Category Archives: 7 Star Games

Sand Land Review

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Sand Land is one of the first manga titles that I read back in the day. It’s a fun enough adventure although it ends really quickly. I never watched the new movie/show that came out though so checking out the game was a good way to see what was going on with the new story content. It’s a pretty fun game and while I think it could have used a little more time in the oven to polish some areas, I had a good time.

The story follows the prince of demons Beelzebub as he tries to prove to the world that he is a scary fiend. An army general named Rao shows up asking for his help one day though. The world is ruled by a corrupt government who has taken control of all resources. Now water is a tough commodity to come by and people are dying of thirst. Rao needs Beelzebub’s help in getting access to the water. Beelzebub agrees to help since it sounds fun but he insists on being called a villain. Then the second half of the game involves a new land with another corrupt government who has to be stopped.

The second half is more exciting since it’s all brand new content but the story in general is pretty fun. I like the universe and the characters are likable. Beelzebub makes for a solid lead even if he can be a bit desperate in trying to get people to recognize him as a villain. The guy just acts way too heroic for anybody to buy that. This is another one of those stories where for the most part the humans tend to be the worst people anyway. Demons got nothing on them!

The graphics are pretty solid. There are quite a few fully animated scenes here along with good effects for the battle. It’s a very clear looking game where you don’t have to be squinting. You also have a good soundtrack here. I won’t say that it’s top tier or anything like that but it gets the job done. There is even a lyrical song near the end which helps for that cinematic experience. That’s when you know that you’re truly in the climax.

The game’s overall length is pretty good. It’s around 15 hours or so and there is plenty of replay value. Naturally you can go for the Platinum and in the meantime you’ll be doing a bunch of side quests and beating more opponents. It’s a pretty expansive world and so even though the platinum itself is fairly easy, you can expect to be here for a long while. There is definitely a good amount of value here.

As for the gameplay, I would say the game controls well when playing as Beelzebub. The only complaint you can really have is that it’s just way too easy. You absolutely decimate all of the opponents as your damage is maxed out to start the game. It’s a pretty fun approach compared to the vehicles where you have to be constantly upgrading them the whole time. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do like that you don’t have to worry about that when playing as Beelzebub. It’s just a really welcome change of pace.

Now with the vehicles, I enjoyed them but I also thought there was clear room for improvement. For starters when you’re setting up the loadout, the game doesn’t make it clear what you can equip. You have to actually go into the piece you want to equip and then it’ll slam you in the face with the level requirement. When the required level is higher than you current level, it cannot be equipped. So if you ask me it should be grayed out or something as an easy visual indicator. That would save a lot of time there.

In terms of actually leveling up the materials, at least it is pretty quick. You usually need to buy a few things and then head out to beat enemies for other resources. If you spend a few minutes each batch doing this then you can stay on top. You’ll want to be very well leveled or the final bosses will take a long while. The final boss is easy to dodge but my attacks were so weak that defeating him took quite a long while. In any game it’s better to die fast and try again than to have a super long game that you barely win. It just takes too much time.

By the end of the game I was mainly using the Hovercraft on everybody although the mechsuit definitely had some good moments as well. I don’t want to count that guy out. His cannon and punches did a good amount of damage but the lack of speed meant he was not very reliable in other battles. The tank was also pretty good one although the damage output stayed pretty low by the end. Ultimately because of the level up system I don’t think you will ever be locked for very long but some quality of life updates here would have gone a long way.

I liked the occasional stealth missions that were in the game. Those were fun tests to see how quickly you could get around the guards. It let you be very creative with several different ways to approach those levels. It’s definitely the right way to handle a level like that and the quick loading times also meant that dying was not too painful. I’d have definitely been down with more stealth levels here. Maybe some of the side missions go more into that.

The hub world isn’t always very easy to navigate so I wonder if in the post game you would get a plane. That would be awesome, even if perhaps a bit game breaking. It would certainly be worth it though so I don’t mind losing the balance a little bit. After beating the main game I had already purchased almost every power up on the leveling screen so I imagine you’ll have that done pretty early on when working on the postgame.

Overall, Sand Land is pretty fun. It’s clear that a lot of work went into it so even though I say it could use some more polish, I don’t want it to sound like I think this is an incomplete game. There’s a good amount of bang for your buck and the story even lasts a bit longer than I would have expected. It’s pretty impressive in general that this title got a video game like this so I definitely recommend it to all Sand Land fans or to anyone looking for a fun platformer. You just can’t go wrong here.

