Rate the last game you finished!

[TyDye]

Life is Stange. 10/10

Was an amazing game with a great story. Got a little tedious but the ending made it worth it.

 

[Zepay]

Mario Sunshine

8/10

 

[Shiida]

i beat awakening again earlier today, 10/10

 

[Frizz]

Portal 2
So my friend gifted me this game on Steam just so that we could play Co-Op with each other. Which we did. And it was fun, nonetheless. But they wanted me to do Single Player. I was reluctant at first, but I wanted to play with some more portals. The game was easy at first, but as I progressed, I had to think more and more. GLaDOS was an interesting character, as well as Wheatley and even Chell. Overall, it was an amazing game, and I'm glad I actually did play it. So I'll give this game a 10/10. I know I give perfect scores a lot, but this game deserves it.

 

[Fyrefox]

Watch Dogs - 10/10

I recently completed the main story of this game and it was absolute awesomeness...the game has a great soundtrack as well, and I urge everyone to give it a listen!

The Evil Within - 9/10

By far the best horror game I've ever played, however, you die way to easily. I played through once on casual and am playing through the default difficulty (survival mode, I think it's called) now. I died hundreds of times in during the casual difficulty, and now I'm dying triple the amount of times...I love the game, nonetheless.

The Last of Us - 7/10

Great game, however just a tad bit overrated. The game was a lot of fun, however I wouldn't consider it the "best game of all time" in the slightest...maybe the best PS3 title, perhaps.

Zombi U - 5/10

I tried to like this game, but I just can't. I'm only giving it a five because of the atmosphere of the game. The controls are horrendous, the graphics are ugly. The game did however get the gloomy, depressing "everybody's dead" atmosphere right...kudos for that.

 

[ZafKiel]

Undertale: 10/10

I'm glad I got play this game because I hadn't heard of it until a month ago. People were saying it was good so I gave it a chance. Definitely one of the best games I've played. I don't think the visuals are that bad but I found them charming. The soundtrack is to die for and the story and characters are just perfect. I remember the many times I laughed out loud and I was almost on the brink of tears once I was on the true ending. It's a great game, if you haven't played it, what are you doing?? This game has definitely met all my standards

 

[DraconicPsycho]

B/W 2... 4.5/10 I found the story to be extremely bland. The music sounded like it was composed by a blind and deaf man. The new Pokemon were lackluster. My 2nd least favorite Pokemon gen, right behind 6. I like hard Pokemon games like gen 3 and 4, but I'm a SinnohFetus, so I'm biased

 

[Frizz]

Pokémon Crystal
9/10
With the Johto games being my favorite Pokémon story-arc, it compelled me enough to emulate it and play the Crystal version, since I preferred Gold's design there than the remakes. The mechanics of Gen 2 was definitely new to me. There was no Physical/Special split until Gen 4, so I had to get used to what was a Special Attack and what was a Physical. Also, there wasn't any Running Shoes until Gen 3, so I had to get used to walking and riding on the Bicycle, which wasn't that much faster. I would've preferred the scrapped Skateboard concept. Would've been cool. Anyway, being the guy I am, I went with the more canon route, having based my team off of the in-game event Pokémon like how Red's team was based off the in-game event Pokémon in Pokémon Yellow. The team was:

• The Cyndaquil Family, since Gold from the Pokémon Adventures manga chose it, and that (game) Gold is often depicted in artwork with it, both official and unofficial.
• The Togepi Family, since it was pretty important in the plot, kinda. (Manga) Gold also has this Pokémon.
• Sudowoodo, since like how Red caught the Snorlax blocking Route 16, Gold would capture the Sudowoodo blocking Route 36. (Manga) Gold also has this Pokémon.
• The Eevee Family, since Bill gave it away to Gold in Goldenrod City. I went with Espeon because of preference, but I think Umbreon is more fitting, to act as the counterpart to Red's Espeon, found in Celadon City. But in HGSS, I would've stuck with Espeon.
• The Red Gyarados, since it was also pretty important in the plot. It also marked the beginning of the events of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, and kinda Platinum.
• Extremespeed Dragonite, since it was given to Gold in the Dragon's Den. The place was pretty important, so the Dratini given away must've been too.

In conclusion, the Gen 2 versions are a perfect addition to the Pokémon franchise while it was still growing. My only complaint was that the Johto saga isn't really referenced anywhere else, so we can't really tell if Gold beat Red. But I think he did, since the franchise was going to end at Gold and Silver. If it ended there, then it would have been a terrific ending to the franchise. Still a pretty rad game.



