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Goldeneye 007 Review

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All right it’s time for one of the more iconic Nintendo games. Everyone knows about Goldeneye from back in the day after all. It’s won many awards and everything. A lot of its acclaim comes from the multiplayer mode though so what happens when you go into the single player campaign? Well I would say that it doesn’t age quite as well as some of the other shooters with all of the bonus objectives you have to accomplish but props to the folks who managed to conquer this game. It gets deceptively hard by the end and without a guide some of the puzzles would have really had you stumped for quite a while.

The game follows the story of the movie with Bond having to save a girl and stop an enemy threat. You know, classic Bond stuff. But is he really ready to take on this new terrorist organization that has a seemingly endless amount of fighters at the ready to put an end to him? He will have to definitely harness all of his skills and experience with a gun in order to end this. If he can’t pull off the win…then it’s quite possible that nobody can.

Right away you can tell that the graphics here are pretty solid. The characters are a little blocky but the fact that the game has massive environments and lots of variations of guns and ammo is really impressive. The soundtrack also has the classic 007 theme among others so that gets a thumbs up as well. They went all out with the technical aspects of the game and you will not be disappointed at any point. The quality of the actual gameplay is also really good. I’m glad that the gun auto locks on to an extent but that you also have the ability to manually select your targets too.

It’s really the best of both worlds here and doesn’t force you to make a big decision either way until you are ready. I mostly stuck to the classic lock on but it did have a weakness for targets that were high up like the auto gunners so you will have to switch styles there. Your machine gun is the best bet for taking out enemies but at the same time it does use your ammo up very quickly so just be careful about that. Don’t overextend yourself or you will really be in trouble.

I did die a number of times in the gunfights but the really tough part in my opinion are the puzzles. Some of them I just really didn’t understand from the vague mission requirements. Whether it was taking a picture of a satellite that was nowhere to be found or having to access a bunch of computers you are often left in a really dicey position. Definitely not one to be underestimated and the game loses a bit of steam there. I guarantee you that it would have been a lot more fun if you could have just plunged ahead and had a blast dealing devastating damage to everyone in your path. Just make it a classic shoot your way to the finish. Instead the objectives mean you sometimes have to backtrack and the endless stream of regenerating minions will eventually take you down.

The length of the game is fairly decent. There are around 17 levels here and some can be short while others are pretty long. The difficulty also varies a lot so you are really on your toes the whole time. Just be careful because one slip up can result in your losing the level like if you break the object you were supposed to take a picture of or if your teammate end up getting shot. That last one is particularly difficult since she will often run in front of you so make sure you have terrific aim or start running immediately to stay in front.

There seems to be some replay value in playing on a higher difficulty which unlocks further levels but additionally the multiplayer aspect gives unlimited replay value. There is always something to do in that part after all. Multiplayer is the kind of content that keeps on giving which is why more and more game should strive to copy that approach. It’s definitely the way to go. Make no mistake either, the multiplayer is what really saves the game because if it was single player only then it would be good but not very good. It certainly wouldn’t be put on the pedestal that you can often find it nowadays.

Overall, Goldeneye is a pretty good game. I had my issues with it like the vague objectives but on the whole the gameplay is fun which is the important part. The story may not have been the strongest as I didn’t love the way it was told through long mission briefings as opposed to more cutscenes but the game is on the older side so I’ll cut it some slack. I would say that despite the reputation, this game is surpassed by the Gamecube ones. The Gamecube titles are top tier though so there’s really no shame in that. Sometimes that’s just the way that the cookie crumbles.

Overall 7/10

Mario Golf Review

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Golf is one of those sports that I was never really into. Whether it’s watching the real thing on TV or playing a video game I could just never get into it. I don’t know there’s just something about the sport that’s a bit too slow paced for me. The best Golf video game I’ve ever played was the Mario Golf for Gamecube and even that one wasn’t great. It’s still better than this one though which tries reasonably hard but just doesn’t have much to it. After hitting the ball around a bit you are definitely ready to move onto something else.

There isn’t really any story in this one unfortunately. I liked that the GBA game had a full story but this is back to just trying out every stage and maybe winning a tournament here and there. I played on all of the locations and there is some variety but it’s not nearly as significant as you would expect. Not to bring the Gamecube game into this again but that one had deserts, ice worlds, bowser, etc. The stages all really popped out and I think that’s part of why I enjoyed the game more than usual. I remember pouring hours and hours into it trying to unlock the new worlds and each one was so difficult to unlock. Eventually when I finally got the worlds it would feel like such a massive accomplishment. Like I pulled off the impossible, you know?