Overall 7/10

Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn Review

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Shaq Fu is one of those games that ordinarily might not have crossed into my radar but I happened to see it in store for a great price so I decided to take the plunge. How could I not right? The concept is just pretty interesting and the execution ended up being on point. I’m not going to say that it’s an all star or anything but what I can say is that the graphics and controls are on point. The story will also keep you engaged with how fun it is.

The game starts off with introducing us to Shaq who was found inside a purse and nearly drowned. Who would put a baby through such hardship? Well, he got to grow up learning martial arts and now that will come in handy because there are monsters around. It looks like a lot of celebrities can’t be trusted and things get extra personal when Shaq’s master is seemingly murdered in cold blood. He will not stand for this! No sirrrr!

The gameplay is classic 2D beat em up style. Basically you use your punch, kick, and slam moves to take down enemies. There are tons and tons of enemies so get ready for a lot of punching. Generally you can beat most enemies with the punch buttons but there is a little strategy here. Use your kicks for enemies that are holding a shield because they will block normal hits. When you have enough meter you can also do a ground slam to send the enemies away. It’s a strong attack and does the job but use it sparingly since it takes a while to get the energy back.

Meanwhile you’ve also got a few super forms that appear in different levels like cactus Shaq and robot Shaq. Both of these forms are basically unstoppable since you can spam their heavy attacks with no real drawbacks. So in this form don’t overthink things and just keep attacking everybody. Usually to compensate for how overpowered you are, the game will stack the other side with even more minions than needed. So get ready to deal with a whole lot of that. The super forms are fun but it probably would have been a good idea to have still given some kind of a challenge for them.

After all, the main levels are rather difficult to get through at times. I won’t say it’s a hard game as this is easier than most other similar beat em ups in the genre. You still do have to focus though, if you try to just close your eyes and beat this on instinct then you are going to get absolutely demolished. That’s because of how many enemies there are and how they’re all different. You can react quickly enough to shut them all down but if you get overconfident and let them walk all over you then you’re in real trouble.

The graphics are pretty solid here. It’s going for a very drawn out/cartoony look that works well with the themes of the game. Likewise the cutscenes work really well for that reason as well. Not only is the dialogue great but the fact that it’s all voice acted is incredible. As with all comedies, not every joke will land and the game did go for at least one full crude humor boss which was really unnecessary. Still, aside from that the game had been doing pretty good on the humor.

The soundtrack is solid but the main theme song can be a little much. It’s extremely loud and you hear it for the main menu and every loading screen. So you’ll be hearing it a whole lot, particularly since the loading screens themselves are really slow. I like the concept of the song but the lyrics could definitely be a whole lot better.

In terms of replay value, well you could go for the Platinum. I actually haven’t checked how hard that would be but I get the feeling it will be easy. So with the main game being under 4 hours, maybe this can add another 2-3 hours of replay value. You can usually get the game for a pretty low price so all in all I would say it’s a pretty fair deal. You’re partially playing this game for the pure novelty value after all. A good story goes a long way and since the gameplay is also sound then you have a good bargain. If the gameplay was bad then this would be a harder sell but I do think they actually put some effort into this one. It’s not just some random cash-in or anything like that.

Overall, Shaq Fu gets a lot of points for how up front it is. This game knows that the premise is rather silly and so instead of being subtle about this, it just doubles down on absolutely everything. Trust me, you haven’t seen many games that are as shameless as Shaq Fu is. It’s really the full package and while it isn’t a particularly long game, the most important part is that you will have fun playing it. That’s the key here and if they ever make a sequel, I’d be tempted to buy it day 1!

Overall 7/10

Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash Review

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Jujutsu Kaisen really got big so it makes sense that it would get a video game. Anime brawlers are fairly common after all. This one is a bit of a step down from some of the others though. If the gameplay was just a tad bit better then it could have reached the next stage but ultimately I didn’t think it would quite reach that point. I had a good time with it but you feel like the game definitely left a lot of meat on the bone.

The story covers the first season of the show along with the movie. It’s a reasonable amount of content particularly since the game goes very in detail with this. There are over 80 missions in the game, I think maybe 100 if you count all of the bonus ones. Not every mission involves a fight though so some are really just big cutscenes. The game has full voice acting which is nice but I didn’t love the presentation of the cutscenes. It’s sort of like panels out of a comic book that are stuck together but not very organically so there is often a little break before the next person starts talking. There are also portions where it will just get silent as someone types up a report.

I can see the attempt there as it’s spooky and all but I didn’t think it worked great. At the end of each main chapter was one CG cutscene though and those always looked good. Getting more of them would have been a good idea. In general the graphics are pretty good here. Not amazing or anything like that but the characters are on model and the quality is good so I can’t ask for much more out of them. The soundtrack also isn’t bad. I’d like a few more tunes but the ones that we do have are pretty solid. Some are downright catchy.

