Category Archives: 4 Star Games

Animal Well Review

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It’s time to talk about the new game that Dunkey recently released. It’s a Metroidvania which isn’t really my thing but I figured I’d check it out since it’s for free with the PS+. (Which has to suck for Dunkey since that probably takes a huge chunk out of his profits) Well..unfortunately the game doesn’t really work too well for me. It’s missing a lot of the quality of life features that I would really want to see in a game like this. There’s also no real story to speak of which hits hard.

The game starts off with some spooky sound effects and then you start off in a dark room. It’s hard to say exactly why but you have to find a bunch of eggs and then put out the 4 flames. If you can pull this off then perhaps you will escape the animal well. It will take all of your skills to pull this off though so is it really possible or are you just living in a delusion? There is only one way to find out.

The basic gameplay is that of a 2D platformer. You run and jump as you try to get around the obstacles and make it to the end of the room. Each room leads into another room and then you will typically find an egg or a new power up. The new items allow you to reach new rooms that you couldn’t reach before. So keep on doing this and eventually you will beat the game. Of course the one problem is that this means you will probably need to replay the same rooms over and over again. Unless you take very precise notes you will also not remember which room had an exit that you were previously unable to navigate either. So that’s another thing to keep in perspective.

Now, travelling back and forth isn’t a bad thing in itself. Shantae actually does this to extremely good effect where you actually have a lot of fun backtracking. You feel stronger every time and you can typically make it across in record time. The problem with Animal Well is that most of the power ups don’t make you faster or anything like that so it can be a real chore to keep going through the same rooms. Additionally one of the things you have to keep in mind is that a lot of the passageways are super hidden.

So you might check off a room that you feel holds no more secrets and then it turns out that it does. So you can never be sure as you are approaching the game. Sometimes you will be super far into one of the paths and then you die to a one hit KO like a block falling on you. You then warp back to the last phone save point which is super far away. Your quick travel (Which takes a lot of eggs to unlock) only works through the save points too. There just aren’t enough save points and too many rooms. If you die you should be taken back to the room where you died in it. Still use the phones as save points for when you exit the game but while playing you should be able to restart where you are.

That will help a great deal in making the game more fun. The graphics are also very basic although I think this is an intentional move. It’s trying to look really old so I can respect that even if I don’t think that the game looks all that solid. The lack of a soundtrack is a big issue though. It’s way too silent and yes that could be seen as spooky but more importantly that can be seen as rather boring. I need something to listen too and so not having that is really a big deal. I mean you can put on a Youtube video or something but just make some spooky music.

In a way the problem is that the game is trying to be old school in every respect which isn’t a good idea. I’ve said before that the very old era of gaming was more of a hit or miss for me. I generally like just about every modern game but if we’re talking original Atari or something then there are many more that I wouldn’t have liked. It’s important not to throw away the quality of life features that we have at this point just to make the game’s older or something like that. Trust me it’s not the way to do it.

Also there should be some way to fight back. Every time you are shredded by an enemy you feel like you could have won if you had some kind of weapon. Your items just don’t interact with the enemies. At least the Yoyo should be able to hit them or the frisbee should knock one around. The only offensive weapon is the Firecracker and even then it works on most enemies but not all of them. Give me something for self defense or maybe make it so you get collectibles quicker to minimize the backtracking just a little. There are a lot of ways you could have made this game a lot more fun than the way that it is currently.

Overall, Animal Well is a game that has a lot of depth to it. There are secrets around every corner and lots of reasons to keep on playing. The problem is that the game missed something that is absolutely fundamental. It forgot to be fun. That’s the thing here, I just don’t feel like solving every puzzle. There are some games where I can keep on dying over and over while having fun like Super Smash or games where I need to keep backtracking like Has Been Heroes but in both of those cases you don’t feel like it’s a time grind. You’re just doing what you have to do and there is a straight forward reason why you are losing and backtracking. Animal Well doesn’t have that. Even just adding a #complete ticker to the screens would be nice or maybe color a room differently when there are no secrets left. Those would be great quality of life updates that would make the game more fun. Without those, then there’s just not much in the game to keep you addicted and having fun.

