Boy.....this game sure is good. I love the God of War series, and when they announced it was coming back - I wasn't too thrilled. I thought, "but God of War III was a perfect ending to the series! How can Kratos just come back?" whelp, I'm thankful that he did, because this game is fantastic.

I was blown away with the story, the new characterization of Kratos - his son Atreus, and all the other fun characters you meet along the way. The gameplay is also new and refreshing. It's almost like an action RPG now. It still keeps the brutal violence the series is known for, but it scales it back a bit which is nice. A worthy sequel indeed...boy.

Kingdom Hearts III, the long-awaited game that finally released back in 2019, ruffled a lot of feathers when it came out. People were displeased with the floaty combat, over-reliance on the new attraction system, and the story. While these are all valid complaints, I do feel that this game gets a very bad reputation. It is nowhere near as bad as some people would lead you to believe.

First and foremost, if you are going into this game after playing Kingdom Hearts II, you will be completely lost when it comes to the story. Although the game is titled Kingdom Hearts III, there are still a whopping six games that released in between Kingdom Hearts II and III. That's a lot of missed context. Newcomers to the series, or even casual fans of it may be forgiven for thinking they could just jump right in to this game and get brought up to speed, but this is not the case. A lot of people who claim the story in this game is "bad" come from this camp. I think it's a little unfair to critique a game's story if you are unfamiliar with the previous entries. As far as the story goes, I liked it. I think it's a fitting conclusion to the Xehanort saga - nearly every main character still in play here gets either a satisfying conclusion or continuation. It's impressive how many story lines get a proper ending in this game.

Moving on to the gameplay - I agree with the complaint that the game feels a bit floaty. What most people mean by this is that while playing as Sora, you spend most of your time fighting enemies in the air, floating around from hoard of enemies to hoard of enemies. Combat lacks some of the weight it had in previous entries, which is a bit disappointing. To make matters worse, the new ride attraction commands trivialize most fights. They are neat the first few times you use them, but get old quick - there just isn't enough variety to make them feel special. Thankfully, there's now an option to turn them off outright, but you have to play the game through on the hardest difficulty, Critical Mode. It would have been nice to include this option outside of Critical Mode. At least you don't have to use them in combat, but it's still annoying.

One final note about combat I'd like to discuss is the abilities. There are some great abilities that are locked behind the ReMind DLC - which I think is a very short-sided thing to do. I'll touch on the ReMind DLC in a little bit, but locking any meaningful abilities behind a DLC pack is really anti-consumer.

Where Kingdom Hearts III improves upon it's predecessors is it's presentation. Graphically speaking, this is a beautiful game. Each world is stunning - for the first time in the series, it really feels like you are actually in a Disney film. The Toy Story and Pirates of the Caribbean worlds are especially impressive. Exploring these worlds is also majorly improved. You can spend hours running through these worlds collecting everything - it's a lot of fun.

As far as boss fights go, the game does a pretty good job. I will say, the game as a whole is much easier than previous titles. Outside of Critical Mode and the ReMind DLC, this game doesn't really present a big challenge. I never once got stuck on a boss or an area of the game due to difficulty - a rare occurrence in a franchise like Kingdom Hearts which is known for its' difficulty spikes.

Another element that is always discussed when talking about the Kingdom Hearts games is their post-game content. While the first two games have some of the post-game content in any game I've ever played, Kingdom Hearts III does falter a bit here as well. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty to do after the credits roll (getting the Ultima keyblade, fighting the secret boss, doing Gummy Ship missions), but nothing here feels new or exciting - it's starting to feel a little by-the-books, which is concerning.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about the ReMind DLC, which came out about a year after the game's release. The ReMind DLC offers an alternate take on the game's ending, with new cutscenes, bosses, and an expanded final world. You essentially play through the game's final area one last time, with some pretty big differences. I will say, I do think this portion of the DLC is a bit boring. Outside of a few events and cutscenes, the fights remain largely the same. Once you enter the final world and are able to explore it more thoroughly, the DLC starts to feel more worth-it in my opinion. The new final battle is exciting as well, and gives a certain neglected character some time to finally shine.

In addition to the story expansion, ReMind also added what many consider to be the highlight of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix - the Data Organization fights. Suped-up versions of Organization XIII that you can fight at your leisure. It's a welcome addition to the game, and is easily the highlight of the DLC. If you can defeat them all, you're treated to a new super secret final boss, as well as a teaser for the next game. This new secret boss is insanely hard, but also extremely fun. It feels good knowing that Square Enix can still churn out bosses like this, especially considering how easy the rest of the game has been.

