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StarTopic Famicritic |ST| Our own review aggregator! (Third batch up, GOTY edition!))

Reader mode
hologram

hologram

Gerudo
Founder
Pronouns
He/him
Welcome to Famicritic! In this thread, we will make our own version of review aggregators like Metacritic and Opencritic. But it's going to be better, because we are the reviewers!

How does this work?
Every two weeks, I will give a list of five games to review. It will be a mix of new releases, recent-ish releases, and older games. Suggestions are always welcome! Over the next two weeks, people are encouraged to write their own reviews of any of the games in the list they've played. It doesn't have to be super long or involved, but it should have some thought and effort behind it. In other words, don't just leave one line like "this game is the GOAT" or "this game sucks". While attaching a review score is certainly not compulsory – I know a lot of people don't particularly like review scores, but we still want to read your reviews! – if you do so, you must use the scale outlined below.

Once the deadline passes for a batch of games, I will collate and aggregate the reviews. Each rating will be converted to a score out of 100 (each star worth 20) and these will be averaged, to the nearest whole number, to give the overall score. These scores, as well as all the reviews, will then be added to the game index in the second post of this thread.

Scale
Two common complaints I see about review aggregators for video games are (1) they are too compressed at the top end of the scale, and (2) reviewers use different scales which makes averaging the scores meaningless (related, I've seen people complain that a well-reviewed game had its score "dragged down" by a positive review with a lower score because the reviewer used a different scale). I hope using a simplified, unified scale will alleviate these issues. The scale we will use is the following:

⭐ Bad
Few redeeming features, if any. You would not recommend this game to almost anyone
⭐⭐ Mediocre
Perhaps some interesting ideas, maybe you enjoyed parts of the game, but it just doesn't quite come together. You might recommend this game to specific people with caveats, but others you'd say can safely avoid
⭐⭐⭐ Good
Overall a good, enjoyable game that for one reason or another just isn't one of your favorites. Maybe it had one too many flaws; maybe it didn't have enough new ideas; or maybe you liked it but just found it a little forgettable. Still, you would recommend this game to a fairly broad group of people
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great
You had a great time, and your complaints are few and far between. The game doesn't quite do enough to reach the heights of the absolute GOATs, but you're very glad you played it and it will likely remain in your memory for some time. You'd recommend this game to most people; it might not be for some with specific tastes, but you think the average gamer will really like it
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exceptional
A truly excellent game that you will think fondly on for years to come. Maybe you'd use the word "masterpiece". You'd recommend almost everyone at least try this game, and you're confident most people will love it

A couple of notes about this scale:
  • No zero stars - one star is the lowest score - and no half stars. There are only five possible scores. I know sometimes it can be hard picking between, say, three and four stars, but you must commit. Agonizing over these choices is part of the fun!
  • Five stars does not mean "perfect". I know some people do not like to give anything a 100% score since there's always room for improvement, but you should think of five stars as the highest rating you would give, not 100%.
What games will we be reviewing?
That's where you come in! As much as this thread will be about the reviews, I don't want it to solely be reviews. Discussion about what games might be good candidates to be included in Famicritic will be very helpful, so please feel free to brainstorm what games you want to see. While the games selected will likely skew towards Nintendo games for obvious reasons, you should feel free to suggest games on other platforms - the main consideration should simply be whether enough people here would be likely to have played it.

People should also feel free to discuss and critique the reviews, although please be constructive and (hopefully this doesn't need to be said) nice!

Rules
Reviewers should abide by the following rules:
  1. Please indicate clearly that your post is a review post, and what game(s) you are reviewing.
  2. Please use one review post per batch of games. This is for ease of collating. You are welcome to do one at a time and edit your post later.
  3. Please only review games that you have played, and given a fair shot. You don't need to have finished it, but you should have seen enough of the game to come to an informed conclusion. For example, I bounced off the game Tunic after maybe an hour or two, and I strongly disliked it. However, it would not be fair for me to review this game as I did not play enough of it.
  4. Reviews must be in by the announced deadline in order to count towards the aggregate score.
  5. Your review need not be multiple paragraphs, but it should be more than just a one- or two-line summary of your overall thoughts.
  6. Please try to avoid spoilers, especially for newer titles.
  7. For older games, it is entirely up to you whether you are reviewing them through a modern lens or for their time; however, please do try to be consistent.
  8. Scores are not compulsory! However, if you do choose to score your game, you must use the scale outlined above. Any reviewer who uses a different scale will not have any of their scores for that batch of games included in the aggregate.
  9. Please use ⭐️ star emojis for your review scores, rather than numerically writing the score. This is for visibility when I'm collating. Also, please don't include ⭐️ star emojis anywhere else in your review, such as giving additional ratings to DLC. It just makes it confusing.
  10. Please give an honest score that is supported by your review, and don't try to "game" the aggregate. For instance, if you thought a game was fine, good even, but is overrated by everyone else, you should still give it three stars, and not a lower score in order to lower the average down closer to what your opinion is it should be.
Here are a few suggestions which are not hard rules per se, but it's a good idea to keep these in mind:
  • Base your score on your review, not the other way around. Your score should seem like a logical conclusion to someone who has read your review.
  • Generally, I would discourage using a different scale and then converting (and I would especially discourage explicitly mentioning you're doing this in your review). Due to the more spread out scale we have here, we're likely to end up with scores that trend lower than what you'd typically see on Metacritic or Opencritic, and that's okay!
  • Don't fixate! Your review should be a holistic appraisal of the game, not a rant on one particular aspect you hated.

That's it. Happy reviewing!
 
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Review index
  • Index
    • Review Index
    Alan Wake 2: 80 (3 reviews)
    @Metroid (4)
    @AngryAlchemist (3)
    @Vookatos (5)
    Baldur's Gate 3: 100 (2 reviews)
    @Metroid (5)
    @hologram (5)
    Fire Emblem: Three Houses: 83 (12 reviews)
    @blondkayvon (5)
    @doodlewhizz (3)
    @jnWake (5)
    @komicer (4)
    @Machine Doogs (4)
    @Metroid (5)
    @NabiscoFelt (4)
    @Nmanic (4)
    @ohlawd (3)
    @PixelKnight (4)
    @Thunder84 (5)
    @Warlord (4)
    Kirby and the Forgotten Land: 88 (10 reviews)
    @blondkayvon (5)
    @doodlewhizz (5)
    @Horror Kid (4)
    @komicer (4)
    @Machine Doogs (5)
    @Nmanic (5)
    @ohlawd (3)
    @paranoodle (5)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @Vookatos (4)
    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom: 86 (26 reviews)
    @AngryAlchemist (4)
    @blondkayvon (5)
    @Chaotic Neutral (4)
    @DenkeyKong (5)
    @Derachi (4)
    @Djehuty (2)
    @doodlewhizz (5)
    @hologram (5)
    @Irene (5)
    @komicer (5)
    @lightning16 (3)
    @Machine Doogs (5)
    @Metroid (5)
    @NabiscoFelt (5)
    @Neverx (4)
    @Nmanic (5)
    @PixelKnight (4)
    @Skittzo (4)
    @smoothies (5)
    @Suswave (3)
    @tender (4)
    @TheBlade (5)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @Vookatos (4)
    @Warlord (3)
    @WestEgg (5)
    Marvel's Spider-Man 2: 80 (4 reviews)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @Metroid (3)
    @Nmanic (5)
    @hologram (4)
    Metroid Dread: 85 (23 reviews)
    @AngryAlchemist (5)
    @Aurc (4)
    @blondkayvon (5)
    @Chaotic Neutral (5)
    @DenkeyKong (4)
    @Derachi (5)
    @hologram (4)
    @Irene (4)
    @komicer (4)
    @lightning16 (4)
    @Machine Doogs (5)
    @Metroid (5)
    @NabiscoFelt (5)
    @Neverx (5)
    @Nmanic (5)
    @Sheldon (4)
    @Suswave (3)
    @tender (3)
    @TheBlade (3)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @Vookatos (3)
    @Warlord (5)
    @WestEgg (4)
    Monster Hunter Rise: 89 (9 reviews)
    @blondkayvon (5)
    @jnWake (4)
    @komicer (5)
    @Metroid (4)
    @NabiscoFelt (4)
    @ohlawd (5)
    @paranoodle (4)
    @PixelKnight (5)
    @Sheldon (4)
    Pikmin 4: 89 (16 reviews)
    @AngryAlchemist (3)
    @blondkayvon (5)
    @Chaotic Neutral (5)
    @DenkeyKong (4)
    @Derachi (5)
    @Djehuty (5)
    @doodlewhizz (5)
    @Metroid (5)
    @NabiscoFelt (5)
    @Neverx (5)
    @Suswave (4)
    @tender (4)
    @TheBlade (4)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @Vookatos (4)
    @WestEgg (4)
    Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet: 64 (9 reviews)
    @blondkayvon (2)
    @doodlewhizz (4)
    @komicer (3)
    @Metroid (3)
    @NabiscoFelt (4)
    @Nmanic (3)
    @ohlawd (4)
    @Sheldon (3)
    @VolcanicDynamo (3)
    Resident Evil 4: 95 (4 reviews)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @Metroid (5)
    @AngryAlchemist (5)
    @Vookatos (5)
    Super Mario 64: 80 (15 reviews)
    @AngryAlchemist (2)
    @Chaotic Neutral (4)
    @Derachi (3)
    @doodlewhizz (3)
    @Machine Doogs (5)
    @Neverx (4)
    @Nmanic (4)
    @smoothies (3)
    @Suswave (3)
    @tender (5)
    @TheBlade (5)
    @Thunder84 (4)
    @VolcanicDynamo (5)
    @WestEgg (5)
    Super Mario Bros. Wonder: 89 (13 reviews)
    @Warlord (4)
    @Thunder84 (5)
    @rêverie (4)
    @ohlawd (5)
    @PixelKnight (5)
    @Horror Kid (4)
    @Number1000DKFan (4)
    @Metroid (4)
    @AngryAlchemist (4)
    @Pillydillsy (5)
    @Nmanic (4)
    @hologram (5)
    @VolcanicDynamo (5)
    Super Smash Bros. Melee: 88 (8 reviews)
    @doodlewhizz (4)
    @jnWake (5)
    @Machine Doogs (4)
    @Metroid (4)
    @ngpdrew (4)
    @Nmanic (5)
    @ohlawd (4)
    @VolcanicDynamo (5)
    Xenoblade Chronicles 3: 71 (14 reviews)
    @DenkeyKong (4)
    @hologram (3)
    @Irene (4)
    @komicer (4)
    @lightning16 (3)
    @Machine Doogs (5)
    @NabiscoFelt (4)
    @Neverx (5)
    @Nmanic (4)
    @tender (2)
    @Thunder84 (5)
    @Vookatos (1)
    @Warlord (3)
    @WestEgg (3)
     