Overall 4/10

Untitled Goose Game Review

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This game was really making the rounds for a while there. I remember seeing the game be talked about a whole ton as the next big thing. A GOTY candidate and everything like that. Well, I finally got to play it and I can safely say that…the game’s okay. I mean it’s just not all that entertaining in long batches but I can see the novelty value here. With more of a story I would have really been on board.

The game starts off real quick as the goose you play as decides to have a walk around town. You go here and there, all the while activating objects and seeing things happen to everyone. You are given a tasks book where you have to try and do everything on the checklist. At times this can be easy and at times it can be hard. The tasks themselves can be like puzzles as you have to find out how to achieve them. The controls are deceptively simple so you would expect the puzzles themselves to also be simple but that is not the case. Some of these puzzles will really take you for a spin. If you’re not careful then you will be completely lost and not doing anything for a while there.

The main problem as I see it is that there isn’t a whole lot of motivation to go forward and accomplish. Why bother completing the checklist? You can do it for completionism’s sake and to unlock more terrain to run across but the lack of a plot really huts here. I guarantee you that if you added a cinematic plot it would be a lot more engaging. I would be racing to accomplish everything as quickly as possible to see what is going on. That’s the kind of incentive that you have to give me.

There’s nothing wrong with a free roam adventure that doesn’t have much of a story but I would argue you need something more than the goose to pull that off. The novelty factor alone just isn’t worth it here. You have to pull out all of the stops and everything. As a bird you can grab things and walk around. That’s basically it. I would want to see some combat and other gameplay additions to really get ahead here.

Lets also improve the graphics while we’re at it. They’re not bad or anything but they are going for a very simple look that doesn’t quite work on the PS5. I need more details and everything. There isn’t really a soundtrack either which is too bad. Some good tunes could really help out with this to be sure. I definitely recommend putting on some background music while you play through the game to add in some fun vibe to the game. Otherwise you might find yourself falling asleep. Okay that sounds like a big shot to the game but my main problem is that it can get a little boring at times. I really need more of a focus to keep my attention going. Otherwise I jut feel like I should have been doing something else. For sure I wouldn’t spend money on the game.

This feels more like a sandbox title that I would play on the mobile. It should be free to play. Now I don’t doubt that a lot of effort went into the game in order to get all of the right sounds and everything but me personally, I do think they could have gone a little harder with the content. You know, really gave us something to think about. It does feel like a true simulator so it does succeed in that way.

Overall, Untitled Goose Game is an interesting gimmick but it just wasn’t for me. It could have used some combat or some action to take it to the next stage. You know, something to really help it stand out and get my attention. Because as it stands, the game just did not have what it takes in that field. I could play it for a long time if I was trolling everyone or had a captive audience but on its own it just wouldn’t be fun enough. It needs more variety.

Overall 4/10

Cursed to Golf Review

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Golf has never really been my thing. The game doesn’t move fast enough for me and the gameplay didn’t translate well onto the video game screen. The only exception to this has really been the Gamecube Mario Golf which was rather good. I figured this one could change things since it has the whole rogue genre going for it so I figured that would entail some fun gameplay. Unfortunately while there are a lot of gimmicks and items here, none of them really help to make Golf any more fun than it usually is. Instead I dare say that it may have been weaker than normal.

There is a general plot here which is that the main character was about to go and win the world championships when unfortunately he died and is now in the underworld. He will have to try and climb his way back to the surface but the only way to do that is to complete the 18 hole set in the underworld. If he can’t get the golf ball into the hole fast enough in any of the holes then he will be sent all the way back to the start. The stakes are high but hey the main character has his entire after life to figure this out. So he definitely has time on his side.

The general gameplay is your classic Golf of course. You have to use one of your 3 clubs in order to hit the ball into the hole before all of your turns are done. You may start with 10 balls for example, then that means you have 10 turns to sink it. Your clubs each have different specialties. One is good for ground balls, one to launch balls in the air, etc. Using them effectively will really determine just how far you get here. If you mess up then that will be it for you.