Thursday, February 18th, 2016:
Nekopara Vol. 0
0/10
I regret asking my friend for this game. I really do.

 

[ELITEWarri0r115]

Kirby and the amazing Mirror~ 9/10.

Best kirby game I have played so far. Collecting all treasures was fun, unlocking every single passage, etc. I find it a fun free roam game that does not get old every time you boot up a save file. It is even the first game where I at least get 100% in completion. I highly recommend this game to many. (even more fun on a psp. great with bigger screen and circle pad)
EDIT: Good for classic zelda players getting into kirby...

 

[Rashyboy05]

Just finished Fire Emblem: Fates - Conquest
9/10.
Pros: Its definitely a upgrade from Awakening. Its actually challenging and highly promotes strategy. Pair-Up isn't braindead like it was in Awakening and borderline broken weapons like the 1-2 range weapons like the Hand Axe, Spears and Javelins and the Brave weapons have been nerfed so they have situational uses. The new classes and the new weapons are a joy to play around with. The story was decent, all of the characters are pretty useful as units, and most of the English voices are really good. Oh, and Bow users are finally useful in this game.

Cons: The Royal siblings are really good to the point that using their non royal counterparts is really pointless (Ex. Camilla>Beruka, Xander>Silas/Peri, Leo>Odin/Nyx). The RNG seems to be much crueler in this game than it was in the older games, the best example that I can think of is that one of my archers missed a 99% chance of hit against a ninja. Felicia's voice, nuff said. The Hexing Rod, nuff said. Lago, nuff ****ing said!

 

[Sari]

Citizens of Earth:

Rating: 7/10

An RPG heavily inspired by Earthbound where you play as the Vice President who must save the world from aliens. The game borrows just about everything from Earthbound, including its humor, battle system, and story. There are 40 party members that you can have with you, each with their own unique playstyle.

Pros:
- Good humor: The dialogue has that same quirky style of Earthbound, which works well.
- Good combat: The battle system is easy to follow.
- Colorful world: Much like Earthbound the world is very nice to look at

Cons:
- Partners aren't that likeable: None of the characters are all that memorable and don't show that much character aside from the VP.
- Music is obnoxious: The music tries hard to be like Earthbounds but overall is just a pain to hear.
- Plot is an almost carbon copy of Earthbounds: Aliens take over, one of your well-known associates is the main villain, and the climax is flat out copied from Earthbounds. At least their are several easter eggs of Ness throughout the game.


Overall, a decent game if you enjoyed Earthbound.

 

[Tino]

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
Rating: 8/10

The story in this game turned out to be surprisingly short considering that all you ever need to do is rescue two hostages at a military camp and that's it. Mission accomplished. Game complete. Despite that though, I still enjoyed every minute of the game and I also liked Kiefer Sutherland's voice over portrayal of Big Boss (though his old voice actor is still the best). That being said, I'm looking forward to playing The Phantom Pain next.

 

[NightmareViperSlash]

200% Mixed Juice
Rating:6/10

By all means, it was not a bad game. I was expecting more from it. The game is short, if you have time to spare in a day, it's possible to beat it within five hours. The reason I was disappointed it is that most people were comparing it to Pokemon. It felt nothing like Pokemon. The typing were Rock,Paper, and Scissors, so not many types. It had more visual novel feeling to it than an RPG in my opinion. But some bosses were difficult and the music selecting was average. I did enjoy myself though.

 

[MarMarTheGreat]

FE Awakening 8/10

Great introduction to the series but I feel like the GBA games like Sacred Stones are better

 

[dezeray112]

Project X Zone 2 - 8/10 - Loved some of the references they made from other franchises combined.

 

[Rage NF]

Greetings

1.Super Mario 64 = 9 out of 10
2. Megaman X to 4 = 9 out of 10
3. Spyro the Dragon 3 = 8 out of 10

 

[Tino]

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
Rating: 9.5/10

All I can say is...wow! Amazing story, amazing soundtrack and memorable characters. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. Who know what sort of things to expect once I start on Conquest.

 

[MarMarTheGreat]

Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright
Rating: 9.5/10

All I can say is...wow! Amazing story, amazing soundtrack and memorable characters. I absolutely loved it from beginning to end. Who know what sort of things to expect once I start on Conquest.

