Tag Archives: Video Game Review

Mario Party 2 Review

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Usually I had been doing the Mario Party reviews in order but I actually never got around to publishing this one. Well, it’s time for a blast to the past because Mario Party 2 is a title that really had fun going the extra mile. The fact that each board has a full cutscene at the end where the heroes take down Bowser is really fun. I didn’t test if the cutscene is skippable so if it isn’t then maybe this would get old eventually but otherwise it’s just a really nice way to cap off the adventure.

The game has your classic story where you take Bowser out and prove that you’re the best while also having the iconic party/minigame modes at the ready. This is a party game that really has a ton of content for you to go out and enjoy. I would expect nothing less from this AAA title though. The character roster is still a bit on the small side but of course they all play the same so it’s not like it’s a particularly big deal. I just enjoy having more characters because it’s just fun to keep switching things up. This game is fairly old so we can really let that part slide.

Now where the game shines is with the levels. There’s a decent number of boards here and they are all very unique. They each commit 100% to the level’s theme whether it be outer space or the wild west. They have their own event spaces and a lot going on here but don’t break up the gameplay as much as the original or Party 3 where they could be a little excessive at times. Here we get to just jump in with the minigames and really just have a party. The A.I. is still as strong as ever though so get ready to have some real competition there. It’s just so good as predicting where you will go and making the right action. You wouldn’t see that from a newer title.

The selection of minigames is pretty solid as well. It has some of the most iconic ones of course like riding on the ball to knock out other opponents and a bunch of others. While Party 4 will always have the best lineup, these games hold their own rather well. Unlocking them all is bound to take you a long while too with how many there are to select. That’s still one thing I wouldn’t mind changing in a future title, some other way to unlock them aside from RNG. After all as we all know, RNG can be really rough to deal with at times.

As you can expect the graphics here look really good. Mario Party has a very timeless artstyle that still looks sharp and colorful many years after the game comes out. I suspect that this will always be the case as well. Colorful artstyles just work, it’s something that I’ve tried to say for years. Realistic artstyles are more risky because when they’re old, they look old. The soundtrack here is also fairly decent. Not super memorable but it has enough energy to it to work well with the minigames.

It goes without saying that the replay value here is also quite extensive so there’s a lot of reason to keep on coming back to have a good time. The minigames are different enough where you may want to play this one for a while even over a newer installment just for the nostalgia. As a result I would say there is always a market for this title even if it’s not my personal favorite Party title in the franchise. It’s still good enough by a considerable margin to be worth the play.

Overall, Mario Party 2 is a really fun game. There’s not a whole lot more to say about the game because it’s jut really solid due to the excellent gameplay and creativity in the games. There’s no real story to talk about or some kind of hidden theme for me to unpack. It’s a very direct title in that sense. You’re playing a game to have a fun time and this one delivers. So I can easily recommend this to any gamer no matter what your skill level is. It’s just good fun all around. You feel like they could have made a 15 turn Party Mode which would be easier to play in a short batch but you do also have minigame mode for that. Also since we’re on the Switch Online you can always create a save point whenever you want. Now there’s one of those modern quality of life perks I love so much! Of course that’s not from the game itself so I wouldn’t be counting it as part of the review.

Overall 7/10

Harvest Moon 64 Review

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I’m going to be brutally honest here folks, Harvest Moon is not one of the top games out there. In fact I would argue that this is still Nintendo’s weakest series bar none. There just isn’t anything about this title to really get me excited. As with the last one, I couldn’t even get out of the first level. The harvesting mechanic just isn’t a lot of fun and I would argue that it’s way below something like Harvestella which was ideal. That was a game where I really enjoyed each area of the game. So yeah don’t expect a lot of positives here.

The basic plot is pretty similar though. You inherit a pretty large farm in a small village so you head on over. The mayor and the townsfolk seem nice. They’re all hoping that you fit in really well here and will do everything they can to help you succeed. It’s definitely appreciated and there will even be parties, adventure, romance, and danger. That said, it is all dependent on you growing those crops really well so get to work right!? That is easier said than done and this is where the game effectively starts to end.

