If you want to play this on PC, read the end of my review.

"People don't forget, nothing gets forgiven" is a fitting line to describe this game's narrative, one that is built around legacy. Legacy is what dictates the major players in Red Dead Redemption for the actions they take, whether it be in spite of, in retribution of, or to redeem themselves from. When finishing Red Dead Redemption, I came to understood the imperfect character of John Marston. He is similar in style to characters like Niko Bellic and Michael De Santa when looked at broadly. A flawed person trying to move on, but whereas Niko and Michael are drawn into crime by necessity, John is drawn into it by force for his wife and son. In such a way, it's pretty easy to empathize with him and go through the same feelings he does throughout the storyline.

The setting in particular only accentuates this. John as a character feels more grounded in the juxtaposition of a fairly realistic dying west filled with a cast of characters colorful in personality. The degree of difference between going from the beginning McFarlane Ranch, to the borderline industrialized Blackwater, or the untamed wilderness of Tall Trees is stark to the say the very least. The map has it's own sort of language. It provides further insight to the narrative without being a bit too on the noise. It is very easy to see what you'll encounter in Mexico when just visiting every city. In addition, the characters are made to a degree that they are almost caricatures and in some cases a biting satire, with some being a bit more obvious than the other. However, the dialogue executes it with a degree of earnestness reminiscent of the old 3D GTAs. It is unabashedly a spaghetti western, but the writing team has added a degree of percipience that you may not always find in those films.

Gameplay itself is good enough, as the main allure of this game will be the setting and narrative. The missions at first can be a bit slow, as with many Rockstar games, but once the second and third act come around there is a good variety to all the missions and the pacing ramps up quite a bit. In between, you'll have smaller things like challenges for exploring the world via picking plants, hunting animals, finding treasures along with some shooting challenges. The last few ones for hunting and shooting can get a bit tricky. There is also minigames like Poker, Blackjack, etc which can be a bit of a time sink if you get distracted. I found myself getting quite a bit into Liar's Dice and Poker. The AI in the former can get a predictable however.

For an older title the game still looks good apart from some frame drops and aliasing issues. Given the supposed troubled development it is unsurprising, but you might find yourself annoyed once or twice with it. Face models and the soundtrack are specific technical highlights. The soundtrack in particular fits this game like a glove, I really can't think of anything wrong with it. Face model capturing and expressions are little more natural than GTA IV, and the VA is superb with great performances present in even the most minute characters.

To say the very least, RDR is an incredibly engrossing game from start to finish. Every detail put into it is kept with a degree of genuineness unmatched within the generally limited western genre.

As of Nov. 22 2020, if you want to play this on PC you need a pretty decent computer and be willing to sacrifice random encounters, treasure hunting, and some traversal aspects when doing Xbox 360 emulation. I did this and played the PS3 version for stuff I missed out on. Unless you're fickle for these relatively smaller aspects i'd say it's worth emulating if you only have a gaming PC.

In the end of Virtua Tennis 2, you come face to face with the "King". His stats are all maxed out, he hits great shots almost every time, and he's a good challenge after the cakewalk that will be the preceding match. The good thing is that by this point your stats aren't anything to scoff at either. You grinded out Tank Attack-perfectting your deadly stroke, you're fast after smashing through cans, and your serve is deadly.

Then the match starts. First rally is imminent. You hit a MAX Power Serve, inches away from an ace. King gives a fast top spin serve back. You counter, this goes on for 20-30 strokes.

This is the peak of Virtua Tennis 2. The constant back and forth, with the different shots at your disposal make it more than just a "pong clone". It's an actual good representation of Tennis, it makes the game interesting. Sure, it may be a bit arcadey- but it's to be expected. It's a perfect arcade port. Doesn't make it any less fun. Right?