Where the game got messed with is the general gameplay. They decided to make it so that normal attacks don’t deal damage. You can only effect people with cursed energy which is typically only the last 2 hits of a combo or with special moves. You gain this energy gradually as you fight but I just never like the idea or not being able to generally damage someone outside of certain conditions. It lengthens the match for no reason and doesn’t feel organic. It’s sort of like Playstation All Stars. It’s fine to want to be a little different but this is one gimmick in particular that I think is really hard to pull off.

The stages are also impressively big but this also means that it can be tough to land blows at times. You’ll punch the enemy across town and then have to go find him. You have to jump rather high at times and sometimes that won’t be enough. There is even a super jump button for that reason and then you can attack once you’re on the same level as the enemy. It’s a bit excessive but this could have been fixed with better movement options. The game is also meant as a big online title but it’s hard to synergize with your partner since your hit will often mess up with the timing of their combo and vice versa.

It makes it so that you almost want your partner to stay out of the fight and just let you handle it so it all goes down quicker. Since you need the last hits of the combo, it basically means that your hits were meaningless when your ally hits them out of the combo. You can control your partner’s tactics at least like aggressive and co-operative but to be honest I didn’t notice much of a difference there during the game. I suppose I would need to play for a longer amount of time to really see the difference there.

The game also doesn’t feel super well balanced but I only know it on a surface level so that really might not be correct. For all I know, the game is better than most 3D titles. The trophies look rather difficult with a huge focus on online content so I don’t see myself getting the Platinum here but a few more to increase my percentage still sounds good. We’ll see if they end up adding Shibuya to the game as DLC or if they just keep that for a sequel some day. This game doesn’t seem to be super well liked so the odds of a sequel could be dicey.

Overall, Jujutsu Kaisen made some mistakes on the gameplay side but it still a pretty good game. It’s impressive how detailed the story mode is. They really wanted to cover everything to the point where we almost could call this a visual novel to an extent. There are a ton of cutscenes, then the gameplay, then cutscenes, etc. If we get a sequel I’d like it to be streamlined somewhat but it’s clear that the game was doing its best to try and make sure gave a good amount of content in the single player mode. I didn’t even touch a bunch of the side missions and mini stories for that replay value. If you’re a big fan of Jujutsu Kaisen then you should check this one out but otherwise you could do better in the fighting games arena.

Overall 7/10

Light Crusader Review

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I’m venturing further into the Genesis library and Light Crusader was the next one on the list. It’s a pretty fun game and one that feels retro while still getting some unique mechanics in. It’s a game that was well made for its time and I had a good time in the present. It is fairly short so you’ll need to keep that in mind but it does a better job of being a big dungeon/maze than most of the newer ones that show up.

The game starts with a lot of people being kidnapped by a cult and so the main character heads off to save them. Underneath the castle is a 7 floor dungeon where these people are being kept. His mission, should he choose to accept it is to rescue them all and destroy all of the villains and monsters down there. The hero is equipped with a sword and has basic mastery over all elements. With these abilities at the ready he can handle these guys.

The gameplay style is mainly that of an overhead exploration game. The idea is to get to each set of staircases to reach the next floor. On the way there you will need to defeat the boss of the floor and solve a lot of puzzles to get there. The puzzles range from using boulders to fall into the right holes or trying to jump and hit different switches in order. They range from being extremely easy to sometimes being completely unknown. Some of these puzzles just felt like good ole fashioned button mashing to me. One of them for example was to hit 4 numbers in a certain sequence and I didn’t come across any hints in the game. So I just got cracking on trying every combo out until it worked.

If there were too many puzzles like that then it would have definitely hurt the game but fortunately that wasn’t the main focus. They would appear from time to time in the background but most of the game was about running and defeating enemies which is more up my speed. I also enjoyed the platforming puzzles because those tend to be run fair and square You can absolutely solve those puzzles just by deductive reasoning and without using any gimmicks or relying on hints. Those are the best kinds of puzzles I’d say. Since those represented the majority of puzzles in this game, I was all set.

Additionally this game has one of the better maps that I’ve seen. It was very detailed and easy to comprehend at a glance. I didn’t have to be wondering if I was looking at the screen right or anything like that. No, this was a map that would let me get to the end. The game’s length is fairly short as it’s only a few hours long. That said, it’s better to be short than to have had some forced length at the end. With this amount it felt like the game was running at full speed the whole time and never had to pause or try to buy some time.

We even got to squeeze in a classic boss rush as you have to save 8 wizards near the end and fight all of the old bosses there. That was pretty fun. Each boss has a very different gameplay style to them so there aren’t any clones here. Additionally, the final boss has a pretty cool design. It makes for a very impactful climax with a lot of color and depth to him.