Here all of the stages seem to already be unlocked so that reward is gone. Now granted, maybe that’s just the Switch Online setting everything up or there is a secret that I missed. Don’t take this as definitive, but it seemed like everything was there except for the characters which you could unlock individually. I appreciated that since unlocking characters is always fun. In a dream world every game would be like Super Smash Bros Ultimate where you had to unlock everyone one by one. The Challenger Approaching screen is one of my fondest memories…but lets get back on topic.

There’s just not a whole lot to do here beyond playing Golf. That probably sounds rather obvious but what it means is that if you don’t find the Golf gameplay exciting then there is really nothing left for you and that’s exactly what happened to me. There also aren’t some quality of life updates that the next games had like scoping out the whole field and having different arrows telling you the exact point on the meter you needed to aim for. I’m pretty good at timing if I do say so myself so that would have been reasonably easy but it just didn’t work out this time. So I was really just guessing and hitting the ball all over the place.

As you can probably guess, I didn’t win any of the levels. My score on average was a +2 and for sure you can bet that I didn’t get an Birdy’s. The opponents did not hold back and really just went out of their way to bury me the whole time. No problem, I can take it but unlike most games where I can easily picture myself winning, I can tell that this one would take a lot of practice and time. Not exactly part of my plan so I’ll just have to hold the L on this one.

Naturally I will give the game props for the graphics. The game looks very sharp as you would expect and the level designs are good. Perhaps not as varied as they could be but they all stick out. I also liked seeing some new characters in the mix like Plum. It’s a shame that she never caught on and got to appear more. The soundtrack isn’t quite as memorable as Tennis or Kart but there are some good tunes here to keep you busy while you’re playing the levels. I really have no problems on the technical side. If the gameplay was better then automatically I would find this to be a very high quality game. It’s just that gameplay will always outclass all of the other aspects of a game.

The only attribute that can come close is a great story. Like an amazing story with bad gameplay can possibly get a pass because I’m so invested that I’ll endure whatever is thrown at me. I feel like that’s the only exception though. The graphics can be the best in the world but if the gameplay is no good then that’s just game over. Again it all comes down to having fun and so if you’re not having fun with the game then something went wrong.

Overall, Mario Golf should be fun for people who really enjoy the sport but if you’re on the fence or just aren’t very impressed by it then it’s really not going to do a whole lot for you. You’ll end up wanting to skip to the next title. At the end of the day some games just don’t click and for me this was one of those occasions. I get that a good amount of effort was put into the title but at the end of the day I just didn’t find it very fun and that will always hurt a whole lot. A game is made to be really fun after all so if you can’t pull that off then it’s truly game over. So I’d say if you have the Switch Online, check out any of the other Mario sport games instead.

Overall 5/10

Mario Kart 64 Review

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It’s time to check out a very retro Nintendo title but one that certainly made a whole lot of waves back in the day. Who could have guessed that this would end up being one of the most iconic video game series of all time right? It’s definitely a game that has aged really well. It may be a little more basic than some of the other Mario Karts as this is a series which has continued to get better and better but there’s no denying that it is still very solid in every area.

There are 4 tournaments to conquer in this game and each one has 4 levels to it. Not only do the stages get tougher as you go through the game but this also makes it feel as if the A.I. scales up with them since they master the turns while you will have some trouble with them. I was breezing through the first two tournaments but saw a big jump in the third tournament. Finally in the last one I actually took home the bronze instead of the gold which was real interesting. It’s kind of fun to be playing a Mario Kart game that’s really tricky like this.

In part this is due to some rubber banding though. I can’t prove it but it did seem like the computer’s would get way faster when I was ahead of them. Most of it is just me not mastering the turns though. It could be really hard to get used to the drifting here after playing Double Dash for so long. The more I play, the more I would get the timing down though, it’s really just about that repetition. I had fun switching up the characters a lot too although I couldn’t tell if they played differently or not here. I’d need to pay more attention to that.

The graphics are definitely pretty solid here. Interestingly it’s much less blocky than Mario Tennis so you can already see Mario transitioning into his more modern design here. Same with the rest of the characters so either this came out after Mario Tennis or it had a bigger budget. I’m not really sure which one is the case here but regardless the colors are on point and all of the characters look really good so big props all around.