You're now at the perfect spot, you hit a deadly slice shot to the opposite end of the net after a fierce battle near the net. It's hanging a little high but that's okay, it's not gonna be out. This is it. It may have been the first rally, but it's a mental victory. That Love 15 is finally gonna be in your hands. You got this. Then... BANG

The King returned that slice shot with a spike top spin and there's virtually no way to react to it. No problem, it'll be 15 all on the seond rally. You serve again, another great rally, and at the end, King hits you with two back to back smash points that conveniently land just in front of the baseline out-line. Did I mention he was in netplay?

Right...

Nevertheless, this frustrating end does not stop Virtua Tennis 2 from overall being a fun game. Learning the ins and outs of different players and mastering their sets is a joy with the nice stage scenery and great animations. Players twist, turn, contort, dive, and if your lucky, leap into the air to hit volleys, strokes, spins, and lobs that all prove their worth on 4 court types. Everyone gets their chance to shine here. The carpet courts showcase the lob shots (slow but high) but that doesn't make a great slice shots (fast and low-lying) any less viable. With the right player anything is possible, and it's that what which makes Virtua Tennis 2 so versatile. This can all be experienced in the Tournament mode, but the World Tour mode has it's own quirks too.

When you're tired of the court- the minigames are there 2 minigames for 4 skills. Each one of them pose unique challenges, with Tank Attack having you train your stroke by hitting tanks, or Pin Crasher which turns tennis serves into a bowling game. The personality each minigame has is varied, and by the end you'll be having some favorites that will also at the same time train specific skills for your playstyle. I liked working on Pin Crasher, Tank Attack, and Danger Flag so I was a fast player that best worked at the baseline throwing out powerful strokes. But that doesn't mean your experience will be the same. If you like bullseye training, you may end up with an excellent volley. The intuitiveness of integrating minigames, and your proficiency actually translating to better play- is nothing short of clever. But once you get really good at the minigames- perfectting them is a slog, and progression stalls. The requirements just become too high and require near perfect execution, which just isn't fun to me.

It's a recurring theme of Virtua Tennis 2- the game is great, but the endgame is just bleh.

This is all accompanied by a nice electronic soundtrack which may irk some of the progressive rock fans of the original. It can be heard in the background of the also great SFX on the court, but it's still pleasing to listen to. All-in-all i'd wager that this entry clears the original in almost every aspect. There's greater depth to the gameplay, with proper adjustments like diving recovery being made, in addition to females being playable and better overall visuals. I see little reason to play the original unless you're nostalgic.

It's a shame then that Virtua Tennis 2 is underlooked when it comes to Tennis game discourse, with most people in the Top Spin 4 or bust camp and some preferring Tennis Elbow. It's a sneaky good addition the also underrated Dreamcast. VT2's place in just shy of VT3 i'd say, but it's DNA is all over it's successors.

Maybe one day i'll come back and show the "King" how good I really am. But for now, i've had my fill of Tennis gaming. Since I did it with Virtua Tennis 2 i'd say that's time well spent.

In the grand scheme of things, Super Mario World although a bit overrated, is a ton of fun if you go and seek it. If you only rush through only seeking to finish the game, you will be sorely disappointed, but if you try and explore everything the game has to offer, you will find a great experience.

The game looks good for a SNES launch title and has even aged well today. This is thanks to a colourful, vibrant, and pleasant artstyle. Environments are clear and simple to understand. You could show someone a random screenshot of a level and they could tell you the world (maybe even the level) due to how recognisable everything is. The enemies are easy to read as well with defined pathing and movement. The audio has suitable tunes, satisfying hits sounds, identifiable losses in power-up or if one is occurring at the moment, and there is various small subtleties here and there if you look for it (a noticeable one being riding Yoshi adds a bit more flair as you go through a level). Near the end-game, you'll also have the option to change how the game looks entirely. Although this is a nice touch, I prefer sticking to the original look. From an audio-visual perspective, the game holds up, and in comparison to their late NES contemporaries, is a marked improvement.

