videogamejosh
29 reviews liked by videogamejosh
The Bouncer
2000
I got our old PS2 working again, so I decided to pick a couple titles up from a retro games store near me. The guy at the counter told me this was one of his favourite games and said he was excited to know what I thought of it. That’s probably going to be an awkward conversation.
The good first, it’s a damn incredible looking game for its time. It honestly looks better graphically than some early PS3 games, and it’s running at 60 frames a second? Damn the PS2 was a good ass system. The general feel of hitting things is good, and the ragdoll physics are pretty funny. Kicking dudes into groups of other dudes like bowling pins was always fun, and watching your character do a cartwheel and flop around when he dies always made me laugh and softened the blow a bit. Other than that though, this game isn’t very good. Movement is sluggish, made worse by an automatic lock-on that means you can never really control what you’re aiming at. The timings for attacks and combos are very weird and unreliable. You basically have to throw the whole combo before the first hit even lands, so you can’t cancel out of it if it doesn’t connect. But on top of that, this is one of only a handful of games to use the dualshock’s pressure sensitive buttons for some combos and attacks, and I’m not talking some complex Tekken-style inputs here, I mean basic attack combos. They’re hard to pull off correctly at such a fast pace, so fighting is really awkward with you just finnicking around, trying to get the correct inputs and throwing out wrong moves left and right. All of this I found led to a lot of cheap deaths where I’m finnicking around trying to get combos to connect properly, and I just get screwed over because of it. It was especially bad during the boss fights. In addition to that, the game has a leveling system where you get points to spend on your stats, except you only get points for enemies you land the final blow on, so you have cases of your AI partners stealing your kills on you and you not having enough points to keep up with the escalating difficulty curve. A particularly frustrating incident was when I was fighting the first boss Echidna (who, by the way, straight up uses Eddy Gordo animations), and after dying to her again and again and again, I get her health down, about to land the final hit and….Volt kills her. There goes my big bonus.
This isn’t a particularly good game, but if nothing else, between the hilarious ragdoll physics and that incomprehensible, out of left field Nomura writing, I was laughing for much of the time. And it’s short. Even with all the trial and error and frustration, I beat the campaign with Sion in like a night.
The good first, it’s a damn incredible looking game for its time. It honestly looks better graphically than some early PS3 games, and it’s running at 60 frames a second? Damn the PS2 was a good ass system. The general feel of hitting things is good, and the ragdoll physics are pretty funny. Kicking dudes into groups of other dudes like bowling pins was always fun, and watching your character do a cartwheel and flop around when he dies always made me laugh and softened the blow a bit. Other than that though, this game isn’t very good. Movement is sluggish, made worse by an automatic lock-on that means you can never really control what you’re aiming at. The timings for attacks and combos are very weird and unreliable. You basically have to throw the whole combo before the first hit even lands, so you can’t cancel out of it if it doesn’t connect. But on top of that, this is one of only a handful of games to use the dualshock’s pressure sensitive buttons for some combos and attacks, and I’m not talking some complex Tekken-style inputs here, I mean basic attack combos. They’re hard to pull off correctly at such a fast pace, so fighting is really awkward with you just finnicking around, trying to get the correct inputs and throwing out wrong moves left and right. All of this I found led to a lot of cheap deaths where I’m finnicking around trying to get combos to connect properly, and I just get screwed over because of it. It was especially bad during the boss fights. In addition to that, the game has a leveling system where you get points to spend on your stats, except you only get points for enemies you land the final blow on, so you have cases of your AI partners stealing your kills on you and you not having enough points to keep up with the escalating difficulty curve. A particularly frustrating incident was when I was fighting the first boss Echidna (who, by the way, straight up uses Eddy Gordo animations), and after dying to her again and again and again, I get her health down, about to land the final hit and….Volt kills her. There goes my big bonus.
This isn’t a particularly good game, but if nothing else, between the hilarious ragdoll physics and that incomprehensible, out of left field Nomura writing, I was laughing for much of the time. And it’s short. Even with all the trial and error and frustration, I beat the campaign with Sion in like a night.
Tekken 5
2004
A short while ago I read that article about Naughty Dog and how they literally suppress use of the word “fun” within the studio. I think it paints a picture of a company so up its own ass, so out of touch with the medium they’re working in, and I think it stands in stark contrast to a game like Tekken, which is so unabashedly a video game above all else. It’s combat is refined and technical, yet accessible enough that a new player can jump in and jazz up combos on the spot. It’s got a full roster with all my favourites from Tekken 3 back. It’s full of customization options, side modes like the arcade mode, Devil Within (which isn’t as good as Tekken 3’s Tekken Force, but it’s still a fun little bonus) and it even comes with the first three Tekken games. It’s so full of content, creativity and fun-loving character, and I love it.
It was also neat of them to give the final boss a move that straight up just wins him the round, fucking Jinpachi with your fuckass stun and your fireball.
It was also neat of them to give the final boss a move that straight up just wins him the round, fucking Jinpachi with your fuckass stun and your fireball.
Two Worlds
2007
I kept hearing that this was some sort of secret Elder Scrolls-killer, a cult classic, “Oblivion on steroids” it even says on the back of the box. And I gotta say in all honesty: No it is not.