Right from the jump you are supposed to start watering the crops and getting things ready but the game doesn’t do much to actually prepare you for this. It just feels like you’re in a loop of asking people for help and breaking the ground to get the soil out. Nothing ever really happens and while small cutscenes happen after enough days, there isn’t a whole lot of plot progression. Mainly the problem is that I just didn’t get far enough but even with that in mind I think the game could have been more exciting.

Give me a map of the town and have more tutorials. I would say that the game is missing a few quality of life features like this that could have really made a massive difference. Without a doubt I would say that things would have improved with things like this. Even if you a full time farmer and know what you’re doing, I would bet you will still have trouble understanding what the game is asking you to do. It’s just all too vague the whole time.

The graphics aren’t bad though. You can always understand what is going on at least which is always a plus. The soundtrack is more on the unremarkable side though. I couldn’t really tell you any of the tunes at this point, they just don’t stand out. Now in terms of length the game definitely does well. This is a long game as it is and there is a ton of replay value if you enjoy it because each day is different. So the playthrough would be very long especially with no real end point.

At the end of the day though it all comes down to how fun the game is. Unfortunately the game just isn’t very fun. There’s no real reason to stick around here. It just ends up being rather unmemorable and the gameplay itself isn’t enough to hold you. I did plow the fields long enough to rank up my equipment twice but it’s not like it’s a big difference either way. It still takes an awful long amount of time to complete the field and the main character has a fatigue meter so if you work on this too much then he isn’t able to do anything else. He just starts panting and basically throws in the towel.

So now you’ve also got a stamina meter and a day/night system to worry about. Trust me when I say these are all even more net negatives. Why would you include all of these features at once? It puts you in a bit of a rush and artificially extends the game since you don’t have time to do everything at once. It means you really have to pace yourself and take your time which isn’t all that great. I wanted to just go in and have fun but the style is way too limiting.

Overall, Harvest Moon 64 doesn’t really do anything to separate itself from the original one. Yes it looks a bit newer but that’s about it. It still suffers from all of the existing issues of the first game and that really limited its overall potential. At the end of the day these are what I would consider to be design flaws right from the start so you aren’t really able to just work around them. The game would need to be redone from the ground up and as it is I would say it feels almost unplayable. Check out Harvestella instead if you really want to play a game like this.

Overall 2/10

Bomberman Max 2: Red Advance Review

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It’s time for another Bomberman adventure! This is one fighter that you can’t keep down. Well, it’s definitely a cool idea to have Max get his own sub series here. Bomberman gets a cameo at the beginning and he does help out in some puzzle levels but that’s really about it for him. This time it’s Max’s show as you go through the levels and try to defeat all of the enemy robots.

There isn’t much of a story here though. It starts out with the villain turning Bomberman and his friend Max into a mini size. It’s definitely put them in a very dangerous position but fortunately the villains run off rather than pressing the advantage which worked out for the heroes. There is surprisingly not an ending cutscene so it seems to get that you probably have to 100% the game or something like that. Each world does have a ton of levels and most of them aren’t actually required but it’s not like you’re skipping them. So let me explain the setup of how this works.

When you complete a level, 2-3 portals appear. Each one will take you to another level within the world but they don’t say which ones they are. So you will go from 1-1 to 1-4 for example. Then after that you go to 1-6 or 1-3. Some portals take you backwards while others take you forwards. As a result it’s pretty much luck based. The portals themselves don’t change but at least on the first playthrough you wouldn’t know which is which. When you complete a level, the portal taking you back to that stage turns red so at least you don’t run the risk of beating the same level twice by mistake. Now that would have been annoying.

The game actually remembers your progress so if you do have to go back to an old level, the portals are still there rather than having to clear the objective again. That’s definitely a good feature, it means that at least if I ever did go back to try and 100% clear it, it wouldn’t feel like an impossible challenge. Of course this is all me assuming that there is a bonus ending. For all I know it’s just an illustration or it unlocks the credits although I’d be willing to bet that it is a true cutscene.

The graphics here are pretty good. The character models are on point and the artstyle for the GBA was good. The soundtrack is also fairly good. I wouldn’t say it’s anything too noteworthy but at the same time it’s fast paced enough to work with all of the explosions. The game itself is fairly short at around 4 hours or so. I actually went ahead and beat it all in one shot, mainly because my game’s save feature was busted. So I’m actually a bit lucky that it wasn’t longer at 10 hours or something like that.