Gameplay wise is where I have some qualms. Most of your deaths are justified, however the hitboxes can be a bit unfair, such as being even slightly above a spiked shell will kill you. At first, it's not a big deal, but as you encounter these enemies along with some other ones which share the same quirks (ie fishes), it is annoying. Boss fights are really easy and repeated. You'll be having 3-4 same boss types, but Bowser is a bit different and tricky if you don't know what you're doing. Fortunately, it is not the bulk of the game so triteness is seldom felt. The far majority of levels are well made, mixing precise movements, somewhat open areas, and the rare auto-scroller (which I did not enjoy as it would slow down momentum for no reason). The good thing is that the controls are able to keep up, allowing you to have much needed freedom to movement, and backtracking if needed. The controls make platforming incredibly sublime. Getting used to the fundamentals and then messing around with them in levels led me to many failures but also the occassional spark of joy when something worked. The game encourages it as-well and getting to the point of mastery where running through levels becomes a ballet is incredibly rewarding. As this was my first Mario game, I did suck a bit initially, but there is a nice difficulty scale to it all. Completing the game (ie doing the least exits to beat Bowser) is also a good deal of joy, but I was severely underwhelmed doing that only. There was a lack of challenge to it and it was soured even more so because the occasional level would toy around with the mechanics in fun ways, almost being a tease. But, this toying is brought to the extreme once you reach the special levels. Abusing all the mechanics here are a blast and the highlight of my playthrough. This new experience makes going back to old levels retroactively more replayable as honing your skills gives some incentive to repeat past levels beating your time. It is a game that begs to be 100%ed, not only for these special levels but also the neat secret here and there. The secrets are fun and enjoyable to discover, yet sometimes the over-world or even the levels are in-able to indicate whether I really did everything I was supposed to in a level or not. In the end of getting 94 exits, my last half hour was dedicated to trying to find what the last exit was, only to realise it was in a ghost house and a star world level I didn't finish normally, yet the game gives no way of indicating such things. Essentially, the gameplay is near-perfect, but minor nitpicks which are repeated consistently become larger issues. Mountains out of mole-hills, if you will.

Super Mario World was a great time, but some minor nitpicks can get frustrating as you play through the game. To a degree, it is a bit over-hyped, and much of it's praise is rightfully based on the improvement it made to SMB3. For what it's worth Nintendo nailed the launch of the SNES with not only an entertaining platforming romp but one of the platform's best titles.

An overlooked solid SHMUP on the Genesis. The music is stellar in this game, perfectly complementing the bosses and the stages you go through. It's quite catchy as well. The artstyle isn't particularly unique in it's own right, but given the amount of Sci-Fi SHMUPs seemingly flooded the 4th gen, it is a very nice change. Enemies and their bullets are easy to recognise and avoid.

It is basically a better version of Phelios, that doesn't have it's speed locked behind power-ups and gimmick levels. This is is very much a standard affair, but the design of the first four stages are fun to traverse and avoid enemies in and an additional 4 you need to finish to beat the game. You're given a good amount of free space to experiment with your shots and the game promotes frantic movement with a barrage of enemies coming forwards and backwards. The story... is there. I didn't pay much attention to it but it wasn't very interesting. Granted, I don't play SHMUPs for their story but if you are interested I would reccomended reading the manuals or overviews as there is two twists that you'll miss if you just breeze thru the game.

Boss fights are probably the best parts of the game as there design directly compliment their patterns and are fun to fight as they don't pull any cheap tactics. However, the final boss can be a bit gruelling given how you have to beat each prior boss before beating him. It's not a unique thing to this genre, but i'd at-least prefer having the last boss on a separate stage.

Difficulty scaling however is all over the place, the inital 4 stages are moderately difficult (but I was able to 1CC on my first try), the next 4 stages are a different story, going from -easy-hard-easy-really hard. And within each of those stages that pacing is terrible as well. Sometimes there will be too much dead-space to even bother shooting enemies. You're better off just dodging them and charging your shot for whenever a difficult enemy appears.