The graphics and animations look worse than a lot of PS2 games. Seriously, some of this shit looks like it belongs in GTA 3. Yet despite that it runs at a framerate of about 20 most of the time and still constantly freezes and stutters, rendering the game almost unplayable. Combat sucks. Attacking is incredibly imprecise, the attack animations are floaty and stilted, you look like a kid playing with a toy lightsaber, and whatever you’re using, swords, spears, clubs, your attacks have dismal range, which is especially infuriating when you’re trying to chase down something that keeps running away from you like an archer. When either you or your enemies get hit, you jitter awkwardly in place and there’s a low res blood effect that looks like it’s from an early version of After Effects, and bafflingly, the sound when you hit enemies, again with anything, swords, clubs, whatever, is a stock cartoon punch sound effect, like something out of a Nostalgia Critic video, as if it was a placeholder sound that they just forgot to replace before the final release. There’s also a backstep with stupid long i-frames that’s easy to abuse and isn’t even animated, just has you rubber band backward. The enemy AI can also be really stupid, and they’ll sometimes just sit there throwing attacks while you’re out of range. Under normal circumstances, I found most enemies were fodder, I found myself getting screwed over by the janky mechanics a lot of the time, but when things lined up (aka, I abuse the backstep), regular enemies could be dispatched by the dozens with ease. But then it’ll hit you with these really abrupt difficulty spikes and suddenly throw you up against enemies far higher a level than you that can kill you in two or even just one hit. The game also theoretically has an open ended main quest structure, but the level and reputation requirements for each area roughly constrict you to doing them in a certain order unless you plan on grinding insubordinately. There are debuffs too, which I think are supposed to immobilize you, based on the animation, but you’re still able to move through them so it’s you sliding around in the animation of you standing there, covering your eyes or something. Quest design is basic at best and repetitive at worst. Most quests are just you talking to a guy, then he sends you to talk to another guy, who sends you to another, then another, then another, and it just keeps repeating ad lapidum, until it culminates in you being sent to fetch or kill something. The whole experience is also buggy as hell. Animation glitches, audio glitches, several moments had me or my horse getting stuck on nothing and having to reload a save.
To top it all off, the writing is awful. On the surface the story is basic, find the mcguffins, save your oddly sexualized sister. In practice, it mostly just boils down to exposition, you being told things that you’re almost never explicitly shown. And it feels like every character is drunk, as characters make some of the dumbest, most baffling and counter intuitive decisions I’ve seen in a game like this. The dialogue isn’t much better. It sounds like they wanted to make it old timey, but couldn’t be bothered to do the research, so they just threw words like “pray” and “verily” into sentences at random. The delivery makes it worse, this voice acting is some of the most horrendous I’ve ever heard, I have to mention a particular npc in the Japanese part of the map, who cycles between like three different accents in the same conversation. Then again, you’re probably not even going to hear all of it though, because the volume is hugely inconsistent, I had frequent cases of the music drowning out the characters voices.
This game is a complete disaster. But I hate to end on a completely negative note, so if there’s one positive I can think of off the top of my head, I found it amusing that bandits had a pocket sand attack.
The graphics and animations look worse than a lot of PS2 games. Seriously, some of this shit looks like it belongs in GTA 3. Yet despite that it runs at a framerate of about 20 most of the time and still constantly freezes and stutters, rendering the game almost unplayable. Combat sucks. Attacking is incredibly imprecise, the attack animations are floaty and stilted, you look like a kid playing with a toy lightsaber, and whatever you’re using, swords, spears, clubs, your attacks have dismal range, which is especially infuriating when you’re trying to chase down something that keeps running away from you like an archer. When either you or your enemies get hit, you jitter awkwardly in place and there’s a low res blood effect that looks like it’s from an early version of After Effects, and bafflingly, the sound when you hit enemies, again with anything, swords, clubs, whatever, is a stock cartoon punch sound effect, like something out of a Nostalgia Critic video, as if it was a placeholder sound that they just forgot to replace before the final release. There’s also a backstep with stupid long i-frames that’s easy to abuse and isn’t even animated, just has you rubber band backward. The enemy AI can also be really stupid, and they’ll sometimes just sit there throwing attacks while you’re out of range. Under normal circumstances, I found most enemies were fodder, I found myself getting screwed over by the janky mechanics a lot of the time, but when things lined up (aka, I abuse the backstep), regular enemies could be dispatched by the dozens with ease. But then it’ll hit you with these really abrupt difficulty spikes and suddenly throw you up against enemies far higher a level than you that can kill you in two or even just one hit. The game also theoretically has an open ended main quest structure, but the level and reputation requirements for each area roughly constrict you to doing them in a certain order unless you plan on grinding insubordinately. There are debuffs too, which I think are supposed to immobilize you, based on the animation, but you’re still able to move through them so it’s you sliding around in the animation of you standing there, covering your eyes or something. Quest design is basic at best and repetitive at worst. Most quests are just you talking to a guy, then he sends you to talk to another guy, who sends you to another, then another, then another, and it just keeps repeating ad lapidum, until it culminates in you being sent to fetch or kill something. The whole experience is also buggy as hell. Animation glitches, audio glitches, several moments had me or my horse getting stuck on nothing and having to reload a save.
To top it all off, the writing is awful. On the surface the story is basic, find the mcguffins, save your oddly sexualized sister. In practice, it mostly just boils down to exposition, you being told things that you’re almost never explicitly shown. And it feels like every character is drunk, as characters make some of the dumbest, most baffling and counter intuitive decisions I’ve seen in a game like this. The dialogue isn’t much better. It sounds like they wanted to make it old timey, but couldn’t be bothered to do the research, so they just threw words like “pray” and “verily” into sentences at random. The delivery makes it worse, this voice acting is some of the most horrendous I’ve ever heard, I have to mention a particular npc in the Japanese part of the map, who cycles between like three different accents in the same conversation. Then again, you’re probably not even going to hear all of it though, because the volume is hugely inconsistent, I had frequent cases of the music drowning out the characters voices.
This game is a complete disaster. But I hate to end on a completely negative note, so if there’s one positive I can think of off the top of my head, I found it amusing that bandits had a pocket sand attack.