The only area where the game is a bit weak is with the hitboxes. For most of the game they don’t even make much sense. There will be times where you know that you hit the enemy but nothing happens and other times when your blow seems to fall short but you land the move. I don’t think it was lag or anything like that but instead it just felt like for some reason the hit boxes were added to odd areas. Eventually you just get used to the difference and adjust accordingly but for a while there it definitely ends up feeling weird.

The soundtrack is solid here. No tunes that I will remember by the end of the week but they still work well enough with what the game is going for. Likewise the graphics are pretty good. Perhaps not out of this world good but they are clear and it is always obvious what is happening on screen. The art style is appealing too so I really have no issues there.

Overall, Light Crusader is a pretty good game. I definitely had a solid amount of fun with it and this would be a good template for how you should do a platforming puzzle game. It’s a genre that would definitely be difficult for most titles to pull off after all. It takes a whole lot of engineering and quality of life features but this game was clearly up to the task. There are even different collectibles and rooms that I didn’t get to explore so there’s even a bit of replay value here. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check it out. The experience is a very memorable one and while you might be annoyed at the short length if you had paid for it, that’s the perks of getting it through the Switch Online. If they ever wanted to bring this franchise back I would say there is a lot of potential there.

Overall 7/10

Wolf of the Battlefield: MERCS Review

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This is definitely one of the more random games that I’ve gotten to play. I can tell you that I’ve definitely never even heard of this game before. It was a pretty fun one but definitely suffers from some arcade age. There’s one boss in particular that you have to play frame perfect or you get crushed. Even with rewind and perfectly dodging every hit it was super difficult to pull off the win.

You play as a GI Joe type of hero who needs to take down a whole army of opposing fighters and giant mech suits. You can bet that this is no easy task but he is up for it. You go through 8 levels of auto scrolling where more and more enemies keep showing up. When the auto scrolling stops, you get to keep on going and take your chances with the enemy gunfire or stay put and whittle them down first. Generally I found that it was best to keep on moving but of course that can also be super risky so you need to keep that in mind. The biggest factor to keep in mind though is the weapons that you pick up. These will change your experience quite a lot. When you pick up a gun, you drop your old one and can’t pick it back up so keep that in mind.

In my opinion the best weapon is the flame thrower and it’s not particularly close. A good blast from that weapon takes out most opponents and you can just hold down the attack button to keep it shooting forever. The catch is that it won’t have the same punch as some of the stronger weapons but honestly it’s a pretty decent trade off for me. Once I picked this one up I made sure not to pick any other weapons up. There was one boss that was nearly impossible to defeat with this weapon but in every other level it really served me well.

The game is also fairly generous with all of the health items that are dropped by enemies or found in boxes. More so than the average game in this genre so I definitely appreciated that. It helped prevent the game from getting too difficult to get through. It’s still very difficult obviously but it never feels quite impossible the way some of the old arcade shooters would. There are some shooters like that where you just feel like they were made to take all of your quarters.

The graphics have aged really well and I’d say that it is due to the art style. It’s very colorful and helps complement the sprites well. The action also works really well although there isn’t much of a soundtrack. You can’t win them all I suppose. In terms of replay value, there technically isn’t one since there are no collectibles or bonus levels to play through. I guess you could try to beat the game quicker or with less deaths as some self imposed challenges though. That would be a hard sell unless you really loved the game though. Otherwise this is clearly made as the kind of game that you play through all the way once and then call it a day.

Nothing wrong with that kind of game of course, that’s how a lot of them were back in the day. It’s definitely worth playing through this title on the Switch Online. The fact that they put a good amount of effort into this one instead of letting it become generic shooter 3000 was also a really good touch. Even with that we’ll see how long I remember this one though. In my defense, there really are a whole lot of army games with no real end in sight. It’s the kind of game that people just enjoy a whole lot so why wouldn’t they continue them right? One of these games in 3D without the first person camera work would really be awesome! Hopefully that ends up being the case at some point.

Overall, MERCS is a pretty fun game. I dare say that a lot of the enjoyment is because I am playing it through the Switch Online though. Without that I would probably be in a really tricky spot. I’d give it a few whirls but in general when you are sent back to the beginning of a game, I’m not too keen to keep on trying. You just lose too much progress even if you are having fun. At minimum, all games need to allow you to replay from the latest level when you have a game over. That is the way to go.