I don't think it's good enough to 1CC, but if you want A) A better Phelios or B) A SHMUP from the early 90s that isn't Sci-Fi... Elemental Master is a solid pick and another fine addition to Technosofts library of SHMUPs.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers with Terminators in Blade Runner. The result may seem derivative but Snatcher is anything but. In fact, Snatcher is one of the best VN's available on the 4th Gen systems. It is confident in it's inspirations but capable enough to bring it's own spin to the genre, albeit in a different medium.

The game has a slow start, taking a while to set the characters and settings into place. Sometimes figuring what to do in investigations is frustrating. However, the story quickly picks up and stays as such until the end once things get more complex. It's also inter-spliced by shooting galleries. Nothing special, but it is a nice break. The issue with these galleries is they are ramped up oddly in the end and feel more filler than natural. Snatcher's writing is punchy but wordy yet it is the best part about the game. Although the game was lauded for being important in developing maturity in video gaming storytelling, age has not made the story any less enjoyable.

The artstyle is reminiscent of a cartoon, but the direction is given enough personality to be unique. The audio is the best part of the presentation, with a wide-ranging soundtrack that always fits the scenarios you come across. The introduction in particular is a stand-out. In terms of gameplay, there is nothing complex there. It plays out like any other visual novel but it is not the central focus of the game. However the game can be linear with how you have to look at and investigate scenes. I got lost once or twice because I didn't do something in a particular order, so it is not a bad idea to have a guide to look at. It seems that the developers were prepared for this as repeating actions once or twice gives unique dialogues that all have the same meaning.

The story isn't afraid of asking unique questions, as with many Kojima titles. It explores ideas of contention, AI and others. Snatcher is perhaps one of Kojima's best works in regards to writing as the game is tight-knit with everything coming into place conveniently and eloquently. The third act feels a bit rushed, however given the budget reasons behind it they did well with what they had. Characters are well-realised albeit a bit on the nose with where they are based on. The voice acting is also a nice addition, and doesn't feel that cheap with decent performances. The tone is also well-kept with the game capable of seamlessly moving within serious or zany within a scene or two without it being unnatural. In one scene, you'll be investigating a junkie's room but only a few minutes later you'll be having the unique food of Neo Kobe City. The game is personable even in it's smaller moments.

Unfortunately, the best version to play (the Sega CD) is expensive now, costing 400-500$ for a decent copy, so you are better off emulating. There may be some mild censors, but it's nothing major, mainly nudity. This is the only western version of the game with voice acting and a third act, which other versions lack. But it shouldn't stop you from playing one of Sega CD's best titles.

Crash Bandicoot is a pretty good platformer, especially for it's time. In comparison to SM64, which takes a different approach where you have a freedom of control and sometimes even room for error, Crash is a lot more linear and precise, and it what makes it really enjoyable.

Most of the levels require some patience, where you need to take your time and get through stages in an exact fashion. In the beginning, you will mess up way too often, missing maybe a inch on one jump or a second before a plant eats you. It's a bit frustrating yes, but as you go across the levels you'll get better at it, and your skills will naturally improve. There is some gimmick levels sprinkled into the game (boulders and riding a hog) but they don't overstay their welcome. Even with these repetitions, each stage has a slight twist to it, or is amped up in its difficulty. Every way you can platform is introduced in a supposedly easy way, but testing it is where the true fun lines. For instance there are various "bridge" levels where you need to jump across the walkways on a bridge. The first level is fine at first, with a few platforms falling if you land on them. Then ice platforms and hogs start appearing, the hog in particular forcing you to start moving if he's nearby. In the next two levels, you need to use the back of turtles to make it precisely across the level, and need to also recognise when some falling platforms aren't the best to land on, along with the previous conditions. Once you finish the game and start collecting the gems for the true ending (which you need 100% for), the first few levels you struggled with will be a breeze, and it makes the gameplay satisfying. Replaying the third level, an introduction to the 2D-inclined stages, which took me 15 minutes to beat before, now takes maybe 3 minutes since I rarely get hit and the Aku-Aku (tokens that give you one more hit resistance) are given generously. If you understand the mechanics, you can beat that level being practically invincible the whole time. Essentially, Crash Bandicoot rewards patience and learning the mechanics to really master the game, and it is not that difficult if you go along with that.

