Tag Archives: Platformer

Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked Review

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Believe it or not, I actually hadn’t heard of these games before. So playing them in a collection was definitely different although it was pretty fun. It’s definitely got that retro platformer vibe with a lot of fun level designs and colorful characters. I’d be down for a modern remake/reboot at some point.

The 3 games are all fairly similar but I’ll break down the differences. The core gameplay in each one is a 2D platformer. You have a jet pack which you can use to charge into enemies and through obstacles. You also have your close quarters weapon which does a lot of damage. Often times you will eventually have a vehicle or some other kind of assist tech that can really get you places. So definitely don’t lose that or you are probably going to be in a lot of trouble here. It can be tough to defend yourself in those suits so move with extreme caution.

One thing you will notice right away about the first game is that the difficulty level is incredibly high. You are going to absolutely have to pull out each and every stop in order to win without rewinding. I can tell you that I died so many hundreds of times that I absolutely needed it. This is a game where that feature is pretty much mandatory. Without it I would have been in a whole lot of trouble. You are able to save after each level so you can try doing that to potentially dodge the rewinding but the levels are rather long so I can tell you that this will still be a very difficult task.

The second game changes the boost feature so that it’s a separate button now. This makes things easier because you can just spam that without having to hold any of the controls down. Pretty handy stuff I would say. Unfortunately the trade off is that your blade doesn’t shoot any projectiles anymore so you have to get really close to the enemies. Your health bar is fairly low and your attack range is short so this is risky. When possible, use your boost instead. Of course the one drawback is when you use the boost attack, the recoil will often cause you to fall into another attack. So you will definitely have to watch out for that.

Sometimes you would get yourself into a loop where you get hit, rewind, get hit again, etc. Because once you’ve already boosted it’s hard to control yourself and everything is happening so fast. One thing about rewinding that you have to understand is when you are thrown back into the level, you have to immediately do whatever movement you were doing before. If you lose your momentum then you will be slow and will get hit by another attack. Even with the rewind this ended up being very difficult and not many games can say that.

Then we have the third game. I like how this one was the most colorful of the 3 and the characters were super expressive. It plays out more like the first one even down to the story. (Well all 3 don’t have much of a story beyond the Princess getting kidnapped but 3 is really just doing the same scenario as 1) Once again you have to charge up for your boost and your sword shoots energy blasts. I would say that it is the easiest of the 3 games though. I still had to rewind a whole lot mind you but the levels were considerably shorter.

The toughest part was definitely the final level. Defeating the giant mech suit I was up against was tough. I’m still not sure if I was really doing that the right way but it was fun. The third game experimented a bit more with the different fighting styles like riding on a kangaroo type dinosaur robot and then using an aerial one later. Platformers can always have a lot of fun like that but of course the main gameplay is always the best part.

The graphics are pretty solid like I said. The artstyle has really aged well for all 3 games. Meanwhile the soundtrack is also good although not quite as memorable. It’s not quite the next Sonic The Hedgehog in that regard. In terms of length, the games are all short but this brings all 3 of them so that helps a whole lot. You’re still going to wind up getting some good bang for your buck. There is also some replay value in going for the Platinum and I guarantee that won’t be super easy. You have to beat all 3 of the games roughly 3 times and you have to do the boss rushes. With enough rewinds you can pull it off but I was having trouble on easy mode. I can’t imagine what hard mode is like!

I’d definitely be up for a modern reboot for the series some day. The main guy has a lot of potential with the cool design. I also like how he’s not crazy about the princess like some other heroes and just runs off after saving the day. It works for a good contrast. There are naturally tons of stories you can tell within this universe and we just need some writers to step up and give it the ole go. There were definitely a whole lot of platformers back in the day and I look forward to seeing how the next one is.

Overall, Rocket Knight is a pretty fun game. Definitely one of the all time most difficult platformers that I’ve played. I don’t know how kids would have pulled this one off back in the day. It definitely would have taken a whole lot of dedication and effort to memorize all of the enemy patterns and keep it moving. So I give them a whole lot of props there. That being said, a remastered port should always have some quality of life updates and this game succeeded in a very big way. Rewind and Access Points are very huge. I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a fun time.

Overall 7/10

Metroid: Other M Review

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“Samus respond….responnnnnnndddddd!!” is something you will hear a whole lot of in this game. It’s the phrase that’s used when you die and I died quite a few times in the adventure. I thought it was kind of hilarious though. It’s the way the guy says the line, there’s something about it that’s just super funny. Hey, you gotta take the humor where you can and at the end of the day this is a pretty good game even if it is held back a bit by the control setup and Samus herself being wildly out of character.

