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10 Dec 2019
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Spyro the Dragon

Spyro (Reignited Trilogy) | Dec 10, 2019 | 6:41hrs | rating: 3/5

Jump, glide and breathe fire on your enemies to save the other dragons.

GAMEPLAY: I’m not a fan of the jumping and wonky interaction with edges, but I got used to it and found the controls decent in the end. The levels are initially wide and flat and the enemies pointlessly easy, but there is a nice increase in difficulty, though the core gameplay is always exploration to collect all the trinkets.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Except for some weird dithering in handheld mode, it looks good! The environments are a little too samey though, as I can’t recall any world themes except for the ice one. The music is surprisingly groovy, but not memorable at all.
STORY/PRESENTATION: I chose to play in Swedish just because the option was there. The translation is pretty crappy, but it’s cool that they bothered to dub all dialog in all these languages. The plot is extremely simple though, and the ending is abrupt and crappy. Worst final boss ever! It’s also annoying that it needs significant loading just to restart the levels.

The biggest design flaw is how so much of the environment seems reachable and IS reachable thanks to the gliding mechanic, but has you fall through the ground to your death. Playing them back to back, I initially much preferred New Super Lucky’s Tale thanks to the better controls and greater variation, but Spyro is a meatier game and gets more challenging towards the end. I enjoyed both equally in the end. I just frikkin’ love 3D platformers (especially with fully controllable cameras), even if they are flawed.

06 Dec 2019
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Katamari Damacy Reroll

Katamari Damacy Reroll | Dec 6, 2019 | 4:55hrs | rating: 4.5/5

Make your ball bigger and bigger by rolling over objects smaller than yourself!

GAMEPLAY: Although the controls are a little clumsy, the overall design is incredibly good. Certainly one of the most clever and satisfying game concepts ever!
AUDIOVISUALLY: Simple but effective visuals and memorable music. Most of the songs are still stuck in my head days after playing.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The presentation is very Japanese-quirky, in the best way possible. The “main plot” is a bit too detached from the actual gameplay, but it doesn’t detract from the experience.
MULTIPLAYER: New in this remaster is a VS mode, but it’s too simple to stay fun after a few rounds.

It’s my first time with this series, and I’m amazed. It must have been a real feature to make this work on a PS2, with so many interactive objects on screen, and the sense of scale it manages. Too bad it ends so quickly, because I wanted more missions, more levels, more rolling, more everything!

05 Dec 2019
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Toki Tori 2+

Toki Tori 2+ | Dec 5, 2019 | 5:05hrs | rating: 1.5/5

Solve puzzles to guide a chicken through side scrolling levels.

GAMEPLAY: You only have two actions; whistling and stomping. It’s quite clever how many different puzzles they’ve invented with such simple controls, but actually playing is painfully slow and often frustrating, as you use trial and error to guide or lure other creatures to just the right spots in order to advance.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Extremely plain, looks like a pop-up ad, and I don’t remember a single tune.
STORY/PRESENTATION: I don’t think there is a story, but there is an interconnected world map which is quite ambitious for this type of game.

I hated playing this from the very first moment, so I just went with the main path to get it over with. Turns out you then get a fast-travel ability, and have to backtrack to every corner of the map (“metroidvania style”) with even more tedious puzzles in order to finish the game. I suppose it would be a pleasant surprise if you liked the gameplay, but for me it settled it as my worst game experience of the year.

29 Nov 2019
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New Super Lucky’s Tale

New Super Lucky’s Tale | Nov 29, 2019 | 8:40hrs | rating: 3/5

You’re a generic cartoon fox running around in this very 90’s styled 3D platformer adventure.

GAMEPLAY: There’s nothing original or creative going on, but the controls are good enough to make it fun simply running around to do the tasks asked of you. Despite being an easy game, it’s very satisfying to 100% the levels. There’s no Nintendo level of polish though, as you occasionally bug out of position, encounter invisible walls and floors without collision detection, and face sterile loading screens a little too often.
AUDIOVISUALLY: The music is cozy and it’s a pretty game, with pleasant colors and smooth character models and environments. I enjoy being immersed in its world.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The game opens with some mediocre 2D art telling an uninteresting story, but mostly you get to explore its worlds with little interruption.

I greatly enjoyed the game at first, but the sudden ending really soured my overall impression. The post-game appeared deceivingly meaty but ended up being just an hour’s worth of linear extra challenges, with the same visuals and repetitive song played in all of them.
Despite this, I recommend it if you’re into classic 3D platformers and don’t mind when things are on the easy side.

21 Nov 2019
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Katana Zero

Katana Zero | Nov 21, 2019 | 4:10hrs | rating: 3/5

You’re an invincible assassin with a rewind feature, but something is wrong and you can no longer trust what’s real and what isn’t.

GAMEPLAY: I really like the mechanics, so it’s a shame you mostly end up dodge-rolling Smash Bros style through the game, instead of encouraging more jumping and platforming. It still feels good, but the level design could have been more interesting.
AUDIOVISUALLY: The sprite artwork is terrific, I used the capture button all the time. The music isn’t memorable, but suits the mood.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s one of those “things aren’t what they seem” plots, and although I can appreciate the effort, it interrupted me way more than I would have liked, and I would have preferred a more traditional structure, rather than this “what’s even going on, why didn’t I get to fight the boss until I beat him?” kind of experience.

The attitude and visuals are amazing, but the focus on plot rather than level design and gameplay development/variation makes it a missed opportunity for me.

20 Nov 2019
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Luigi’s Mansion 3

Luigi’s Mansion 3 | Nov 20, 2019 | 18:30hrs | rating: 3.5/5

Once again you explore dark rooms and suck up everything that looks suckable.