Overall 7/10

Vectorman Review

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Vectorman is definitely nostalgic because I played through it many years ago. I don’t remember if I beat the whole game and if I had to guess, I probably didn’t. It’s a very difficult title which helps to make up for its length. The concept for the game is really sound and I enjoy the gameplay. It really is like an alternate Mega Man of sorts and it’s too bad that this one didn’t spawn a lot of sequels and turn into a complete franchise or anything like that.

The general plot is that Vectorman is the only one to resist mind control and so it’s up to him to destroy all of the enemies. This may sound like a daunting task but Vectorman isn’t the kind of villain to go down so easily. He has his blasters and only gets stronger as the game goes on. The basic gameplay style is that of a 2D shooter. Your gun can spam bullets and along the way you can get temporary power ups that makes you gun even stronger. On the flip side, Vectorman is very flimsy and a few hits will put him out of commission for good.

Virtually all of the enemies have super armor which also makes them very difficult to defeat. You have to be extremely careful or you will end up soaking up a bunch of damage in the blink of an eye. Once that happens then you are really doomed. You always want to keep at least two health points on hand because you can lose 2 in back to back hits before you can really react. You don’t have many invincibility frames here.

There are a number of bosses in the game and they are all crafted well. The way you defeat each of them is unique so there are no re-used bosses or anything like that. Each one is a unique experience all the way through. The graphics are also really good. All of the worlds really stand out and are very colorful. I like the enemy designs and the energy blasts look good. It’s a very well balanced title all the way.

Then you have the soundtrack which is a very solid Sci-fi blend. It sounds like Mega Man but even more modern for its time. The soundtrack ages extremely well and works with the gameplay. The final boss is also really intense so the game gets to end with a real bang. It certainly succeeds on the technical aspects.

When it comes to the gameplay, my main tip would be to make sure and get every single health point. You will need them for the bosses which are all designed to absolutely obliterate you. They are not balanced in any way so don’t get that twisted. These guys are as overpowered as they get and will give you no quarter. You will be on the defensive the whole time and you can expect to die a whole lot. It has a case for being even harder than Mega Man to be honest but the Wily runs do tend to be crazy so that may be overdoing it just a tad.

This is another series that could really use a modern remake. Vectorman would be an absolutely stellar main character and he already has the deign for it. You’d probably need to focus on the supporting cast next since right now there isn’t much of one but that wouldn’t be too hard to do. You can also give him more attacks but perhaps that would make it feel too much like a Mega Man ripoff. That can be avoided for now but with how he’s made of a lot of balls for joints, using some kind of shape manipulation could be within reason.

Naturally I would also add more of a story. It certainly can’t hurt right? So you can have that at the ready as well and you’ve got all the makings of a fun title. That’s probably the most fun thing about playing all of these old games which is that you can sit down and think about the concepts outside of the old limitations of the ancient systems. Something like Vectorman is a perfect example of this.

Overall, Vectorman is a pretty good game. It holds up really well both in terms of gameplay and graphics. It’s the kind of game you can pop in at any time because of how extremely simple it is. It’s ultra difficult but very simple to understand. I would definitely appreciate more of a plot but for now I will be satisfied with just having some opening text at least. It’s more than some other games bother to deliver after all. If you haven’t played or even heard of the game before then you should change that right away. Don’t let your expectations get too crazy here but you can definitely be assured that you will have a positive experience. In the end that is the most important thing after all.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land III Review

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It’s time to end the trilogy. The Donkey Kong Land games have sure lasted a while and you have to give them major props for that. That being said, this one really doesn’t do much different from the others. Sure, it brings in new levels and good ole King K Rool to shake things up…actually he’s always been the villain. So you get the idea here. If you like platformers then you should have a good time with this.

This time we have 3 different characters to play as which is definitely fun. You basically get to switch places every time you get hit. You can only hang on to one extra life point at a time so the third character is technically never on the roster. No matter though, you will get hit plenty of times as you play through the game so I don’t see this being a really big issue. It is always fun to play as Dixie though since she still has the long glide. You can really cheese some levels with her if you can avoid getting hit for a while.

One thing you will notice very quickly though is that it’s very hard to keep track of what level you’re on. This is probably a casualty of the no color issue for the Game Boy. When you complete a level, there is no visual indicator that it is cleared. Then you have to go up, right, left, or sometimes down depending on the world and this means it ends up being very risky on if you may end up playing an old level by mistake. That happened to me twice and I had to back out. It’s definitely something I’ve never seen in the genre before so it could desperately use a quality of life enhancement there.

Meanwhile while the graphics were likely good originally, hey don’t look great here. It’s all very faded out and the sprites are the only saving grace here. The soundtrack is good though, I do tend to enjoy the DK tunes. Nintendo did a good job of giving them a lot of personality rather than it sound like generic jungle environments which would have been very uninspired. So I was quite content there.