The game starts with Samus responding to a distress signal in the middle of deep space. She enters a ship that has seemingly been abandoned to a bunch of giant monsters and then the Federation show up. The main problem is that the Federation are a bunch of jerks and they’re led by her old captain Adam. Adam explains that Samus will obey his orders now and so he quickly tells her not to use any of her stronger weapons which causes her to nearly die many times. Samus agrees because for some bizarre reason she still wants his approval. What she doesn’t realize is that this place is extremely dangerous.

Here is where you have to separate the story from the writing. The story itself is pretty good. You have a mystery here of who sent the SOS and what kind of crazy experiments were going on in this ship. You also learn a lot more about Samus’ past here and her time with the Federation. It’s all pretty interesting stuff so I appreciate this. Also there are a lot of cutscenes and full voice acting which I am a big fan of. These are all positives and it’s important to keep them in mind. Now where we have the problem is in Samus’ portrayal.

Samus is usually a hardened warrior. Someone who always gets the job done and is tough as nails. In this game she is instead rather nervous at times and less sure of herself. Why would she possibly agree to not use her weapons just because Adam says so? He literally has to tell her she can use the latest guns in boss fights where the enemies are unaffected. I can ignore some parts as gameplay mechanics but most of these instances are parts of the actual story. Samus panicking in front of Ridley has always been the most infamous scene in the game and I can see why. It makes no sense and takes away from her hype character.

So, I like to think this isn’t Samus at all. It’s a very weird portrayal but the game is good otherwise. The gameplay is on point with the platforming and shooting hybrid style. My only issue is they had to force in some motion controls so you have to point at the screen for various eye spy segments and also to shoot missiles. This usually results in the enemy landing a free hit while you locate your Wii sensor.

You do have a quick dodge/counter attack mechanic which is very handy though. I didn’t find out about it until super late in the game but there was no going back from there. It is easily the most efficient way to battle. Just keep tapping every control stick side on the d pad and when an enemy is close you will do a quick dodge. This amps up your blaster to the max and allows you to use the charge shot. You can keep on doing this over and over as you deal massive damage. Some attacks can be hard to time but for most you can just spam this with no real downside.

The game has its difficult moments to be sure though. Like I said, I died a whole lot. The enemies don’t play around here but it’s all rather balanced. There are a few annoying puzzles that will slow you down for a while but they’re not too numerous which I really appreciated. That would have made the whole thing overstay its welcome. In general the game is fairly short. You won’t take too long to complete it but they do manage to still have a lot of story in here.

The graphics have aged well, this looks like a really solid Wii game. It may not be as bright as something like Mario for example but even so this is a game that looks good. The soundtrack is also really good. You will probably recognize every track here. Other M was really inspiring, you will even recognize a Super Smash Bros moveset was really created from this game. It’s easy to see how this could have been the big reawakening of the Metroid franchise if it just got bigger and sold more units right away. I would have been a bit disappointed if it meant that this style of portrayal for Samus would be the new norm but on the whole she is still a good lead so I’d survive.

As a sidenote though, the game has a really terrible map. It’s hard to tell where a room starts or ends when you’re looking at the map. Additionally you can’t go to a specific floor in the map unless you pause, back space, back space again, and then select the floor. There are too many menus on what should be a very simple map screen. I don’t think this was a high priority for the team considering how smooth everything else is.

Overall, Metroid: Other M is a pretty good game. I do think it would have been an easy 8 without the motion controls though. I still think it’s crazy that the game goes out of its way to have you hold the remote sideways so you figure there won’t be any motion but for some reason locks the missiles to the motion side. Does that really make any sense? Well, you’re still going to have a really good time blasting the monsters and saving the world. Make sure you use the quick dodge, it immediately made the whole gameplay a lot faster and more intense. It was a real game changer to be honest. I liked how dynamic the gameplay was because Metroid is a series that you should equate to being intense. Even more than the other big Nintendo flagship titles. There’s so much you can always do with Sci-Fi and I look forward to getting more Metroid titles soon.

Overall 7/10

Kirby Tilt ‘n’ Tumble Review

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It’s time for my next Kirby experience. Typically these games are always a lot of fun. Kirby makes for a good lead and the platforming genre is always on point. Well, this time it’s a bit different because this isn’t your classic Kirby title. It’s actually using motion controls and we already know how that tends to pan out. It’s unfortunate…but I’m afraid that Tilt n Tumble is really not going to be able to stick with the all time greats.

The basic plot is that King Dedede seems to be off to some mischief so Kirby decides to stop him. We have no proof of any wrongdoing mind you, but Kirby has seen this guy around a lot before and he’s usually getting into all kinds of trouble. So why wait for the trouble to arrive when you can do something about it now right? Unfortunately the game’s ending doesn’t give much closure either, we get a handshake but that’s about it. So you’re not playing the game for its story but I suppose in a way it’s rare that you would be doing that.