Just finished playing this for the first time. Considering the age of the game, it's actually aged pretty well. The pop culture references were amazing, as were the dialogue and how faithful it stayed to the source material. Some of the content was utterly grim to actually play through and traverse (Mr Slave IYKYK); but I guess that comes with the territory. It was a slow starter at first and the combat seemed a little repetitive, but overall, I enjoyed.
Far Cry: Primal
2016
[~2.5hrs in]
Initial thoughts: story is shallow enough to work within the era the game is set. The world feels organic, but the need to constantly use a vision overlay to identify resources breaks the immersion somewhat. Resource gathering feels a bit repetitive. Combat is frenetic; if you fail to kill them with an arrow, it consists largely of running in circles trying to bash the enemies head in with a blunt weapon. Exploration feels refreshing, though the constant threat that you may be attacked at any moment makes me reluctant to venture out to far from home base.
[~8hrs in]
Really getting into Primal now and making some decent progress. Next observation is how frustrating it becomes when you are trying to move forward with the mission sequence, and you are constantly attacked by wildlife, pulled off course by Wenja Events, or distracted by a nearby collectible. Hence why my completion is so high, yet my actual mission progress is poor!
[~10.5hrs in]
Spent almost an entire hour trying to find 2x Rare South Stone, and trying to get a badger to spawn as I needed 1x skin to finish crafting a specific item. That was super frustrating. In the end, I ironically got the badger skin from my Stash after resting at a bonfire. Almost finished all the crafting, skill unlocks, and village hut upgrades. I've ventured both north and south into the farthest regions, and unlocked 11/16 bonfires across the map facilitating fast travel. I get this stuff out the way early on so I can stomp through the quest sequences without getting waylaid with side content.
[~25hrs in]
As I come into the concluding content, I have enjoyed this title for the most part. I found some of the Wenja side quests a little repetitive and if I wasn't bothering to get the Platinum trophy, I'd likely have stopped doing them. The final Udam quest giving no XP felt a bit underwhelming when I still need to finish unlocking quite a few Skills. Really enjoyed many of the villager quest-lines like Karoosh and Urki. Biggest issue with the game is the way tamed beasts irrationally act at times, and how they get in the way, sometimes blocking you in somewhere until you dismiss them. The other major frustration is how when using the Owl to engage enemies, they immediately know where you are positioned in the surrounding wilderness and swarm you - it makes using the Owl largely useless beside getting the first couple hits in before all hell breaks loose.
[~30hrs Finish]
Just got the Platinum Trophy at 30hrs 15m. End game became very stale after finishing all the story content. Grinding side quests, replayable missions and collectibles for XP (which then capped) and finally Skill Points. Had a minor aneurysm when I was one Skill Point short for the Expert Wenja achievement and subsequently the Platinum Trophy... thankfully a new side quest appeared which rewarded a Skill Point and I managed to get it done. Overall, wholly enjoyed this game. Would recommend.
Initial thoughts: story is shallow enough to work within the era the game is set. The world feels organic, but the need to constantly use a vision overlay to identify resources breaks the immersion somewhat. Resource gathering feels a bit repetitive. Combat is frenetic; if you fail to kill them with an arrow, it consists largely of running in circles trying to bash the enemies head in with a blunt weapon. Exploration feels refreshing, though the constant threat that you may be attacked at any moment makes me reluctant to venture out to far from home base.
[~8hrs in]
Really getting into Primal now and making some decent progress. Next observation is how frustrating it becomes when you are trying to move forward with the mission sequence, and you are constantly attacked by wildlife, pulled off course by Wenja Events, or distracted by a nearby collectible. Hence why my completion is so high, yet my actual mission progress is poor!
[~10.5hrs in]
Spent almost an entire hour trying to find 2x Rare South Stone, and trying to get a badger to spawn as I needed 1x skin to finish crafting a specific item. That was super frustrating. In the end, I ironically got the badger skin from my Stash after resting at a bonfire. Almost finished all the crafting, skill unlocks, and village hut upgrades. I've ventured both north and south into the farthest regions, and unlocked 11/16 bonfires across the map facilitating fast travel. I get this stuff out the way early on so I can stomp through the quest sequences without getting waylaid with side content.
[~25hrs in]
As I come into the concluding content, I have enjoyed this title for the most part. I found some of the Wenja side quests a little repetitive and if I wasn't bothering to get the Platinum trophy, I'd likely have stopped doing them. The final Udam quest giving no XP felt a bit underwhelming when I still need to finish unlocking quite a few Skills. Really enjoyed many of the villager quest-lines like Karoosh and Urki. Biggest issue with the game is the way tamed beasts irrationally act at times, and how they get in the way, sometimes blocking you in somewhere until you dismiss them. The other major frustration is how when using the Owl to engage enemies, they immediately know where you are positioned in the surrounding wilderness and swarm you - it makes using the Owl largely useless beside getting the first couple hits in before all hell breaks loose.
[~30hrs Finish]
Just got the Platinum Trophy at 30hrs 15m. End game became very stale after finishing all the story content. Grinding side quests, replayable missions and collectibles for XP (which then capped) and finally Skill Points. Had a minor aneurysm when I was one Skill Point short for the Expert Wenja achievement and subsequently the Platinum Trophy... thankfully a new side quest appeared which rewarded a Skill Point and I managed to get it done. Overall, wholly enjoyed this game. Would recommend.
[~4hrs in]
First impressions of this game are overwhelmingly positive. I have not felt so in awe of landscapes since the first time I played Horizon Zero Dawn. This game is absurdly gorgeous. The leaves... oh my, the leaves... the way they dance and flutter in the Winds, the whole forest breathing life around you. I've just passed through the Golden Forest, and the colours... I cannot do it justice. It's perfection. Unfairly so. Just walking patiently through the fields, the wind whispering past you, the sound of water flowing out of sight, birds fluttering above you. Immersive AF. You could remove the plot and combat and sell this as a Walking Simulator and I would still recommend it off my first few hours. Speaking of other aspects of which I've only scratched the surface; the plot is seeming decent enough although how quickly Jin abandons his Code of Honour was a little questionable. Combat seems very in-depth given the Stances and wider move-sets. Collectibles tying in to lore and culture work very organically. No complaints really so far, slow but very engaging.