Naturally the game will usually have a working save file so I wouldn’t hold that against the title. Also I didn’t talk much about the gameplay yet. Like I said, it’s basically a puzzle title. Each level will give you an objective like find all of the food or destroy all of the spiders. Once you do that then the portals open up which will take you to the next level. You start out with all 3 of your stats at 0, speed, bomb range, and # of bombs that can be used at once. As you blow things up you get power ups to make your stats stronger to a max of 4 in each stat.

when you get a game over your stats go back to 1 in all categories on the retry. So while it’s great that you have unlimited continues on the same level, it does mean that it can be tough at first. One level had me stumped for a long while because it was super hard to win with 1 stats but eventually I pulled it off. For the most part the bosses are a lot easier than the levels because of how huge they are. It’s really easy to tag them with explosions but the final boss is an exception. He has so many different forms and power ups that it’s really hard to stay one step ahead of him. That one took me a few different attempts.

So in the end the gameplay was good but not quite enough to make up for the game basically skipping the story entirely. The way the stages have randomized objectives each time is interesting and I like the idea of level trees where you don’t know what you’re going but not if it means that you’ll miss out on an ending. There should at least be a basic cutscene after each world. Also the game feels unfinished in some ways. The main example I have is the monsters that you can summon.

They actually have levels and stats that increase as you pick up collectibles and defeat enemies but they don’t seem to matter in the actual gameplay. Each monster does have a special ability like letting you pick up extra bombs but the ability doesn’t change or improve as you level it up. So I couldn’t figure out what the level ups were doing. They seemed to be completely pointless which is odd. Maybe it’s for a different mode but in that case there’s not much reason to include that in the story. The Gamecube game had “Pokemon Battles” mixed in with the bomb puzzles so it made sense there but that doesn’t happen here. Guess it’s a bit of a mystery for now.

Overall, Bomberman Max 2 is a good game but one that could use some quality of life updates. I think you should get a proper ending when you beat the game even if you get a true ending of sorts for doing everything. Having unlimited continues is great but having to get the power ups again can be a little rough. Still, the puzzle gameplay is on point and the levels are designed well. You really get to make the most out of the bombs that you have and it always feels satisfying to complete the levels. It’s not an easy game by any means so you really have to work for it.

Overall 6/10

Rayman Legends Review

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Rayman is one of those titles where I’ve played quite a few of the games but I haven’t found it to be as memorable as most of the other big titles. Well, it’s fair to say that Legends is definitely a game changer for the series and it is by far the best installment. It handles the collectathon aspect of the title very well and makes more use of the platforming genre than almost any other title I’ve seen. Ultimately the gameplay is so strong that it does help to make up for the lack of a story here.

The game starts off with some evil magicians deciding to make a mess of things. They’re kidnapping people and so Rayman will have to free everyone and save the world. All in a days work for someone like this though. Rayman has dealt with his share of threats over the years after all. Unfortunately that’s pretty much it for the story. There’s not much of an ending and each world just has the same recycled cutscenes over and over. You don’t expect a whole lot more from a platformer and yet I do think they really could have done a better job here. At least give me new cutscenes for each world. The story is absolutely the weakest part of the game by far.

Fortunately we are here for the gameplay at the end of the day. The lack of a story would hurt its chances of my getting the game on opening day compared to other franchises but at least once I do get around to it, I’m always happy to see solid gameplay. At its core the gameplay is fairly simple, you run and jump your way past obstacles as you try to get to the goal. Occasionally there will be a boss battle for you to go up against.

Where the game shines is in taking this simple gameplay and making a lot of intricate levels out of it. In a way it reminds me of Mario Maker a bit. For example after every boss battle, each world ends with a music themed level where you have to run quickly and hit enemies at the right time to follow the beat. This is used in a subtle way to let you know when to make a move as well as making the level fun to listen to. Likewise in the normal levels there are always a lot of visual and audio cues to let you know when to make a move.

The game allows you to jump between worlds at will so because of that every level even has tutorials at the ready through on screen prompts which are nice. They aren’t intrusive but are a great idea particularly if you’re going back to play the game after putting it down for a long while. You won’t really need it while playing through the game but I can absolutely see it coming in handy a year from now.