The soundtrack is also timeless and you should recognize quite a few of the tunes since they tend to return in future titles. Mario certainly does a great job with variety and the soundtrack really helps to make the stages stand out even more. The composer did a superb job all the way through. So on every technical element the game succeeds and of course the gameplay is really smooth too. On 150CC I’d even say you move at a pretty impressive speed that is comparable to the newer games. It’s really just not able to compete with the sequels in terms of overall content which makes a lot of sense considering how long ago this one came out.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game beyond this since there isn’t a story mode so the gameplay is really the full package. There is endless replay value due to the multiplayer and this is high quality racing. You would likely not be able to find a better racing game on the N64 and the fundamentals are good enough where you can seamlessly play this in 2023. That’s how you know that Nintendo really spared no expense for this one.

At the end of the day you want to play a game that is fun and this one is really fun all the way around. The levels are short enough where they all really fly by and so that helps make it easier to replay the levels over and over again as needed. Even if you’re playing the game by yourself you’ll have a lot of fun although I’d say it’s barely even debatable that you will have the superior experience when playing with friends. That is the point of pretty much any sports game after all right?

Overall, Mario Kart 64 is definitely a pretty fun game. It’s certainly a racer that you won’t be forgetting any time soon. The amount of content may not be a ton next to the newer titles but it still has a lot to do. Of course there’s also the obvious perk of the multiplayer which is mainly why people play the series anyway. You can have a blast just racing over and over as you enjoy the fun competitive nature of the game. One wrong crash can take you from first to last in a heartbeat. If you happen to fall into a very unlucky area you may find that it takes almost 30 seconds to get back to the track which is pretty much fatal in this kind of game. So learn the stages well and you will really be all set for action here!

Overall 7/10

Winback: Covert Operations Review

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All right now this is what I would call a gem in the rough! It’s a game I’d never heard of before and without the Nintendo Switch Online I probably never would have gotten to play it because of how obscure it is. I’d just not have ever thought to look it up. Well, this game is a blast and I absolutely recommend checking it out if you have the Switch Online bundle because this game does not hold anything back.

The story starts with the top notch agents all being placed on a mission. They are being dropped onto an island to stop some terrorists that have taken over to try and use a powerful weapon to bring the world to its knees. This mission is one where failure is not an option so the heroes can’t leave until they’ve guaranteed success. Unfortunately it does not start out well as the copter is shot down and everyone gets split up. You now have to find your comrades while taking on the villains but will you really be able to pull this off?

First up, the game’s story is very impressive. There isn’t really any voice acting here but we still get text boxes and technical limitations did not slow the writer down. You have a lot going on here, a fairly big character cast and also a serious body count. Nobody feels safe and that makes sense because you are behind enemy lines at this point. Make the wrong call and that’s game over. All of the characters understand the stakes and act appropriately. There is always a villain to be stopped and they will follow their mission to the end.

The epic soundtrack helps to balance this out. It reminded me a lot of Oni for the PS2 with the sci-fi vibes here. The costumes are really solid and the villain entrances are memorable when they show up with their accompanying music. One of the first bosses in particular impressed me as he had a very detailed design and must have had some kind of interesting backstory but the main character doesn’t have time for that. He just launches right into the battle and I definitely had to respect that. That’s exactly the kind of energy I would expect to see here. It’s just a fight to the death and it’s not personal as both sides are fighting for a cause that they believe in and would give their life for.

There are a ton of twists and turns to be found in this story as well so get ready for a lot of epic moments like that. The game is also fairly long with over 30 levels, some levels are quite long at that. So definitely a lot of amazingness all around. It also ends up being a bit extra long because the game is very difficult. Far from being a walk in the park, this game has a lot of absolutely brutal sections mixed in. You will be jumped by tons of enemies from all sides and have to try and fend them off. Taking a stray hit can take over half of your health bar. You have to always be taking cover and keeping track of your surroundings.

The controls are very basic. You point and shoot, plus you can hide behind objects. That’s basically it. You can use lock on which is extremely handy but just watch out because sometimes it takes an extra second to find an enemy and by then you’ll have been shot. That’s really where the game is at its most tricky. It’s trying to encourage you to use manual shooting which is without a doubt superior, but it can be really hard to move so quickly. So for me I stuck with auto and just did a lot of extra hiding.

Even with that though, there are so many rooms on the island and they are all filled with enemies. New enemies spawn when you enter a room and then back track so you can really never lower your guard. Some enemies will run up to you and just stab you which is usually a game over. Each level has check points but the check points remember your health so ironically this can actually be a bad thing. Like you survive the first section with one piece of health left so now you are doomed to always start that way until you completely finish off the level.