As far as the length goes, I’d say it is a fair amount of content to get through. It may feel short compared to a modern game, but playing through a lot of these Game Boy titles you see how short they can be. The most important thing is that the game doesn’t only have one world or anything like that. There are also some bonus levels that you can optionally play which increases the replay value as well.

The game can be rather difficult so you need to tread through the stage carefully. Without the rewind feature at the ready the enemies would certainly be very overpowering. You just wouldn’t be able to get through them all so easily. I could run a lot but that was a privilege of the Nintendo Switch Online. You could probably add some hours to my playtime otherwise. You also still have the animals here which is good for spreading the gameplay out. There are quite a few ways to play the game and that was a nice bit of extra work by the devs.

You’d expect that it definitely costs more time and money to set up more than one playing style. The DK games have been consistent in this though so that’s a good thing. There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game though because it’s a very straight forward title and also because not much has changed from the first two. I suppose in that way it’s a sequel that should make the players feel very comfortable. It’s all things that they have seen before and so they can hit the ground running rather than worrying about learning the style or anything like that.

Naturally if we get a Land 4 one day I really hope it has more of a story. That’s what the DK games are lacking and it’s a critical component since that really gets you engaged in the series. Naturally it’s not something I would dock this one any points for due to the age and all that but for a new game I would definitely be a little more harsh. I need those cinematics!

Overall, Donkey Kong Land III is a good game that definitely ends rather quickly. It took a step back in terms of the hub world but in all other areas it manages to keep pace. It’s definitely a title to keep your eyes on the whole time. Hopefully we get some new DK games in the future. It may not be my favorite platforming series but I would still play it at some point. You can always count on Nintendo to deliver a fun experience no matter what year it is. It’s just what they do.

Overall 7/10

Donkey Kong Land 2 Review

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The next DK Land game has arrived and it’s a pretty good continuation from the first one. In general I miss DK and his strong way of fighting but Dixie is certainly the most powerful all around character with how she can fly anywhere. The game also doubles up on all the summon animals so on a purely gameplay sense it may beat the original. I would still have liked for DK to have been involved more though since this is supposed to be his series.

There’s still not much of an actual story to be had here though. The game is much more focused on just throwing you into the action so you’d probably have to read the booklet. Somehow or other King K Rool has kidnapped DK though and it is up to Diddy and Dixie to save him. They are ready for this though and prepare to use all of their skills to get past the waves of enemies and help him out. There are a wide variety of worlds to go through here so prepare for a lot of environments.

One thing that is evident from the stat is that the gameplay is quite hard though. A lot of these levels require split second reflexes and you always have to be moving or you will be left in the dust. One big example of this is the level where you play as a spider. You have to shoot out your webs and then keep on rising through the level as some boiling water follows you. The way you do this is by shooting out the web with B and then clicking select to stop it and turn this into a platform. You have to continue with this process at top speed or you will quickly be overwhelmed. It’s really hard because of how far apart the buttons are.

Then you have to consider that a lot of the enemies are impervious to your jumping. So you have to use your rolls which isn’t always easy to time. If you don’t time it well then you will end up taking damage instead. The bosses also attack rather quickly so you want to learn the timings real fast. The game is definitely unrelenting which is impressive. Since the levels aren’t overly long and there are checkpoints, I say bring it on! Of course with the Switch Online and rewinding it’s a non factor but even back in the day it would have been fun.

There are more worlds here than in the first game and of course you also have a bonus world for if you had gotten all of the collectibles. That is some good replay value here and it feels like the modern Nintendo platformers where there is a lot to do. You definitely do get the bang for your buck with this title. Then the graphics are hard to really praise since everything is so faded out but the sprites for the characters look good. It’s the kind of game that would probably look great if we did have full colors but sadly that was not in the cards here.

The soundtrack is good though. Probably not as good as the first one to be honest but it’s close and I would keep it as a positive either way. The game’s technical elements are on point and I also enjoyed the gameplay. It’s not the tightest Nintendo gameplay that I’ve experienced but it definitely does hold its own. The fact that they came up with different gameplay for all of the various animals and Kong members is also impressive. They didn’t just go the lazy route and establish a single mode for gameplay.

My main recommendation is to hold the run button at all times. Some of the jumps are really hard to handle but if you are running then you will be able to make them without any issue. The only weakness is that it can be easy to fall that way and of course if you are in a place with a lot of minions then you might bump into them. So you probably want to be patient but for any gap, immediately start running. One thing about the 2D platformers is they will punish you if you rush through the levels too much. It’s just hard not to since I love going full blast all the time.