The game has a ton of replay value through unlockable characters (Basically costumes though tbh since they play the same) and extra levels that you unlock by getting more of the blue orbs. The best part though is that you can still beat the game without getting them all. There are 700 in the game and you need around 300 to complete the story. That’s a good ratio if you ask me because you can have a good time enjoying the levels without being stressed about the missing collectibles. The level designs are really good so you will find a lot of them naturally but if you want all of them you will have to work for it.

A solid quality of life feature here is that you have unlimited lives and the checkpoints are very consistent. So even when you lose you don’t end up getting sent too far back. That’s perfect and I can’t stress enough just how important that is. These levels could very easily turn from awesome to annoying if you had to start from scratch every time. This way you can appreciate the difficulty and creativity without any annoyance setting in.

Make no mistake, the game can be rather difficult at times. I died quite a number of times but I was always ready to revive just as quickly. I ended up blasting through the game rather quickly as a result. It’s a bit on the short side to be honest but I can’t even remotely consider that as a negative because of how the game handles it. There are tons of levels but the game just doesn’t force you to play them all and I can respect that. Each level is also so unique and filled with fun features that I’ll take this over a ton of standard levels.

The game even has a gimmick with a little frog moving things around that somehow doesn’t get annoying. I was prepared for this to be super annoying but it’s actually a really fun mechanic. In terms of pure platforming I dare say the game even has more life than some Mario titles and that’s saying something. If we’re only looking at gameplay this is one of the best games to ever do it.

Meanwhile the graphics and soundtrack are definitely impressive. The soundtrack in particular is awesome with a ton of different songs everywhere and remixes of popular ones. Then the graphics have aged really well with a colorful style all the way through. The character designs are on point and the levels all stand out.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at just how good the game was. Of course I was expecting it to be pretty good but to be great on this level? That was a surprise. The story holds it back a little bit considering this game has some of the best platforming I’ve ever seen. Imagine pairing this with a big budget story? It could have really made history and so I do eagerly await seeing what the Rayman franchise does next. This will be a tough title to top but of course there’s always a chance. If you haven’t played this game yet then you should definitely fix that!

Overall 8/10

Mario Party 3 Review

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It’s time for the next Mario Party title! The series has definitely come a long way and it’s always fun to take a trip down nostalgia lane with the older ones. Back in the day I played a lot of Mario Party 2 but 3 was sort of the odd man out. Now I could really go through it and see how it stacked up. It’s a fun game as are all of the parties but I would say that it’s not quite at the elite level of some of the latter ones like Mario Party 4 and Mario Party 5. In particular I think there are too many event spaces which do have a tendency to slow up the game somewhat.

I played a classic party match on the snow level. The gimmick here is that there is a snowman who throws a snowball at you and if you don’t time your jump perfectly then you will be sent flying and may even go right past the star you were hoping to be at. It’s a pretty tough one to deal with because the timing does have to be absolutely precise on every level. Mess it up by even the smallest amount and the stage will definitely make you regret it. Also there are a ton of event spaces littered about the stage so no matter what you really end up bumping into them. In my match the space was probably landed on at least 10 times.

It would be nice if the cutscene could be skipped after the first time but I guess because of the jumping that wouldn’t really be possible. As always I do have to say that the computer is incredibly skilled. It’s like you never really stood a chance against that guy. He wins just about all of the minigames and has incredible luck. I’m glad that Nintendo didn’t hold back here but man is it a different feeling than the A.I. nowadays. Although maybe I’m speaking too soon and I’m about to get clobbered when I try Super Mario Party soon. It’s not completely out of the realm of possibility right?

The graphics have aged very well if you ask me. Yeah they’re certainly a bit blockier and more pixelated as you would expect since it has been many years but the art style is magnificent so it just doesn’t matter. There’s one minigame where the characters are in their vehicles so you just see their giant heads popping out and it works extremely well. Meanwhile the soundtrack and sound effects are on point as well.

I haven’t talked much about the gameplay because it’s pretty self explanatory but I will say the most impressive thing here is really just that the game is a lot of fun. At no point are you bored or anything and the flow is pretty good. The minigames have a lot of variety as well. I should warn you that the Z button doesn’t appear to be configured/mapped with the GC controller. Not sure if there’s a way to fix that in the settings but if not there are definitely some unwinnable minigames here so I would keep that in mind. You basically just end up losing which boosts the CPU’s chances of winning matches even more as a result.