Yeah I died time and time again in this title. It’s got to be one of the harder games that I’ve played and this is often the case with shooters. It is definitely not my best genre and if I had to play it straight like back at the arcade I don’t see how I would have stood a chance. It’s just so unforgiving because you can finish the first 20 enemies perfectly but then the 21st gets you. That’s really all that it takes to tip the scales which is the crazy part. With the awesome music and story you’ll definitely power through but with a lesser game you’d probably end up being frustrated.

That’s why it’s good to have developers that really give a title their all though. Every piece of this game is great. From the smooth controls to the solid story, no corners were cut here. Even the length went above and beyond since most games for the console were considerably shorter. Nobody would have bat an eye if it was 15 levels instead of 31 but the game still brought in a ton of content and made sure that the replay value was really on point!

Overall, This is definitely a game that I would recommend checking out. It’s just great all around and way better than I ever could have guessed. It has that retro vibe to it which you just don’t see anymore nowadays. The characters are solid and the gameplay is excellent. It’s hard to beat a good 3D shooter after all. The game is incredibly hard though so props to whoever managed to beat it back in the day. The checkpoints help but we’re still talking long sections in which you can’t save or anything like that. Yeah this probably kept people up at nights trying to conquer it.

Overall 8/10

Mario Tennis Review

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It’s time to take a look as a really retro Nintendo title. Who doesn’t remember the classic Mario Tennis title right? Mario Power Tennis is still one of my all time favorite sport games even counting the non Mario ones and so I have a lot of nostalgia for these. The original Mario Tennis isn’t operating at quite the same level as Mario Power Tennis but it’s still a really solid one all things considered. It’s fairly basic and doesn’t have a lot of the annoying gimmicks that newer games tend to add.

The opening cutscene is also a blast as we get to see some real story mixed in there. Outside of that there isn’t a central story though. There are 3 tournament cups to conquer and when you complete each of them you get an ending cutscene for the character you play as. The cutscene is the same for all 3 so you could always just beat the first cup with everyone if you want to see all of their endings. Each cup gradually gets longer and tougher as you play through them so you will want to keep that in mind as well.

It’s actually not a walk in the park to defeat the final cup. The computers really step up their game and can be hard to predict. They really know how to answer the shots and the low/lob hits aren’t as refined as they were in the Gamecube days so you just have to try and outplay your opponent. Some rallies can take quite a while as a result but in the end it always feels good when you manage to pull off the win. I found it easiest to always aim for the corners, trying to “trick” the computer by shooting it at them and hoping they would move doesn’t tend to work. Ironically they do that to me a whole lot but what can you do….

The graphics are really solid here. I really enjoy all of the character models. Aside from being super nostalgic, they’ve just aged really well thanks to the artstyle. It’s why going for a bright, cartoony look like this tends to work well because it’s pretty ageless. Whether it’s 2002, 2022, or 2042 it will always look really good. The stages are on point and you can tell a lot of effort was put into this. The soundtrack is also good with a lot of energetic tunes to listen to as you blast your way through the stages.

There are also other modes outside of the tournaments like playing special minigames. There aren’t a lot of them but you have the classic rings and also playing a long volley against piranha plants. I don’t imagine you will spend a whole lot of time here but more content is always good. The character roster is at a decent size too so you should find a character who fits your playstyle rather easily. They all play pretty much the same anyway though so it’s more about style points.

As for the difficulty level, you’ll get used to it the more that you play. I really only got back into the basics of the game and wasn’t exactly an expert at actually mastering the controls like that. Like I never got the low shot to work so either the A.I. was just that perfect or I wasn’t using it in the right circumstances. Also it would be really hard to return shots when I was too close to the net so I have to work on that. In the end your reaction times often won’t be enough so you have to just pick a direction and run there. If the ball is hit on the other side? Well you tried, that’s the best that you could do at that point.

Personally as one game tip, I would recommend constantly holding down A and B. This lets you do a smash when the ball is high up but a pretty solid hit even if it’s a normal shot. This seemed to be the only shot that would pretty much always work when you were up close. So double tap A when you are far away but hold down both when you are close. Do this and you should be winning more matches. Of course the main thing is to have fun though. That’s why this game is so solid, it’s just really enjoyable to go through. It captures the game of tennis without being too overly technical or worried about the small stuff. It’s why I tend to love Mario sport games like this sometimes even more than the regular ones.