[~18hrs in]
The environments continues to mesmerize me. I spend so much time in Photo Mode, just playing with lighting and angles. The breadth of content is insane in respect of Tales, Locations (Fox Dens, Hot Springs etc.) and Activities (Bamboo, Haiku, Shinto Shrines etc.), I am constantly drawn forward to new locations and experiences, further assisted by the fantastic design choice of using wind direction as your compass! The combat is satisfying (especially cleaving off limbs à la The Witcher 3), though at times frustrating if you are getting swarmed which occurs a lot of the times due to the inability to be stealthy since you are spotted so damn easily! I have just begun Act II and feel like I have barely scratched the surface. The scope of this game is huge and I am 100% here for it. One other note; I am not a fan of how the 'fog of war' removes so minimally even with Travellers Lv.3... I admittedly looked online and saw that clearing all the occupied Mongol camps will fully lift it, but I kinda wish it was done in territories with a smaller area clearing per camp rather than all at once. That's only a minor gripe though.
[~36hrs in]
If you are appreciating every aspect in it's entirety, this game is gargantuan. 36hrs in and I am still in Act 2 (of 3) and still have the Iki DLC to play. I still feel like there is overwhelming amounts of content for me to explore. The Tales (side quests) do not feel like typical fetch quests or trivial time wasting to beef up the playtime, each feels beautifully handcrafted, layered with depth and insight, and unique in content. In fact, thinking about it, there does not feel like much repetition in this title so far beside the combat (though even that is super varied using all the Stances and techniques). The Collectibles are not bog standard either; they are lore items, organically located, each steeped in lore which adds value to the experience. The Activities are little fun mini-games which you welcome rather than avoid. And the Shrines are some of the best level design I've ever seen; gorgeous little mini areas of parkour and exploration, isolated and preserved in their seclusion; utterly fascinating how they are structured in respect of traversal. The game continues to hypnotise me with it's refined beauty, and even now I still find myself stopping to just breathe in the scenery and bask in it's elegant splendour. This game is a true masterpiece.
[~62hrs in]
Just finished the main campaign and unlocked the Platinum Trophy. This game is incredible. Now eagerly jumping into the Iki Island content.
[~73hrs in]
This Iki Island expansion is solid content. The new activities and quests, the new environment (Senjo Gorge, Kidafure Battleground & Shattered Cliffs especially!) and the new combat mechanics are all great additions to the experience. The cherry on the cake so far however has been the Wind Shrine rewards and the Ghost of Iki cameo! Thoroughly enjoying this game still, it's not stale at all, even this far in.
[Finished 76hrs in]
Extremely reluctant to put this down, but it's time to move onto a new game after a month of playing this at every opportunity. Pretty much completed everything I possibly could besides a few Records, Vanity Items, and Banners. From a trophy perspective (as I do typically try to mop up as many as I can), I collected everything except those from NG+ and Legends (Online); frustratingly this meant missing the 'Common Courtesy Trophy' from the "Iki Island: Story" DLC set as it requires playing Legends rather extensively. Cannot recommend this title highly enough.
First impressions of this game are overwhelmingly positive. I have not felt so in awe of landscapes since the first time I played Horizon Zero Dawn. This game is absurdly gorgeous. The leaves... oh my, the leaves... the way they dance and flutter in the Winds, the whole forest breathing life around you. I've just passed through the Golden Forest, and the colours... I cannot do it justice. It's perfection. Unfairly so. Just walking patiently through the fields, the wind whispering past you, the sound of water flowing out of sight, birds fluttering above you. Immersive AF. You could remove the plot and combat and sell this as a Walking Simulator and I would still recommend it off my first few hours. Speaking of other aspects of which I've only scratched the surface; the plot is seeming decent enough although how quickly Jin abandons his Code of Honour was a little questionable. Combat seems very in-depth given the Stances and wider move-sets. Collectibles tying in to lore and culture work very organically. No complaints really so far, slow but very engaging.
[~18hrs in]
The environments continues to mesmerize me. I spend so much time in Photo Mode, just playing with lighting and angles. The breadth of content is insane in respect of Tales, Locations (Fox Dens, Hot Springs etc.) and Activities (Bamboo, Haiku, Shinto Shrines etc.), I am constantly drawn forward to new locations and experiences, further assisted by the fantastic design choice of using wind direction as your compass! The combat is satisfying (especially cleaving off limbs à la The Witcher 3), though at times frustrating if you are getting swarmed which occurs a lot of the times due to the inability to be stealthy since you are spotted so damn easily! I have just begun Act II and feel like I have barely scratched the surface. The scope of this game is huge and I am 100% here for it. One other note; I am not a fan of how the 'fog of war' removes so minimally even with Travellers Lv.3... I admittedly looked online and saw that clearing all the occupied Mongol camps will fully lift it, but I kinda wish it was done in territories with a smaller area clearing per camp rather than all at once. That's only a minor gripe though.