GAMEPLAY: The gameplay loop is slow and methodical as you aim your vacuum at everything in order to unlock the next room, and occasionally suck up ghosts. I have no problem with the controls, but it does get repetitive, and you rarely feel rewarded for your exploration; it’s just money, money and more money, which all feels useless.
AUDIOVISUALLY: Visually it’s definitely among the best on Switch, and the animations are amazing. The audio is the most pleasant during the rare peaceful moments when you let go of the vacuum button. I think this is a negative, that the game is mostly just noise.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Great short cut-scenes that set the mood, and there’s a lot of variation visually. It has maybe the best presentation of any Nintendo game, and would really work as a cartoon series.
MULTIPLAYER: Once you’ve unlocked Gooigi, you can play through the whole adventure in co-op, which is absolutely great, and makes the game so much more fun. The additional multiplayer games are forgettable when you’re two people, but might be fun when you’re a whopping 8 players.

The big problem is the lack of rewards and upgrades. The gameplay never changes up, and in an exploration heavy game like this, you need more than 6 special trinkets per “level” to make exploring feel worthwhile. There’s so much ambition and love poured into the game, so it’s unfortunate that the gameplay loop always gets tiresome within an hour of playing.

09 Nov 2019
Comments: 0

Golf Peaks

Golf Peaks | Nov 9, 2019 | 4:20hrs | rating: 3/5

Golf Peaks isn’t really a golf game at all; it’s a puzzle game where you have a specific number of shots of different types, and you have to figure out in what order to use them, and in what directions.

GAMEPLAY: It’s a very relaxing game, as you can always undo your shots without getting penalized, and experiment until you figure out the solution. New elements keep getting introduced, such as ice tiles, pillars and conveyor belts, but it never gets overly complex or challenging.
AUDIOVISUALLY: It has a hand-drawn quality to it, but definitely nothing extraordinary. The music is alright but a little too repetitive.
STORY/PRESENTATION: Absolutely no story, just 121 levels in a menu split into worlds.
MULTIPLAYER: None, but because of its simplicity, it’s quite fun to take turns or share ideas on how to solve a level.

It’s sadly over pretty quickly and has no replay value, but it’s still a pleasant little game that never gets frustrating.

01 Nov 2019
Comments: 0

Gorogoa

Gorogoa | Nov 1, 2019 | 1:40hrs | rating: 3.5/5

A clever visual puzzle game where you move around tiles to lead a boy to new places.

GAMEPLAY: It seemed so simple at first. You zoom in and out of each tile until you see a correlation with another, and move them side to side. But it gets much trickier while never feeling random or far-fetched, which makes it really satisfying when you see the solutions.
AUDIOVISUALLY: It’s beautiful. Incredibly clever and artistic puzzles and animations, and the ambient music adds to the experience.
STORY/PRESENTATION: There’s a subtle story going on through the visuals; a gloomy and philosophical one that’s certainly open for discussion and interpretation. One of the better examples of story in gaming I’d say!

It seems like I’m praising every aspect of this game, but the simple fact that I get restless from these kinds of puzzle games stops me from fully enjoying it. It’s still one of the best “interactive experiences” I’ve encountered though, and it’s short enough to get through in one sitting. Recommended!

31 Oct 2019
Comments: 0

Steamworld Heist

Steamworld Heist | Oct 31, 2019 | 9:32hrs | rating: 2/5

SteamWorld Dig 2 was a pretty nice metroidvania, but how does the team tackle a turn-based strategy game?

GAMEPLAY: You select and place the character like you usually would in an SRPG, but the twist is that you then aim your gun manually. It’s sort of fun, but I would have liked it more if there were more ricocheting and level design for it, mini golf-style. As it is, it never felt clever or out of the ordinary to hit the enemy.
AUDIOVISUALLY: It looks clean but quite monotonous, and I’m not a huge fan of the “flash”-like visuals. The music is alright, and I kind of like the vocal cowboy tracks.
STORY/PRESENTATION: The story/world ended sooner than I had expected, but it wasn’t a bad thing since I wanted it to be over anyway. The plot and dialog just didn’t do anything for me.
MULTIPLAYER: None. Could have been cool to compete against a friend though, see who’s the best sharp-shooter and tactician!

Unfortunately this game didn’t do much for me. The gameplay felt too light, and the levels being randomly generated certainly didn’t improve on things.

25 Oct 2019
Comments: 0

Super Metroid

Super Metroid | Oct 25, 2019 | 7:48hrs | rating: 2.5/5

Here’s the weird thing: I love metroidvanias, but could never get into Super Metroid. But this time I really set out to finish it!

GAMEPLAY: I dislike the controls. You feel clumsy and awkward, the jumps don’t land where you want them to and many elements (the quick sand!!) are super annoying. Puzzles often feel overly obtuse, as you don’t know if you need a new ability, or if you had one all along, causing a lot of backtracking. It’s both interesting and frustrating, but I’m leaning more toward the latter, as I would never have bothered to continue the game if I couldn’t look up solutions online.
AUDIOVISUALLY: The music is mixed oddly low, and there’s nothing I actually enjoy. The visuals are okay but also quite boring and claustrophobic.
STORY/PRESENTATION: It’s a weird game. During the first two thirds, I feel like I’m always on a long side-track and never return to the actual game. I just want it to be over. Later on it does get quite epic though.

There really are many cool ideas here and there, and it is satisfying to get new abilities and use them. But 90% of the time I’m just not enjoying this game. It’s so strange how I can enjoy all metroidvanias except the one most consider the best.