The game has a fun cameo for Mario at the very end of the game so make sure you check that out. It’s Nintendo’s way of reminding you that he is always around. If we ever do get a modern plot based DK game, I really want them to include Mario somewhere. Have him show up as a secret boss battle or any ally who helps out at the end. Mario and DK are in the same universe after all so it’s about time that they start crossing over more.

Overall, Donkey Kong Land 2 is a pretty fun game. It ends up being over very quickly but such is always the fate for a platformer. That’s why it is important that you enjoy the gameplay. So it may be a short time, but that way it is a fun one. Additionally with the collectibles it can last a bit longer that way. Hopefully the Switch Online continues to deliver more DK games since there are definitely more that I need to play. We’ll see if any of them beat this one. At the end of the day this one’s a basic platformer so there isn’t a ton to talk about but it handles all of the fundamentals well so it’s a good game.

Overall 7/10

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Review

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Mario is one of those characters who has been around for a very long time. He has had games in many different genres and has two different RPG series. It’s definitely impressive and it was nice to get a new Mario & Luigi title after many years. The story is not particularly strong as this modern era of the plumber tries to steer away from getting too serious but the game itself is still fun. I have some quality of life issues here but all in all it is a fun game for you to have fun with.

The basic plot is that Mario and Luigi are transported to a whole new world all of a sudden. Their assistance is required as all of the islands here have been split apart. This is preventing friendship and harmony from being united across all of the land. It’s a sticky situation to be in but the bros are ready for this. The situation gets more complicated though when Peach and Bowser show up. Now the stakes are higher than ever and they will have to rely on their bonds of Brothership to get through this.

Like I said, the story isn’t going for a very hype kind of vibe so you shouldn’t take this too seriously. It’s not like the whole thing is played for laughs or anything but when things are getting too serious the game will try to throw a gag or two in there. Even the main villain not being able to remember names seems like a way to diffuse every cutscene that he is in. Ultimately I would say that you are playing this game for the gameplay and not for the story. I still like the cutscenes when they show up and every scene with Bowser is a winner but the story does move at a very slow pace.

This is by far the longest game in the series as well. Typically you can expect around 15-18 hours but this one is over 30. There is a lot of content here but the story didn’t really make the most of it. They tend to repeat the info quite a bit or drag out the conversations. Unfortunately the game uses the most annoying vocal sounds that I’ve ever heard. Think of the Banjo & Kazooie games but if two characters were talking at the same time for every cutscene. It ends up being quite brutal as a result and you end up having to hold that L.

The audio direction was really quite bad. We do have a few limited sound clips but as a result they have to be thrown in randomly a lot of the time instead of really making sense in the moment. The graphics are good at least. The game isn’t trying to be too bold with them so you’re not going to see anything on the level of Sonic Frontiers but the art style is fun. As for the soundtrack, there are some decent tunes but it’s not the strongest Mario soundtrack. It could have used one or two more really good tunes.

As for the gameplay, it’s your classic turn based system. You have your standard attacks as well as your Bros attacks. Along the way you also get equipment that amps up your abilities as well as badges that you equip which then expire after a few turns. This adds a lot to the strategy as you have to be careful when you turn these on. For example if you use your best ones against some minions then you will be in a really bad spot for the boss battle. There is no quick way to recharge then either as you just have to fight for a certain amount of turns before they are back to normal.

This is one of those games that prefers to go with a long approach to level ups. It takes a long time to get a level up because every combat animation is on the long side. Normal battles are much longer than they need to be. I know a lot of effort was put into the animations but they really should have an option to turn these off after a while. In particular the Bros attacks take a while since you have to do some command prompts. I suppose it wouldn’t be possible to turn those off but it’s definitely unfortunate.

I also think they should let you skip encounters when you are vastly over leveled compared to the enemy. For example when you go back to the first world to grab some collectibles, those level 1 enemies will still force an encounter. You can run away of course but now you’re already in the battle. These are fairly basic quality of life updates that would make the game a lot more fun. It’s why I would say the game is fun but it’s not going to touch almost any of the other big RPGs. They are in a completely different league.

One thing that was implemented rather well were the collectibles. Each world has some extra sparks which is how you unlock the new plugs (badges) and gives you a reason to explore every world twice. Most of the sparks don’t appear until after you have beaten the world after all. There is just enough where it doesn’t feel like a chore and additionally this is completely optional which I was glad about. So this is the right way to add a collectathon element.

Aside from the campaign itself being super long, there are also a number of side quests and optional items to grab. A lot of the side quests are time sensitive as well so you will want to take care of them quickly. There are also a lot of landmarks to find outside of the islands but the most disappointing thing was I bothered to find them all and there was no reward. Felt like a let down, I was expecting something. Ah well, it was still a fun thing to do on the side.