[~36hrs in]
If you are appreciating every aspect in it's entirety, this game is gargantuan. 36hrs in and I am still in Act 2 (of 3) and still have the Iki DLC to play. I still feel like there is overwhelming amounts of content for me to explore. The Tales (side quests) do not feel like typical fetch quests or trivial time wasting to beef up the playtime, each feels beautifully handcrafted, layered with depth and insight, and unique in content. In fact, thinking about it, there does not feel like much repetition in this title so far beside the combat (though even that is super varied using all the Stances and techniques). The Collectibles are not bog standard either; they are lore items, organically located, each steeped in lore which adds value to the experience. The Activities are little fun mini-games which you welcome rather than avoid. And the Shrines are some of the best level design I've ever seen; gorgeous little mini areas of parkour and exploration, isolated and preserved in their seclusion; utterly fascinating how they are structured in respect of traversal. The game continues to hypnotise me with it's refined beauty, and even now I still find myself stopping to just breathe in the scenery and bask in it's elegant splendour. This game is a true masterpiece.
[~62hrs in]
Just finished the main campaign and unlocked the Platinum Trophy. This game is incredible. Now eagerly jumping into the Iki Island content.
[~73hrs in]
This Iki Island expansion is solid content. The new activities and quests, the new environment (Senjo Gorge, Kidafure Battleground & Shattered Cliffs especially!) and the new combat mechanics are all great additions to the experience. The cherry on the cake so far however has been the Wind Shrine rewards and the Ghost of Iki cameo! Thoroughly enjoying this game still, it's not stale at all, even this far in.
[Finished 76hrs in]
Extremely reluctant to put this down, but it's time to move onto a new game after a month of playing this at every opportunity. Pretty much completed everything I possibly could besides a few Records, Vanity Items, and Banners. From a trophy perspective (as I do typically try to mop up as many as I can), I collected everything except those from NG+ and Legends (Online); frustratingly this meant missing the 'Common Courtesy Trophy' from the "Iki Island: Story" DLC set as it requires playing Legends rather extensively. Cannot recommend this title highly enough.
Neon White
2022
So my beloved friend theadhdagenda_ loves this game and really wanted me to play it. I was already planning on playing it when it eventually got a physical release and what do you know, it got one last year. While I did enjoy it overall, it does have issues that detracted from my experience .
The main issue I had with the game, and I know it's been said countless times before, but the story was just not good. I think it has potential with its concept of heaven and the whole heist thing. It had its moments here and there but in between those few instances of good it has so really awful dialogue. People weren't kidding when they said it was bad though I was expecting it to be more constant than it was. Still tho, it really is pretty bad. Like I said, the story had it's moments but even outside of the bad dialogue, I don't think the story was done well. Not just because it felt undercooked but the theme of forgiveness and it being applied to Neon Green, did not feel right at all. I don't think they were trying to be malicious and were more trying to say you shouldn't let your abuser live rent free in your head and to just cut them off completely, but to have it be forgiveness instead...does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Especially since the book of death ending, which is supposed to be the bad ending, is more satisfying than the good one lol. That's just my take though, even besides the poor story the dialogue is bad enough where you'd want to just skip it all anyways. But alas, the story is a big part of the game time so I must judge it accordingly.
I know I started this review off negatively but that's the biggest negative really because the actual game part is really fun! It's a card based shooter where your main goal is to go as fast as possible. This works very well since, for the most part, levels are really bite-sized. With it being a speed game, it also incentivizes speed-running. There's medals at you get at the end of each level, with Ace being the main one you wanna go for in the end. There's also the dev times that are pretty hard to beat but I did end up doing it once in my whole playthrough. Otherwise, I just aced every other level. Besides the speed aspect, the cards aren't just for shooting as they have a secondary use when you discard them. This is another big reason the game is so fun as you have to figure out what to discard or not in each level. First you figure out what to do in the stage and then you speed through it, rince and repeat. Sadly because there's so many levels, and I went for not only the aces but also the presents, I did get somewhat burnt out by the end. Not enough to dislike the game or anything but I definitely wasn't clamoring to do those rushes when I beat the game (which are just all the levels one after the other with one life).
Speaking of the presents, outside of the gameplay and story there's also this social-link like mechanic where you give a character a gift and you get dialogue and other stuff from them. I didn't really care about the dialogue really, besides Mikey he was cool, but they are somewhat worth it for the little side quest levels you get every so often. These don't have time medals and are slower paced than the usual levels. They could be hit or miss but were mostly fun.
The music is by Machine Girl and while I wouldn't personally listen to it outside the game, it was really solid and fit the levels. The visuals of the levels are also really nice. Mostly in the earlier stages, they have this dream-like liminal space kinda feel which I really like. Some of the later levels not as much sadly but the music still fit those ones. I'm not in love with some of the character designs for the Neons but the presentation as a whole was solid too.
All in all, while I definitely didn't love it as much as some people do due to the story ofc and getting burnt out near the end, it was a fun time overall! Definitely better than the other Ben Desposito game I played, Donut County. I recommend you pick this game up when it's cheap because it is still a lot of fun, just maybe skip the cutscenes even if they are a large part of it's runtime. Idk tho, maybe you'll get more out of them than I did lol.
The main issue I had with the game, and I know it's been said countless times before, but the story was just not good. I think it has potential with its concept of heaven and the whole heist thing. It had its moments here and there but in between those few instances of good it has so really awful dialogue. People weren't kidding when they said it was bad though I was expecting it to be more constant than it was. Still tho, it really is pretty bad. Like I said, the story had it's moments but even outside of the bad dialogue, I don't think the story was done well. Not just because it felt undercooked but the theme of forgiveness and it being applied to Neon Green, did not feel right at all. I don't think they were trying to be malicious and were more trying to say you shouldn't let your abuser live rent free in your head and to just cut them off completely, but to have it be forgiveness instead...does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Especially since the book of death ending, which is supposed to be the bad ending, is more satisfying than the good one lol. That's just my take though, even besides the poor story the dialogue is bad enough where you'd want to just skip it all anyways. But alas, the story is a big part of the game time so I must judge it accordingly.