Overall, I would definitely recommend checking this game out. It’s really a part of history at this point and is just solid all around the board. The graphics are good, the soundtrack is a lot of fun, and there is a whole lot of content here. The amount of replay value is incredible and it has to be one of the best values on the Switch Online. Ultimately the only thing holding it back is that the sequels are simply better and that’s really not something it can help right? All it could do is be the best game it could be and it succeeded at that.

Overall 7/10

Suika Game Review

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It’s time to delve into the world of fruits with this title. Thanks to Nintendo Switch Online providing the full game for free temporarily I got to have some fun with this one. That said, I can’t picture ever buying it because the game is just too limited. There are certainly some titles where the gameplay is so addicting that you can keep playing it over and over anyway but this is definitely not one of them. It just feels like more of a watered down version of Tetris.

Basically the idea is that you have to match fruits together to create larger fruits. Like two Strawberries may create a grape and then two grapes create an orange. You keep going until you get the biggest fruit possible. What this means is you need to plan things carefully to have the fruits next to each other because if your jar gets filled up then you will lose the match. There is RNG in terms of what fruit will be selected next but that goes hand in hand with the genre. All in all it’s pretty simple to pick up and play. You can work out your strategy as you go and try to improve your record each time. You are also able to really go at your own pace which is always nice.

That said, it still runs into the issue I mentioned earlier which is that there just isn’t a whole lot to do. It’s still just the one level so the background never changes and there are only a few different fruits, maybe 10 at max? So you very quickly realize that you’re performing the same actions again and again which destroys the mystique of it all. For a title like Pac Man you really enjoy getting your high score up and I’d say in part that’s due to how fast paced the whole thing is. You’re constantly using your reaction times and everything to stay one step ahead. This game is a lot slower and so you have more time to think about what you’re doing but it’s also less hectic. When you lose, well you feel like you did a good job but you aren’t rushing to go back.

This game need something to really stoke your competitive fire. Something that makes you want to give it one more shot to prove to the world that you have the skills. More cosmetic unlockables or something would be good. Like unlocking more things based on your high score, cumulative high score, and general level ups. This would be fairly easy to implement but would add a whole new dimension to the game. Yes, this would have absolutely helped a whole lot and I think we would be looking at a completely different game in the long run.

As it stands, there just isn’t enough here to keep your attention. The music’s okay and the game visually looks really solid but it feels like a free game you spend a few minutes on and then that’s it. If it grabs you then potentially you’re all set but in this day and age there are too many powerful competitors all trying for your attention. There just isn’t any time for this title and so it ends up falling by the wayside.

Overall, I had a good time with this game for a few minutes but it’s quite telling that I only played 3 full rounds. There isn’t enough variety to keep you engaged and due to the slower speed of the game, you know that you’ve lost well before you actually do. So at that point you are going through the motions just to end the round so that your score can be saved but that isn’t the most exciting thing to do. You feel bad about it if anything because you’d like to just get knocked out and move on. I would even say as a rule of thumb if your game over is imminent, the game should put you out of your mercy quickly so that you can move on. Maybe in a way that’s what really holds this title back but of course it is hard to say for sure. It needs more content and that’s still the bottom line here.

Overall 5/10

Banjo-Kazooie Review

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You know that feeling when you see a really good sweater outside but when you turn it around to purchase you see that they just went a little too crazy on the design? That’s this game in a nutshell, the gameplay is actually really solid and a ton of effort was put into the game. Then….the game fumbles the ball in the end by adding the collectathon elements. I should note that no game absolutely needs to be a collectathon. In fact most would be better off without it.

So the game starts with Banjo’s sister being kidnapped by the evil witch Gruntilda. She surprisingly puts up a decent fight but ultimately it is not enough to win and so Banjo and his pal Kazooie have to go and rescue her. To do this they will have to find various puzzle pieces and musical notes to unlock doors in Gruntilda’s lair and get to the end. It won’t be easy by any means but they are ready to pull out the win and do what has to be done. Will they really be able to get past all of her traps though?

The writing for the game is pretty fun with Kazooie constantly picking fights and generally being the biggest jerk you’ve ever seen. I really like that about his character particularly because it’s something that you just don’t see a lot of in these classic platformers. Usually everyone is super nice which is intentional because platformers are supposed to be fairly heart warming stories for the masses. So adding a little wit here was a good idea and gradually more games would continue that approach. There’s a lot of solid dialogue throughout and the sound effects each character makes instead of voice acting was also intense.