Pain

 

[Shiida]

9/10 birthright, 10/10 conquest

 

[Megadoomer]

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney (3DS): 7/10.

Great writing, but there were points where it was unclear what I was supposed to do, and the game's strike system didn't help matters. Also, the last mission with the Skye sisters seemed to be a massive leap up in terms of difficulty.

Devil May Cry 1 (Xbox 360): 8/10

Incredibly frustrating at first, between the fixed camera and some of the bosses (Shadow in particular) doing massive amounts of damage with no real way to dodge them. Once I restarted and used a guide to find as many Blue Orb Pieces (the game's equivalent of Heart Pieces) as I could, the game became a lot better; I still died, but it felt like my own fault instead of dying because my health wasn't high enough to survive the bosses.

 

[Tino]

Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
Rating: 9.5/10

This one was pretty more challenging than Birthright, but I do like a good challenge nonetheless and I enjoyed it from beginning to end. Amazing story, amazing soundtrack and amazing cast of characters it has, just like Birthright. Just everything there is to know about Conquest is just amazing.

 

[Twewy]

Detective Grimoire: 8/10

+ Cute, charming artstyle, IMO a better artstyle than used in the prequel Flash game
+ Interesting writing, the humor is nice.

= It is a bit short, however it is an adventure game fashioned after classics. So it isn't that bad.

- Rather easy for a point and click.

Soul Gambler: 7/10

+ An original concept for a plot (Gambling parts of your soul off to make life easier.)

=While the art style is neat (It looks a lot like a graphic novel!) there are a lot of reused poses, and the characters often look like stock art found on Google Images.
= REALLY short (About 15 or 20 minutes), but there is a decent amount of replay value.
= You can add points into "stats", which affect choices in the game. For example, at one point, you have a choice: Play basketball, or fight through his big tough friend. You will win the fight if your Health stat is high. They don't affect things too much, see below point for reasons.

- Much like a TellTale game, your choices won't matter. All choices lead to the same path. For example, your character has no choice but to play basketball, which leads to them meeting someone who will wager part of your soul, who nets you a trip in jail, which sees you breaking out and fleeing the country. This will happen every playthrough if you do the required choice to play the game past the prologue.

 

[Mythra]

Xenoblade Chronicles 10/10
Great story, memorable characters that invite to constatntly switch the party to hear new dialogues and a interesting battle system that is very dynamic even if this is an RPG.
The graphics (specially on the characters) can feel underwhelming compared to the rest of the stuff but graphics aren't everything, also the game is very complete anyway with the unique sidequest dialogues and alternative routes for some of them, which adds to the replay value.
And the music is superb of course.

 

[KingofPhantoms]

Undertale: 10/10

I heard lots of good things about it and I very much enjoyed it myself. The gameplay is a refreshing tweak in turn-based RPGs by involving the bullet-hell mechanic, and the whole game is basically one massive commentary on gaming as we've come to know it. Standing out in particular is the game's option to either kill your enemies or spare and befriend them. Most games that have worlds full of monsters always have them as pure enemies and nothing more, this game tries to make you think twice about doing that and showing that perhaps, killing and fighting isn't always the best solution after all. I could go on about other things in the game I really liked, but I'll leave it at that.

 

[Minato]

Trails of Cold Steel 8/10 (Yes, people should check out the Trails series)

I just finished this game last week or so. A really fun Trails game, and really different. Since this is the 6th Trails game of the series (US hasn't translated three games between this and SC), there are a lot of refinements. Battles are much faster! It's also quite easy to break which makes it fun in its own way.

Story is quite interesting since it's very different, and you need to take into account that this game is more like half of a game. It's a bit weaker than the others, imo, but the build up is so the 2nd Cold Steel game can go ham on things rather fast. What I loved most about the cast were the NPCs. There were just so many of them. A lot of these characters got more development than main party members in some JRPGs. Every time an event happened, it was really fun to just walk around campus and talk to everyone and follow their story. I can't express how pleasantly surprised I was at some of them considering they have little to do with the main story and are there as part of the setting.

Overall, it was a fun game, but not my favorite Trails game. I'm very excited for Trails of Cold Steel II which comes out later this year in English.

