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01 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

WarioWare, Inc.

WarioWare, Inc. | 1st Oct, 2020 | 1:30hrs | rating: 3/5

Hurry through a big number of 5-second silly microgames and watch cutscenes now and then.

GAMEPLAY: Mostly just press A or a couple of directions to beat 200~ microgames. Many are very creative and it’s a blast to play!
AUDIOVISUALLY: Paint-like drawings mixed with low-quality photos. It’s charming and timeless. The audio is creative, but not as memorable as in the sequels.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Some of the little cutscenes are funny, but all in all I’d rather be without them. The structure is pretty great and it’s simple fun to pick up and attempt a high score at any time.
MULTIPLAYER: You unlock a few 2 player mini-games that only use one button each. They’re quite fun once or twice! But taking turns playing the main microgames is more fun.

Ahead of its time with microgames like these, and it really is a lot of fun even today! It’s over very quickly if you’re decent at it though, as you’ve experienced it all within 2 hours.

01 Oct 2020
Comments: 0

Wario Land

Wario Land | 1st Oct, 2020 | 2:45hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Wario gets his own platforming adventure to find money.

GAMEPLAY: It controls okay for a Game Boy game, the jet powerup is fun, but overall it’s all quite slow and very simple. The only interesting part is finding the unique treasures that are scattered here and there.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Quite clean and timeless visuals, but the music is dull except for a few upbeat tracks.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s problematic that you don’t know what the goal is, until you see how your “castle” turns out at the very end. It does motivate you to go back and find all the treasure, but not enough for me this playthrough.

A handheld milestone back in 1994, but today there are hundreds of more interesting platformers out there.

21 Sep 2020
Comments: 0

Return of the Obra Dinn

Return of the Obra Dinn | 21st Sep, 2020 | 7:40hrs | rating: 1.5/5

You’re tasked to investigate a ship and find out how everyone died.

GAMEPLAY: Not much “gameplay” to talk about, no interactivity whatsoever. It’s all about watching/listening to cut-scenes and deduce who the people are and how they died.
AUDIOVISUALLY: The music gets repetitive quickly, but I suppose the voice acting is good, and the visuals are original.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s well planned and a very original creation. The structure doesn’t work for me at all, but is probably the highlight for those it works for.

This game is REALLY not for me. I find most of it cumbersome and time-wasting; having to follow some useless smoke to a body you’ve already found, having to backtrack to bodies’ locations to rewatch their deaths, get the story very slowly in reversed order. I had no patience and looked up hints online just to get it over with.

31 Aug 2020
Comments: 0

Inmost

Inmost | 31st Aug, 2020 | 3:40hrs | rating: 2/5

Control a bunch of different characters in this Game Boy-styled mystery adventure.

GAMEPLAY: The warrior has some cool moves, and there are some metroidvania-like upgrades and decent map design, but everything is activated with the same button whenever the game decides. It’s just way too context sensitive and pre-arranged to be fun.
AUDIOVISUALLY: The audio is just okay, but the monochromatic pixel art is beautiful and amazingly nostalgic.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The story is the entire focus, and although a lot of love is put into it, the gameplay suffers hugely from it. You don’t even have any control during the last third!

A game I had to play just based on the visuals. Could have been a great metroidvania, but the slow pace and non-existent game-feel ruins everything.

28 Aug 2020
Comments: 0

A Short Hike

A Short Hike | 28th Aug, 2020 | 2:15hrs | rating: 3/5

You’re a bird visiting a cozy island, trying to reach the top to get a phone signal!

GAMEPLAY: Quite simple, but it feels good just to run, jump and glide. It’s really like Breath of the Wild mixed with Animal Crossing, and it’s pretty brilliant.
AUDIOVISUALLY: I hate low resolution in 3D games, but luckily you can change to high res, and then it still looks simple, but charming enough. The music is very nice and up-lifting.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Very charming dialog, one of the highlights of the game! Just wish the game could have been longer and had a lot more to do. Feels like just a first area really.

A great proof-of-concept, but it’s over just as it got started. At 7usd, one cannot expect more, but I still wish it had a longer development time to make it really stand out.

19 Aug 2020
Comments: 0

Owl Boy

Owl Boy | 19th Aug, 2020 | 6:00hrs | rating: 2/5

Fly around with your friends and save the world.