The story is pretty bare-bones, but the variations in the environment hold up well, even at it's internal resolution. First you start off in the jungle, then you venture into ancient ruins, temples, bridges in the sky, abandoned castles, and industrial areas. The audio is nice also, with good ambient and some catchy tunes every few levels or so. The jungle levels have alot of fauna making noise, and some chirping. The industrial areas have music that is a bit more stark or robotic, while the boss fights have tunes that compliment their respective boss. It's less of the focus compared to the visuals, but it does add to them in a sometimes subtle, other times exaggerated way. The boss fights themselves are easy if you get the patterns, but their art direction and Looney Tunes-inspired look add some enjoyment to them even if they are a bit predictable.

However, the game does suffer from some QoL issues. Every time you die, the boxes you smashed in that level are reset, meaning you have to go back and collect the previous ones before your checkpoint, which may be impossible depending on the obstacles. Saving can only be done after a bonus round, or getting a gem, and sometimes only beating a boss. But a password system is in place if you want to avoid this. Also, the camera is not that great in some levels (mainly the ones in temple ruins) where it's difficult to know if you can make a jump or not. Hitboxes may also be a bit of an issue depending on the timing you make with your jump or spin. Also, Crash has some subtle ways of moving that is a hard to understand at first, like the spin attack making him slightly move or cancel the height on his jump. In those cases, you depend on his shadow to know where you will really land. But, the game does have generous Coyote time, so even if you do mess up, if your wits are good enough you can avoid it. Also, it doesn't really make the controls bad, in fact it is the opposite. Crash moves exactly how you make him, and that is due to the fact that the game does not support analog (at leas the original release doesn't).

The best way to remedy the biggest culprit (box reseting) is to emulate it IMO. Keeping a save state at each checkpoint and start of bonus round is good enough to retain an authentic experience without having to deal with unnecessary hassles like box reseting. If your a purist however, it can definitely turn you off from really beating the game, and the same can be true if you're coming back from Crash 2 or Crash 3. If you're not, i'd still recommend playing the original game, as the physics were changed in N. Sane trilogy and the colors and artstyle were a bit toned down, and the audio sounds a bit tinny comapred to the original. It's not hard to find either, depending on if you want to play the PSN Version, PS1 Disc, or emulate it (which is easy to run even on extreme budget hardware)

In general, Crash Bandicoot is a stellar platformer, but some minor inconvenience, and the occasional boss fight may prove to be an annoyance they do not sell the game short of being a fun time. Naughty Dog easily achieved their point of making a characteristic, approachable platformer that is tricky to master.

I didn't expect much from this game and it matched up to that.

Presentation wise the game is great. The graphics are good for an early SNES title with good sprite work and discernible environmental obstacles and backgrounds. The enemies are also varied in each world, but sometimes their patterns are had to get at first. It doesn't help that they occassionally change to. The audio is probably the best part, with music that seems ripped off of an epic.

Gameplay is decent, but the controls made me despise it. You control like a tank in this game. To change where you look you need to move in that direction for 2-3 seconds. The jumping is okay, but you have no way of forcing yourself back on the ground (ie cancelling it, speeding it up) so some specific sections can get frustrating. The boss fights aren't even that great either, ranging from OK at best to frustrating at worst, tending towards the latter. But on the bright side, the final boss fight was good, being challenging yet fair. The rest feel cheap. Their patterns are easy to get but you rarely have any way of hitting them. They simply brute-force their way past you, chipping away your health. It doesn't help the jumping is so slow that you have to stay still while doing it to avoid getting hit. But in the normal moments the gameplay is good with some fun platforming and decent room for exploration. It's unfortunate that the magic spells are really only useful as a clutch rather than being something that can add a little depth to the game.