You will want to take a good look around the stage though or you may end up hitting your ball into the water or a ditch. If that happens then you will have really wasted a turn. You also have cards which work as special abilities. These cards can grant you extra turns, stop time, split your ball into multiple copies, etc. There are a whole lot of possibilities here so you will want to use them efficiently. As you progress through the stages you will bump into shops where you can buy more items or get other bonuses. Then there are the boss rooms which have a lot of holes and you have to figure out which one to use. This is the one I couldn’t figure out though. You have unlimited balls so running out isn’t a concern but I felt like I used every hole more than once and I still couldn’t win. There’s probably some kind of trick to it but I wasn’t a big fan.

You really need to like Golf to play through this game though because otherwise there isn’t much to keep you focused here. It’s really just golf with a bunch of items and special abilities but that makes things more chaotic without solving the main issue of making golf more fun. I would put a lot of the blame on how long each of the levels are though. It takes forever to actually get through each level and that’s a problem. I’d rather start off with half the balls but the levels are half length. That would be a much better balance. The length of the levels here make the whole game a lot more daunting than it really needs to be. It would take so many different attempts to win the whole thing and losing at the end would be absolutely demoralizing.

In general I’ve always been very pro check points though. Keep them coming fast and often. That is the best way to handle a game like this. It makes the whole experience better, maybe they could do that for a sequel. In the meantime to beat this one you will need a lot of training because the game is really difficult. Unless you get a lot of permanent upgrades which to be fair is standard for a rogue title, you are going to be in a lot of trouble here.

The graphics are really good though. It’s got that cute indie style which works well and all of the character models are sharp. The backgrounds all look sharp and I like all of the effects. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side though. It’s fairly calm and that works well with the golf gameplay but I’d definitely have preferred something with a lot more energy to it. That could have helped to energize the gameplay at least a little.

Overall, Cursed to Golf is a game with a really interesting premise but that’s enough to carry it to safety. The actual gameplay is just not very fun and the levels are way too long. Mix that in with the very heavy penalty of having to start from scratch when you lose and that’s it. The all time best rogue game has easily been TMNT Splintered Fate but I’ve heard good things about many other titles over the years. I just haven’t played many games in the genre but so far they’ve all been pretty solid except this one. This one I definitely do need to give a thumbs down to. Of course if you like Golf then you should definitely check it out.

Overall 4/10

R.C. Pro-Am Review

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It’s time for an old fashioned racing game that’s finally back on the NES titles within the Switch Online. It’s definitely extra nostalgic to be back here but I would not say that this is a game which has aged all that well. There just isn’t a lot to do here at all. The content runs out fast and I wasn’t a big fan of the controls.

Now of course you do have to be a little lenient with how old the game is. I probably would have had a much higher view of the game back in the day but now I’ve played things like M&M Kart Racing. I’m going to be expecting a higher bar of stuff in any game. So for this one, you have 32 tracks where you race in order to be the best. One unique thing here is that you keep going as long as you place in the top 3. The spots above that only matter so much as you get better trophies when you win but you can actually play the whole game as a third place finisher and there will be no issues.

Don’t let that fool you into thinking that the game is easy or anything like that though. Put it this way, the A.I. know that top 3 is what you need and so all of the cars are really racing their hearts out. It’s really hard to stay in front of the pack because the turns are so tricky. Turn too hard and you lose all momentum but if you don’t turn enough then you will crash. It’s incredibly difficult to get the turns just right. On the straight roads you can easily overtake the computers but once the turns get involved, that is really game over.

Now you do have items in this game which can help to even things out. I was passing them by for a while but didn’t actually start using them until later on. I kind of assumed they were boosters or something but there’s actually a good variety like rockets and bombs. The rockets in my opinion are easily the best weapons. You can store up over 30 of them and pepper your opponents. The roads aren’t very wide so it is easy to blast them. In the levels I played they would never use the items back at you but I’m guessing the deeper you go, the more they would start busting these things out. Just a guess of course but it makes sense.