So lets talk about the gameplay. Basically it’s like Monkey Ball. You have to roll Kirby past a bunch of obstacles so that he can get to the goal. This should be a pretty easy proposition right? Just focus up and get the job done! Unfortunately this is where the motion controls come in. You have to tilt your controller in order to move him and so you can’t even use the pro controller. The motion controls are super sensitive and tilting backwards too quickly will have you use the jump command by mistake.

The game is definitely harder than other Kirby games as a result. I found myself using the rewind feature as needed in several instances. It’s a game you could definitely beat without the rewind, it’ll just take a bit longer for the random points where you roll off the map. That’s always my problem with motion controls, I don’t mind losing because I messed up. But to lose because the controls weren’t precise and I rolled too far off the map? Nahhhhh that’s not satisfying at all. That just feels bad in the end. Whether I win or lose it should all come down to my own gaming skills.

So the gameplay itself had some potential with a proper control setup. I really liked the classic Monkey Ball games for Gamecube after all. They were the right balance of being really difficult and satisfying without ever being cheap or annoying. These were games that always kept you wanting to play no matter how many times you died. It took a ton of skill and you had nobody to blame but yourself. This game is different because half of the times you die, you will feel like you should have lived and the game messed you over. Yeah that might be you being a little on the salted side. I can’t argue with that but we will never know for sure.

The soundtrack is nice and pleasant though. It has all of the fun Kirby themes that you will recognize because of how iconic they always are. Then you have the graphics which are pretty good. The colorful vibes work well with the title as they always do. So I have no issues there and the technical elements really help to balance out the gameplay really well. At the very least it helps to mask my issues with the motion controls a little bit since I have less time to dwell on them. Instead I’m having fun listening to all of the tunes.

One last complement I will give to the game is that all of the boss battles are fun. The ground ones are all reskins so it’s the same boss over and over but I liked how you had to try and jump on him using your motion controls. It’s the one time I thought the style was actually rather clever. Then you had the aerial boss battles where you had to fly around and blast away at him with your air buster. That was a lot of fun and you had to balance being aggressive with grabbing another balloon so you could stay in the air. A lot of balance right there.

Overall, Kirby Tilt is a game that I won’t soon be forgetting but it’s too bad because it could and should have been way better. Motion controls don’t always have to automatically hurt a game but it does feel like more often than not they do a whole lot of damage. Just give me the traditional controls and I’m all set. Check this one out if you have the Switch Online but don’t expect that it’ll be all that great for you. It’s a unique experience but as with many other unique things, it’s a nice way of saying that it’s not as good as the standard option.

Overall 6/10

Super Mario Land Review

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It’s time for one of those really retro Mario games. In fact it’s so retro on the classic Game Boy that it’s even in black and white! But that’s crazy right? Well it’s definitely odd to be playing it without all the colors but it’s still a fun game. All of the classic Mario staples are there from great level designs to interesting and innovative enemies around every corner. Yeah this is some good stuff, it’s just a shame that it’s so short.

The game barely has a plot in terms of what you see in the game but officially there is a story thanks to the booklet. All you need to know is that Princess Daisy needs your help so it’s up to you to vanquish all of the enemies in your way. Can you pull it off? Well you better be able to or everything’s going to be falling sideways before long. Right off the bat it is fun to be fighting whole new opponents here compared to Bowser and friends. It was a good opportunity for Nintendo to flex their creative chops and have to come up with a whole new cast of fighters. So that was really cool.

The bosses were fun and the whole game really flies by. In part because the game is extremely short, you can complete it in around an hour, possibly less than that. It’s a mix of the stages being short, each world only having 3 stages, and the levels not being super difficult. Of course with the rewind feature you can feel free to rush in every time and if you make a mistake just rewind. If you have to play strategically then it might slow you down just a tad but even then I doubt it would be a big delay.

So you’re not here for a long time but for a good time. The game delivers there like I’ve been saying. The levels are all very diverse and you have to keep your wits about you with the various enemies running around. The graphics are decent, perhaps not as good as the other Mario games because they aren’t in color but they still look good. The soundtrack is also fun as always. Perhaps not on the level of Mario World but few things are.

There isn’t a ton of replay value which is the only thing you would want to consider if you were buying the game for a price. After beating the game there really isn’t anything to do except beating it again and all. Not a bad idea of course but yeah there’s not a lot of bonus content here. So if the game was 50 dollars or something like that then I’d say to skip it but as long as you have the Nintendo Switch Online and it’s free then you should definitely check it out. In a way you are finally getting to experience the lost entry in the Mario series. It certainly took me long enough to try it at any rate.

In a way because the game is so direct and straightforward there isn’t much to talk about though. So this will be a fairly small review. After all you can only explain how Nintendo did a great job with the gameplay, level design, and everything so many times. It’s a very complete title and it would be fun to see some of these enemies and levels come back someday. Some kind of big Mario remake project taking elements from all of the old titles. There’s really a ton Nintendo could do with that kind of premise someday. Hopefully we get something like that as a celebration.