The sim mode was neat but I didn't get the appeal of it. It was very basic to me and just felt more like padding to the actual meat of the game which is the sidescrolling. It feels more like a gimmick of genre-bending than anything else.

There's some novelty to be found in that it blends two distinct genres, but apart from that I don't find ActRaiser enjoyable.

Burnout suffers from "first game syndrome". It's easy to overlook for those who wish to go through the highlights of the Burnout, and by extension, arcade racer peak. On the other hand, it's a bland slog that shows points of promise for the more historically inclined. A glorified tech demo, that it's been often described as, is just about sufficient to determine whether you wanna experience these frustrating beginnings.

The RenderWare engine, in it's sixth-gen infancy, still looks quite nice. The cars sheen, and the detailed and tight race corridors are all quite nice to look at... but the game suffers from some emptiness. Perhaps it's the boring music, or the maladjusted audio mixing, but it's hollow, and it makes the racing a bit boring at times.

The rubberband AI here is the worst, it discourages driving like you'd expect from a Burnout game. If you crash often but stay fast, you'll never be able to get to first place. The game contradicts itself by rewarding following racing lines and staying on the right side of the road (or cheesing your way to the end of the opposite end). There may be times where it all clicks together, and you find yourself chaining up Burnouts, but it's too rare to really get you to seek out this title. The hit detection is dumb. A slight nudge and you're done. The lack of damage you can take is such a major oversite. The racing itself, for whatever is worth, is okay at best.

Once you clear all the GPs, you can unlock some additional cars in "Face-Off" but I found myself too bored with the title by then to really go through the tracks again with my new fangled hardware.

Burnout, at this point, is better served as a historical capsule to be observed and maybe lightly played. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone saying the OG was better than the numerous sequels.

Here I am, playing Ratchet and Clank on the PS2, using this nifty thing called RetroAchievements and having a grand ol' time. Much to my dismay on a windy Saturday night, I began to deal with power cuts for the past two days. No way would I risk my PC just to squeeze in 30 minutes gaming sessions between the cuts. Thankfully I have my tablet, and an internet connection for it.

I also have that nifty thing.

Oh that nifty thing. How it tricked my curious little brain into stumbling into this unexpected path. If you're still wondering, yes, I did play this for achievements, on a relatively obscure website for tracking game progression. Did I mention I have my finals in December? Truly this is something you can insert into the legends of procrastination.

Whatever it is, it's done, i'm happy, and here we are. Reviewing a glorified "3 game pack" of board games for the GBA. To be fair, I always wanted to pay Game of Life, so that was worth the price of admission. From this review on, i'll be tackling each game piece by piece.

The Game of Life is well, just that. It's the board game. FWIW, it's a neat little board game, and the CPUs waver a bit on the easier side, but the paths and the RNG bring you along the ride. I had fun trying to become a millionaire as on 40K a year. Of the 3, this is easily the most approachable. The only issue is, the AI is dog slow- and this is something that will repeat. The game would have been nice with some built in fast forward function.

Payday, well, this crap is just as broken as Payday 2- that heist game that doubles down as a horde shooter at this point. Not only are the AI dog slow, but the RNG options suck. You like being charged 5000 on your 20,000 because you rolled dice? You like being in debt? You like having your properties worth 0 if you go all into your tycoon desires? Yeah whatever it is... just play Monopoly man. Oh, and as a added bonus- expect crashes as your high scores from Game of Life may carry over here. It's the cherry on top for subjecting yourself to this.