The graphics are definitely really sharp here. The game looks nice and has aged really well. It reminds me a lot of Mario 64 in a good way right from the stage designs to the sound effects and everything. I actually think Banjo sounds like Mario. The game is ahead of its time in this area and the soundtrack is also pretty solid. There are a good variety of tracks to be found here and each one helps get you invested into the stage. It’s also helpful for the quiz at the end which asks you questions about which theme belongs to which stage. That quiz definitely doesn’t hold back with how difficult it is.

The core gameplay is a fairly basic 3D platformer. You run and jump as you clear challenges and get your puzzle pieces. You gradually learn new abilities in each world so you can get used to them and aren’t too overwhelmed at the start. You can become invincible, fly, shoot eggs, etc. It makes for a pretty well rounded experience since there is just so much that you can do and of course that means there is also a greater variety in the kinds of puzzles that the game can challenge you with. Finding some of the puzzles can really take you a long while as you figure out what the game wants you to do.

Now is where the game falters a bit though. Granted, I knew that the game was part collectathon but that’s fine because I was ready for this. On average I would get around 7/10 of the puzzle pieces in a world and I would get around 80/100 of the musical notes. Pretty good I must say, however before getting to the final boss I was blocked by a door that said I needed 94 puzzle pieces to unlock the final boss fight. Why? That’s an incredible amount of pieces, that means getting 10/10 in almost every world. For example there are 100 puzzle pieces in the entire game so you’re basically telling me to 100% the title. That’s not cool when you’re just trying to beat the game.

Collecting bonus stuff should unlock a post game cutscene or some kind of really cool bonus content. I don’t even care how awesome the bonus content is, lock that behind 100% and it’s totally legitimate. What is not cool is locking the main story ending behind it. It meant I had to go back to every world and spend a ton of time there. Then you also need to collect a ton of musical notes in each world to get to the final boss too and that was also rough. At least with the puzzle pieces you can grab them and go home. For the musical notes you always start at 0 when you enter the level so that means starting the collecting from scratch every time. Come onnnnnn.

So yeah this really hurt the game tremendously because that’s way too much replaying. A similar thing ended up hurting another N64 title I was playing but I’ll go more into that in the future. Banjo is a super polished game but the collecting gives it artificial length that it didn’t need. It holds the whole experience back because at first it was a whole lot of fun and then this happened and became more of a chore. You aren’t able to just enjoy the levels anymore, you have to find every secret and be careful not to die or you lose all your progress on the notes.

The final boss is definitely well designed though. It’s crazy hard with a ton of phases so it’s a nice reward for having gotten all of the pieces. Kudos to the folks who managed to beat it without access points because it’s extremely hard to dodge the attacks in the final phase. Gruntilda smashed my health points multiple times with that one and I probably had at least 60-70 game overs there. It almost felt like she would be predicting your movements when you would give her your back so facing her all of the time is definitely the best play. Slow and steady is literally the way to win this match.

Overall, Banjo-Kazooie is definitely a legendary game. It’s one that everyone still remembers to this day and for good reason. It does operate on a high level for most of its modes and campaign but ultimately having to go back to each level and get the collectibles took a lot of the wind out of its sails. Particularly with the massive hub world requiring a lot of running around and trying not to get lost. I’d still recommend checking this game out but don’t leave a world until you’ve 100% cleared it. It’ll save you time in the long run since leaving will cause the level to reset although granted some levels may be impossible initially if you don’t have the right power up so that could be another snag…..will see if the sequel keeps up this approach or lessens the restrictions a bit.

Overall 6/10

1080° Snowboarding Review

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My Nintendo 64 marathon through the Switch Online continues here with another pretty intense one. Snowboarding can typically be pretty fun as you try to claim first place but ironically the more arcade style versions tend to be better than the full games. Like Mario Party has minigames in this style that are infinitely better than this whole game but I still had fun. It just suffers from some of the usual issues of the genre like repetitive levels and the controls not being super smooth.

There isn’t any kind of tutorial when you start the game so you really just have to jump right into the mix. There’s a training mode where you are left on your own to practice jumps and different aerial maneuvers but nothing on how to balance or accelerate. So you will learn that through trial and error but I was never quite able to figure out how to land on my board properly. My solution? I just didn’t jump. I would avoid every jump as best I could and did not perform any tricks.