So overall, is Kingdom Hearts III a good game? Yes. Is it the best game in the series? No. Should you play it? Yes, but only if you've played the other games. It's a great ending to a long saga, and feels very rewarding if you've stuck with these games. ReMind is a must-play, it adds a lot of value to the game, even if some of the early parts of it feel a little repetitive. Now if only we can get Kingdom Hearts IV in the next 10 years.

The sequel to the critically-acclaimed action RPG Kingdom Hearts is one of the greatest sequels ever. It improves upon it's predecessor in almost every way possible - from the vastly superior combat to the thrilling story, Kingdom Hearts II succeeds by every possible metric. It isn't without it's own problems, mainly a few issues here-and-there, some of the world's feeling a bit more empty compared to the first game, or the lack of context for some important story beats (the game expects that you've played through a niche Gameboy Advance game in order to understand parts of the story. This problem is slightly remedied in later HD collections of the games.) But these nitpicks aside, the game is phenomenal. The Final Mix version of it is even better, adding more post-game content and additional quality-of-life improvements. Seeing as these days, most people are going to experience the Final Mix versions of these games in the HD ReMix collections, this point may be moot, but I'd definitely recommend playing the Final Mix version of both this game and the original Kingdom Hearts.

One of the most important games from my childhood. Kingdom Hearts combined my love of video games with my love of Disney into a compelling action RPG with a surprisingly thought-provoking story, excellent characters, and some of the best post-game content in any game. I will say, the game has shown it's age over the years. The wonky platforming, the tedious Gummy Ship sections, and the boring early-game make it a hard sell for newcomers. But if you can look passed some of these shortcomings, you'll find an excellent action RPG that fully utilized the power of the PS2.

This unassuming Action RPG stole my heart back in 2010. It's rich characters, melancholic tone, and breathtaking music make for an experience that few games can achieve. It contains one of the greatest stories ever told in a video game (I'm a sucker for the whole Do Androids Dream? trope, even if it isn't literally androids in this case.) The concept of beating the same game over and over again to experience the full story is one that this game introduced me to, and now I love it. Any game that can pull off something like that should be commended. The gameplay is a little rough around the edges in that it's pretty basic. There are a lot of optional side-quests that are also very fetch-questy. But no minor complaint can dampen this tremendous game.

This is it - the greatest Dragon Ball game, and one of my favorite fighting games ever released. The fast-paced 3 v 3 gameplay mixed with excellent visuals and music make this game a joy to play and watch. The story mode is full of fun character interactions from throughout the series, fully voiced in both Japanese and English. The amount of single player and online modes in this game is enough to keep things interesting. My only real complaint of this game is that the online itself is pretty bad, especially by today's standards. Thankfully, we'll be getting rollback netcode implemented sooner rather than later. Once that is added to the game, it'll be perfect.

My first foray into the Guilty Gear universe. This is a stylish, exciting fighting game. The graphics make the game look like a full-fledged anime. The soundtrack is high-octane, full of energetic tracks that get your blood pumping during a fight. The story mode is pretty entertaining, even if it's a little difficult to really tell what is happening. The single player offerings are a little on the basic side, but still offer enough to keep people who prefer to stay offline satisfied. Fighting games live or day based on how good the online functions. Thankfully, Strive's use of rollback netcode is good enough to keep the game alive. I haven't had any major issues with it. Overall, the game is stellar. One of the best fighting games that I've played in a while.

Bloodborne is easily my favorite From Software RPG. From it's dark, gothic setting to it's fast-paced, frantic gameplay, it's everything I could have wanted from an action RPG and more. The trick weapons are amazing, each one feels unique and distinct. The areas you traverse are well designed and interconnected in meaningful ways. The boss fights are legendary, but never feel too difficult or unfair. The music is harrowing and adds tension to these battles. The story, while a little hard to interpret, is fitting for a game as esoteric and disturbing as this. A near-perfect game, my personal favorite game of the 2010s. It is in desperate need of a port, remake or sequel of some kind.

Kirby - now in full 3D! I was surprised at how well Kirby's transition to 3D went - the game plays great. The levels are fun, and the cozy post-apocalyptic vibe of the game is charming and unique. The story takes a few swerves here and there that make the stakes much higher than I was expecting. The post-game content is a lot of fun, and the boss fights in this game are some of the series' best. My only small complaint is that I do wish the co-op was better implemented. Sure, I love me some Bandana Dee, but I think I would have preferred a handful of different colored-kirby's running around. Having one character not be able to use any copy abilities is a missed opportunity in my opinion. Aside from this, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a great Kirby game, one worth checking out - even if you're not a huge fan of the series.