I know I started this review off negatively but that's the biggest negative really because the actual game part is really fun! It's a card based shooter where your main goal is to go as fast as possible. This works very well since, for the most part, levels are really bite-sized. With it being a speed game, it also incentivizes speed-running. There's medals at you get at the end of each level, with Ace being the main one you wanna go for in the end. There's also the dev times that are pretty hard to beat but I did end up doing it once in my whole playthrough. Otherwise, I just aced every other level. Besides the speed aspect, the cards aren't just for shooting as they have a secondary use when you discard them. This is another big reason the game is so fun as you have to figure out what to discard or not in each level. First you figure out what to do in the stage and then you speed through it, rince and repeat. Sadly because there's so many levels, and I went for not only the aces but also the presents, I did get somewhat burnt out by the end. Not enough to dislike the game or anything but I definitely wasn't clamoring to do those rushes when I beat the game (which are just all the levels one after the other with one life).
Speaking of the presents, outside of the gameplay and story there's also this social-link like mechanic where you give a character a gift and you get dialogue and other stuff from them. I didn't really care about the dialogue really, besides Mikey he was cool, but they are somewhat worth it for the little side quest levels you get every so often. These don't have time medals and are slower paced than the usual levels. They could be hit or miss but were mostly fun.
The music is by Machine Girl and while I wouldn't personally listen to it outside the game, it was really solid and fit the levels. The visuals of the levels are also really nice. Mostly in the earlier stages, they have this dream-like liminal space kinda feel which I really like. Some of the later levels not as much sadly but the music still fit those ones. I'm not in love with some of the character designs for the Neons but the presentation as a whole was solid too.
All in all, while I definitely didn't love it as much as some people do due to the story ofc and getting burnt out near the end, it was a fun time overall! Definitely better than the other Ben Desposito game I played, Donut County. I recommend you pick this game up when it's cheap because it is still a lot of fun, just maybe skip the cutscenes even if they are a large part of it's runtime. Idk tho, maybe you'll get more out of them than I did lol.
Super Mario Galaxy 2
2010
Before I played Galaxy 2, I only ever really played crappy licensed games on my PS2 for the most part. I was a young kid at the time so I couldn't really gauge if a game was actually good or not, I just got a game based on a show/movie I liked and that was that. That all changed one day when I was scrolling on YouTube and stumbled upon Super Mario Galaxy 2. I can't even remember what I saw since it's been so long, but I remember instantly thinking "I NEED to play this". This was right before we were going on a trip to Ocean City Maryland and I knew my dad's friend who was going on the trip with us, was bringing his Wii. I go to my local movie rental store which also had video games and rented it. The trip lasted a week and while I really should've been having a ton of fun on the beach, I instead couldn't get enough of Galaxy 2. I was addicted. I think I got up to like world 4 before I had to return the game and I had to part ways with the Wii. I also remember getting a gaming magazine that focused on Galaxy 2. I also distinctly remember a game called "Ivy the Kiwi" being a big focus in it too. God, I wish I still had that thing. I lost it ages ago and can't remember the name of the magazine, and I've tried to look it up online many times to no avail. Anyways, after the whole trip, me and my brother got a Wii and I got Galaxy 1 as you know. A bit after that I remember renting the game again and then eventually getting it for Christmas that year (I think).
I eventually did beat it, but not 100%. I never completed the game until the summer of 2015, I don't know why it took me five years but when I finally did it, I was absolutely ecstatic. This game means a whole lot to me as it not only got me into non-licensed games but it really kicked off my love for gaming as a whole.
So let's start with the biggest elephant in the room, this game's story. Yes it's very lame that they retconned the first game and that the story in general is way more lame in general compared to 1. This is my biggest criticism besides the game not being quite as atmospheric/spacey as 1. It is the reason I think I do like 1 more now, but it really isn't a deal breaker to me. I think there's enough fun dialogue throughout the game for it to still have an above average story for a mainline Mario game. Still, not nearly as good as 1's which yeah is a bit of a bummer.
However, I think the game more than makes up for this by being so much fun and more fun than 1. While 1 had plenty of good galaxies, I did think having several samey ones (the beach and bee galaxies) when there's only 15 full length galaxies was a bit of a downside. Galaxy 2 however did something different. Instead of having a mini galaxy here and there, and having your main galaxies be 6 stars, here the full length ones have 3. Now while there is a good reason they did this, this also led to the game having more sized galaxies that are way more plentiful. This along with the fact the level design is way more straight forward and faster paced, makes the game more fun than 1 I think. It's up to preference of course and I still love both games approach to level design.
Another reason this game is a blast to play is the addition of Yoshi. You wouldn't think he'd add so much to the levels but he does. He's in a good amount of the galaxies and also in them are powerups for Yoshi to use. These were also a great addition and just add that extra bit of fun to the game. I like them all but my favorite was definitely the dash pepper just because it's used in the best of ways. Alongside Yoshi and his powerups are new powerups for Mario. The drill and boulder mushroom were both cool but the cloud flower? Absolutely my favorite powerup in any Mario game. It not only just gives Mario a very pleasant design to look at, it let's you create a maximum of three temporary cloud platforms to use which is just so much fun. They clearly knew it was gonna be the fan favorite since it's used in a ton of galaxies.
While I definitely like 1's soundtrack more now, 2's is also still amazing. It's funny, while the game isn't as atmospheric as 1, it may have the most atmospheric song between both games lol. That would of course be Cosmic Cove Galaxy which is hands down my favorite song in the game, which is fitting since it's also my favorite galaxy in the game. Some other songs I love are Sky Station GalaxyYoshi Star GalaxyStarshine Beach Galaxy and Wild Glide Galaxy. The game doesn't have as moody of an ost, it's more upbeat than 1 but it still has some moody tracks and is still amazing like 1. A good example of a moody track actually and a shoutout to this one is Slimy Spring Galaxy. They did not need to give a short galaxy like this such an otherworldly and atmospheric track but they did. I never really appreciated this galaxy when I first played the game but nowadays, I actually really love it. Again, while 2 doesn't have the same level of atmosphere as 1, it really does still have its moments.