The graphics aren’t bad but the soundtrack isn’t memorable. So really my only issue with the game is the lack of content as the 32 level main mode is the only thing but also the gameplay. I just didn’t think it was really smooth. It’s way too hard to make the turns and since you have to do this numerous times in each level, it felt like you could never go at full speed. That really ends up limiting things in the end.

Overall, This is a car game that won’t be able to hold its own with the big shots. The controls need to be ironed out first and then the rest will come into place. I would still recommend checking it out when you have time just since it’s free with the Switch Online. If nothing else, it will give you a greater appreciation for the modern racing titles. I’ve always considered this to be one of the easiest genres to do well but that really just applies to the modern era and I get how an older title would work a bit differently there.

Overall 4/10

ToeJam & Earl Review

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It’s time to play the original ToeJam & Earl title. This one’s fairly basic but in a way that’s the game’s problem. It’s sort of like playing a slice of life video game. I think with more likable main characters and some kind of ongoing story that could certainly work but as it is, there’s not much to keep you here for long. The RNG and everything makes this even trickier as well.

Basically the gameplay revolves around you walking through a level until you find a piece of your spaceship. You need to find 10 pieces in order to leave the planet but of course that won’t be easy. There are 25 levels in the game though so not all of them have a piece. Fortunately the game does let you know right away if a piece is on the level or not so you don’t have to worry about aimlessly walking around or anything like that. Now that would have been annoying so I have to give the game some real credit here. That’s a good quality of life feature.

You walk around as I mentioned and the only real controls are pressing A to interact with things and B to open up your gifts. The gifts are the items of this game and so they are all mystery boxes. At least the first time around, the longer you play, the more you will find gifts of the same type that you have previously opened and those will be marked going forward. The one rough part is that some gifts have negative effects like one that blows you up and one that takes you back to the original level. There’s no way to know which is which on your first playthrough which is rather sketchy.

Some of the items are really handy like one that lets you run around and one that lets you fly. The only problem is that since these are locked behind gifts, it means that you can’t normally run around. Instead you have to walk everywhere which isn’t the most efficient way of travel. Some pieces are also locked behind large jumps so if you already used up that gift, you’re gonna need to go through a few more levels to find one and then head all the way back. That’s definitely not great.

There is a very odd sort of atmosphere around the game which is probably the real selling point here but at the same time I don’t think it’s necessarily as cool as it could have been. I actually have one easy fix for this. Your character should be able to fight. If he was holding a blaster then the game becomes a lot more fun as you blast away at everyone who is in your way. Instead…you guessed it, your only forms of attack are locked behind items that are randomly spawned and temporary. So for most of the game you have to run away from enemies, most of whom are faster than you anyway. So in the end this wasn’t really my cup of tea.

The graphics are fairly good though. Here is where the wild vibes of the game actually come back to help it. The art style is very memorable and you can easily identify everything in your way. This helps with the presents once you are on your next playthrough or if you are using rewind a lot. The soundtrack is less inspiring though and you probably won’t be remembering any tunes in particular.

Then we come to the replay value which is fairly decent here. The difficulty of finding all of the pieces when the levels are constantly changing is already one reason why you wouldn’t beat it too fast. Then because of those changes you might have fun playing it over and over again. There is a lot to have fun with here to be sure as long as you enjoy the gameplay. I wasn’t a big fan of the initial game so the replay value doesn’t do much for me but at least it is there.

Overall, ToeJam & Earl is definitely a very unique game. You can’t say that it is copying any other titles or anything like that. At the same time, I don’t think the gimmick worked this time. So credit to the devs for trying but at the end of the day you won’t be able to win with all of your bets. Some of them will inevitably not pan out and that’s just the way that it goes.

Overall 4/10

Strider Review

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It’s time to take a look at Strider which is a fairly fast paced title with a lot going on but unfortunately doesn’t manage to turn the corner and be a great title. I mainly blame this on the gameplay which I found to be rather slippery at times so it was hard to land blows without falling. Ultimately you’re going to be replaying the levels a lot because some of these attacks are crazy.