There are quite a number of maps in the game, each with their own little quirks so that adds a lot of replay value to the title. It’s also fun unlocking so many new minigames each time. I do think that it could get a little tricky eventually when you’re down to the last ones to unlock with RNG but that is always the case. Just means you have to get in there and keep on playing matches until you’ve obtained them all. A 20 turn match seems to take close to an hour so I wonder how long doing the 50 turn party they suggest would take. I feel like I did get to try that once in Party 4 or 5 but that was so many years ago that I just don’t remember.

Obviously the game has tons of replay value with minigame mode, and all of the other ways to play. You could really keep playing this game forever which is by design and Nintendo definitely aced it there. I would say it does beat Mario Party 1 with ease although to me Mario Party 2 seemed to have the better selection of minigames. I would also take it over a lot of the modern titles that really messed with the rules, these traditional settings are definitely the best way to go.

Overall, Mario Party 3 is definitely a pretty good game. I had fun with it and while you can definitely see some areas that could use a bit of work like all of the interruptions within the party stage and all, it’s still a positive experience in the end. The minigames themselves are a lot of fun and there’s also such a large variety of them. Even party games that would come out many years later like Sonic and the Secret Rings had far less minigames. So this one showed what was possible on a much smaller budget and made it look easy. Nintendo was definitely ahead of the curve. So I would say playing Party 4 is the better bet but if you have the Switch Online then you definitely owe it to yourself to give it a shot. No reason not to play it when you’ve got it in the collection right?

Overall 7/10

Pikmin 3 Review

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It’s time for the third Pikmin game. I was really not a fan of the first title but the second was way better so I had good hopes for this one. In the end I don’t think it managed to topple the second game because it just couldn’t match the gameplay. I do appreciate that this one had much more of a story though so it kept things reasonably close. In the end as long as you enjoy some good adventuring and commanding the minions then you will have a good time here.

The game starts with a group of explorers crash landing on a planet that has a bunch of odd creatures known as Pikmin on it. The heroes are able to control them with a whistle which is handy because this world is full of dangerous creatures who want the heroes dead. The trio are also out of food and drinks so they have to grab some fruits while trying to find the cosmic key which will let them get off the planet and back home. It won’t be easy though and they may not be alone on this island. Other humanoids may attempt to stand in their way.

I appreciated that this game took advantage of its status as a sequel and actually brought in characters from the earlier games to give you a bit of a crossover feeling. It’s still not going for much of an epic tone of course but just seeing some old faces was nice. The nostalgia hits hard especially since I jut finished playing the second game. If I was actually a fan of the old characters then I might not have loved their portrayals here but honestly I was totally fine with it. It didn’t rock my boat or anything like that.

So I mentioned how I felt Pikmin 2’s gameplay was a little better so I’ll explain that now. In Pikmin 2 you could use the C stick to assemble the Pikmin and have them all converge on a target. In this game you have to instead click on the lock-on feature and then look towards the opponent and press B. The problem is that pressing B is for dispersing the Pikmin as well so if your lock on wasn’t perfect or you lost it for a split second then it was all over for you. Your Pikmin would get eaten.

In general the gameplay felt a little less precise which is a bit odd all things considered. You’d have expected the opposite of that. Another rough part is when you throw a Pikmin somewhere, he will always return to that same spot. This is an issue because that means after building something you have to run all the way back to pick up your Pikmin. This happens quite often and makes things difficult for you because if you don’t have the Pikmin back in your party before the day is over then it ends up dying. That really ends up putting you behind the 8 ball when it counts.

There are quality of life updates here like Pikmin being able to survive if they’re by the ship. I definitely appreciate that. The whole relying on drinks to survive is better than the way the first Pikmin would just have you get the bad ending once the days passed. It’s just not perfect the way Pikmin 2 was in not rushing you at all. That’s the kind of energy I like to see.

The graphics definitely look really sharp. The colors really pop out at you and in general it felt like Nintendo gave this one to the A team. There aren’t any big fight scenes or anything like that to really show off the animation but after playing the second one so recently, you could see how much more vibrant this one was. It’s perhaps a little less spooky as a result since the place looks really happy but it’s got a good balance in the end. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side, you’re really not going to remember the tunes all that well.