I had a bit of an issue with the prankster comets in 1, not being the biggest fan of them since there's only 5 types (and one of the types barely gets used). This game improves on them I think. Instead of appearing randomly like in 1, you have to get a comet medal in each galaxy for them to appear. Once they do, they will never leave so you don't have to worry about getting them to appear again like in 1. There's also a better variety of challenges this time. You still have your speedrun comets, your daredevil comets, your purple coin comets. However, the cosmic Mario races have been replaced with cosmic clone comets. You now have a different type of speedrun where you have to collect clocks that give you 10 seconds each. You have comets where you have to kill a bunch of enemies in a period of time. These changes/additions, plus the comets not being color-coded anymore so you don't know what you're going to get until you go into the galaxy, just make them much more fun than in 1.
Another thing Galaxy 2 did better than 1 is the extra 120 stars. In 1, to get all 242 stars you have to play the exact same stars as Luigi and then your reward is two extra purple coin stars that I just never found good. In 2, you have 120 green stars to find. A lot of people don't like the addition of these and I never understood why. Sure you can say it's filler but they are brand new stars and they're usually placed in fun creative ways. They act as a sort of scavenger hunt for you to find and you can use the sound they make as a sign you're close to one. Sure, they're not quite as fun to get once you replay the game and know their locations. But a bunch of them still require more advanced techniques to get like triple jumps and stuff so I never found it tiresome to get them all even on this replay. And the reward you get is a fun challenging galaxy that blow's Galaxy 1's reward out of the water. Overall, I think it's a very good postgame and well worth doing it just for the Grandmaster Galaxy.
Just a couple of little changes I noticed between both games. The first is one I noticed all the way back in 2010 when I played both games. When you spin into a launch star in 1, there's like a little couple second delay until it activates. 2 fixes this issue and let's you activate it right away which is super nice. Something I noticed on this new playthrough is unlike 1, 2 doesn't let you spam the spin underwater. I don't know why I never notice this until now lol. I also think the automatic saving instead of giving you a prompt asking you to save is a nice addition in 2.
I love both Galaxy 1 and 2 so much, it really is hard to decide which I love more. While at this point, I'm sticking with 1, it really does flipflop back and forth a bunch for me. Chalk it up to me playing 2 before 1 maybe? Idk if I'd feel the same way if I played it way after 1 or something. Either way, I still feel the same way as I did with my 2022 replays. Play 1 for the much better story, better atmosphere and better OST. Play 2 for the better polished, all around more fun experience. The real answer though is to play both as they're both fantastic games.
Also my top 5 Galaxies now are Cosmic Cove Galaxy, Starshine Beach Galaxy, Slipsand Galaxy, Clockwork Ruins Galaxy, and Throwback Galaxy...among many others, there's just too many good ones in this game!
I eventually did beat it, but not 100%. I never completed the game until the summer of 2015, I don't know why it took me five years but when I finally did it, I was absolutely ecstatic. This game means a whole lot to me as it not only got me into non-licensed games but it really kicked off my love for gaming as a whole.
So let's start with the biggest elephant in the room, this game's story. Yes it's very lame that they retconned the first game and that the story in general is way more lame in general compared to 1. This is my biggest criticism besides the game not being quite as atmospheric/spacey as 1. It is the reason I think I do like 1 more now, but it really isn't a deal breaker to me. I think there's enough fun dialogue throughout the game for it to still have an above average story for a mainline Mario game. Still, not nearly as good as 1's which yeah is a bit of a bummer.
However, I think the game more than makes up for this by being so much fun and more fun than 1. While 1 had plenty of good galaxies, I did think having several samey ones (the beach and bee galaxies) when there's only 15 full length galaxies was a bit of a downside. Galaxy 2 however did something different. Instead of having a mini galaxy here and there, and having your main galaxies be 6 stars, here the full length ones have 3. Now while there is a good reason they did this, this also led to the game having more sized galaxies that are way more plentiful. This along with the fact the level design is way more straight forward and faster paced, makes the game more fun than 1 I think. It's up to preference of course and I still love both games approach to level design.
Another reason this game is a blast to play is the addition of Yoshi. You wouldn't think he'd add so much to the levels but he does. He's in a good amount of the galaxies and also in them are powerups for Yoshi to use. These were also a great addition and just add that extra bit of fun to the game. I like them all but my favorite was definitely the dash pepper just because it's used in the best of ways. Alongside Yoshi and his powerups are new powerups for Mario. The drill and boulder mushroom were both cool but the cloud flower? Absolutely my favorite powerup in any Mario game. It not only just gives Mario a very pleasant design to look at, it let's you create a maximum of three temporary cloud platforms to use which is just so much fun. They clearly knew it was gonna be the fan favorite since it's used in a ton of galaxies.
While I definitely like 1's soundtrack more now, 2's is also still amazing. It's funny, while the game isn't as atmospheric as 1, it may have the most atmospheric song between both games lol. That would of course be Cosmic Cove Galaxy which is hands down my favorite song in the game, which is fitting since it's also my favorite galaxy in the game. Some other songs I love are Sky Station GalaxyYoshi Star GalaxyStarshine Beach Galaxy and Wild Glide Galaxy. The game doesn't have as moody of an ost, it's more upbeat than 1 but it still has some moody tracks and is still amazing like 1. A good example of a moody track actually and a shoutout to this one is Slimy Spring Galaxy. They did not need to give a short galaxy like this such an otherworldly and atmospheric track but they did. I never really appreciated this galaxy when I first played the game but nowadays, I actually really love it. Again, while 2 doesn't have the same level of atmosphere as 1, it really does still have its moments.