    Last edited:
  • Index
    • Oh this is a fun idea. I'll have to get on this after work.
     
    Neat idea, will definitely be able to review three of these by the deadline.

    I may have missed something in the OP, and it makes sense for all the first 5 games to be Nintendo first party but what kind of variety will there be for this in future installments (Nintendo titles, indies, retro etc.)? I'm guessing some sort of availability on Nintendo platforms would be the pre-requisite?
     
    doodlewhizz said:
    Neat idea, will definitely be able to review three of these by the deadline.

    I may have missed something in the OP, and it makes sense for all the first 5 games to be Nintendo first party but what kind of variety will there be for this in future installments (Nintendo titles, indies, retro etc.)? I'm guessing some sort of availability on Nintendo platforms would be the pre-requisite?
    Click to expand...
    Super open to suggestions. I wanted to focus on games that a lot of people have played to begin with, but if this thread is successful even that can be relaxed to include some more niche stuff, first-party titles from other consoles, retros, etc.
     
    I love it, count me in. Maybe this could even become an official thing, the sky is the limit OP!
     
    Ohh, I love this thread idea!

    I don't really have anything to contribute to this first batch since the only one I've played is SM64, which I have no strong feelings towards and haven't played in a decade, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for future batches.
     
    0
    Oh, a fascinating idea. Gonna leave some reviews.

    1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    I feel a bit weird about this game. On one hand, it's a great title, but on the other, it's one of the few Nintendo titles that makes previous game in the series nearly worthless with its additions. It's a much more lively adventure with lots more NPCs, secrets, and unique things to discover as opposed to BotW's shrine-or-korok reward.
    I didn't vibe with the dungeons this time either, though. Most were way too open and easy, effectively giving you several puzzle rooms that felt disconnected. Gerudo and Goron dungeons were a step in the right direction, but that's only two for more than a hundred-hour adventure.
    The story was about what you expect from Zelda. Full of little moments, but overall simple.
    For now I'm giving it four stars. Maybe my opinion will differ once I replay it, but that's at least a year away

    2. Pikmin 4

    I was my first Pikmin game and I loved it. I kinda wish more areas would be themed around civilization, as 4 levels are basically just forest with different themes, but I'm likely in a minority that enjoyed the house stage the most. A wonderful exploratory title full of secrets and weird charm.
    Dandori challenges are absolutely sick and despite me not liking speedrun-type content, I absolutely adore those.
    There are some pacing issues, mainly with how quickly you can roll the credits when the story is in no way over. No "post-game" content is really that hard, either! Weird. I get that Ninty likes little Jimmy to stop playing and feel a sense of completion so to not torture him with Champion Roads, but last 2 levels are fine, and I think have some of the easiest Dandori Challenges.
    Oatchi is a friend. Four stars.

    3. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    Well, here's my hot take.
    One of the most dissappoinging games I've ever played.
    Xenoblade 3 swings for some heavy themes and misses completely. It's a game about fascism that would never let you think that it's a game about fascism. While people of the world have lived under constant propaganda, many of them are going to be your friends nearly immediately, including those who you've been at war with for ages! It feels like a cop-out.
    Its satire is bland and not at all new and its observations about life are dry. Characters are simple and are ready to act as samey mouthpieces for bland philosophy that's not at all distinct from any other anime game you've played.
    It feels like creators had the idea of constant war between artificial people with short lifespans, and then didn't know what to do with it. There are children's books with premises of endless wars that benefit only the elites that don't take around 100 hours to sit through.
    Honestly, I wonder if I only like Xenoblade 1 because developers had to shorten the story for the Wii and coudn't fit in 100 hours of cutscenes about fate. The amount of words said rivals some of the most infamous games out there, yet the game never sais anything even remotely as meaningful as something like Nier Automata.
    The gameplay also took a step back even from a disappointing second entry. There are basically no towns with each colony being effectively the same, and the game's systems are way too simple for such a long RPG. Despite this, the tutorializing this game does is insane. Not just splash screens you can skip, but that kind of "open the menu. Press A. Nothing else will work until you equip the doodad as the game shows you".
    One star.

    4. Metroid Dread
    I feel strange about this game.
    By all accounts, I should love it. It's an absolutely competent Metroidvania with some great fights and new additions.
    Yet something about it doesn't grab me. The atmosphere isn't quite there, the music isn't fun, and most of the bosses are forgettable.
    I think at this point I'd like Metroid games to shed all the preexisting traditions kinda like Zelda did, and do something new. I feel like the spooky atmosphere the game is going for doesn't quite work on its own (Emmi robots are far too easy to avoid if you just run around, which negates the tense atmosphere), but is also undermined by the fact that it feels too familiar. You're gonna get your Morph Ball, Missiles, Bombs, various beams. I can't feel any dread from a game that's so formulaic about what it's gonna be like.
    I think my favorite aspect of any Metroidvania, and most games, is surprise, and while Dread gets really crazy by the end, it feels like a very solid Metroid game throughout. Something you've played before, something too familiar.
    Exploration doesn't feel as natural if you see an obstacle and go "oh, this power-up is here, I get it" even your first time through.
    In a world that has seen so many absolutely wondrous Metroidvanias since Metroid got put in a coma following Other M's performance, I wish they'd learn from them instead of copying what has come before.
    Three stars.
     
    This is such a fun idea! Now it's time for me to brutalize Mario 64! JOKING

    This is a good first batch for me, too. I'll be able to review 3/4 of these games.
     
    0
    Great thread idea!

    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom - 5 stars
    How do you follow up one of the greatest games of all time? Should you even do it? If yes, then what the hell do you do?
    The answer, as it dawns upon you when playing Tears of the Kingdom, is so much more than the stitched-together cannon-equipped hoverbike you're currently riding. That's the word in here: "more". "More" as a game feature is sort of over-abundant in today's gaming climate, but the single most awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping thing about this game is how the sheer weight it buckles under never, ever gives way for quality, polish and that magical EPD "green fingers" touch. Everything in this absurdly gigantic game world serves a purpose, everything has been given care, attention and consideration. From the small side adventures in one of many stables to the grand and imposing final battle, this game is - like its predecessor - the adventure of a lifetime.

    And yet, with all of these features, with all of this content and with all of these systems intersecting and intertwining, the primary feeling that this game incites into the player is that of being completely speechless. The depths are packed with content, yes, but more than anything, arriving there for the first time renders you at a loss for words. The skies could fill a million words of review pages, yes, but more than anything, they leave you positively gasping for air. Tears of the Kingdom balances not only quantity and quality, but beauty and serenity in equal measure. And for that reason, it is exceptional.

    Xenoblade Chronicles 3 - 4 stars
    The best fantasy stories in my opinion are those that, while containing fantastical, magical and exaggerated elements, still remains rooted in what makes us human. It has characters doing ridiculous and over-the-top things, but still allows them to feel anger, love, fear, anxiety and hope. That is one of the things I was thinking about that ran through my entire experience with Xenoblade 3 as I was playing it. And the other thing I kept returning to in my mind was the old saying of "The best RPG's are those where the world becomes your second home and the characters becomes your best friend" which also grew to be some kind of all-encompassing, universal truth contained within this 80-hour long feels train.