As the Strider you have to stop a bunch of villains from succeeding in their objective. If anyone can do it…you can. So you have a cool sword and have to get to work on crushing the opponents. There are only 5 levels in the game but each level is fairly long so this actually ends up being a bit of a sizable Genesis title. I’m not saying it’s going to be 5 hours or so but it definitely does last a bit longer than you may have expected. If the game was easy then it probably would be like 30-60 minutes but don’t expect to be flying through this title.

The first difficult part is that your blade gets shorter the more you use it. So if you spam it too much then it becomes tiny and it’s hard to hit an enemy’s weak point. This really got me in the final level because the enemy is placed in a way where your short blade just can’t reach it. So I was fighting that guy for ages wondering why he wouldn’t go down and then eventually it made sense. Good game design or a mean trick? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. The main thing I will say is that I’d rather have a consistent weapon. Then there are a few gravity bosses where once you start flying in a circle you end up dying. I couldn’t figure out how to get out of that loop.

I assume there has to be a way to do it since no boss is invincible like that but it was definitely a crazy journey. I had to retry that boss so many times. Then the final boss has telekinetic abilities that serve as one hit KO moves once they are close enough and I wasn’t ready for that either. He was just throwing me around and I can’t imagine beating that guy in a normal way. The blasts are just so fast and there’s no way to outrun them.

I guess what I’m getting at here is that the game is unrelentingly difficult but not always in the best ways. You want a game that really challenges you and makes you have to wonder what you’re going to do but this one takes that a step further. It makes it so that it’s nearly impossible for you to beat it normally and I think it would have been nice to have given Strider more abilities. Maybe some kind of a blaster which would solve the issue of always rushing in only to find that you have a short blade.

The enemies all have blasters, rockets, and other projectiles so I don’t think this would be a crazy ask. It would just help to balance things if anything and you know how much I like to have some good balance. At least I can say that the graphics are really good. There are some excellent shots throughout the game and the final landscape is really good. The game was ahead of its time in that regard. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. It’s not quite Mega-Man but it’s more advanced than the average title.

There may not be much replay value but this is mainly a single player title where that’s not really the point anyway. The idea here is to beat the game and then you’re done. Since the game is fairly long for a Genesis title that’s not really a problem. You’ve got a good amount of value here so long as you enjoy the gameplay. Hey I may not have been the biggest fan of it but it’s still possible you may enjoy it. Just beware that your jump has so many animation frames in it that it makes you a complete sitting duck for a while so you probably shouldn’t jump too much.

Overall, Strider had some potential but ultimately I didn’t think it was a very good game. Its biggest offense is really that the game just wasn’t very fun. In a lot of ways that is the worst offense for any game though because that’s the whole reason that you’re playing right? I’d be interested in a more modern Strider game with a lot of quality of life improvements because there is potential here. In the meantime you can do a lot better with the other Genesis titles that are on the Switch Online. I recommend sticking to those titles and only check this one out if you are super curious.

Overall 4/10

My Little Pony: Mane Merge Review

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It’s time to look at an Apple Arcade title that is definitely a very long one. I poured in tons of hours to complete this game and unfortunately the length is actually a weak point here. I tend to enjoy matching gameplay but there should be something with it as opposed to matching just for the sake of it. The game has a story yes, but it is really dragged out with whole chapters going by without much plot progression. The grind was a little too much for a little amount of content which is what doomed this title.

Basically the game starts with a villain deciding to take down Equestria and she has some kind of magical abilities that allow her to summon vines which start to terrorize the populace. Nobody knows that she is doing this but in a way that might have been an issue for her because nobody takes the threat too seriously. Yeah the ponies are removing the vines but there isn’t a lot of urgency. Has she underestimated the resilience of the heroes?

