue and minimal text which is certainly a choice. It isn't about figuring out the case in order to progress as the game pulls you along for the ride in its short run time. You move and look around a bit and press X every now and then. I found the music did the heavy lifting in terms of keeping up the energy throughout the game. I was somewhat enjoying the story for the first while but it began to lose me in the imagery laden last third. I respect that the game has a vision and is trying to achieve something different from other games but I just didn't appreciate what it was going for.

If you were into third person action adventure games back inn 2009, you were really eating with the likes of Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2 and Infamous. Arkham Asylum was a game that kind of came out of nowhere as superhero games had a poor reputation at that point and Rocksteady were fairly unknown. Then they came and knocked it out of the park with this one.

Set in the titular asylum which gives plenty of excuse to interact with Batman's fantastic array of villains, the game tells a fun story. They make great use of the setting with a unique atmosphere mixing the modern aesthetics of a hospital/prison with the old gothic manor that it was built upon. I do think the Metroidvania aspects of the setting are a little overblown by people who don't like the more expansive sequels but it is quite enjoyable to unlock more gadgets that allow you to delve deeper into the Asylum. Even if I don't agree, I do get why people don't like the city setting of the sequels and prequel because the Asylum does have a lot of character and it's an interesting setting to explore.

The gameplay loop may have lost some lustre after being repeated a few times but I still think it is pretty fun. It bounces back between hand-to-hand combat with unarmed foes and stealth takedowns with gun-toting goons. It may not be deep but I still find the combat to be really fun. I do enjoy combat based on contextual commands rather than learning a string of combos based upon light and heavy attacks. It truly set a trend for combat in video games and I don't think any of the copycats have been as good. Batman just has the right mix of style and gadgets that no other game with this type of combat has matched. It is a bit simpler in Asylum compared to the later games but still very enjoyable. It's a shame they couldn't make any real decent boss fights with it here. The stealth gameplay, while again being a bit simpler than later games, is pretty fun. You do have a decent number of options and it satisfying to get creative with it. The game does try to encourage you to mix up your strategies by blowing up gargoyles and attracting attention to enemies who have been taken down but I don't think they're that successful in preventing you from using the same tactics that work over and over again. The challenge rooms end up being the best showcase for the gameplay. Still, I never get tired of wittling down rooms of men and watching them get more and more terrified. In between these segments, you get some light puzzle solving. A lot of which comes in the form of Riddler trophies. These have to be my favourite collectables in all of gaming. The Riddler is the perfect excuse for why someone would be scattering random crap for someone else to collect and I really like hunting them all down. The riddles could be a bit more challenging but it's difficult to translate something like that gameplay.

All in all, this is still an excellent game. As far as remasters go, this one is not anything special. It looks a bit better in some cases although would 60fps have been so hard moving to a new generation? Whatever version you have, this is still worth playing today.

R.I.P Kevin Conroy

Kona was a game I was interested in at the very start but it began to lose my interest pretty quickly once I realised what it was. The introduction of the mystery is cool and I liked how you could take pictures that were slotted into the journal to mark your progress in the investigation. Some of the light puzzle solving was also decent. Soon enough, it became clear that it was a game about exploring an area completely void of NPCs tasking you with discovering why everyone is gone. I'm really tired of this setup and if you're playing as a detective, I'd like to at least talk to characters. The one left in this game wasn't enough. Maybe I should not hold this against Kona so much. When you're a small studio with a low budget, voice acting and facial animations are expensive. Speaking of voice acting, there is a narrator and his performance is not good which is a shame because you hear a lot from him. At least for the English performance anyway; perhaps the original French is better. I didn't like the twist if you can call it that if it wasn't already clear where it was going but the story had already lost me by that point anyway. The game isn't bad. There's some good ideas and ambition in there but it just didn't do much for me.

Monolith Soft have had a nice cadence of these short RPG experiences the last few years with Future Connected, Torna and now, Future Redeemed. Granted, only Torna was released standalone and they're all still very much connected to their main game but it is nice to have these 15 to 20 hour RPG experiences for a genre that often has you playing for 100 hours. Yet, with all that said, I do generally find it a bit harder to get invested in these types of DLCs that are seperated from the main game. I always like to keep my progression going for the main game with the DLC mixed in.

To take it on its own merits, Future Redeemed is very good. All the strengths of Monolith Soft are on display here in a condensed form. The world and level design is as good as usual and exploration is satisfying. This is encouraged even further by the Affinity Point system which rewards you for finding new areas, collectibles, defeating monsters, etc. The combat is fun although with less options and progression, it can start to feel repetitive. The main game had a variety of classes to choose from to keep things fresh where I felt I was playing almost the exact same way from beginning to end in the DLC especially since I mostly played as the one very OP character. The music is great which is never surprising with Xenoblade. The cast of characters are wonderful with some returning faces. The shorter playtime does make it harder to develop them and a couple get the short end of the stick unfortunately. The main game had an absolutely fantastic set of characters and are some of my favourites in video games. The main game developed them really well and the game was more focused on their story. This came with the expense of the more meta elements of the story in relation to the Xenoblade universe not getting much of a higlight which was disappointing. Future Redeemed absolutely makes good on the meta side of the story. In fact, it goes a step further than I think anyone was reasonably expecting which is exciting for the fans. The DLC is a no brainer if you liked the main game.

I do like a DLC for these big RPGs to take place in the same map with your progression and new items being usable in the main game. Legacy of the First Blade does just that focusing on the areas of the map that didn't have much activity in them in the main game. I do love Assassin's Creed Odyssey and this is a bit more of it but perhaps to a fault. The story really seems like it goes through the same beats of the main game in a more truncated fashion. I do understand a certain story development that people really didn't like. I don't think this DLC does anything special but I had a fine time with it.

Last year had a day 1 PS+ release where you play as a cat, now we get one where we play as a dog. I'm hoping we get a rabbit game next year. Humanity is an imaginitive puzzle game that tasks you with leading people to a goal with the dog. It introduces new mechanics pretty regularly and when you think they're going to stop bring new direction commands, the game switches genres. It leans more towards an RTS by the end of the game. It has some pretty intersting progression even with optional unlocks for bring Goldies to the goal. These optional unlocks are mostly cosmetic but there's a few fun things to get that change gameplay such as a fast forward and restarting a level while keeping your direction commands. I don't like every mechanic such as the levels where you can't put down new commands after you start which I find a bit tedious. Although it's not a story focused game but the writing is actually pretty entertaining that supports a thematic cohesion for the chapters. It's a very solid puzzle game that's worth playing.