    The story, the battles and the world of this game all converge to take the player through one hell of a journey. "Fighting to live and living to fight" grows to not only be a key aspect of the game and its premise, but also the core emotional foundation for a narrative experience both devastating and hopeful. Fighting, and what drives it and what stops it, is a concept thoroughly explored here, and it takes the characters and their resolutions and arcs to genuinely interesting and affecting places. Xenoblade 3 fumbles along the way with its lengthy chain attacks, underwhelming villains and some unresolved plot threads, but all of those aspects pales in comparison to the things it does pull off. And for that reason, it's great.

    Metroid Dread - 4 stars
    Polished, slick and uncompromising, Metroid Dread is a badass and much-needed comeback that had me devouring it like a starved animal when it entered the gaming sphere. But for all of it being a return to form, Metroid Dread shows that Metroid still isn't exempt to change. This is the franchise firing on all cylinders, with intense combat encounters and comparatively breakneck pacing. Controlling Samus feels sublime, and shows more than ever that no matter how much you staple on top of them, games live and die by their controls. This is double the truth in the EMMI sections of the game, where the intensity ramps up to an absurd degree and makes for frantic encounters with beeping death machines. If you ask me, though, something got lost in translation here - the tense, isolating and desolate atmosphere and exploration that Metroid is known for feels more absent than ever in Dread, where the enemies are more frequent and the music feels distinctly lacking. Still, this is an exceptional action game. And for that reason, it's great.
     
    Review: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this game was the most anticipated Nintendo game in years. People lost their minds when it was announced, and that excitement slowly gave way to anxiety as we went longer and longer with very little information about the game. Eventually, we knew the release date, had a vague idea that Ganondorf would be there, Link would look different, and you'd be in the sky, and that was about it? Finally, Nintendo gave more details about the new abilities, the Sky Islands, and left one last, incredible trailer to drive the hype through the roof. So the question is, did the game meet expectations?

    In my opinion, it exceeded them. On the surface, the game plays similarly to BOTW, but somehow the way the new abilities interact make it a vastly different experience. The remixes of all the old locations, including the music, is an extremely clever touch, but they also effectively triple the map size. Now it's true that the Sky and the Depths don't quite have the, uh, depth that the surface has in terms of the amount of content, but as palate cleansers and challenge zones they really helped to shake up the gameplay. Moreover, the game leaned more into tight, linear sequences which some found BOTW lacking in, and some of these were honestly incredible. Overall, I thought the abilities, Shrines, and dungeons were all a step up from BOTW. The story for me was also an improvement, although it suffered a little from really wanting to be told in order and yet this was entirely optional. Also, the ending sequence was one of the best I've seen in a game.

    Was the game perfect? No. People have noted that the open design of the world with the more linear approach Nintendo wanted you to do certain things with were often at odds, and despite how well they remixed the world, it certainly lacked the wonder and discovery we had in BOTW. That's unavoidable to an extent, but it's worth bringing up. I also think this lack of wonder makes it less replayable than BOTW. Once I finished the ending sequence, I put the game down and haven't picked it up again since. That's not an indictment of the game - some games simply only demand one playthrough, and that's enough - but it's notable in comparison to BOTW's endlessly explorable world, especially because it's technically the same world.

    Overall, though... this game is incredible, and it's everything I could have hoped for when they announced The Sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The technical achievement, and the sheer amount of fun and stuff, will be fondly in my memories for years to come.

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
     
    Vookatos said:
    3. Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    Well, here's my hot take.
    One of the most dissappoinging games I've ever played.
    Xenoblade 3 swings for some heavy themes and misses completely. It's a game about fascism that would never let you think that it's a game about fascism. While people of the world have lived under constant propaganda, many of them are going to be your friends nearly immediately, including those who you've been at war with for ages! It feels like a cop-out.
    Its satire is bland and not at all new and its observations about life are dry. Characters are simple and are ready to act as samey mouthpieces for bland philosophy that's not at all distinct from any other anime game you've played.
    It feels like creators had the idea of constant war between artificial people with short lifespans, and then didn't know what to do with it. There are children's books with premises of endless wars that benefit only the elites that don't take around 100 hours to sit through.
    Honestly, I wonder if I only like Xenoblade 1 because developers had to shorten the story for the Wii and coudn't fit in 100 hours of cutscenes about fate. The amount of words said rivals some of the most infamous games out there, yet the game never sais anything even remotely as meaningful as something like Nier Automata.
    The gameplay also took a step back even from a disappointing second entry. There are basically no towns with each colony being effectively the same, and the game's systems are way too simple for such a long RPG. Despite this, the tutorializing this game does is insane. Not just splash screens you can skip, but that kind of "open the menu. Press A. Nothing else will work until you equip the doodad as the game shows you".
    One star.
    Click to expand...
    smashes desk
     
    Neat idea, but I don't want to write nor read reviews. I feel a two line summary would be better, faster and easier to read.
     
    @hologram I love this, and I am working on my reviews as we speak. I have a suggestion for the rules. Can we ask everyone to try to be sensitive as far as story spoilers go? At least with newer games?
     
    Love the idea! I actually played most of these, so here goes!

    Pikmin 4
    It is a great game, oozing with content and personality. Initially I feared that some of the Pikmin magic might be diminished with a Switch installment in order to appeal to a wider audience, but I can happily say this was not the case! Its greatest strength is the fauna created within the game world, complete with comments from Olimar and other in-game characters. Yet there are some head-scratching decisions as well, such as said fauna not respawning. Never. It makes the overworld feel somewhat less natural. The overworld also really needed the enemies to cover up its simple design. Compared to previous entries in the series, the level design is less clever and not as elegant. Many objects are trivial to retrieve and require little to no creative thinking or actual planning. Of course, this being a Pikmin game, the sum of all these components can still aggregate to some nifty Dandori action, which is what Pikmin is all about.

    Oatchi. Use in moderation if you want any challenge. Anyway, Oatchi can be really strong, but does not need to be used. I think he nicely allows the player to somewhat tune their own difficulty by deciding how (much) to use him. He can be a Pikmin or a Captain. Or both! Another important aspect of the game are caves. They came back a bit more balanced and inspired than previously in Pikmin 2. That said, the end-game caves seem somewhat all over the place and do not scale very nicely. I would have preferred the difficulty to be spread out a bit more across the post-game areas instead of lumping all the difficulty in the final cave. Still, all the cave themes are really refreshing and fun to explore.

    Lastly, there is the OST... Undeniably not as strong, and more importantly not as memorable as the previous games. I think this has to do with the concept of dynamic music. It is a rather new concept and obviously suits games as a medium very well, but it still has a long way to go. While playing, it sounds decently enough, but because of the dynamity there never is a solid core of the song that sticks in your head as well as tunes from previous games tend to do. It doesn't make for very good listening back to the OST later either.

    While there obviously is room for improvement, I think Pikmin 4 definitely deserves to be a part of the Pikmin franchise. It is varied, unique and allows for good replayability. There are a hundred other things I'd like to touch upon, but I think this is already plenty long enough. A solid 4 stars for me!

    ~~~~
    I really enjoy doing these, so I'll probably spent way too much time on this. The others I'll do later (maybe I'll finally properly dive into Mario 64 now haha)
    Edit: also how long do these need to be? And should I try and structure them a bit more? Right now it's mostly some passionate blabbering
     
    DenkeyKong said:
    Edit: also how long do these need to be? And should I try and structure them a bit more? Right now it's mostly some passionate blabbering
    Click to expand...
    Length and style are completely up to the reviewer, as long as it's an honest opinion with more thought behind it than "this game is the GOAT" or "this game sucks". Yours was great!
     
    Xenoblade 3 (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
    This game has the best side quests I've ever seen. As others probably also mention, it has great characters, battles, music, world design and the grand spectacle that is the ending of chapter 5. After chapter 5's epic conclusion though, the game rarely reaches that height. In a couple places maybe, but overall it feels like the production value was halved and the remainder of the game is carried mostly by the world and side quests.

    From that point onwards I'd rather have seen that the developers changed the story or just chop the game in half and end it right then and there, at the end of chapter 5. Up to that point the game would be a solid first half of a big plot and already a meaty and worthy experience. That way the sequel could have focussed on properly resolving the story, whether it would thread down the same path or a different one. Anyways, new game or not, a soft reboot with Mio actually being dead would have been a better choice if you ask me. Equally, I'd leave out all the other presumably dead characters returning as it clashes a bit with the game's theme of dealing with death and losses.

    So, that's my main criticism; the story does not pack as much of a punch anymore after chapter 5. Everything else is really strong, but it clashes a bit in that last stint for me. It's not a huge thing, but I've been thinking about this other approach lately and I think it could have pushed the game from great to legendary. So for now I'll round down 4.5 stars to 4 out of 5 stars.
     
    Fantastic idea for a thread! 👏 Thanks for your efforts in putting this together, Holo!

    I can only review one game from the first batch, and you know exactly which one that's gonna be.

    Metroid Dread​

    I'll could write a super long essay about this game's strengths and faults, but I'll aim to keep this one on the shorter side.

    What I liked: Metroid Dread has easily the best gameplay across the entire series. This is undoubtedly Samus Aran at her very best. She's never before controlled this fluidly, been animated this well, or felt so fast, powerful, and energetic in her mobility and combat prowess. I'm not generally entertained by Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight, where the protagonist has a rather bland kit, and there's nothing particularly special about moving around the game world.