As for the new Luigi mechanic, it’s not bad but doesn’t really change much. This game tries to really show how Luigi is the smart one of the group and it’s one of those really unassuming twists. Like he’s scared of everything but when he focuses then he can do great things. The concept is sound, but the execution just feels a bit tacked on. I would have liked it to have effected gameplay a lot more or been presented in a way where it enhances the experience. Instead it’s just something that’s around.

Overall, Mario & Luigi Brothership may be a little underwhelming but to be honest I wasn’t expecting a ton out of it in the first place. That probably sounds bad, but at this point I play Mario for the fun gameplay experience as opposed to the story. The story does have its fun moments to be sure but just don’t expect anything too grand. The gameplay has a lot of strategy to it and I would even say that the game can be reasonably difficult at times. That’s something that I was impressed by. You really need to learn the enemy’s attack patterns or you will be buried in short order. Hopefully the next game brings in the Mushroom Kingdom more but either way I can recommend this game.

Overall 7/10

The Legendary Starfy 3 Review

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Starfy returns for some more hype in this last installment from the Switch Online. It continues to operate at a high level and show that even platformers can have a deep plot as needed. Unfortunately none of it is translated so it is left up to your imagination on just what is going on. The cutscenes are clear enough but it would have been really nice to know exactly what was happening. Hopefully Nintendo decides to translate this one day for future gamers although alas it would be too late for me since it’s rare to have enough time to really replay any game. There are always new titles on the horizon to check out instead after all!

The plot basically loops again as the main villain escapes except this time he is working for a powerful cosmic lord. This guy holds all the cards and may be the strongest threat that Starfy has ever encountered. He will need the help of his friends even more than usual. This is also the first time that you have a secondary main character in the pink star. I think that’s his sister but it could be his best friend. It’s hard to say without the translations… but it’s an interesting gameplay mechanic. She is limited to the abilities he had in the first game so it’s almost like a classic mode. A lot of levels will have you shifting between character several times to unlock switches and then they meet up in the end.

The formula for the levels is pretty solid. You basically have 2 acts and then a boss in each world. There are 10 worlds which is definitely a very good amount. As you can immediately tell, the level count is far shossssssssrter than the second game but the fact of the matter is that it still excels far above the average platformer. So that’s pretty impressive all the way. The levels have a lot of variety to them and each world has a fun theme. You can’t really cheese the levels by gliding but the abilities still take you very far. The levels tend to be more straight forward than in previous games. You won’t get lost at all which is great. There will be times when the levels can even be reasonably difficult so it’s not a game that you can beat while keeping your eyes closed.

The graphics are also good as always. The bright and colorful artstyle really works well for the game. It’s the kind of style that will always age well which is why I encourage games to use it. A live action-esque title will get dated much quicker than one that is so fantastical like this. The soundtrack is decent although that’s one area where the game could stand to use a little improvement. You aren’t likely to remember any of the tunes all that well by the time you complete the game. They’re not bad or anything but making them a little more memorable would have absolutely been a good idea.

Meanwhile the different gameplay styles were all good which was a plus since the animal summons would be an easy way for a game to mess up. The horse is plenty fast so it’s a nice change of pace, the pogo stick has well thought out mechanics, etc. It’s clear that the whole game got a lot of polish and not just the main gameplay style which is definitely not something that you can say for just any game. The fact that this one can say that is definitely something worth remembering.

I will also give kudos to the boss fights like with the first two games. Each boss has a different moveset and you have to beat them in original ways. There is a boss in every world so that’s 10 different bosses without any reskins or clones. That is good and a lot of games could learn from its example. In a platformer, one of the best parts are the boss fights after all. They do a good job of shaking things up from the levels after all and in general are just a lot of fun. This game never forgets that and even gets pretty hype for the final boss. Things really go cosmic in scale.

For those of you who are playing this for the first time, my main gameplay advice would be to always hold down the run button. Every platforming challenge is easier when you have a running start and it gives you just a little bit of an extra boost which is extremely handy. Without that then you’ll be falling a lot. The button can be rather sensitive on the Switch though so definitely be prepared for some early deaths that will feel like they would have otherwise been rather preventable but that’s what the rewind button is for.

Overall, Starfy 3 is definitely a very good game. I had a fun time with it and there is a lot of value to this title. Not a lot of replay value as there isn’t really a post game but not every game need a post story. It would be nice to have but as long as the main campaign is long then that’s all that matters. That’s the part that you’d be spending the most time on anyway. If you have the Switch Online then you should definitely check this one out. It’s not a title that you should miss out on.

Overall 7/10