Yahtzee- I expected nothing from this, and I actually really enjoyed it. It's the one that requires the most strategy, and you feel like you actually have the most control over your ability to win. The AI are faster this time, but man are they tough. They'd give Swordfish AI on Chess a run for their money when you come to 4 player matches. But why bother when the 1 player high score option works the same magic? Anyways, of the 3, this might be the one i'll play again IRL when I get the chance.

On the presentation, well it's boring as hell. Sprites are nice but there's nothing you'll be remembering here, except for Payday- it sucks that much. Audio, whatever. I kept a podcast in the background and had my fun. That's it really. I really have nothing to analyze here. The terrible AI speed really brings down the rating for me, but i'd say this is a nice game if you wanna get an introduction to these board games. They are presented simple enough and without informing you in all the minutia. A neat thing I can commend the devs for is you can pass and play and not rely on Link Cables and the like.

If you wanna achievement hunt- it's up to you. The RetroAchievement set list veeers more into RNG achievements, so it's your call if you want to subject yourself to that. As i'm a student in medical school, i've grown acclitimized to mental drainage in the mundane, so it wasn't too bad for me. Your mileage may vary.

So there you have it- the legendary 3 game pack, whose damning revelations torment the GBA library to this very day. I hope it was worth it, Destination Software.

If you want to see where the F-Zero series started, this may be interesting, but if this is your first game I don't see it convincing you to play the other ones. Only two vehicles are useful (the Stingray and Goldenfox -latter for only the third league) and the tracks can get repetitive as you go through all of them. The AI is always rubberbanded so even a simple mistake will mean they pass you even if you have a big lead. They are also aggressive, to an uncessary extent. They are willing to crash you and themselves just so you fall behind. This is most noticeable in the final league, where track design is frustrating and the AI makes it even worse, the final track in that league is the only redeeming part of it. Even when you master the movement, there is not much else you can do with it. The audio is however nice. The soundtrack apart from a track or two is forgettable but the vehicles themselves and crashing and turning all sound nice. The graphics for a SNES Launch Title isn't too bad, and gives the nice illusion of "3D", but some wide turns suffer from a lack of draw distance. For all it's flaws though, when the game works on a good track, it is fun to play for a while but nothing more. That doesn't make it bad by any means, but don't expect much out of it.

You may not find much depth to the gameplay, but Decap Attack's artstyle is unique to why the game is an enjoyable time and underrated to a degree. Audio is one of the best parts of the game, with unique tunes in most levels that are accompanied by wacky character designs. It is also not much of a time investment being less than 3 hours at the most. All the worlds are unique in their own right, barring the repetitive enemies in some levels. Platforming is easy, if your only aim is to finish the level, but exploring every part of the level proves to be a challenge. It is also nice how there is a sense of verticality, allowing you to have multiple paths to the same finish point. Unfortunately, the boss fights in spite of being well made all have similar patterns with an occasional gimmick every 1-2 worlds despite their unique designs. But, these minor gripes shouldn't stop you from playing an underrated and fun Genesis game.

A side-scrolling action game with unique stage design, The Secret of Shinobi is a serviceable experience. You complete levels by saving civilians in each level, riddled with enemies until you go to the third stage where you have a boss fight across 5 worlds. All these levels are 2 minutes long, but it is more than enough time unless you really are trying to explore the levels, of which there is no point. The boss fights are fine, but nothing special, the issue I have with them is there hitboxes which are either difficult to hit or laughably easy to hit. There is no in between. Enemies become more active as the stages go but the stages allow for less movement then you'd like, which can lead to frustrating deaths. You also have a dog with you, who can freeze enemies. It is useless on tougher enemies so you will not find much use for it in the game.