    With Dread, that's no concern: every moment of the gameplay is pure bliss. Running, jumping, sliding, dashing, countering, and so on all feel great, meshing together cohesively to truly convey that gradually escalating sense of power and progression that a game in this genre should have. MercurySteam took features they'd previously implemented in Samus Returns, like 360 degree aiming and melee counters, and refined them to where they feel like an organic and integral part of the 2D Metroid experience. If I was rating the gameplay alone, this would easily be a five star game! However...

    What I disliked: Yeah, I'm gonna talk about the music. Heavy, heavy negativity warning here. I'm sorry, I know some folks like or don't mind Dread's OST, but it's typically considered one of the game's weakest points, and I think they completely dropped the ball in this regard. The instrumentation sounds cheap and horrible, like it's the result of janky laptop software or something (not even the licensed version with all the features, but the more limited 30 day trial). It's that rough, in my opinion. Soshi Abe and Sayako Doi very well may be solid composers, but I don't think their style was a great fit for Metroid, is all. It's a shame we got such a dud soundtrack. I simply can't conceal my utter disdain for this crass junk. It's a bastardization of Metroid's historically amazing soundtracks. Contemptible sewer sludge. I often bite my tongue about it, but this review is the perfect place for me to unleash my honest, unfiltered negativity toward what I find to be just this disappointing, nauseating garbage in a game I otherwise think is excellent. The contrast between the gameplay and music is stark. Speaking of Stark, maybe he should've used that jewel glove or whatever to snap this OST out of existence. idk, I don't watch Marvel movies.

    Ok, I'm done talking about the music. Sorry to be so dramatic! I really needed just one outlet for this, phew... writing that out was therapeutic. Thanks again for this thread, Holo.

    I could talk about Dread's other elements, like its world, awesome boss fights, the E.M.M.I. chase sequences (I think they're super fun!), story and lore (this is actually another grievance of mine, the writing kinda sucks imo), and so on, but that'd only make this review end up way too long, so I kept it simple, and wrote about my favorite and least favorite aspects.

    Conclusion: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great. I love Metroid Dread. I'm so glad it exists! I spent a huge portion of my life waiting for this game, ever since I was a kid in elementary school who played Fusion, and subsequently fell in love with Metroid. There was no way this thing was ever gonna live up to 19 years worth of pure dreams and anticipation, but regardless, it was a highly worthwhile experience that fans were largely overjoyed with, and with good reason. Metroid's future is bright, and I can't wait to see what it holds. I will always trust The Process! I'll never, ever stop trusting The Process!!!
     
    Review: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    I had played maybe 30 hours of the first Xenoblade game, and while I had some interest in the story, it wasn't really my kind of game. I never played the second one. Yet, when the third one came out and this place went wild for it, I felt I would give it another chance. Why? Probably FOMO, to be honest. I don't regret my choice, but I can comfortably say that the Xenoblade series is not and will never be for me.

    Let's talk about what this game does well. I think the world building is very good, and the main characters are all appealing. The interaction between these characters also works well - there's plenty of small character moments and low-key scenes which really build up your attachment to the characters. I also think the character models look pretty good, and the music is often great. While overall I think the combat is not that fun, it can be satisfying to link the various systems together in a way that lead up to some big hype moment where, say, you launch a chain attack to finish a boss off.

    However, I think the game (aside from the character models, and distant landscapes) is pretty ugly. I get that Monolith's whole thing is these giant worlds, but I'd kinda wish they'd scale down a little and focus on making the stuff near you look not quite so drab. And while I enjoyed the setting and worldbuilding, I don't think the story they told ended up being very interesting. I don't want to get into spoiler territory, but there's a specific climactic moment in the game which left me pretty cold - I just didn't have the emotional reaction it clearly wanted because I didn't believe the stakes they were trying to sell. And as I mentioned above, I think the combat is overall not very good. It focuses on adding many systems, rather than nailing the foundations. Leave auto-attacks to MMOs, please.

    If you've ever played a Xenoblade game before and liked its combat and storytelling, or if you just like this kind of game in general, you'll adore this game. If that doesn't describe you, you might still enjoy the game, but you could end up bouncing off it. These are well-made games but they have a specific audience.

    ⭐⭐⭐
     
    Oh, man. I’m gonna be all over this thread, especially since the review scores line up very well with my own grading system, and that’s one heck of a batch to start with. I need to find time to do this soon.
     
    I kind of wish I could participate by just giving the games a score. I probably won’t feel like writing a paragraph or more about every game on here, but at the same time I would like my score to count.
     
    Ooh this sounds like a fun time. I might be more positive than others rating wise, but these are my honest thoughts based on the scale given. This is also just a really strong batch of games

    Review: Tears of the Kingdom

    I would like to say I'm not sure how to feel about Tears of the Kingdom, but that's not quite accurate. I very much think it's a masterpiece, I'm just not sure how much of a masterpiece it is

    There's not really much to say about this game that hasn't been said already. The three (kinda four if you count caves) layers of the world are brilliant, even if two of them are more supplementary than fully featured on their own. The placement of key resources in each of these locations is also genius - you can find powerful weapons, Zoanite, and Fuse fodder in the Depths, navigational tools in the Sky (maps, Zonai devices, even just a birds-eye view), caves provide a ton of variety, a fun hunt for an often well-hidden collectible, special armors, and oftentimes your best source of full heals in the form of Hearty Truffles, and the surface has been upgraded since BoTW with an abundance of fun side quests.

    Shrines and dungeons are at the heart of ToTK, and they're much improved over at least its predecessor, even if dungeons still don't quite reach the heights of the earlier entries in the series. But the puzzles are intuitive and make for some fun "ah-hah!" moments, even if they're on the easier side overall. They also make good use of Ultrahand, one of my favorite mechanics in a video game. Speaking of, the new powers are all excellent but Ultrahand really is the star of the show. I do enjoy playing "summoner" type characters in games, so being able to summon a variety of death drones was a blast.

    The main issue with this game is the obvious one - the reused map. Funnily enough, I didn't actually think this would be a big issue for me prior to launch, but playing the game I did feel like there was an overall sense of familiarity that hurt the experience - especially coming from BoTW, a game all about discovering the unknown. I get why the devs did it and I'm not really upset that they did - but I really hope we go to a new map next game

    All that said, it's still ToTK, a game with more polish, creativity, and pure fun than almost any other out there. 5/5 stars

    Review:     Pikmin 4

    I'm not as experience with Pikmin as many, only having played 3 DX and now 4. I do love both though - there's nothing quite like Pikmin out there and I'm glad it seems to be rising in priority for Nintendo

    Pikmin 4 is honestly pretty similar to ToTK despite the vast differences in core gameplay. It's a game all about quantity, while not really sacrificing quality at the same time. It's also similarly about variety - overworld exploration is chill and relaxed as you uncover the secrets of the map and create shortcuts, caves are a focused burst of fun level design with some occasionally excellent theming, Dandori Challenges are freakishly addicting and at least gave me quite a hard time, Dandori Battles are a fun chaotic distraction, and Night Missions offer a wildly different gameplay loop, despite being maybe a bit on the simple and easy side

    Pikmin 4 also does a really great job of incentivizing completion, due partially to how much QoL there is on that front. Plus, the gameplay of Pikmin lends itself well to the collectathon vibe of this game, as seeing the little dudes cart away your treasures is perhaps more satisfying than just grabbing them would be.

    Don't really have many complaints here, honestly. It's just a great game, and a very fun time. 5/5 stars
     
    Review: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    Playing this game, as with Breath of the Wild, was a revelation. It really forces you to think differently about how you interact and solve problems in a game world. Like most people here I was anticipating this game like crazy, but having given it a few months to sink in I'm not sure if I can really say it maintains its shine.

    The new mechanics were wonderful, the scope of the world was unbelievable, but the overall game structure felt all too familiar, and surprisingly lackluster. Perhaps it's a handicap that comes with the territory of an open world game but I thought they could at least throw in a few more curve balls for progression.

    The world itself also disappointed me a bit, mainly because while the world and NPCs progressed and changed in certain ways, there was still very little new exciting territory to discover. The depths was a neat idea but needed far more variety and narrative explanation. The sky was much more sparse than I expected, and also inexplicably poorly expounded on.

    Overall it felt incomplete. A ton of incredible ideas that were half-three quarter baked, just in the cusp of greatness but not quite there. Still an amazing experience that I'll remember fondly for a long time but I'm not sure I'd put it up there with the very best.

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐
     
    Review: Super Mario 64
    While not the first game of its kind, Super Mario Bros. would set the standard for the 2D platforming genre with its momentum based running and jumping, strong level design, and plentiful secrets. It paved the way for a highly successful series of games and influenced the creation of many other games like (and unlike) it. Few franchises have the reputation for codifying a genre in the way Super Mario Bros. did. Even fewer can say that they did it more than once. Much like how its 1985 predecessor broke ground for the 2D platformer, Super Mario 64 would do the same for the 3D platformer.