The boss fights are all pretty unique and have a lot of style to them though. They weren’t reused and they really made you think about which Pikmin to use. So I liked that and the game really underscored why you would want to have many creatures of each type at the ready to handle all possible obstacles. Otherwise you could actually just get completely stuck in a level and have to go back which was never fun. The levels could be rather large and almost crossed the line of being too big but I would say it never actually gets to be too much. The shortcuts you unlock as you go through the worlds definitely help a lot.

Overall, Pikmin 3 is a pretty good game. You definitely do need to enjoy harvesting and taking your time in order to really have a good time here though. It’s not amazing or anything like that but I wasn’t bored and in fact I even had fun most of the time. I really appreciated the fact that you can take multiple days to defeat a boss. It helps take a load off of your mind and make the night/day system not so bad. Even if you run out of time you can always try again later on. For the final boss this was especially helpful as it took a whole lot to bring him down. I had to go back to previous areas several times to grow more Pikmin to put a stop to him. In the end it all worked out though and this is the kind of title where you can take your time so if the first Pikmin scared you off, this one is safe to play. Part of me does wonder what would happen if I had eaten all of the fruits and hadn’t beat the game yet. Would I actually have to go back in time and restart the game from midway in? That would be rough but I don’t know exactly how that works.

Overall 7/10

LIMBO Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 4/10

Pikmin 2 Review

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It’s no secret that I really didn’t care for the original Pikmin and it’s part of what made it take so long for me to get the sequel. Well, that and the fact that the sequel was really overpriced but still I took the plunge and it all worked out. Pikmin 2 manages to improve on all of the issues that I had with the first title. The day system of the game just ending has been removed which is excellent and the gameplay is also a lot smoother. So the unthinkable happened and I actually had a lot of fun this time. Yes, I was just as surprised as you are and so now I’m actually ready to jump into Pikmin 3 soon after all of these years.

Well, the plot starts off with Olimar’s boss racking up a ton of debt. Unfortunately these debt collectors mean business and his life will be over if he doesn’t raise $10,000. Fortunately there is a planet nearby with a lot of treasure so Olimar gets sent over there with a rookie recruit. Can the two of them earn the money needed to save the company or is it all over? One thing’s for sure, they won’t be welcomed back until they have the cash.

So that’s the goal of the game and it’s part of the fun in how this one plays out because there are different ways to earn money. Naturally the easiest way is by finding treasure, each treasure generally gets you 100 coins. So rack up 100 of those and you will hit the $10,000. Now it’s not always so straightforward, some treasures are worth more than that and others are worth less but it roughly adds up. Some treasures end up giving you permanent upgrades as well like the ability to survive fire or electricity. Then you can also bring enemies back to your ship for money. The weakest ones will only give you one coin while others can give 10 or so.

It’s a long process but if you are absolutely stuck and unsure of how to defeat the latter worlds, you could in theory just farm money on the first few levels as much as you want with the enemies. Ultimately I didn’t do that but it does give you an extra sense of security that it’s possible. The best feeling in the game was definitely finding a new cave which is basically how the dungeons work in this game. The average cave has 7 levels in it and each level has 1-2 pieces of treasure in it. So you’re looking at around $1000 or so in the caves and they were massively helpful in getting to the end. I still had 1 cave I hadn’t unlocked yet by the time I beat the game which shows how generous they are with the treasure.

Now they are also pretty dangerous though. If you die or lose all of your Pikmin when inside of a cave then you lose all of your treasure. There’s no auto save when losing though so feel free to reset the game and try again. Of course sometimes it won’t matter because for example the exit is blocked by a gate that requires 10 Pikmin and you only have 3. At that point you just have to hold the L so always make sure you have a decent amount at the ready.

I realize I haven’t talked much about the gameplay. So basically you command a ton of Pikmin that you order to attack enemies, destroy obstacles, and carry treasure. The controls are fairly intuitive, you just point and they do the task or you can throw them to have them attack quicker. In this respect the game is even better than the original and the 3rd game as you always feel like you have total control. The Pikmin may die easily but they fight hard. The only tough part is getting them to stay single file behind you as they tend to fall into the ocean sometimes. That could always be annoying and in general water is the toughest obstacle for that reason. It can be hard to plan around that.