Overall, Super Mario Land is a pretty fun game. It is extremely short which I assume was more of a console limitation however it still gives you a good time all the way through. I didn’t really have any problems with the game. The gravity and platforming gameplay themselves take a little getting used to compared to some of the newer games but you’re still ready to roll right from the jump. Just trust in your own gameplay abilities and you will really be dominating. Definitely check this out if you have the Nintendo Switch Online. You can’t beat free right?

Overall 7/10

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart Review

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It’s crazy to think that there has only been one Ratchet & Clank game in the PS5 era. I remember the PS2 and PS3 getting so many games for the series! I forget on the PS4 so I guess it was starting to slow down, but still we definitely need more games with this duo. They were really on fire for a while there! This game is definitely great all around, there are some narrative things I would have done differently but on the whole I was satisfied.

The game starts off with Ratchet and Clank attending a big parade celebrating them once more. Ratchet doesn’t love all the attention but he’s ready to have a good time. Clank has worked out a way to help Ratchet finally see all of the other Lombaxes in another dimension but Ratchet isn’t too eager to do this for some reason. Things are cut short when an alien invasion occurs which disrupts the celebrations. This isn’t anything too new for Ratchet so I liked how he really took this in stride. Still, Clank ends up being kidnapped by a female lombax and they fall into a dimensional portal so Ratchet has to try and find them. Nobody messes with his friends!

So I’ll say right now that my only real problem with the game is how Ratchet and Rivet (The new lombax) barely get to interact at all. I was really looking forward to the banter and seeing what their dynamic is like. She’s basically the Ratchet of her dimension so there’s a lot you could play around with there. Instead, they don’t meet up until you’re deep into the game and unfortunately by that point they know a lot about each other so they already get along. I wanted a quick fight between the two but we never got that. Particularly with the extra tension of Ratchet thinking that Clank was kidnapped, I would have liked to see him cut loose. Maybe even make it a boss battle where you play as Rivet and have to survive against Ratchet for 2 minutes or something.

Facing off against the main character like that is a real blast ya know? Ah well, the story itself is still a lot of fun. We get to see a more serious version of Nefarious and also an alternate version of Captain Qwark who is more like his younger self. It’s a fun way to bring in alternate versions of the characters. Again I would have done a little more with the concept though. In the first world you jump through a bunch of dimensions and I did feel like one was based on the Jak games but you’re only there for around 30 seconds so it’s hard to say. This could have been treated like a crossover game of sorts and some easter eggs would have gone a long way.

The game instead chooses to survive on its own two feet which is fair enough but when a dimensional plot like this you just expect it to go the extra mile a little more. The game feels fairly short but it’s around the same length as the others. I guess I just played through it really fast because it was too hype to put down. As always Ratchet is a great main character. I may not be as big a fan of Clank but he’s always trying to help out. I liked Rivet as the new heroine and I’d be cool with seeing her return in the future. She’s a solid fighter and has definitely earned a spot on the main cast. Her partner Kit is a character I’m not as big a fan of.

Kit has a whole character arc and everything so I would say that the game tries plenty hard with her but I dunno I still need a little more there. With some more confidence she can go up so I wouldn’t be shocked if the sequel if her time to shine. It’s funny seeing Nefarious get wrecked for the whole game. I like that guy in an ironic sense as a comedic villain but the new Nefarious was actually really solid. I would definitely be up for seeing him return in another game as well but this is the kind of series that has a lot of villains to choose from so I’m definitely cool with a new villain again.

The graphics are really good here. It’s definitely got that first party PS5 budget behind it. There are a ton of great special effects in the background and everything looks really sharp. The soundtrack may not stand out a ton but it still looks really good overall. There is a lot of replay value here like in maxing out all of your weapons and getting the platinum. It looks a bit time consuming but not super difficult so I don’t think that you will have a really tough time here. I always liked the level system for the weapons that the series has because it really encourages you to keep switching weapons. I maxed out quite a number of them for this exact reason.

The 3D gameplay is extremely smooth and a ton of fun overall. The quality of life features make this super smooth as well like constant checkpoints and everything. There was one cheesy jump that was an instant death if you moved in time with the dialogue so you’d have to wait 2 seconds before moving on but that might have just been an oddly timed auto save on my end. You also have 2 alternate forms of gameplay. The Clank one is fairly weak so if the next game drops anything, this would be the one. It’s a puzzle as you guide clones to the goal. It’s not too bad, it just drags on a bit.

The other gameplay style is in the digital world as you control an AI named Glitch and that was a lot of fun. You basically blast away at any machine or opponent that gets in your way. That actually works out really well to the point where I’d love to see it come back or even as a spinoff game. It is the right balance of action and strategy. So bravo is what I would say to that! Absolutely the kind of gameplay I would come back to at any time.