    As the franchise progressed through the late 1980's and early 1990's, the Super Mario platformers began moving towards more open forms of progression. Super Mario Bros. 3 introduced world maps for multiple potential paths through an area, and Super Mario World expanded on the concept with secret exits in courses and even more branching paths through Dinosaur Land. Meanwhile, the otherwise linear Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island would remove time limits and encourage exploration through its many hidden collectibles and more open courses. Both of these lines of thought come to roost in Super Mario 64, a game which embraces open progression and play in a 3D space.

    From the moment you start up a file, Mario is allowed to let loose with an expansive set of acrobatic abilities. Gone are the days of just one or two ways to jump. We now have double and triple jumps to leap high while on the move, long jumps to cross gaps and go fast, wall kicks to scale vertical surfaces, side somersaults for quick airtime after changing your direction, and a backwards somersault that's perfect for performing at a standstill. Each of these gives Mario more ways to traverse his environments and more ways to move at different speeds and situations, something made all the more relevant thanks to the analog controls this game helped to pioneer. Walking, running, turning, all of these are dictated by how far you push the analog stick. A quaint concept nowadays, but one that is pulled off exceedingly well in this first attempt. To this day, Mario feels inherently fun to control, one of the keys that makes playing even the most simple of areas enjoyable.

    Super Mario 64 is mindful of the fact that it is one of the first 3D games, and the philosophy of acclimating its players to this new form of play permeates throughout its design. Beyond being a hub for accessing courses, Peach's Castle is a peaceful playground where Mario can practice his moves. You pull off all of Mario's jumps, climb treats, swim in the moat, pretty much anything a player needs to get used to the play controls. The punch and kick mechanics give an option for fighting enemies that can avoid potential depth perception issues, and the dive move is as useful a way to damage and grab objects on the go as it is a way to get an extra burst of horizontal movement. The camera, a concept we generally take for granted in modern games, is turned into an actual character, and moving it is made akin to moving the in-universe cameraman. Courses start as more wide-open spaces so that players can acclimate to the controls whereas later courses incorporate more challenging platforming segments. It's these touches that made such a new experience accessible, and while modern games can assume more players are aware of these concepts, Super Mario 64 made the right decision for the time in a way that I highly appreciate.

    Power Stars are your primary goal in Super Mario 64, replacing the course clearing of prior entries. Power Stars are found by reaching specific areas of a course, completing challenges, collecting coins, and defeating bosses. Rather than visiting a course once and being done with it, the 15 main courses each have multiple objectives, encouraging players to visit multiple times and giving plenty of opportunities to learn their layouts. This is complemented by smaller, one-off sections that generally focus on shorter challenges or linear platforming. Some repeated objectives, such as the many missions involving collecting eight red coins, give new areas a sense of familiarity - even if you don't have your bearings, you at least have one objective to go for while you adjust yourself. And if any one level or mission is too much, you can always try going somewhere else - only 70 of the game's 120 Power Stars are needed for completion, meaning that there is a lot of room for forging your own path - it's the Super Mario World map philosophy pushed into a new direction. Of course, even the 120 Star run is satisfying in its not too long, not too brief length, though it does take some time and practice to nail it just right.

    Super Mario 64 exudes a particular atmosphere that feels born from its nature as an early 3D game. Peach's Castle is both this safe home base and this weird structure, more art museum than castle. You got your bright and cheerful levels mixed with levels floating above voids, serene water courses followed by whimsical snow levels followed by a stark desert, a pool of lava seeming to stretch near infinitely with platforms to bounce around, more surreal levels in clock towers and across elevated platforms in the sky. It doesn't quite have the sense of place that, say, a Sunshine or Galaxy or Odyssey might have (not even a 3D Land/World, and those games were deliberately more game-y!), but it ends up memorable on its own merits. This is complemented by Koji Kondo's wonderful score - I often associate each area just as much with its level design as I do its song in terms of the atmosphere it sets, and most of these songs scratch my nostalgic itch like nothing else.

    Not all of Super Mario 64's elements have aged gracefully. The camera controls are mostly responsive if a bit rigid, focusing on fixed angles in its default mode and not always giving you the best angle for the situation. Mario has some great jumps, but the turn around he sometimes does when changing your direction can get in the way of the otherwise smooth controls. Bosses focus on teaching 3D control and moveset fundamentals and can come off as too simple. Not every mission is a winner, involving you finding obscure hidden spots on the map or very tricky platforming in a linear space or having very tight 100 Coin requirements. Even something as simple as being forced out of a course when you collect a Power Star or die without many checkpoint opportunities can be aggravating. But some acclimation to the game's expectations can help alleviate some of these. Experimenting with the two different cameras can give you a better perspective depending on the situation - I found myself using Mario cam pulled backwards when I wanted a more traditional "following behind the player" camera, in particular. The numerous missions take the pressure off of the harder challenges. I can pick and choose which Power Stars to go for without a particular objective walling my progression, and I can do them in a variety of orders. Sure, you start each course from the start every time you enter, but this gives you more chances to learn the layouts and the controls, letting the 100 Coin missions serve as the sign that you've mastered that course, much like getting a perfect 100/100 score in Yoshi's Island.

    It took me until 2020 to really appreciate Super Mario 64. I always acknowledged it as an important game in my childhood, but I had this perception that it aged worse than it did. I beat the DS version in the 2000's, and I started the N64 version many times, but I had never done a 100% run or even seen beyond the basement for myself on Nintendo 64. But a chance playthrough around MAR10 Day gave me a different perspective. I gave myself the time to learn these courses, to get used to the controls, to understand what made the title tick. And it finally clicked. It's not without rough patches, but Super Mario 64 is a masterpiece, a revolution in its day that remains satisfying to this very day.

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

    ~~~
    In truth, if this were a 10 point scale, Super Mario 64 would land as a 9 instead of a 10, but on a snap judgment, this one swings around to a 5. It is truly a legendary game, even if its age shows.

    I have my thoughts on games like TotK and Pikmin 4, but I have yet to finish either and I don't think I'll be able to finish them in two weeks. Well, maybe Pikmin 4? If I do finish either game, I'll come back to review them. I might also write a review for Metroid Dread, but I would have to gather my exact thoughts beyond "That was so sick, Samus is so cool, incredible final boss."
     
    Review: Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    It's like, 5/7 of the best Xenoblade game and then 2/7 "did they bother to make this part of the game"

    A whole lot works about Xenoblade 3. It's the most polished entry in the series by far, has the best side quests, the cast is probably pound for pound the best in the series, the areas are well laid out and fun to explore, the themes are honestly pretty interesting, progression is pretty solid, and combat is fairly engaging

    On the flip side, the story is just good, not great (until it suddenly becomes pretty meh), character arcs start strong but then end poorly or just not at all, the ending is pretty half-baked and narratively weak even if it does a decent job with its themes, and the combat gets samey quick and is probably my least favorite in the series.

    Overall, XC3 is probably my least favorite game in the series (only about 20 hours into X though so maybe that'll beat it out? Seems unlikely at the moment but I'd also have said that about XC3 20 hours in). But it's still a Xenoblade, so it's an excellent time nontheless

    4/5 stars. Future Redeemed is a 5/5

    Review: Metroid Dread

    If it was called Betroid Bread then everyone

    Would have still raved about it because this game is awesome. A fast paced thrill ride with impeccable design and pacing, the smoothest controls this side of anywhere, stunning boss fights and excellent presentation. It's the only game where I did two back-to-back playthroughs, one for 100% and one Hard Mode playthrough under 4 hours. The EMMIs are a great addition to the formula, as are the new powerups, and the way the game opens up into more of a true Metroidvania experience once you figure out the sequence breaks is excellent. The final boss is probably the best Nintendo has ever put out

    It's an absolute masterpiece and I can't wait to see what Mercury Steam does with the franchise next. Hopefully while crediting those people who helped them put out such a gem

    5/5 stars

    Bonus Unscored Review: Super Mario 64

    The answer to the question: "What if every level in a platformer felt like the ice level?"

    In all seriousness, it's probably a great game and it's hard to blame it for my problems with it since it's basically the first major 3D game. Couldn't get past the physics though
     
    Review: Super Mario 64
    The 5th generation of consoles is often a bit more divisive in retrospect than the generations which came before or after it. This was the first real push for 3D games - and a lot of the rules around 3D were at the time unwritten. Given that, a lot of debate is going on to this day over what criticisms are fair for games which are essentially the primordial soup to 3D game design going forward. However, I'd posit the idea that most major games from this era can be forgiven because their flaws are a result of their early integration into 3D and only their early integration into 3D is a flawed one. Ocarina of Time doesn't have worse player guidance than A Link to the Past because the team had a hard time figuring out 3D, it was because they decided to take out the numberered dungeons in the overworld map and let the player wait ten minutes for Navi to tell you where to go next. Final Fantasy VII doesn't have worse player guidance than Final Fantasy VI because they switched from pixels to polygons, it's because they give you a ship in the middle of the game and then require you to do a dozen tasks in different places in a sequential order that no one could randomly figure out in order to progress the game. And Mario 64 hasn't aged poorly because it was one of the first playbooks on 3D games, but because somehow no designer figured out having Mario not be able to recover from slides was one of the worst game design decisions in a platforming game despite probably putting hundreds of hours into playtesting.