The most annoying part of the game has to be losing a bunch of Pikmin at once though. Like lets say you do drop them in the ocean or a boss eats most of them. It can take a full 2-3 days cycle to get your numbers back up and that feels a bit tedious. I only had a full wipeout a few times at least so it wasn’t too bad but one quality of life update I would do is making it so that as you progress through the game you actually start off with more Pikmin. Instead of only getting 1 of each type after a wipeout, maybe 5 of each type. Some kind of progression system that rewards you for playing so long.

The graphics for the game are pretty solid. I don’t know that I’d call it Nintendo’s finest work or anything like that. It doesn’t look as sharp as the Mario games but you do always know what’s going on and I like the level designs. The soundtrack is much more on the forgettable side and could be better though. You won’t be humming the tunes or anything like that. It’s a much more low key kind of adventure.

Overall, Pikmin 2 is a pretty good game. I actually don’t have many complaints with the title and I think it did a good job being a resource management type of game. Really what it’s just lacking at this point is more of a story. I think you could have absolutely had more cutscenes since we really just got an opening and an ending here. It would give you more of a reason to get invested beyond just enjoying the gameplay after all. Give me that extra boost and we’re all set. As it is the game is reasonably long and you have replay value from the post game stuff so they did put in a true effort all the way.

Overall 7/10

Override: Mech City Brawl Review

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This game didn’t make too many waves when it came out to be honest. It was around and then just as quickly as it came out, everyone forgot about it. The main problem is that it just didn’t really have a big hook to it. No singular reason why you would play it over some other mech game or anything like that. Still, the sequel brought in Ultraman so I figured…okay let me give this one a shot so I can go play the sequel soon and in the end it was pretty good.

The game actually does have a brief story mode even though there really isn’t much to it. Basically you have to help protect the world from alien invaders that are trying to take over. The only way to beat them is with your giant mech suit that has a ton of power at its disposal. Sounds easy enough, but you are outnumbered. You’re also a rookie so nobody takes you seriously yet. Can you defy the odds and save the world?

You’ll have the game beaten in a matter of hours so don’t worry about any of that. This is definitely not what I would call a really hard game at all. Just keep on punching the enemies away and the game will be over before the difficulty can really spike up at all. Considering that this is a PS4 title I do think they could have done more with the voice acting and budget to make this feel like a modern game. Because otherwise it just doesn’t really feel like it unlocked all of the latent potential. You could have made this game on the PS2 and it would be about the same.

The gameplay itself is fairly basic. You have your standard hits, power blows, and a super attack. Some attacks are so weak that you will never use them though. For example the main character has an energy blast, but it is slow and short range. What’s the point of an energy blast that is short range? I play long range fighters in fighting games for the spamming potential. That’s what I live for but if I can’t even do that then I’m absolutely going for the close range fighter all the way. There wouldn’t be much point in doing anything else at that point.

The gameplay can also be a bit slow. I’d say that using robots isn’t really an excuse for that either because I’ve seen plenty of faster ones. This game definitely could have stood to speed things up a notch but this is starting to sound negative for the gameplay so let me just clarify that the gameplay is still solid. I did have a good time with it because in general I love combat gameplay. You really can’t go wrong with it. It may not hold up against some other titles but I was still having fun. The game is also so cheap nowadays that it makes the value go up.

What this title really needed though was a larger cast, more modes to play, and a longer story. Throw those elements in and we’re talking about a whole new adventure at this point. If I bought this on opening day then I’d be super sad but buying it now, well it works out pretty well. The graphics are pretty decent. Nothing amazing but they’re fun and remind me of the old Godzilla Gamecube title. I also like how you can destroy just about every part of the city just by walking around. It helps show you the true scale of just how absolutely massive these robots are. Everything in their way is basically begging to be destroyed. The soundtrack’s more on the forgettable side though so don’t really worry about that.

In terms of replay value, this is mainly a multiplayer game so of course right off the bat that’s a ton of replay value. Just find some friends who enjoy the game and you can have fun playing against them for a while. Additionally you can work on getting the Platinum. I didn’t really look into how difficult that would be though. It all depends on if they included any online trophies or not but without a doubt it will add onto your overall playing time too. It’s why I still love trophies as a concept.