Overall, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart is a great game. I would say it holds its own with the older titles in the series to be sure. It’s just a lot of fun to be able to see the old gang in a new adventure like this. They really didn’t miss a beat with the humor or level designs. It’s a fun game that you can jump right into even if you haven’t played through the other games but in a lot of ways it does work best as an anniversary title of sorts that you play at the end. One last adventure for the main duo. I would have liked a few more nods to the older games like maybe Ratchet mentioning how the last time they met a lombax it didn’t go so well but I can get why they would try to keep this one a bit more newcomer friendly. Either way I definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall 8/10

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

Freedom Planet 2 Review

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It’s time to take a look at the big sequel to the original Freedom Planet. It’s cool to see all of the characters again and they do a good job of keeping the story really hype and exciting. There’s full voice acting here and a fun story which goes a long way. I’ll definitely be up for another game to wrap up the trilogy at some point. There’s definitely more you can do with the world building here but if not I can still be content with the big adventure here.

The game kicks off with a new threat emerging into the world. Her name is Merga and she is a water dragon like Lilac. No longer is the heroine the last of her kind but Merga explains that there was no accident or anything like that. Their people were wiped out by the Earth Dragons and she intends to have her revenge on the planet. Lilac knows that she has to save the world but defeating Merga would ensure that she is the last of her kind once more. Is there any way to prevent this from being the case?

I tend to give platformers a lot of grief for not having much of a story but I can safely say that it isn’t a concern this time around. This game has quite a lot of story within it and full voice acting like I mentioned earlier. This goes a looooong way to making the game extra memorable. You’re really eager to see what is going on with the case and how they will handle this. The story has twists and turns, it has drama and action. It’s a complete narrative that really pushes the characters.

Lilac is a great heroine as always and this game really let us see her leadership qualities. While the rest of the characters would be fighting and getting in each other’s way, she wasn’t getting distracted. Ultimately you can count on Lilac to make the right calls as needed. Meanwhile Carol is fun as always. Her big focus on being a free spirit does often put the characters in a bad spot but she is a loyal friend through it all. Milla has improved a great deal from the first game. She is still one of the weaker characters for me but there is a lot of potential with her banter with Serpentine.

Neera is a whole lot of fun on the hero side as well. She’s all on business which makes for a lot of arguments. Neera wants to protect the world at any cost and that absolutely makes for a great for a great contrast. The Magister that she serves is far less impressive though. He could definitely stand to be a more likable character. He strikes me as that shady guy who makes a ton of mistakes and doesn’t always pay for them. I mainly found him annoying here.

One character who gets the shaft this time is Spade. He basically shows up to get wrecked and doesn’t contribute much. I can get why Lilac is still mad at the guy because he is the opposite of reliable. Always ready to make a quick escape and look out for himself instead of helping the rest of the heroes out. The guy isn’t even a hero to be honest. I’d consider Serpentine to be more dependable at this point.

Serpentine is a great character all the way though. He has the best theme in the game and is an unpredictable wild card. You want to talk about a guy with aura and great one liners? He is the absolute best character in the game and I always looked forward to his theme song playing. You knew that fun things were in store. A true scene stealer all the way.

As for the villains, the roster was pretty strong here. The best villain was Merga which makes sense. She had some strong ideals and made for a very compelling character. Obviously she is evil and the game doesn’t try to make you think anything else but I can always go for a villain who is at least fighting for something they believe in as opposed to just being totally random. Then you have Askal who is a strong fighter and gets a good role here. I may not have liked how it ended but he was another powerful villain who helped to even things out here.

Aaa is the only villain that I didn’t care for. He panics a lot and is super weak so I didn’t think that we actually needed him here. He doesn’t add anything to the dynamic which is my main problem. Captain Kalaw was fun though. He could maybe be a bit over the top but I tend to like this character type. Finally you have Cory, whose role is much smaller than you would expect but she is still really solid. Definitely another fighter you can’t underestimate although she definitely had less personal stakes for helping the villains out.

I didn’t really talk about the gameplay much yet but it’s basically a 2D platformer like Sonic. I think that’s probably oversimplifying it a little bit though. You can also use an aerial spin move that’s like a boost which makes you temporarily invincible. It’s a huge part of how the gameplay here works so you need to use it a lot. You can also use martial arts with your attack button. There are way more boss fights than the average 2D platformer so get ready for that combat.

The game can be reasonably difficult as well so make sure you buy some good items. I personally liked the water damage upgrade a lot since the damage sticks with the enemy even after you have finished landing your hits. It’s extremely useful without a doubt. The final boss has like 10+ forms also so I hope that you have managed to save up a lot of gems. You’re definitely going to need them for this part. I’m not always a huge fan of the speed based 2D titles but the level designs here were pretty good. I may have gotten lost once or twice since they can be rather large but it worked out well enough.