    Everything about Mario 64's praise feels largely divorced from the game it actually is. The controls are perfect - when you're running in a straight line in even terrain. Put in this vacuum it's tempting to say Mario 64 might even be better than later games in the series, though Mario is perhaps a bit too loose even in perfect conditions. Taken as part of the game, though? It's a trainwreck in many ways. Mario has trouble even running up a small hill if he doesn't have enough momentum and - crucially - the punishment for this is exaggerative and unnecessary: instead of Mario just failing to climb that hill, he slides on his belly and has to regain control. This means even in the first real level, Bomb-omb battlefield, the controls already feel imperfect and clumsy at best, even stripped from the context of real player punishments.

    But this only gets worse the more you play. Running too fast and jumping while hitting a wall will knock Mario back, rendering him immobile, which means any bad jump near a cliff could potentially be fatal or waste you tons of time. Falling to a slope almost instantly causes you to slide and with no single recovery jump like is common in later games, there's no convenient way to counteract this except for the rare occasion where the game will calculate your character as being on even terrain. All of these character control issues are beyond frustrating and critically while some of them might not be that bad in theory (the knockback one is mostly a nitpick), there's usually at least one level where these issues become a common occurence. Levels like Cool Cool Mountain are almost a testament to how bad this games slope physics are, Bomb-omb Battlefield's small hills are too much for Mario's tiny feet, and the poison mazes of Hazy Maze are a testament to how annoying the strict jumping mechanics can be in combination with a small camera view.

    We're talking about a game where literally the first Bowser's Road literally has a green mushroom sitting on a small box, and if you try to carefully and slowly get the green mushroom and turn around, the game will make you fall off the edge because Mario's gait is so big that he can't turn around properly. That's bad game design. Don't even get me started on the camera in the swimming sections, or the nonsensical controls of the fly cap, which might just be the most miserable I've ever been playing a video game.

    But what about the rest of the game? What about the levels? Mario 64's level design is something I can only call inconsistent. Truthfully speaking if you aggregated the level design in every mainline Mario game, this is probably going straight near the bottom. For a game that wrote the playbook on 3D game design, it sure is insane how much bottomless pits and precise platforming this game has, especially with how loose Mario's controls are. It's probably a testament to how poorly these levels have aged that a lot of what 3D game design would take inspiration from even in that same generation is the atmosphere and layout of levels, but not so much the precise platforming or the huge player punishments. Every fall into the quick sand in Shifting Sand Land and every fall off the mountain in Tall, Tall Mountain really sunk in. Speaking of, I find that in platformers water levels being bad is sort of a meme, but Mario 64 has no problem making these levels live up to their reputation. The swimming is slow and clunky, and while the swimming controls themselves are actually well thought out, the levels crafted around them are bland and repetitive and only serve to make each tap of the B button that much more monotonous. When Dire Dire Docks literally starts you off in the other end of the world only for you to slowly swim down and swim through a pipe to play the actual game, that's bad game design. None of this is to mention how irritating the 100 coin stars are, or how inane the constant cannon challenges are. And don't even get me started on how directionless Tiny Huge Island is ...

    But honestly, there are good levels here, even a fair few great ones. Lethal Lava Land is brilliant for its use of lava as both a punishment to the player and also a tool - and ironically enough, its lava is a much lesser punishments than the bottomless pits that characterize the rest of the game. It just goes to show how poor of a punishment that was inthe other levels. Bomb-omb Battlefield gets all the love for being the defacto tutorial level, but for my money, Whomp's Fortress is really where it's at. It's basically the tutorial side B, with a smaller take on the same concept of a field wrapped around a smaller hill, and it's great, with some of the more mindful use of precise platforming in the game. Wet-Dry World might just be my favorite Mario level of all time, with a sense of world building and discovery that isn't in most platformers.

    Truth be told I've been very hard on this game, when the reality is that Mario 64 is a game of peaks and valleys. What frustrates me most about this game is that if you were to have a design doc of the perfect game concept, this would be it. It has the atmospheric elements of a hub world with tons of areas to explore and secrets to find, but it still has the abstract level design that a Mario game needs in order to present varied platforming challenges. It comes from an era where Mario iconography was genuinely still new and intriguing and not just nostalgia bait, and as a result most of the world from enemies to locations to power ups is presented in a much more interesting way than most Mario games despite mostly being "basic Mario" unlike later 3D entries. The non linearity is great, and the size of the levels is unironically inspiring - with a perfect mixture of sandbox game design and linearity that provides a sense of challenge. The complaints about the camera almost feel a little overblown compared to the other control issues, even if they are valid complaints and cause a lot of problems. Even then there are problems I didn't talk about in detail, like how bad the fact that you have to exit a level every time you die / get a star is, even though most levels don't get remixed and the game already allows for saving in levels for Bowser's Road stars. To be fair to Mario 64, the issues here are much more intertwined with the issues of early 3D game design than the small imperfections of Ocarina of Time or Final Fantasy VII, I can see how they would miss some areas when Mario 64 built so much of the roadmap of 3D games. But I just don't think I've ever played a game where the discourse around it was so different from how I felt. It feels barely functional half the time, and while it provided a lot of my favorite memories with Mario, it also provided most of my miserable ones.

    ⭐⭐
     
    Sturmgeist said:
    I kind of wish I could participate by just giving the games a score. I probably won’t feel like writing a paragraph or more about every game on here, but at the same time I would like my score to count.
    Click to expand...
    I think it's perfectly fine to just sum up your thoughts in 2 or 3 lines as well, as long as it contains some reasoning for your score
     
    0
    METROID DREAD

    A Metroid high point expertly crafted to maintain constant forward momentun even as it has players backtrack through previously explored areas. Controls and boss fights are top of the series. While different sensibilties may prefer less directed flavors of the genre, Metroid Dread represents the best of its kind. What it falls short of is its own title. Samus is no longer an armored tank, but a glass cannon. The latter provides exhilarating combat - the former stayed congruent with the theme of its stories. Under the guiding principle "Every hit is avoidable", Samus' fragility does not induce dread, since death is painless. EMMI lose their oppressive presence by the 15th attempt. Reloads come fast and easy. Generous checkpoints create a brisk pace despite difficult challenges at the expense of making good on the central promise made twenty years before that kept an outstanding game from us for far too long.

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great
     
    Neat idea for a thread! let's begin

    THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM

    I am very conflicted about this game. On one hand, it has some of the most genious ideas for new gameplay in any game ever. Ultrahand is brilliant and the possibilities it gives you are almost endless. Ascend improves exploration immensly. Recall has so many applications in gameplay. the ability to dive from a sky island to the very bottom of the depths gives a fantastic feeling every time.
    It also has some of the greates moments in the series (which I will put under spoiler)
    Everyting of the final sequence of the game, from the final boss to diving to grab Zelda's hand. then there's the champions coming to help you in a wave battle before the final boss, the miniboss to reach Death mountains top, The master Sword pull is the best one in the series without a doubt.
    It also has probably the best ways of exploring such a huge world: just build a car or something that can help you move and go.
    Some of the new music is awesome and hypes up the sequences where they are played.

    On the other hand though, we have everything else, which is either good if slightly dissapointing, dissapointing, baffling or just garbage.

    The story and characters are awful. all of them are tropes with a single personality trait. Ganondorf in particular is very bad, reduced to just an evil man with no good reason to do what he does. zelda's involvement in the past is so minimal I don't know why she was even there for 2/3 of it. Also doesn't help that all of this is once again told through memories, which now also has some progression locked memories with no indication on where they are found or the order, So if you get a memory, there's a chanche that it will spoil a previous one.
    The present stuff is not much better. It's a repeat of BOTW's story, just slightly changed and slightly longer. The four major tribes are in trouble, you need to go help them, except this time is because of regional phenomena instead of the Divine beasts (which, btw, are never mentioned once, like they never existed.)

    the world dissapointed me greatly. The sky-islands where the most marketed new feature, but in the end only one of them was good, that being the Great sky Islands, which also act as the tutorial like the grat plateau, but worse. Every other island exist only to have a shrine and get the new zonai devices. other than that they don't matter after the first visit.
    The Depths are slightly better, but still not good. everywhere you go it looks the same, there's nothing interesting in it except maybe 3-4 places and they only serve as a way to get more zonaite, necessary to get anything Zonai related, and non-rusted weapons. other than that and some story stuff, they become boring after the first 2-3 descents.
    The overworld is the best part, but also has problems. the biggest one is that it's too Similar to BOTW's world, which is a big problem if you, like me, spent hundred of hours in it, memorizing every location.
    It also has too much stuff in it. BOTW was able to space thing properly, but here everywhere you look there's something, which makes it overwhelming at times. This can be considered a positive, but sometimes it's not and I feel like this is one of those times. Most of the stuff I did was boring and repetitive, which didn't help.
    The new caves are an interesting new addition to the world, but most of the ones I did we're too short and only served as enemy camps. There are some really good ones tho. Minor nitpick, but I wish the bigger caves had a map.