Overall, Override Mech is a pretty fun game. It’s not particularly ambitious nor does it have the sheer volume of content to compete with most mech titles but it’s a quality title. I always like seeing a new IP try to get out there and survive. This one at least does that and evidently did well enough to get a sequel. Unfortunately that one got rid of the stakes in the story although I’m very early on so that could change. At the end of the day if you like mecha fighting games then you should definitely pick this one up. Trust me you won’t regret it. This is the kind of game that you need to dive into especially when you see the low price.

Overall 7/10

Sin and Punishment Review

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It’s time to play a game that was really well known back in the day. I mean it still is as a legacy title of course but I’m betting most people probably have not heard of it at this point if you ask someone down the street. It’s why people need that big remake or reboot already. The sequel on the Wii was a lot of fun though. This game definitely has a very retro feel to it that you just don’t see nowadays though and it’s aged really well.

The game sort of just throws you into the story with some kind of resistance fighting some kind of alien invasion and an alien girl is around manipulating everyone. As the game goes on you get more and more context on what is going on but it’s also left vague enough to be part mystery all the way through. It works really well and definitely sets the stage for what you can expect here. It actually reminds me of Blame! a whole lot with the characters designs and story going on. There’s a lot of creepy visuals going on here and you have to keep your guard up at all times. The stakes get really high by the end and it even feels a bit meta at times.

The gameplay is pretty good to keep up with that. TO an extent it’s like a first person shooter. You do see your character but can only move side to side so I’d say it counts. You have to blow up all opposing forces before they can get to you and deal damage. What this means is that you need to try and go full throttle all the time. Predicting where an enemy will go and firing it a great way to stay ahead of the curve and prevent yourself from getting overrun. The game starts off rather easy but let me tell you that when the difficulty ramps up…it really ramps up! It hits you suddenly.

There was one boss in particular that I died to quite a few times where you’re fighting a spinning alien trash disc of sorts and then a giant robot shows up and stabs you. I couldn’t figure out how to dodge this thing and it turns out that I had to defeat the monster before it could hit me. So it’s a speed trial level and I didn’t realize that for quite a while. Not that it would have helped me much since it turned out that I also needed to use my sword on the object near the end.

I never fully mastered the controls. It seems like there are 3 gun settings and they change as you use the A button but that’s also the button you use to move to the right so I just wasn’t totally sure what was going on here. Sometimes I would switch settings accidentally when I was just trying to move. I do think there was some kind of a tutorial but…I didn’t click on it. So yeah no complaints on this end, I didn’t quite do my due diligence but that’s how it goes sometimes. The important thing is that the controls are still very smooth except for that and so the design is on point. Just go to the tutorial and you’ll have an easier time of things.

The game is fairly short although that’s to be expected for a shooter title like this. Generally in games where the level moves and you try to shoot your way to the end, the story will be short. I’m thinking it’s because it probably takes a lot of processing power to load up all of the levels and enemies. It’s just a guess of course but I think it makes a lot of sense because this feels really advanced especially for back in the day. The graphics may not be the best here but it’s hard to tell how much of that is on the tech and how much of it is stylistic. I do think to a degree the game is trying to look rough around the edges after all but I’m not sure and either way I gotta call it out all the same.

The soundtrack is definitely really good. It’s got that full sci-fi feel to it and the themes are always fairly quick. They match the tempo of the levels. The characters are good and the story is high quality at all times so I have no issues there either. This is a game that really had a lot of good effort put behind it which I really appreciate. It has no weakpoints, at most you could just say that it could stand to be longer. Still, it’s enough for you to have fun and the gameplay is solid which is the important thing. As a nitpick I do think they should have made movement be with the L and R buttons or something though just because having one button be for moving as well as for changing weapons can be a little confusing.

Overall, Sin and Punishment is a pretty fun game. I definitely had a good time with it all the way through. It does really finish in a flash but each level was well made and there was a lot of plot involved in it at all times. It’s what makes this game be a step above a lot of competitors. They definitely should have made many more games in this franchise already since the potential is absolutely there. If you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should definitely play this game as soon as possible. It’s right there and ready for you to start playing it after all. You just need to dive in and have a good time. Keep your guard up and you’ll be fine.

Overall 7/10