Then of course you have the soundtrack which is definitely top tier. A lot of great tunes around every corner in this game. We also can’t forget the graphics which are well above average. The game looks very well polished. They didn’t skimp out on any of the technical aspects here. I guess in a way I focused mostly on the story because I was so impressed but the whole game was on point here. There isn’t a ton of replay value to be honest though so I guess the only issue could be that there isn’t a ton of content here. Still, it’s not like the game goes for $60 or anything like that though so it evens out well enough.

Overall, Freedom Planet 2 was definitely a great game. It really went a long way to maximizing the hype and enjoyment that you would expect after the first game. The story was excellent and I had a good time with the gameplay. This is definitely a game that you should pick up as soon as possible. You definitely will not regret it, I can tell you that! Gotta see what the next Switch game to get with the Eshop gift cards will be. Always lots of fun options out there.

Overall 8/10

Bomberman Jetters Review

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We’re back in the world of Bomberman with this next adventure. It’s pretty fun to finally be getting back into the swing of things as this series is always pretty good. Platforming with the bomb explosions is unique and you can’t really compare this to very many other titles. I would actually say this one even improves upon the last title because of various quality of life updates. Less missable collectibles/monsters this time around. In fact you’d have to try in order to actually miss any of the creatures. The collectibles can be a little more difficult though, I actually missed two of them and had to head back. Technically you don’t necessarily need every material but I didn’t know that until the end.

The basic plot is that the villains are causing a lot of trouble once again. This time they have powered up a rocket that will either ram into a planet and destroy it or it is going to fire some kind of laser. Either way Bomberman’s mission is clear, he has to destroy the ship right away. If he can do that, then the worlds will be safe and perhaps this villain group will forever stop trying to get in the way. The main villain is protected by the elemental bombers though. You’ve got a fire bomberman, water, ice, etc. They’re all working for the villains so I guess the main Bomberman is one of the only heroes left at this point. There is also Max who is around but don’t expect him to say anything.

The graphics are really solid here and I wanted to jump into that right away. It’s super impressive how many fully animated cutscenes we have here. I was super happy about that because not many titles did this back in the day. There are 2 big cutscenes in every world which establish the boss and set the stage up very well. Meanwhile the soundtrack is fairly decent. A little less memorable I will admit but it still works well so the technicals for this game were on point. Then we have the gameplay which was really solid too which makes for a balanced game. I will jump into that now.

In each level you have to get to the goal in order to complete it. To do that, you typically have to find some kind of switch or blow some enemies up. Each world has 6 levels at first although the latter worlds tend to be 4 levels instead. The first, second, fourth, and fifth levels are classic stages. You run and jump over obstacles. Then stages 3 and 6 are the boss fights of the area. Usually the third level’s boss is fairly easy and you can use any bomb to beat him while the 6th level’s boss is more difficult and only one element will be particularly useful here. So if you miss an ingredient for one of the bombs, the level will get tricky.

This is where Max comes in. He can hurt every boss with the exception of 1 with his unique power. It takes an extremely long time to charge but has the largest range in the game. It deals a quarter of 1 heart per hit so you can beat a boss with around 20 of those. I can see this working as a self imposed hard mode of sorts. If you get hit while charging then the energy ball drops and you have to start again. It makes it so Max is actually a rather difficult character to use but I did have to resort to him twice. You can also switch to him at any point during the normal levels but there isn’t really a reason to do that. Typically Bomberman is better for every situation.

There are only 12 different monsters to recruit in this game but they are all pretty interesting. The level up system is a bit basic this time as you can only go up to level 3. So at that point you will have maxed out the monster and there isn’t much more to be done there. You level up fairly quick so I maxed out around 5 of them before I beat the game. I don’t think it would take long to max out the rest. It looks like you can also unlock a bonus world but I’m not sure how you would do that. It’s probably connected to at least one of the collectibles that you can grab. So there is a decent amount of replay value here. The main campaign’s not all that long so you’ll have it completed in under 10 hours but with the replay value it might make it up to the double digits.

I appreciated that the collectibles weren’t fully mandatory for completing the game though. This one could be fairly difficult at times but in a very fair way. You just had to really apply yourself and be good at using the bombs and not rushing. Often times you will only get yourself into trouble if you try going too fast and start bumping into enemies. That’s really where the trouble starts but if you go slow then you shouldn’t really be getting hit. Some levels can take a while, one took me close to an hour although in part that’s because I got lost.