 

[ZafKiel]

Fire Emblem Awakening 10/10

I originally wanted to main Robin in SSB4 but I didn't know him as a character well. I was luck enough to have a friend lend me his 3DS so I could try Awakening and let me just say this: I now know why Awakening saved FE. The pair up mechanic is a wonderful addition because not only does it change up the play style but relationships between characters are worth building. All the support conversations are wonderfully written and the characters have so much depth to them.

Awakening also has a bomb AF soundtrack and the animation is clean. Plus there's so much more to do beside the main story like side quests, marriages, and DLC. I look forward to what Fates has to offer.

 

[Megadoomer]

Devil May Cry 2: 3/10

Okay, so technically, I haven't fully completed the game yet (I just finished Dante's story), but I'm not sure if I'll be able to play through this at least four times if I want to get the full picture (Lucia's story + Dante's on hard + Trish's). This game is a huge step down from DMC1 - swords are basically useless, guns are overpowered but are unsatisfying to use, the areas are so vast that it takes forever to get anywhere, and the weapons are generic, even when compared to the first game in the series (where the melee weapons were swords or fists with elemental powers, and the ranged weapons were mostly generic guns with one exception).

This game is much easier than the original (which was a complaint I had about the first one early on in the game), but this one takes it too far in the opposite direction - at the start of the game, enemies are basically on par with Dynasty Warriors in that they stand around waiting to die. It's not even like in Dynasty Warriors where there's hundreds of enemies so if they didn't do that, it wouldn't be fair - even when there's five or six enemies, they just stand there. That part improves later on with the Goat enemies, which actually chase you and stay on the offensive, but given how wide open the maps are, you can kill most enemies by firing your gun blindly and win with laughable ease.

They took away a lot of the charm and cheesiness that the first DMC had; now Dante is virtually mute, and the areas are dull, lifeless, and for the most part, forgettable. I went in expecting Sonic 06 or Superman 64 levels of terrible (given that every DMC game that comes after takes place before it, and in his Viewtiful Joe cameo, Dante acts like the game doesn't exist), and it wasn't that bad, but it's just dull, which is really weird for a Devil May Cry game.

I might try to play through Lucia's story to get a better understanding of what's going on (there are a lot of gaps, with characters bringing up plot points for the first time and the game acts as though you're supposed to know what's being discussed), but depending on how it goes, I might just skip straight to DMC3. Regardless, the only reason I might come back to this game is to beat it on hard mode in order to unlock Trish.

 

[Tino]

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Rating: 9/10

Having missed out on this game after playing Arkham City and Arkham Origns on the Wii U, it did felt weird for me to finally play the first entry in the Arkham series on my new computer. Great story, great cast of characters included, great dialogue and amazing soundtrack. I'm not very fond of The Riddler challenges because I don't really care for them and I hate riddles, it literally makes my head throb. Overall, it's great game, action packed and over the top and I enjoyed it til the end.

Apparently, I'm thinking about replaying Arkham City again but not on the Wii U, which I'm not a big fan of the GamePad features it has and I didn't like the fact that you can only use the GamePad to play it and not the Pro Controller.

 

[Lily♫]

Dark Souls 3: 9.75/10.
Definitely still not perfect, there are flaws to it after all, but easily an extremely enjoyable game, even if you're new to the souls franchise. If you're a veteran the references to older games will likely get old, but even then they're not too much of a bother. The main thing that will get to you is reused assets.

I'd say the combat in this game is the perfect blend between what made 1 so good and the parts of 2 (Minus powerstancing, but we have proper dual-wielded weapons now), with the new weapon art system added in making using weapons so much more enjoyable then before. And really, that's what we play souls for. The story could be completely ignored and there could be just gameplay and I'd love it all the same.

 

[Twewy]

Dark Souls: 9.5/10

Dark Souls is honestly one of my favorite games ever; I could sit there and beat it over and over (Which I did this weekend).
Its challenge is well welcomed in an age of dumbed down sequels, even if the challenge is gone once you get the hang of the game. Despite its simple gameplay, it has a surprising amount of depth to it; Each weapon has its own distinct moveset and hardly any two weapons feel the same, and they all feel equally satisfying to use. And where each weapon feels unique, as does the enemies. Each enemy has a different attack pattern and different tells as to what they're going to do so you counter. The Metroidvania styled world is really fun to explore as well, finding shortcuts to other areas and secrets adds some replayability and an urge to explore. The unique multiplayer carried over from its spiritual predecessor Demon's Souls is fun as well, being able to invade other players' worlds, or lay down a summon sign to be summoned into a player's world for some jolly cooperation, along with players being able to join "covenants" that focus on PvP, co-op, or PvE. Controls are simple to learn and hard to forget, with the only bad part being the button for jumping is the same for running.