GAMEPLAY: A platformer with twin-stick shooter mechanics is a solid idea, but there’s just no “weight” to any of your moves, and it never gets remotely challenging. It makes the gameplay feel pointless, as if it’s just there for the story to qualify as a game.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Above average pixel art with below average character designs. The music is movie soundtracky and pretty nice, but not memorable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s very plot-driven, but the story just doesn’t do anything for me.

This is the kind of game that’s built with a lot of passion and ideas, but they’ve forgotten that games need to be fun to actually play, even when removing plot and nice visuals. It’s just short, linear and unsatisfying.

12 Aug 2020
Comments: 0

Paper Mario: The Origami King

Paper Mario: The Origami King | 12th Aug, 2020 | 28:00hrs | rating: 3/5

A mysterious Origami villain has stolen the castle and Mario and his new friends have to save the day!

GAMEPLAY: Very simple controls, as you run around and whack everything with your hammer to find secrets and solutions. The puzzle-like battles are fine, and really shine against the bosses, but it’s still very light overall.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Very charming visuals, and the music is great!
STORY/PRESENTATION: The silly situations that occur on your adventure are the whole point of the game, and it’s even emotional at times. Should have been even crazier though!

The secrets are clever and satisfying to find, but I’d really prefer more involved game mechanics than this. I still had a good time though.

24 Jul 2020
Comments: 0

A Hat in Time

A Hat in Time | 24th Jul, 2020 | 7:25hrs | rating: 3/5

A very obvious Mario Galaxy tribute with some Sunshine thrown in, but without the typical Nintendo-polish.

GAMEPLAY: Generally it feels really good to control, and I wanted more levels that took advantage of the generous air-movement. But there are only 4 levels, and none of them are all that great.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Technically so-so, with low resolution and bad textures. The music is mostly really nice, once again heavily Mario Galaxy-inspired. Could have done without the voice-acting though, as I just don’t think it fits.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Many missions and plot-points confusing and/or bad. The movie studio doesn’t make sense, and I didn’t want to murder spirits. I didn’t want to be on the bad guys’ side at the end. What message and morals are they trying to teach us?
MULTIPLAYER: In the Switch version you can add a second player for same-screen co-op. I really like the thought, but the mission design rarely works for it. Still better than just watching.

At times, it feels just right navigating through platforming challenges (mostly in the Alpine Skyline level), and I’m having a ton of fun. It’s unfortunate that it’s surrounded by so much fluff, and even then it’s a very short game.

18 Jul 2020
Comments: 0

Night in the Woods

Night in the Woods | 18th Jul, 2020 | 5:35hrs | rating: 1.5/5

You’ve returned to your hometown and get in touch with your old friends again.

GAMEPLAY: You run through the little town again and again to activate conversations and mindless minigames. When the daily hangout is over, you can go to bed, wake up and repeat again.
AUDIOVISUALLY: It’s cute enough. Music is alright but somewhat forgettable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: This game is all about the dialog, and it’s funny and relatable at times, but due to the lack of gameplay and any clear goal, I always got bored out of my mind after just 15-20 minutes of each play session.

For me, every single thing that happens feels like filler and padding, and I had to look up a guide to make sure I was actually heading anywhere. I did warm up to the characters at the end, but this game was not for me.

18 Jul 2020
Comments: 0

Super Nostalgia World

Super Nostalgia World | 18th July, 2020 | 4:30hrs | rating: 3.5/5

A Mario Maker 2 super world (TGC-6K3-NCG) that was considered amazing on resetera.com, so I tried it out.

GAMEPLAY: It’s obviously the standard Mario controls, but the level design is professional and enjoyable. Some obstacles and power-ups I had never even encountered before, like the P-balloon which is a lot of fun.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Some nice visual details, and the nostalgic-looking bonus games are a nice touch!
STORY/PRESENTATION: No special story, but the worlds are well-made and coherent, and a pretty good difficulty increase, though still on the easier side.
MULTIPLAYER: Most levels work really well in co-op, so I strongly recommend playing it with a friend. Some of the later stressful levels are impossible with 2 though, so one player had better suicide so the other one can get through.

I’m counting this as its own game now, because that’s what it felt like. A little short perhaps, but very fun for those craving more 2D Mario.