Well she absolutely has, that’s a big guarantee here. The heroes keep on chopping down the vines and rescuing their friends. Rinse and repeat for all 11 chapters, the heroes just don’t stop. You get little cutscenes every now and again and then one main one at the beginning/ending of a chapter but there isn’t any real voice acting. Each character has one word that they will say as a sound effect and they will keep on saying it but that’s like the bare minimum of voice acting. An Apple Arcade title could absolutely afford to have real voice acting.

The graphics are really good though, I can give the game that much at least. The character models are on point and the backgrounds all look sharp. This does at least look like a very modern title. The soundtrack is very limited and while the main theme isn’t bad, there’s nothing very exciting here. You will very quickly forget all about the tunes. This game is aimed a bit younger so I’m not expecting heavy metal or anything but there are plenty of great Mario and Sonic tunes in each game and those are aimed at kids too.

As mentioned, the gameplay itself isn’t bad. Basically you match different items together in order to form new items. Form those new ones to get newer ones, etc. There are 6 kinds of objects and each one has up to 10 levels of items which means a lot of merging. You don’t have unlimited energy either. When you run out of spins you can either wait around 2 hours to replenish 100 merges or you can play a minigame to get up to 75 merges back. It’s nice that there is a way you can just wait it out, but it’s not very practical given the amount of merges that you need. You could go through well over 1000-2000 merges in a single chapter so that’s a lot of merges.

The game also forces you to switch sides every now and again. For example you might just figure you’ll do a ton of minigames to stockpile a few thousand spins and then go do the merging right? Well the cap is 200 so you have to go back and do some merging before you go to the minigames. So you’re constantly switching between the two areas. I don’t think there is really much of a point to making you limited like this. I’d have preferred to focus on one and then the other. There are a lot of minigames but the fastest one in my opinion is feeding the critters. I would just spam that one over and over again.

The game does have a ton of content though, I can tell you that much. The main story probably took me at least 50+ hours to complete and then there are two other story modes to contend with as well. Every 3 days there are mini events you can compete in for fun and of course there is a sticker book which holds your achievements. If you want to 100% that, you will need to play every minigame at least 50+ times and ace all of the story modes. It’s actually very achievable but of course very long.

As far as I know the main story mode is easily the longest out of all the stories but even then I bet this will take a good amount of time for you to beat the others. This is just an example of what I would call a fairly pointless grind. If you really enjoy the game then of course you will be glad for some extra content but if not then there is no incentive to go through the other stories. You will barely be able to muster up the courage to beat the first story mode.

It’s just a shame because a ton of effort was put into this one but the effort was focused on the wrong area. It should have been on making the story mode as compelling as possible and always having some kind of a reward for the merges. When you get enough hearts to unlock the next item, there should always be a cutscene. Maybe make less items but each one costs more merges to unlock and then you would have a better balance here. It’s just rough to play for an hour or more gathering hearts and no real progression to speak of.

Overall, Mane Merge is a game with a ton of content but it was just bloated without a lot of incentive to make it fun. It’s certainly not worth getting Apple Arcade for and I wouldn’t keep the service for this game either. At the end of the day you should give it a go if you’re a huge MLP fan but personally I would say to play one of the matching games like Fruits Mania or Lollipop instead of this title. Those didn’t even have a story and yet they were a lot more fun to go through. This one lacks that addicting edge to it so instead of being lost in the game, you’re wondering when it will end.

Overall 4/10

LIMBO Review

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All right it’s time to look at a game that was pretty well known for a while there. It’s the year 2024 now and the veil has been lifted on T rated games. They’re all on the table and this is an interesting one to be one of the first big picks particularly as I had a Nintendo gift card with some cash to spend. The game was actually on an 80% off sale which is pretty impressive. The puzzles can definitely be tricky and the game itself is certainly going for a horror vibe but ultimately I did think the story is what holds this one back. It can get a little too disturbing.

The game starts off with a kid waking up in the middle of a very shadowy area. He doesn’t really know what’s going on but proceeds to explore deeper in. He comes across a bunch of kids who want to murder him for some reason as well as a giant spider creature. There are tons of death traps all over the island as well so whatever is going on, it seems like he isn’t meant to leave here alive. Can he possibly escape or in a way is it already all over for him?