    Shrines are better than in BOTW. They are longer and the new powers+zonai devices allow them to be more creative with the challenges. Some of them are still extremely simple, tutorial-like challenges, but they are still better. For some of them however Nintendo decided to do Eventide island style challenges (use what you find in the shrine). These are the best ones and are super fun to do, but they don't feel as special as eventide.

    The new sages powers are worse than the ones in BOTW. The rito one is the most useful and I had it on all the time, but it's still worse than Revali's gale. The other ones are useful in only one situation and the Zora one is completely useless.. The way you activate these powers is also terrible, since you need to run to the sages to activate them, but the AI fights you by either running away or dissapearing to get closer to you because you are 1 cm too far.

    Combat is still bad or unbalanced. Zonai Devices break the game completely and make everything, even the thoughest enemies, a joke (if you have the zonaite and energy to use them). But if you don't use them, the basic combat is terrible, with enemies that can kill you in one hit no matter how many hearts you have and the attacks you do are bad and too simple. If you try to combine the two it gets better, but again, you need alot of energy tomake the Zonai devices work properly.

    Dungeons are better, but also worse. Better because they are visually distinct and the road to reaching them is great. but also worse because youcan't manipulate them like in BOTW, which is a shame.

    Bosses are great (except one) and super hype, even if mostly simple.

    Then there's the repetitive stuff. Koroks are somehow worse than in BOTW. Now for alot of them you need to escort them from pooint A to B. This would be fine if it was just a few, but praticaly every 10 meters this type of korok appears.
    Then the cutscenes at the end of the first 4 dungeons. This is the same cutscenes repeated 4 times, with only difference being the character narrating it. This was probably done to make every dungeon feel like the first, but it's a stupid way of doing it and I can't believe this was the best they could come up with.

    Now, despite everything I said, I still greatly enjoyed it. if I where to give it a score(based on the OP), it would be 3/5 (it would be a 3.5/5, but no Half scores are allowed). The good stuff is extremely good. Incredible even. But the bad and dissapointing stuff is just too much for me to consider it a masterpiece. The biggest cause of all the problems I have is probably Nintendo's desire to make this game approachable even to new players and being too afraid to be too different from BOTW, which limits them too much in what to do.
    There are some games inspired by BOTW that I would consider better than both (as in if you compare every aspect of the game, those games will win in most of them). Maybe in a future playthrough my opinion will change, but for now it is what it is. It is overall better than BOTW, but BOTW gave me a better experience and I don't have a desire to come back to it anytime soon.
    ⭐⭐⭐/5
    METROID DREAD

    A contender for best game on Switch and best Metroid game. Sublime controls and some of the best ones I ever felt, perfect pacing, incredible boss fights (minus one of them), great levels, it has almost all of it.
    It does have problems, namely music not being as good as other games in the series and not having a sense of dread (ironic, considering the title), and the emmi sections being just ok.
    But my god it is so good. I never get tired of playing it. I even completed it 100%. I cannot wait for the next 2D metroid.
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    A game that starts of very strong, but crashes and burns towards the end.
    Story started really good for the first 5 chapters and it has some of the best moments in the series. But then chapter 6 and 7 happen and everything in them is bad. I said it before, but it feels like theres half of the story missing. There was supposed to be more, but either due to time or something else, that half never made it in the game
    So many questions are left unexplored (some of them are answered in the DLC, but let's focus on the base game) and the answers we get are unsatifying

    The main cast is the second best in the series. Eunie, Taion and Mio are awesome. Lanz is overall ok, Noah however is boring and the weakest protagonist in the trilogy. Sena has unfortunately gotten the worst treatement out of all of them, since her story quests has someone else as the protagonist. The other characters storyquests aren't any better, with Noah's being very bad. Biggest problem for me was that the characters, who were trying to kill each other not long ago, get too friendly too quickly. Even Lanz, who greatly disliked the idea of joining with the Agnus characters, becomes friendly to them in the very next cutscene.

    Villains are complete garbage. They are basically mustache twirling villains. Z as a concept is good, but there's so little of him in the game that he just ends up being boring. N is the best villain in the game, but even he is ok at best and pales in comparision to previous villains in the series.

    General Gameplay received some great QoL updates. Combat also improved, being able to Swap characters during combat is great and it's much fasterbut some aspects of the combat make me prefer Xeno2's combat. First are chain attacks, which received a downgrade. There's more strategy involved, but you don't need to put in any effort to get them and any strategy you choose seems to work in defeating the game. another small thing missing is stutter step, which was great for charging arts in Xeno2, but here it's missing and makes playing with the Agnus members feel slower.

    The World is probably the least interesting in the trilogy. Xeno 3 does not have the stunning vistas ofprevious games and the lack of cities hurt it.

    Music is an absolute banger and can be considered the best in the series depending on your preference.

    Overall, it is a very good game, but the story, forgettable world and some gameplay decisions drag it down. It's a game that needed to commit cmpletely to being a sequel, but because of having to accomodate new players who are experiencing a Xenoblade game for the first time it can never go too far with its story. I would still overall considerit the 2nd best in the trilogy thanks to the gameplay. Score would be 3.5/5, but I'm giving it a 3/5 to follow the rules in the OP
    ⭐⭐⭐

    Quick thoughts about the DLC: it's great and definitely feels like what the base game's story should have been
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐
     
    hologram said:
    Here are the first batch of games to review! Reviews must be in by October 3rd, 2023, at 12PM Eastern Time (US).
    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
    Pikmin 4
    Xenoblade Chronicles 3
    Metroid Dread
    Super Mario 64
    Click to expand...
    5 stars
    Haven't played
    Haven't played
    4 stars
    Haven't played
     
    Haven't thought of anything to post yet but I just wanted to say this thread is a fantastic idea and I'm so happy it exists. Thanks holo!
     
    0
    I'm usually the kind of person who writes waaaaay too many words to express what could be said in a few sentences. So I'm going to deliberately attempt very short reviews to participate in this. Hope that's ok with everyone and not seen as low effort!


    Tears of the Kingdom: botw was already a home run in so many ways, but then it got followed up by a game that essentially just gave you even more fun toys to play with, more amazing places to explore, more fantastic music and one of my personal favorite Zelda stories. It's really just exceptional and one of the easiest games to give--

    5/5


    Metroid Dread

    Another slam dunk in so many ways. This has some of my favorite 2D action combat of all time. It refined what Samus Returns was going for and delivered a really great follow up to Fusion. Also, Samus is just so freaking COOL!!! Another game I can happily give--

    5/5

    Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    This game is really lovely, but it's my least favorite in the Xenoblade series. I didn't connect with the gameplay like I did with XBC2, there weren't as many tunes that stuck with my soul after finishing it (still a phenomenal OST don't get me wrong), the story felt like it just sorta handwaved some seemingly important details and I personally wanted a lot more in terms of the overarching story in the series... Which, of course, I was given by Future Redeemed. FR basically answered a few of my previous issues (some great tunes, more clarity on a few story elements and a meaningful connection to not just Xenoblade, but the overarching Xeno series at large). Without it, I may have been maybe willing to rate it around 3. But considering it all as a complete package, I give it--

    4/5

    SUUUUPAH MARIO 64

    Personally, I think this game really deserves to be viewed in the context of its significance to gaming. So much tireless effort was put in to making 3D gaming understandable to audiences at the time, and this game absolutely delivered on that. Even as a kid growing up with it, I fought some of the camera and controls, but I have always loved vibes of the world, the amazing music, exploring the castle and mastering Mario's moveset that is at once a little too stiff AND quite expressive. If it aged a teensy bit more gracefully, I'd go perfect for it, but in acknowledgement of how hard it can be for people to enjoy the controls, I'll go


    4/5

    Haven't finished Pikmin 4 yet but I'm planning to soon!

    Edit cause I realize I didn't include what I liked most about xbc3-- the characters!! I adore that crew so much. The interactions in the quests and cutscenes were something I really latched onto. And I did appreciate how the gameplay combined aspects of all the other games in the series... If they gave me a mech like xbcx, I'd change my score to 5/5 lmfaoooo
     
    Metroid Dread
    The grand return of 2D Metroid! Let's start off with the positives. The controls are delightful honestly, it just feels so satisfying to move around. Combine that with the return of 360 degs free aim and the dash melee and you have the core of a very solid game. Aside from that, the visuals and art style are also great. The contrasts and lighting are really easy to grasp and add a lot of dynamic. In combination with the pretty set pieces you've got a game that looks gorgeous.

    Next to its presentation, the boss fights are also one of its strongest points, and some of the most fun boss fights in games I've ever seen. Great stuff, especially when compared to other Metroid games (looking at you Prime). Special shoutout as well to Ravenbeak, formidable antagonist design and really hope he gets into Smash.

    That said, it's not all sunshine. As others mentioned the music is not on par with previous entries in the series. While there are a couple of gems like Artaria, I do think future games should shy away from too atmospheric music.