The game's unique storytelling is interesting, mostly coming from item descriptions or from obscure sidequests that the player and/or the community piece together. They do provide a basic story though: You are an Undead trapped in an asylum meant to hold your kind from society, and you must escape to a place called Lordran to try to end the curse. Lordran's atmosphere and areas are beautiful to look at and traverse, even while being attacked by pretty enemies such as a giant glowing butterfly with a laser cannon for a head, a gigantic iron golem meant to test your skills, or a pair of a goddess's defenders that will have you pulling your hair out. The music provided by Motoi Sakuraba (You Nintendo fans may know him as the guy who made Golden Sun and Kid Icarus Uprising's music) helps set the atmosphere as well, with hauntingly beautiful pieces playing in boss battles that help make both all the more memorable.

What keeps this game from being perfect, however, are a decent amount of glitches, design flaws and framerate issues. Enemies will clip through things, you will fall through the ground, and sometimes enemies will just give up and let you walk around them and bombard them with "Well, what is it?"s as they stand there motionlessly. Some of the final areas suffer from being rushed, as they feel simple and not as fun to explore as previous areas. One such area is Lost Izalith and its boss, the Bed of Chaos.

Gripes aside, Dark Souls is one of the best games of the decade, if not THE best due to just how damn fun it is and how everything is so memorable. To see the series end with the recently released Dark Souls 3 is a bit saddening, but you know the saying about good things and ends.

 

[Cheezey Bites]

Ratchet and Clank The Game, The Movie, The Game: 7.5/10

So, I loved Ratchet and Clank, it's got a lot going for it and even with the disappointment of Nexus I still had a lot of fun; I was never fond of the Spin-offs mind, but the main games were always fun, and this one is no exception. The first game now it practically unplayable, the lack of strafe or direct aim mean that most of the weapons are utterly useless and you spend most of your time with the wrench (which just isn't as fun, and often doesn't work with the balance that well), so the upgrade is much needed and helps it out a lot. The newer controls and favorite weapons from throughout the series (and the two new ones for this game) are all great really livening up the less than stellar first game's cast of guns, and really bringing everything up to date, and moreover the much better weapon selection is both better balanced and better utilized. The game is physically smaller than the original, but denser for it, with much the same stuff and often more enemies per level it all being in a closer place makes it more action packed and exciting, making more use of the improved aiming and evading options... but it's all these improvements that also come to it's downfall for me, it got me comparing it to modern games.

The humour and characters are often very 90s, or atleast early 2000s, many of the levels have hang-ups from back then too including blocky jumping obstacles and alot of open areas (though notably smaller than the original) with little to do in them. The decision to hold back fast travel for so long also made the game a little tedious at first, but that is the original's way, and they did remove a bunch of boring tutorials. Even just in shooting though Nexus, the last mainline ratchet game, is pretty old now and was already a touch dated for the time, but things have come a long way since then. Most of the platforming is still up to snuff, but the shooting has had a big revolation moment: Motion aiming. Splatoon, the Steam controller, even Sony's own Golden Abyss have all used it, and to mostly great effect; it's particularly useful in faster paced shooters, which is what Rathcet is. The game is screaming out for the six-axis and it would easily be an 8 or 9 with it, but as is the dated feeling stretches to some places it really shouldn't...

The movie scenes also make the rest of the game look kinda bad in comparison, which it shouldn't because the game looks gorgeous... just not as gorgeous as it keeps reminding you the movie is.


All in all it's a very good game, a solid Ratchet game, but Ratchet's feeling behind the times right now, and mixing a Reboot with a lack of modern control options makes it feel more a dinosaur than it should... Though at least it's a very fun dinosaur.

