Yooka-Laylee | Feb 15, 2020 | 15:48hrs | rating: 2/5

This Banjo-Kazooie wannabe duo goes on a 3D adventure full of mini-games and empty spaces.

GAMEPLAY: The controls are okay (except in some mini-games), but the level design really is the villain here; the areas are just way too big and empty, and there are no satisfying “endings” to them; you just walk around randomly to find something you haven’t done yet, until you give up and leave. And what’s up with the flying power they hand out not significantly far into the game, that lets you fly over most challenges?!
AUDIOVISUALLY: Game looks good enough, but some “you’re not really meant to walk around here” areas are extremely plain. The music is also quite plain and uninteresting, like less memorable Banjo-Kazooie imitations.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The story is relatively fun, and the jokes are okay, but when I reached the final boss entrance almost 10 hours in, and after only 5 worlds total, I was told to collect “say a hundred pagies” to enter. I only had 53. This is not a good structure. And those quizzes that are clearly just padding…
MULTIPLAYER: There’s a bunch of mini-games, but it’s definitely not something you’d play more than once each.

The Impossible Lair was so great that I had to finally try this one too despite the reputation, and unfortunately it’s simply a mediocre game. Occasionally I still had fun, but it’s very unpolished, with random holes you die in, serious frame skipping issues, and the infamous camera problems (though not too bad if you select the all manual one). I hope they learn from their mistakes and try a new 3D adventure though, because there’s potential here.

Kirby Super Star | Jan 16, 2020 | 4:26hrs | rating: 2/5

It’s a Kirby platformer, but divided into many bite-sized games/stories. One has you racing against Dedede, one has you collecting treasure on a huge map, one has the enemies live-commenting as you raid through Metaknight’s ship, and so on.

GAMEPLAY: Each of the “mini-games” are controlled the same way, and I suppose it works, but personally I never cared for the Kirby gameplay. It’s always very easy, and I’m not motivated to try out the different abilities when I can just fly over the enemies anyway.
AUDIOVISUALLY: It’s clear that it came out late in the SNES’ life-span, as there are lots of detailed backgrounds and lots of effects. The music is quite catchy too.
STORY/PRESENTATION: I have to say I’m not a fan of the structure. Each “game” is too short to build up anything meaningful, so it feels more like a bunch of demos. The Metaknight story is pretty cool though.
MULTIPLAYER: A second player can at any point join in as an extra player, which is good for kids, but doesn’t add anything in the way of interactivity or depth. The versus mini-games are fun for 5 minutes.

I just can’t agree with the praise for this one. As with all Kirby games I guess, but this one is extra short and underwhelming.

Shovel Knight: King of Cards | Dec 30, 2019 | 6:19hrs | rating: 3/5

Play as the King Knight through a whole bunch of shorter side-scrolling levels and participate in the card game Joustus.

GAMEPLAY: The mechanics are fresh and clever, as you dash into enemies or walls to create a spin attack you can use on other enemies and objects. The card game is also initially fun, but it lost my interest pretty fast.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Honestly I hate these brownish pixel visuals. Most of it looks like mud. The music on the other hand is spectacular, some of the best in the medium!
STORY/PRESENTATION: There’s a lot of humoristic dialog, but it’s not something that interests me. You’ve got a world map with levels on them, and to be honest it just feels too formulaic, too “been there done that”.
MULTIPLAYER: Unfortunately you can’t play the adventure in co-op like you can in the original campaign, but there is a separate “Showdown” released, which is a Smash Bros light. We tried one round, but it just felt messy. Might as well play Smash.

The original Shovel Knight didn’t actually do much for me. It felt too safe, too retro, not surprising enough. I might prefer King of Cards in some ways, as the levels are shorter and it feels more focused, and especially the later levels are quite creative. The visuals and the sameness bring it down for me. Despite the nifty mechanics, it screams “old”.

Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon | Dec 16, 2019 | 6:29hrs | rating: 2/5

This time you collect dragon eggs that a crocodile witch has stolen.

GAMEPLAY: Same as before, but all too often you play horribly controlled mini-games or as Spyro’s shitty friends. I skip way more missions than before. Also more bugs and surprising inconsistencies, like “you can swim in that water, but in this water you insta-die”, and invisible walls galore.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Same, but there are more visual bugs than before, like clipping and one-frame cuts between scenes. I get the sense that they didn’t polish this final game as much as the rest of the trilogy remake.
STORY/PRESENTATION: No more random comedic cut-scenes, and instead they’re focusing on advancing a story, with some light character development. Definitely the best plot of the trilogy.

I don’t know what the consensus is about these games, but Spyro 1 was enjoyable enough for me to 100%, but this game has way too much crap and I just wanted to do the bare minimum; the stuff that was actually fun, because the core gameplay still is. I wouldn’t recommend this one unless you really thirst for more Spyro.

Spyro 2: Ripto’s Rage | Dec 13, 2019 | 7:08hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Collect new trinkets to save the world and get back home.

GAMEPLAY: Same as the first game, but this time you gradually get new abilities, such as swimming and climbing ladders. It makes for a bit more variation, but is mostly annoying that you have to backtrack once you’ve obtained them to 100% the levels. That’s a recurring theme in general; most side-missions are back-tracky and tedious this time around, and the mini-games are not fun.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Same as the previous game; it’s amazing how close to CGI they look compared to the originals, and I feel like we’re taking the progress for granted. Musically it sounds good, but it’s oh, so unmemorable.
STORY/PRESENTATION: A whole lot more cut-scenes before and after each level, which may be entertaining for kids but a complete time waster for me. Luckily you can skip them. There are only three hub worlds this time, and the sense of progress was better in the first game.

You’ve got more moves, more varied missions, and an actual reason to collect the gems this time. But it’s also more tedious and the additions aren’t fun. Also, it’s just too similar to the first game, which made me tired of it more quickly.