This title’s fairly short but how short it is will definitely depend on how good you are at the games and the puzzles. I imagine the length will vary a whole lot as a result of that. Some of the puzzles definitely stumped me for a long while. I would fall for a few of the traps where the puzzle had an “obvious” answer that just didn’t work perfectly so I kept trying to force it before I realized that was the whole point. It was a red herring and then I’d solve the real puzzle.

The actual platforming itself isn’t as hard as the game’s controls are pretty precise. The puzzles are where the real meat and potatoes are but the game will also test your reaction times with the various traps. I would usually die against them at least once when they first popped up but then you’re ready on the next go around. It’s just hard to have an optimal run the first time you play the game because you just aren’t prepared for these things yet.

The graphics are intentionally going for a very retro style here. There isn’t a lot of details and most of the stages are covered in shadows so they aren’t particularly impressive. It’s a stylistic choice that works well with the horror elements though. As a result there also isn’t much of a soundtrack. There isn’t much replay value to be found here either since the game basically just loops like an old arcade game. I suppose it’s possible that it’s not a true loop and there would be some kind of new content in the second run but I didn’t really check that out.

So mainly the only issue with the game I’d say goes back to the story. It is rather disturbing with how graphic each of your deaths are as you get hit by the spikes, chomped up, etc. Even more so by the fact that you are playing as a kid so there’s not a whole lot that he can do to defend himself. The game could have dialed that back a little bit if you ask me. There was a game where you were made of shadows that was similar but it didn’t hit as hard because he wasn’t physical. That would have been a good idea here or maybe aging him up more.

It just felt a little too out of pocket having the kid get destroyed/dismantled like this. It takes away a little from the experience where you are enjoying the platforming but then feel bad every time the character gets destroyed. The death animations can also be a little on the long side as he is dragged away or slowly broken which doesn’t help matters either. The game succeeds in being suspenseful and in getting a tense atmosphere but should have kept it more in that arena than going Ham on the violence as well.

Overall, LIMBO is a very unique game but it does try getting a little too edgy at times and the very short play time doesn’t help matters much either. It is priced very low right now while on sale but at its normal full price (Which is still far lower than most games) you’re not getting a ton of bang for your buck. Games that let you sort of imagine the context and fill in the blanks while playing are fun as I like being able to flex my creativity like that but this one did end up missing a bit more than it hit.

Overall 4/10

Excitebike 64 Review

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I’m gonna be brutally honest here for a minute. I was never a huge fan of the Excitebike series. I loved Excitetrucks when I played that for the Wii and to this day I’d say it’s up there with Asphault 3D as the most underrated racing game of all time. That said, the bikes could never keep up and this game really embodies all of the reasons for why that is. Your bike’s too weak so you’re always being thrown off of the track and the extra issue I have here is that even driving in a straight line is rough because all of the stages are circular. You don’t get to have fun just driving most of the time due to the level designs.

There is a season/tournament mode here but no real story so you can just have fun driving or go into those tournaments to try and test your luck. I’ll tell you those levels are not easy in the slightest. I managed to conquer the first tournament due to a lot of luck with the computers taking turns winning so my consistent 3-4th place was enough to keep up. With the second I wasn’t so fortunate and so I ended up getting wrecked. Most of the stages are almost the same though so I’d argue that you really aren’t missing much here. So just play for as long as you find it fun and then you’re set.

So like I said I do have an issue with the level designs here. In every level there are so many bumps in the road that you’re hopping up and down without being able to drive. Just let me drive for a while and see how I turn the corners. Instead these interruptions happen and there is nowhere to go. There’s probably a way to handle the bumps better as I see the computers jumping ahead but it’s still not really driving per say. I want to just be in there taking names. Also every time you even lightly bump an opponent you end up spilling into the ground.