 

[Sir Gengar de Èctoplasma]

Ratchet & Clank (PS4)

WARNING: Story spoilers

Spoiler

Pros
+++ Awesome gameplay
+++ Gorgeous graphics
+++ Weapon upgrades
+++ Return of Bouncer and Agents of Doom
+++ Movie cutscenes look gorgeous
+++ Clank gameplay has really improved. It was so stiff in the original games (haven't played PS3 games)
++ Voice acting
--- Non-movie cutscenes are really lazily done. Characters look paralyzed and are almost expressionless.
--- Removal of planets. They took away 7 planets and added only one new one.
-- Chairman Drek was almost completely ruined. In first one he was actually a great villain, now he is just stupid and naive. He isn't even fought in the game (instead, he gets turned into a sheep by Nefarious).
- Nefarious being the main antagonist (again).
- Ratchet's personality is quite bland compared to the original... I liked sarcastic Ratchet.
- Only three weapons (Pyrocitor, Agents of Doom and RYNO) from original Ratchet & Clank return.
- Game is quite short. I beat the story and Challenge Mode, and got all achievements in only five days.

8/10 I really enjoyed the game, but it could've been much better. If only they had kept all planets and made non-movie cutscenes properly...

 

[Frizz]

I haven't exactly finished it, but I finished some of it to rate it.
Lost Reavers: 8/10
Pros:

• Good gameplay +1
• Decent framerate (it's honestly not as bad as people make it out to be) +1
• Challenging +2
• Replayability (collectables, exp. grinding) +2
• Decent controls +1
• FREE TO PLAY +3

Cons:

• Unable to make a friends-only server -1
• Game doesn't start/end/continue unless all players are standing on the same place (easily griefable, losing RP for more time) -1

 

[Natty_T]

Hyrule Warriors Legends - 7/10

As a way to play a game without having to think too much as a break from exam revision, great. I also personally don't find the graphics an issue, maybe because I didn't play the original. It does, however, get repetitive with the combat being rather bland which is a pretty major negative, but that might be due to the sheer amount of content. The novelty value of playing a Zelda game as so many characters is only a good thing too.

 

[Tino]

Batman: Arkham City
Rating: 9.2/10

As much as I enjoyed Arkham Asylum, I really enjoyed this one more. The story is pretty well written, the characters are awesome and the dialogue is pretty great. Perhaps the best part of the game are the side missions aside from the main story, which Asylum lacks (unless you count The Riddler challenges, which again, I don't give a damn about). I also like the part where you get to play as Catwoman even though it's only minor. I do plan to play through the "Harley Quinn's Revenge" epilogue and the side missions later on and go from there. Overall, it's a really fun game.

This is the second time I've played the game and I will say I like the PC version of it more than the Wii U version. The graphics look a lot smoother on PC (and maybe the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions too but what do I know). Hopefully sometime this week, I will start on Arkham Knight on the PS4.

 

[The Green Wave]

Star Fox Zero 8/10. Despite the complaints with the controls, I found no issues with them myself and despite being overall simplistic, found the game to be quite addicting.

 

[Twewy]

100% Orange Juice!: 7/10

+ Cute visuals, if a bit too "anime cute" generic.
+ Fantastic music, losing to Marie Poppo is almost worth it.
+ Simple, fun board game-styled gameplay.

- A good chunk of the game is DLC, and most of the game is tied behind it (achievements, extra cards, and characters).
- RNG is heavily in favor of the AI. It's not even funny, the AI will always land what they need and Campaign is honestly a race against the AI before they can get the Stars or Kills they need.
--------------That god damned Chicken and it's evasion.

 

[Cheezey Bites]

I forgot 100% Orange Juice even had a single player... I love the game multiplayer though.


Mario v Donkey Kong amiibo friends (I can't remember the name): 5/10

I like the MvDK Mini games, and while I believe they should be a spin-off to a thriving puzzle platforming series with Mario actually versing Donkey Kong, I'm generally happy to see one. The games have never been Lemming's good, and the level making community are appalling, but they have their own charm.

Sadly they're also normally pretty stagnant, with very little changing between games except the puzzles, which really only get fun in the latter part of the game... as such I was actually really excited when I first saw this game as it introduced a tonne of new mechanics, many of which are a lot of fun, and in a good game could make it a true competitor to the Lemmings games... sadly it fails to do this.

The best Mini Mario stages are those that ask you to split up and think in multiple place, consider your resources, react quickly and work out each pieces timing, and with this game's different abilities dependent on the character it could be even deeper and really stretch you... except in this game you only ever get one mini. As such the puzzles end up being pretty bland. A lot of cool mechanics go to waste. And I get sad.

The level and character mechanics are really cool though, and ask you to consider a few extra things, but with each world only being 4 levels it's little more than a tutorial for each mechanic, and many levels require specific Amiibo to beat, kinda trivializing the Amiibo changing functionality.