Audio design is satisfactory. The soundtrack is nothing special, but it fits the environments. Hit sounds and other sound effects are also decent. The best part of the audio is the unique power-ups and bonus stages, which have an undoubtedly characteristic sound of it's time. The visuals are excellent, with good sprite work, identifiable enemies and patterns, and the Shadow Dancer himself doesn't look that bad either. Environments and their worlds are thankfully distinct, with nice stages, however the last world is disappointing and feels rushed with it's boring warehouse look. The final boss's room makes up for this.

The gameplay is typical with not much unique features, every level plays out the same way, as do the boss fights, but that doesn't mean it's bad by any means, because it is fun. Controls and movements are excellent with many ways in which you can move in your character in the precise way you would like. Hitboxes apart from the boss fights are fair, however near the end there is a lot more action going, but less room to do things within it. It can lead to cheap deaths and the final stage itself is a lives sink. It also would have been nice if boss fights had no timers since as previously said, the hitboxes can be a bit too small on the bosses. Once you finish the game, the only thing left is to try and increase your high-score.

Shadow Dancer is a short well-made action plat-former romp, just don't expect much else from it.

The Force Unleashed (talking about the PS2 version from here on out), is like video game junk food. It has a nice story you don't have to concentrate much on, it has easy to learn and easy to master combat, and you do cool stuff like fighting giant monsters and robots and dealing with a boss fight at the end of each level. Easy on the eyes, light on thumbs.

If you have experience of playing the seventh generation versions ("Next-Gen"), expect a slightly different experience. The story of Starkiller is slightly more fleshed out, with the additioanal ambiguity adding some meaning to the through-line of the story: Is there good in this clone of a murdered Jedi? Knowing Star Wars, the answer is in the question itself, and although the story still does very easily prefer you become a Jedi, I appreciated the slightly more fleshed out moments that are in modified backdrops. The difference between the versions does increase as you go along the game. I wouldn't say it's better or worse, it really comes done to personal preference.

The combat, when in sync is your typical beat 'em up/hack 'n slash. You deal with normal enemy cannon fodder, some brutes, and the cannon fodder become stratified as the game moves along. There's not much strategy involved, but the sense of progression is nice as your increase in abillities. If your a Star Wars fan, there is innate fun in swinging your lightsaber around and killing bad guys, and the game is aware of it. Your journey as a Sith apprentice progresses from weak, one two way lightning to eventual crowd control lightning storms. You'll move from small crowd control repulse to eventually becoming a mini-moving tornado. As you collect orbs from killing enemies, the upgrade tree makes being able to roleplay whether you wanna be "good" or "evil" with your force powers. The combat encounters eventually become repetitive, but the short length of the game makes up for it.

As your roam from Imperial destroyers, to the tropical Felucia, or to the deprecated Jedi Temples, you'll find a variety of collectibles that are at-times, frustratatingly hidden. The game doesn't have a replay feature (just a New Game Plus), or ability to track how many collectibles are in each level, so you're left to your own devices if you really wanna play this to 100%. The Jedi Holocrons showcase some neat concept art, and the lightsaber components give some welcome customisation.

For a late-PS2/Wii cross-port (that somehow is best on the PSP), the game looks great, albeit muddy at times. It's certainely ambitious when trying to go for open-vista battles, however I do feel the game looked best when going for smaller environments with attention to detail. The character models and cutscenes are all in-game, but they do look good for the hardware at hand. The highlight here, are the animations. The way Starkiller twists and turns as he strikes contact with anyone in his way, with whatever clothes he has swinging around in the background, is immensely satisfying, even though the actual game skill required to get there isn't much. By the time you're at the end, and just about to go for New Game Plus, the hybrid combat and force power combos are just plain fun to perform. Enemies will ragdoll around and although it may not be at Euphoria levels like it's next-gen counterparts, it's nothing to scoff at either. Also.. Star Wars music. Need I say more?

The Force Unleashed is through-and-through for Star Wars fans, but if you like a fun action game, I think you'll get your mileage out of this one. It's a decent game to sit down for a weekend on and just plow through.