Each level does have a map but it’s fairly zoomed out so you can still end up bumping around a lot. Level 5-1 was easily the most difficult if you ask me. You have to activate statues and play a little minigame to determine your route and there is a lot of backtracking so that often meant I would pick the wrong path and have to start again When in doubt just go back to the start of the level and retrace your steps. The good thing is that the enemies don’t respawn so feel free to knock them out and then decide on a plan. That way you have no real distractions.

Overall, Bomberman Jetters is a pretty fun game. The actual gameplay is fun and the level designs clearly had a lot of effort put into them. The sheer size of some levels could be rather daunting but the game was really fair about everything. The way that the monsters and bombs are handled was better than in previous Bomberman games as well so this leads to a very smooth experience. It’s an easy game to pick up and play and I can safely say that it did exceed my expectations. The full anime cutscenes were just another boost to add to the top. So I would definitely say to pick up this game as soon as possible. You won’t regret it!

Overall 7/10

Iggy’s Reckin’ Balls Review

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It’s easy to see why this game never became a household name. I think it’s actually got a fairly interesting premise but the game doesn’t live up to it. The gameplay is way too limited and the platforming part just isn’t too fun. It should have leaned a bit harder into being a full on racing game and that would have worked better. This 50/50 split ultimately ends up limiting the game’s own potential. Still if you have the Switch Online service then you may as well give it a shot.

There are 2 main game modes here, Battle Mode and Grand Prix mode. There is also a training mode and for once I highly recommend that you check it out. It’s not that the controls are necessarily complex but they aren’t always intuitive so you want to know what you are doing first. This is particularly useful because the game can be deceptively difficult. I had an easy time for the first few levels but by level 10 I was starting to be left in the dust. I only won the first tournament by a single point and it was clear that I was going to get smoked in the levels after that.

Basically the race is going upwards rather than towards a goal. For example you need to get to the top floor and you do this by running and then jumping up a level. To fully reach it you have to press another button to grapple onto the ceiling. You can also use this to go down to spring yourself upwards. The physics for this work well but the whole game is super fast paced so you also need fast reaction times. It’s so easy to overshoot your target and run too far. Additionally the enemies are running around too and will try to get in your way. They will actively attack you and do their absolute best to get in your way. They do not hold back. You can use your grapple to slam them to the ground which will stun them for a bit but of course they can do the same to you.

Then the battle mode has the same gameplay but there is no end point. You have to instead hit your opponent 3 times in order to drain away all of his health. Once you have done that then you are all set. It is also a rather difficult mode to get the hang of because you have to time things perfectly since you and your opponent have the same attack range. Whoever lands the blow first will score the point and then you have to repeat that 3 times. I won a lot of times and also lost a lot of times so it was fairly balanced. I probably ended up spending a bit more time in this mode than in the races. It’s slightly more fun but still not thrilling.

The graphics aren’t bad though. It’s clearly not a top tier title by any means but I wouldn’t say it looks cheap either. The development shows the lack of budget more in the actual gameplay I’d say. The soundtrack is also rather good. Not out of this world good or anything like that but definitely good enough to warrant a mention. The technicals weren’t bad but unfortunately when the gameplay doesn’t deliver then the rest doesn’t ultimately matter all that much. Seriously, you need good gameplay to keep someone playing. That is why you pick up the game after all.

There is technically a good amount of content here. You can play through over 10 different grand prixes with several races in them. A lot of the levels do tend to look the same but they do start to get more difficult by covering more of the ground so you can’t jump just anywhere. It means you have to run around to get to your spot. There’s a decent amount of slow time compared to other racing titles which didn’t help this one. Monkey Ball gets around this by keeping a strict time limit on all levels so you have to move really fast. This game could have absolutely learned a few lessons there.

Overall, This is a game that will quickly be forgotten. It’s not that it’s a bad game but it doesn’t really have any hook to it. There’s no reason for me to play this over a traditional racing game like Mario Kart. It doesn’t stand out and there is no story mode to fall back on either. The racing ends up feeling a lot more repetitive due to the gameplay style of just climbing up. I appreciate the creativity here but it’s not enough for me to call this a good game. Ultimately your best bet is to duck this one for now and hope that one day they make a modern remake that really revamps the whole gameplay style.

Overall 5/10

Princess Peach: Showtime! Review

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I remember being unbelievably hyped for this game when it was first announced. Yeah, I know Peach already got a video game a long while ago but this time she was getting the home console experience. So that was a lot of fun to see. Ultimately I do think they could have gone in a more interesting direction with her but at the end of the day this game is still fun. It is a little on the short side and there isn’t a ton of replay value but you will have fun here.

The game starts off with Peach heading to the theater but the place is taken over by Grape. She’s one of the most powerful villains in creation and uses her reality warping abilities to cause a bunch of chaos. Peach must now jump into various shows and take over as the main character to get things back on track. She uses her various abilities to turn the staff back into their true forms and along the way she will also work to also put down Grape’s gang of villains. Does she have what it takes to do this without Mario around though?