I had a bit of an issue with the prankster comets in 1, not being the biggest fan of them since there's only 5 types (and one of the types barely gets used). This game improves on them I think. Instead of appearing randomly like in 1, you have to get a comet medal in each galaxy for them to appear. Once they do, they will never leave so you don't have to worry about getting them to appear again like in 1. There's also a better variety of challenges this time. You still have your speedrun comets, your daredevil comets, your purple coin comets. However, the cosmic Mario races have been replaced with cosmic clone comets. You now have a different type of speedrun where you have to collect clocks that give you 10 seconds each. You have comets where you have to kill a bunch of enemies in a period of time. These changes/additions, plus the comets not being color-coded anymore so you don't know what you're going to get until you go into the galaxy, just make them much more fun than in 1.
Another thing Galaxy 2 did better than 1 is the extra 120 stars. In 1, to get all 242 stars you have to play the exact same stars as Luigi and then your reward is two extra purple coin stars that I just never found good. In 2, you have 120 green stars to find. A lot of people don't like the addition of these and I never understood why. Sure you can say it's filler but they are brand new stars and they're usually placed in fun creative ways. They act as a sort of scavenger hunt for you to find and you can use the sound they make as a sign you're close to one. Sure, they're not quite as fun to get once you replay the game and know their locations. But a bunch of them still require more advanced techniques to get like triple jumps and stuff so I never found it tiresome to get them all even on this replay. And the reward you get is a fun challenging galaxy that blow's Galaxy 1's reward out of the water. Overall, I think it's a very good postgame and well worth doing it just for the Grandmaster Galaxy.
Just a couple of little changes I noticed between both games. The first is one I noticed all the way back in 2010 when I played both games. When you spin into a launch star in 1, there's like a little couple second delay until it activates. 2 fixes this issue and let's you activate it right away which is super nice. Something I noticed on this new playthrough is unlike 1, 2 doesn't let you spam the spin underwater. I don't know why I never notice this until now lol. I also think the automatic saving instead of giving you a prompt asking you to save is a nice addition in 2.
I love both Galaxy 1 and 2 so much, it really is hard to decide which I love more. While at this point, I'm sticking with 1, it really does flipflop back and forth a bunch for me. Chalk it up to me playing 2 before 1 maybe? Idk if I'd feel the same way if I played it way after 1 or something. Either way, I still feel the same way as I did with my 2022 replays. Play 1 for the much better story, better atmosphere and better OST. Play 2 for the better polished, all around more fun experience. The real answer though is to play both as they're both fantastic games.
Also my top 5 Galaxies now are Cosmic Cove Galaxy, Starshine Beach Galaxy, Slipsand Galaxy, Clockwork Ruins Galaxy, and Throwback Galaxy...among many others, there's just too many good ones in this game!
And to think, I thought I was done with Celeste this month. I heard this got released yesterday, and it's free, so I had to go and play it. For only being made in a week, this is very impressive. Celeste transitions surprisingly well into 3D. You lose your upward dash in this game but everything else is here. Yes even your grab which I stupidly didn't realize was a thing until 2/3rds into my playthrough. Once I did, it definitely clicked way more since I was infinitely wall-jumping to do stuff before I learned grabbing was part of her moveset. I really like the implementation of the camera and it having a big part with the various puzzles. The early 3D atmosphere was also really nice. It never got crazy difficult like Celeste but what was here was fun. It's only like an hour long so there really isn't much content, but this could be a good stepping stone into something greater. Either way, fun game..just wish it was longer.
Also, I got all 30 strawberries, that last cassette tape under Badeline was definitely the hardest part of the game but it was very cool.
Also, I got all 30 strawberries, that last cassette tape under Badeline was definitely the hardest part of the game but it was very cool.
Ōkami
2006
The best "Zelda" game ever made - a controversial statement to be sure, but one I believe in earnest to be true. And while that may sound like I'm throwing shade, there isn't much shame in that... as there aren't many games in general that come close to this masterpiece.
Okami is a game of visual splendor - filled with gorgeous colors and inspiring, beautiful music. It will transport you to one of the most fascinating and unique worlds in all of gaming. Overflowing with Japanese mythology and culture, once you reach the end of the game, and the credits are rolling, you'll feel as if you underwent a religious experience.
And you better strap yourself in too, because this is one epic adventure, boasting a runtime of close to 50 hours! For a non-RPG, I was shocked more than once when the game kept going, even when I thought it was starting to wrap up... I never wanted this incredible journey to end!
If someone argues that video games cannot be art (which has always been a ridiculous argument), point them to this game and its wonderful presentation and storyline.
There are so many incredible games on the PlayStation 2...but it is hard for me not to put Okami in the #1 spot on that list. If this was your favorite game of all time, you would have no argument from me. It is that special.
Okami is a game of visual splendor - filled with gorgeous colors and inspiring, beautiful music. It will transport you to one of the most fascinating and unique worlds in all of gaming. Overflowing with Japanese mythology and culture, once you reach the end of the game, and the credits are rolling, you'll feel as if you underwent a religious experience.
And you better strap yourself in too, because this is one epic adventure, boasting a runtime of close to 50 hours! For a non-RPG, I was shocked more than once when the game kept going, even when I thought it was starting to wrap up... I never wanted this incredible journey to end!
If someone argues that video games cannot be art (which has always been a ridiculous argument), point them to this game and its wonderful presentation and storyline.
There are so many incredible games on the PlayStation 2...but it is hard for me not to put Okami in the #1 spot on that list. If this was your favorite game of all time, you would have no argument from me. It is that special.