Star World manages to use some of it's mechanics in interesting ways, but with just one mini it just doesn't do enough, and certainly doesn't do it fast enough. As many great mechanics as they've put into the game, and as much as I think those mechanics could make a superb game handled properly (maybe even Lemming's good), this game isn't. It is however free if you have an amiibo collection like myself, so atleast I haven't lost anything in checking it out.


And on a much more minor note, the fact that Wario isn't compatible is disappointing, especially as his shoulder charge breaking cracked bricks is such an obvious power...

 

[Cool Trainer Ace]

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

I just recently finished the game the other day, and these are my thoughts. (Mechanics and gameplay spoilers ahead)
+The Positives:
+The graphics are really great. I love it when Kirby games try their hand at new visuals, and this one didn't disappoint. The clay visuals are cute, colorful, and fun. Sometimes I would stop to admire the backgrounds and scenery. The amount of effort put into the style is clearly seen, and the colors are vibrant and beautiful. From green plains to sunset forests, this game was candy for the eyes, and everything was in that adorable Kirby style.

+This game is really enjoyable. The game play is unique and refreshing (even though it was done before in Canvas Curse). I loved making Kirby roll around the screen and collect stars. Speaking of which, the star dash mechanic is kind of neat. I say 'kind of' because there are some grievances I have with it, but I'll cover those in the Negatives section. I think the ability to collect objects to get a super-powerful/useful move is cool. The Star Dash is available for use every time you collect 100 stars, and it stacks up to around 3-4 times for use later. To activate it, all you have to do is tap and hold Kirby, then release when it's charged. When released, Kirby rockets in whatever direction you pointed him in while being able to be diverted in different directions using your rainbow rope. This Star Dash ability can be used for the multiple transformations you receive in certain levels as well. These abilities I like to call 'Star Cannon' for the tank transformation, 'Star Rocket' for the rocket, and 'Starpedo' for the submarine.
Segwaying into the transformations, these levels are my personal favorite. Specifically the tank and submarine levels. With the help of your companion, Elline, Kirby can transform into one of three vehicles (as stated above) to complete the level and solve puzzles.

+The puzzles are fun, clever, and unique. I love games like the Legend of Zelda series, the Captain Toad sections in Mario 3D World (haven't played Treasure Tracker yet), and in other games, but sometimes puzzles annoy me. That wasn't the case with this game. All of the puzzles were very clever, and I even found myself saying out loud, "Wow, that was clever." Of course, that's just my opinion, and I know some people will just think of these puzzles as easy. And they are very easy, but they're enjoyable too.

There's much more to this game, but I need to move on.

-The Negatives

-Going back to the Star Dash, there's only really one problem I have with it. Actually collecting stars to get it. It's a small nitpick, I know because they give you plenty of stars throughout the level, but I found myself often trying to get a chest behind unbreakable blocks, realizing that I didn't have enough stars. This especially sucks during timed stages, auto-scrollers, or exceptionally frustrating levels. For completionists or people who just want all the chests, it gets frustrating to have to go through the same level over and over until you finally get it. It's a minor thing, though. Just a nitpick.

-This game is generally very easy, but it's unnecessarily frustrating at times. More often than not, I found myself falling into a pit due to my rope not being low enough to the pit, or me ramming into enemies due to a strong current in the water levels. Speaking of which, the water levels are a pain in the behind. Kirby moves slow, is really hard to control for a majority of the levels (mostly due to multiple cases of him floating just above the rainbow rope you created for him to follow. The poor pink puff bobs up and down like buoy in a storm under water. The water levels were by far my least favorite part of the game.

My score:
In my opinion, this game earns a solid 9/10. It's frustrating at times with a lot of minor things that hold it back, but the positives outweigh the negatives. It's fun, charming, unique, colorful, adorable, and above all, it's a Kirby game. And who could possibly hate something with this face?

 

[Tino]

Batman: Arkham Knight
Rating: 9.5/10

This game is superb. This is perhaps the best out of the Arkham games in the series and I really enjoyed every minute of it. The story was great, in a "scary" way, and the graphics look stunning in my eyes. I'm still finishing up on some of the Most Wanted side missions, which by the way is the best part of the game, and I do plan to check out some of the DLCs it has for it. Overall, I had really fun playing through it even though there were some parts of the game that frustrated me quite a bit (such as multiple Cobra drones). I got no plans to start on a "new game plus" anytime soon.