It just feels so fragile and then you have to be careful about bumping into anyone in addition to trying to finish the race. That’s not the way to go here. The game basically eliminates all of the main reasons for finding the genre fun to begin with. I want the freedom of being able to just jump in there and do my thing. It’s why I’m playing a racing game in the first place. Then if you crash at all you better hope it’s a full crash and you aren’t stuck sideways. If it’s the latter then you are completely doomed and will end up placing in last. It’s a pretty tough feeling because you feel like you could and should have placed a lot better but one single mistake ended up being fatal.

It’s an old game so there are some quirks like that which you can let slide but they all add up. The graphics also aren’t all that impressive. It definitely does not hold its own against most of the other Nintendo 64 titles. After just playing quite a few of them, it’s clear that a game of this generation could and should look a whole lot better. The fact that it doesn’t is just pretty rough to be honest. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side as well. Technically there is a lot of replay value here if you do find the gameplay fun though. Because then you’ll need to try and conquer all of the stages which is no easy feat, particularly as they don’t even open up until you’ve beaten all of the levels on various difficulty levels.

Overall, Excitebike 64 is definitely not one of my favorite racing games. You’re so busy just trying to survive the levels that you aren’t even doing much racing. That is a massive problem right off the bat and holds it all back. I’d like to see them change things and put a lot more power into the races. Let me crash into everyone and set the stage. The sooner that happens, the sooner I can really start to dominate! In the meantime there just isn’t much reason to play this one when you could be having a good time in Mario Kart or F-Zero. Both of which are massively better than this one.

Overall 4/19

Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day Review

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This is probably one of the most random games that I’ve played. It really is like a track and field game where you just run and run and run some more. The problem? There is only one stage that keeps on repeating so it gets boring extremely quickly. Running isn’t very intuitive. Even once I figured it out, I couldn’t do it as smoothly as the computers and only won once after playing the level probably 20-30 times. It’s fairly quick, each match is about 5 minutes but there’s no variety to it. I need some variety, this barely feels like a game. It wasn’t translated but I don’t blame Nintendo this time.

I mean there is really nothing to this game. There’s no story mode nor are there any other story options. The character models are all pretty much the same but with different pants. What was Nintendo cooking with this game? I just don’t know. The graphics are okay I guess but the soundtrack is very forgettable. I already talked about how limited the game is in terms of content and the shame is that the core gameplay could be okay.

I can see you grabbing a few friends over and having fun sabotaging each other as you run to the goal. A lot of potential there but that potential is wasted with there only being one stage. I feel like minimal effort was put into this one and I hope the price wasn’t too bad. Imagine paying like $50 or more on the game? That would have been absolutely brutal and you’d regret it really quickly. In the future we’d see other games do this concept a whole lot better even though the track and field element was thrown away.

Games like the GBA X-Men where you fight waves of enemies while running around were fun with the variety and everything. You had action and a story but this one just has running. What are you going to be able to do with a bunch of running? You can find pipes and such lying on the ground but it’s never worth it to pick one up because then someone will pass you on the race. You can throw it afterwards, but again that is time that you just wasted when every second counts. You can lift opponents up, punch them, elbow them (Which was pretty funny when I got hit once) but in the end these things aren’t enough. Your goal is to run and often times that is the best option you have available. That’s just the way that it goes I suppose.

Now can I give the game any props to separate it from the pack? Something that it did right? Well the only thing I can think of is that having the levels be interactive with a lot of things to grab and use was probably pretty ahead of its time. I don’t think a ton of games were doing that at the time so that’s impressive. It’s why if you turned this into a fighting game then it would have been so much better. Or a co-op adventure where you team up with a friend to fight off a bunch of gangs. It would have been so awesome! But alas it was not to be.

Overall, This game I’d actually say was just not good. There are some things I can excuse for when a game is so long but having only 1 level isn’t one of them. The game wasn’t very polished and there are some places where if you fall then you can’t get up again and have to reset the game. Without the rewind feature that would absolutely be brutal so I don’t know what they were cooking there. I’d be curious to hear from anyone who really enjoyed this game back in the day because to me it just seems like a rare L. It has to be one of the weakest Nintendo games that I’ve played.

Overall 4/10