I don’t even know what the point of the tricks are so far. They don’t seem to help speed you up or anything like that and if anything they slow you down a whole lot. My opponent kept on doing tricks so I would ignore him and come in first. I was able to beat the game on easy and hard because of that although I couldn’t win on super hard. There has to be some kind of advantage to doing the tricks but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. Weird…but hey I suppose that’s something for the master players. I was just in here trying to have a good time, you know? It’s what I do.

The graphics are pretty sharp for the game. The colors pop out at you and the levels are pretty detailed in the background. It’s why it is a shame that all of the levels look so similar. This happens to a lot of snow based games and it makes sense to an extent but I think a good developer should be able to get around that. I would also argue throwing in a few levels in the forests, space, etc. would be a good way to break things up. Why is it snowing in space? Doesn’t matter, it would be a fun level. That’s how they need to approach these games and I guarantee you 1000% that it would work out really nicely.

The soundtrack is also rather decent. Not going to say that it’s amazing or anything but it’s pretty catchy and keeps you invested the whole time so I have to give it props there. It’s just a fun game to play. There may not be a whole lot of content but there is a multiplayer mode which should work for replay value. I suspect there are many better games in the genre by this point so there’s not a whole lot of reason to play this one in particular but it does hold up.

Really my only issue goes back to the whole balance thing. When you jump up high enough, it feels like your character always falls out of balance even when he shouldn’t. I think the game is a little too particular/picky in that area. Let me land safely as long as I have the board straight. That should be all that I need and it’s why I say that sometimes the more detailed games for a sport get just a little too lost in the weeds. I want to be able to just start zooming along the course.

Overall, 1080 is a good game. It’s over in a flash though as normal mode only has 4 races and then hard has 5. Each race is around 2 minutes so you can see how that would be over in an instant. I think there may actually be more characters and boards than stages which may not be all that crazy but it doesn’t sound right. Like you don’t even get to explore with everyone before the game’s over. The devs could have stayed with this one a bit longer and made it more of a definitive experience. They did succeed in making the game fun though which is the most important part.

Overall 6/10

Yoshi’s Story Review

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Yoshi is one of those characters who has gotten his share of video games but not as many as you probably would have expected. It’s a shame because there’s a ton of potential for more adventures with him and they just don’t happen a whole lot. Either way I can safely say that this is an all right game but one that ends wayyyyyy too fast and loses some points there. They did some interesting things with the gameplay and tried to stand out but it ultimately just didn’t work as well as it could have.

The general plot is basically that Yoshi and his buddies are having fun and getting into lots of trouble. They wander across different areas and have their jollies but at the end of the day it’s always a tricky situation. You can definitely appreciate the wholesomeness of the adventure all the way through but it’s over so fast. I want to say the game probably isn’t even 2 hours long. There are 6 levels here and each one is fairly short as you just have to collect a lot of fruits. Once you have enough fruit then the level ends abruptly. Otherwise you can technically keep looping in the level as it won’t end until you eat the fruit. I didn’t realize this during the first level so I was speeding along but once you know the objective then it gets easier.

The final boss is reasonably tough though as you learn what you need to do in order to beat him. Make no mistake though, as a whole this game is fairly easy and not one that is likely to give you a big challenge or anything like that. You’re playing this for the fun visuals and gameplay. The 2D platforming is similar to Mario but different at the same time as you can of course eat your enemies which is a bit different and you can glide using Yoshi’s fancy boots. That helps to really make things a bit different as well. Even the objective of eating the fruits is unique.

You’ll have a fun time playing through the game which is why it’s a shame that it’s not longer. You can easily picture playing through 20+ levels with this style and the game would get progressively harder as you go. I am curious what would happen if you lose enough times for all Yoshis to be captured though. Would it be a game over where you start back from level 1 or would they be saved? Ultimately I never got to find that out but if you lose enough times then you may be able to pull that off.

The graphics aren’t bad here. The animation style isn’t really my thing so it hasn’t aged as well as it could have but I still wouldn’t call it bad or anything like that. The soundtrack is also a bit on the forgettable side although the Yoshi song that plays after every level is fun. They can really sing and you aren’t likely to forget the tune after you have heard it. That’s how intense it gets.

There isn’t much in the way of replay value though. No extra zones that I could see and there weren’t any collectibles in the levels anyway. Maybe there is some kind of bonus content hidden in the game but it really looks like one of those games that’s one and done. You complete it and then that’s the end of the road. Nothing wrong with a game like that of course but that’s why I can’t wholeheartedly recommend this one the way that I would like to.