I do think it is an absolutely massive missed opportunity to not have Mario and Luigi in here though. They should have shown up even briefly to get rolled by the villains and show just how high the stakes are. By not having them here, there are no real stakes. If Peach were to lose then she would just be kidnapped as she usually is and the game would turn into a classic Mario title. Now that could have been an amazing way to end the game. Like she beats Grape but then gets kidnapped by Bowser with a “To Be Continued” ending. It would have been a little rough for Peach fans to be sure but at the same time you can’t deny the potential there.

Ah well, story is not really why you are playing this game anyway. You are here for the gameplay and that part is mainly fun. It’s sort of like an anthology where each form has different gameplay. Peach has 10 different costumes here that all have fairly simple, but different styles. Because of that the game does feel almost like a minigame compilation at times though. Each costume gets 3 levels to it and they’re all rather quick so you’ll be blasting through them in no time flat.

The best costume is absolutely Mighty Peach. In this form she is able to throw meteors and land solid punches on all of her enemies. It’s a lot of fun and plays like a 2D beat em up. It’s definitely a true highlight. Another costume I liked a lot was Ninja Peach. In this mode you have to avoid enemy detection and then launch lethal counter hits. Really good stuff but you can tell that the game’s balance was not 100% because you could usually just run up and hit someone. It’s a one hit KO so they often don’t have time to sound the alarm. In a way that’s part of why it’s so good though because it ends up being very fast paced.

Then for a weaker one, we had Mermaid Peach. In this form you have to use singing to keep the fish at bay and you sort of attack with this but not really. Ultimately there just isn’t a whole lot to this one. It certainly didn’t keep me all that interested but then again I’m not a big underwater fan as it is. There is also baking Peach. It’s weak relative to the other costumes but still not bad I’d say. This is sort of how I would picture Cooking Mama to be in a lot of ways. The game is very lenient on your cake design skills so don’t worry about it being 1 to 1.

Then you have Detective Peach. This one’s also on the weaker side because it just feels a lot more slow paced. The mysteries are also really easy so while you are solving the case you are just waiting for the cutscenes to end so you can get to the end. It’s why you always want to be moving at a fast pace whenever possible. Figure Skater Peach is in a similar position. You aren’t able to speed up these levels and they aren’t the toughest ones out there so you are really just ready to move on.

A really good one was Kung Fu Peach though. The hand to hand attacks were great and reminded you of just what kind of game this could have been with this form as the mainstay. They did a great job with the combat and there are even quick time events here. There’s also Swordfighter Peach which is another really fun costume. Make sure you don’t miss the controls for this one because the parrying actually tripped me up for a little bit there. I got the controls backwards which was tricky. I really liked the speed effects used for this form.

Next up is Cowgirl Peach. This form’s fun, I’d put it around the middle. Mainly the issue with this one is that it is by far one of the easiest modes. So I do like the gameplay here but you can really beat the levels in your sleep. Then we have the toughest one which is Thief Peach. IN this form I actually had my one and only loss in the game. Some of the jumps in the last level actually take a whole lot of timing and get rather tricky. It made me really enjoy this form quite a bit.

Each costume has a boss battle as its third level and there are a bunch of bosses scattered in the normal levels but those tend to be mini bosses. I think the main problem the game had is that it spread itself a little too thin. It was trying to do too many things all at once and as a result there wasn’t a lot of time for any individual costume. Cut the amount in half so all of them have double the levels and then you’ve got yourself something. Additionally, with less development time for all the different styles, maybe you could actually quadruple the levels. Considering how small they are, there definitely should have been way more levels if you think about it.

In terms of graphics, the game definitely looks really solid. It’s definitely a AAA Nintendo game all the way. The soundtrack is more on the limited side but I did like a few of the tunes. You’re just going to hear them a lot since each costume effectively just has one theme. So if you don’t like any of the tunes then that will definitely hurt. Now there is replay value here even if there isn’t a ton of it. For example, you can work on getting all the collectibles and acing each level. It seems like that will unlock something but it’s hard to say what that is. So that’s still something to think about right? Hopefully with the Switch 2 Nintendo eventually adds trophies since that would be an automatic win right out of the gate for replay value.

Overall, Princess Peach makes for a decent main character in a pretty fun game. You’re just left feeling like this is really just a minigame showcase rather than a full game. It’s simply too short and while the simple nature of each costume makes this an easy game to pick up and play, there’s not a lot of depth to it. I will say that the game goes all out with the climax though. It really gets cosmic like in the Kirby games which was awesome. Definitely the strongest that Peach has ever looked. I do guarantee that you will have a lot of fun with the game though. It’s part of why we are all sad about the game being so short because it was a lot of fun to play through the whole time.

Overall 7/10