Overall, Yoshi’s Island has a high level of quality put into the levels and gameplay. That much is absolutely clear while playing it but I have to imagine that the team had a very short development time window. That would explain why it’s just so short. It feels like a game that is basically unfinished and so when you can play it for free like through the Switch Online it is a good bargain but I have to imagine that I would have been pretty disappointed if I had bought the game at full price. It wouldn’t last the evening, let along a full weekend. Yoshi’s definitely had better games in the present that I would much sooner recommend over this one.

Overall 5/10

Black Clover M: Rise of the Wizard King Review

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Okay it’s time to jump into the latest mobile adventure! This game got a ton of hype when it was announced. I feel like we had to wait months and months over in America for it, but this was definitely worth the wait. It’s a very ambitious title and one that should last you for a very long time. In a way the fact that it is so ambitious is why I didn’t last very long though. It’s the kind of game you would want to sit down and play for hours but you will have to dedicate a whole lot of time to it and I wasn’t prepared to do that just yet. I played all of the available levels but I won’t be sticking around for the next few years of updates.

The game covers a good chunk of the Black Clover manga and it’ll be interesting to see when it passes the anime. I suspect it will be a very long time since the game is very detailed so far so it covers the content rather slowly. Usually this only gets more and more noticeable as the game goes on to buy even more time. Even titles like Pokemon Go do this by holding onto the Pokemon and only releasing a few at a time. So yeah don’t expect this to go all the way to the end any time soon but the more content the better right? Black Clover fans can rest easy knowing that everything will be adapted here.

The gameplay is your classic turn based combat title. You have several attacks to choose form and you can use synergy to attack with combo moves. The gameplay is fairly simple and it’s also customizable so you can turn attack animations off to save time or have the computer play automatically for you. Of course the drawback there is that the AI is intentionally not very good so they will often make a whole lot of mistakes. It’s the price to be paid for convenience I suppose. You will get the hang of the game very quickly although mastering it is another story entirely.

See this is where the game gets a little too fancy. There are so many things to customize that it’s hard to know where to start. Characters have their gear to equip, attacks to level up, attacks to equip and leave on the bench, character ranks you have to use in order to get further level ups, bond ratings you have to improve, food, stats for the pyramid, etc. It just keeps on going and the UI gets very cramped very quickly. I think this could have absolutely been presented in a much clearer way to avoid all of the clicking. You’ll be clicking around through the menus constantly and it gets really distracting after a while. Particularly when you keep on getting collectibles and EXP at a high rate so you have to enter again and again and again.

There needs to be some shortcuts and such to make this faster. Fire Emblem Heroes for example still has the cleanest menus for a busy game like this. I was never confused or clicking on the wrong icon. Dragon Ball Legendz was another good one. I think Clover’s devs need to take some time to make the menus more polished. It’s great that they want to have so much content and for the people who take the game very seriously there will be a whole lot of depth to the gameplay. It’s just overwhelming for the casual gamer. I wouldn’t even call myself casual and it was a whole lot to take in.

I can already see how the game is poised to make a ton off of micro transactions with so many ways to make your characters stronger. If you want to style on your friends and beat people up then just pay some money and you can immediately get stronger. It’s that kind of game but that’s really all gatcha titles to an extent. So you can absolutely still play this as a freemium player and have access to all of the tools and items. It will just take you a little longer of course.

The graphics here are definitely impressive from start to finish. The game’s animations are very faithful to the anime and make good use of the CG character models. You won’t find much better looking graphics on the mobile and especially with the sheer number of cutscenes that are here. It almost feels like a full remake of the anime just with CG. The soundtrack is also very good. There are a good amount of tracks in the game although it would have been awesome if they could have grabbed the anime’s openings and ost in general. The cutscenes here don’t hit quite as hard without those.

It also goes without saying that as a mobile game there is a near infinite amount of replay value here. You could play this for years and likely not get to the end of the gameplay. That’s just how much content there is here and it’s an area where mobile does tend to dominate the competition. Gatcha games can only succeed for as long as they can churn out more and more content with the developers are quite aware of.

Overall, I do think this is a great game. It’s clear that a ton of time and resources was put into it. It could seamlessly make the jump over to consoles to be honest as there are so many cutscenes and such a big cast of characters. In a way that’s why it’s hard to do as a mobile title though because those games I am typically just playing a bit here and there with the exception of Pokemon Go which was made to be an outdoors experience. So I absolutely recommend this game but definitely treat it like a full console experience and you’ll be all set.

Overall 8/10