    The music is not my main issue with the game though; the game is awfully restrictive for a 2D Metroid. Every time you try to go off the main path you are restricted. Especially in the early half of the game, all the freedom is one big illusion. I understand this decision was made to try and appeal to a wider audience, but it would have been better to take a different philosophy than offering the illusion of freedom. Instead of forcing the player into a linear path, make it such that non-critical paths are fun on their own to explore and offer rewards. Also, while the problem has been lessened compared to Metroid 2 Remake, backtracking upgrades are too simple and on the nose in this game as well. It is simply no fun when an upgrade is locked behind a breakable block that requires a later item, literally the only challenge is: do you backtrack here later to pick it up? Shine spark challenges were great on the other hand.

    Hence, overall I'll give this game a ⭐⭐⭐⭐. Very excited for the future of the franchise!
     
    Review: Metroid Dread

    I liked the idea of Metroid before Dread, but it would have been inaccurate to call myself a Metroid fan. I'd played Metroid Prime when it first came out on the GameCube for... a few hours. If I remember correctly, I beat the first boss, realized I'd forgotten to scan it, and then got disheartened. (What can I say, I'm a real quitter.) I'd tried Super Metroid on NSO, and although I really enjoyed the atmosphere, I didn't persevere for one reason or another (did I mention I'm a quitter?). Regardless, I thought Samus was super cool, and I knew how excited people in this community were for a new Metroid game, so I was excited too. The trailers were great! I was going to finally, properly play a Metroid game! The question is: did I like it?

    Yes, yes I did. Honestly, Dread is probably the best 2D action game I've ever played. The controls are perfect, the EMMI sections break the gameplay up nicely, and I feel like the game strikes a really good balance between open exploration and linearity. This last part might be controversial, since I know a lot of Metroidvania fans like the fact that you can get lost basically immediately, but I've never really enjoyed that. Dread had a few linear sections, and sometimes blocked you from backtracking (usually in order to nudge you in the right direction), but overall it felt like like it allowed you to explore and simply guided you to going the right way without being overbearing. And there were some truly excellent bosses, probably my favorite in any 2D game. The final boss in particular is so un-Nintendo in some ways (extremely difficult lol) and yet very Nintendo in other ways (once you get the hang of it, you can basically avoid damage completely in the first few phases; it really manages to avoid the frustration so common in difficult bosses in a way games like Hollow Knight or Elden Ring have not for me).

    As @Aurc mentioned, the music is a weak point. It's not bad, but it definitely could (and probably should) have been better. But that's a minor complaint in what is overall an excellent game and one of my favorites on the Switch.

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐
     
    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
    Tears of the Kingdom is "Breath of the Wild, but more" and Breath of the Wild is one of the best games I've ever played. Unfortunately, for me, that "but more" was to very mixed results and I found a lot of it quite tedious. I loved the new enemy types and spelunking caves. I could take or leave a lot of the other additions. Ended up burning out on this game and I never did get into a rhythm with it like I did Breath of the Wild, but there's still so much Breath of the Wild in its DNA that it's still overall a fun time.
    ⭐⭐⭐

    Xenoblade Chronicles 3
    I was really digging this game up through the first half, but I had some issues that started sprouting up in the long run. A lot of the story and characterization priority from the first half felt like it changed focus down the stretch, and battles got to be a bit too much with the very long team combos and stuff. I also really liked the character progression system, but I don't think it held up as it never felt appropriate to settle into a fun build and the game encouraged just constantly swapping everything as soon as possible. I still liked the game quite a bit overall as I find the general gameplay of Xenoblade and running around its worlds and completing quests to be a wonderful time, but not sure I can say my complaints were few and far between.
    ⭐⭐⭐

    Metroid Dread
    Metroid Dread is up there with the best-feeling 2D action games ever made. Everything feels so smooth. Controls like a dream. There are tons of fun boss fights, a good bit of nice exploration, great pacing. I honestly have very few complaints with the game. I think the music definitely could've been a lot better, but the rest was better than I was even hoping for when the game came out.
    ⭐⭐⭐⭐


    I actually keep a spreadsheet to keep track of games I play and I'd say my ratings are fairly different from what I have here, but I don't mind using the general outline from the OP. I do think a lot of stuff is going to wind up at 3 stars for me though lol. Everything from "pretty good game I guess" games to "very very good game but not quite great" games I think fit that 3 star definition. Tears of the Kingdom and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 are probably closer to the latter for me. I basically just use the MyAnimeList ratings for my spreadsheet where an 8 is "very good" so I actually have TotK and Xenoblade 3 as 8's on my spreadsheet lol. Metroid Dread a 9 "great." But I'm fine with this. I actually sorta like seeing the differences.
     
    0
    Review: Metroid Dread
    I've talked a lot on this forum about my feelings on Metroid Dread. I was here for the game's launch, and now I'm here two years later still talking about it. I've said so much about the game that I don't think much more needs to be said. So I'll keep it brief. When Metroid Dread originally came out, I was as bit disappointed with it. I had just done a replay of Super a few months earlier, and that completely changed my view on that game from being a good game that was clunky to a greatest of all time that was one of the best games I've ever played. So when I got to Dread, I was disappointed by all the ways it wasn't super. It didn't have the exploration of Super even if it had the sequence breaking, it didn't have the planetary feel of Super even if it was technically on a planet, and its music wasn't close to being on the same level. It didn't even particularly satisfy me as a sequel to Fusion, an entry I loved, because so much of the story I was expecting to be followed up on wasn't, and the atmosphere wasn't nearly as good.

    However when I replayed the game earlier this year, I really learned to love it from a whole new perspective. Yes this game has tons of flaws. Truth be told, it might just be the most flawed 2D Metroid since Super when you actually consider what it's trying to accomplish. What goals it has in mind. But that doesn't stop it from being one of the most fun 2D games ever made. The controls are near pefect with very few blemishes going against them (curse you, mid-air shinesparks!). Mastering this game on hard on my second playthrough made me realize how good the encounter design in this game is, in a way that my first playthrough could only highlight how poor some of the damage balancing was. The game is also the most fully featured epic mainline Metroid game since Super. I normally don't like to talk about game length because I think it perpetuates this idea that every game needs to have tons of content to be good or worth your time. But in a game like Metroid Dread, that extended time compared to prior games means more time with ingenuous design. More time playing through fantastic levels. More time playing a game that is just fun to control.

    If I was to make the next Metroid game, there would be a lot of things I would change or do differently, but in some ways that doesn't matter. It's very rare that I can turn my brain off and just enjoy a game in its totality. Metroid Dread, just like Super, Zero Mission, and Fusion before it, is one of those games. Yes there are flaws that I can think of, but what's more important is that they don't bother me when I'm playing the game because all I can think about is how much fun I'm having.

    Get better music.

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
     
    0
    I'm gonna give this a try with the games that I've played before then. Just three in this batch.

    The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

    TOTK is going to be my 2023 GOTY. Pokemon SwSh was the reason I bought my first Switch but BOTW was what justified my purchase. But that also meant that I joined the BOTW discourse years too late. However, I finished the game just in time for the first TOTK teaser to drop. And this time, I can be part of the anticipating fandom.

    I had some very brief thoughts here. TOTK was everything BOTW was but better. I enjoyed every moment of it, sneaking short bursts of playtime during work break to get that one more lightroot in the distance. Or to ride the dragon across Hyrule. Or to support Hudson again. I love this game and I love the epic ending.

    That said, I also think that by virtue of being a sequel, TOTK won't really reach the heights of BOTW's impact. I am more likely to recommend BOTW over TOTK to newcomers since if they dislike BOTW, they probably won't like TOTK. If they love BOTW, TOTK will be even more enjoyable.

    Part of the fun of TOTK also comes from being part of the Day 1 community. Playing together, discovering secrets together and making silly mistakes together. Now that the time has past, playing TOTK might not be as fun as it could have been.

    But so what? My GOTY for 2023 released games ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
    (Though will it be THE GOTY for me? hmm)

    Xenoblade Chronicles 3

    Went into the game shortly after Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The quality of this game compared to the previous installment was immense. XC3 is simply much better than XC2. Most of my immediate post-game thoughts here. Wonderful JRPG experience for me. I love the characters, the music and for most of it, I love the story as well. There's too many sidequests but I can't stop doing them. Since every side quest have consequences within the overworld.

    I think that my full appreciation of the game might have been impacted by NOT having played XC: DE before. I also kinda dislike the ending for doing that hard reset. But as a whole, very enjoyable game. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    Metroid Dread

    It has been so long since I played Metroid Dread. Shamefully, this has been my first Metroid game (though not my first Metroidvania). Samus kicks ass. I also enjoyed how smooth the action is. The EMMI are appropriately scary and the bosses challenging. It always take me a couple of tries before I can defeat any bosses. Difficult, challenging but rewarding. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

    For games that are below three stars, I probably can't be bothered to even finish it or even hate-write a review for it.
     
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    0
    Vookatos said:
    The amount of words said rivals some of the most infamous games out there, yet the game never sais anything even remotely as meaningful as something like Nier Automata.
    Click to expand...

    This sentence stood out to me a little bit in your review. Now, Automata is my 3rd favourite game of all time and yes, I do consider it to be a bit more significant and meaningful in its theme explorations than XC3. But I think there’s some similarities between how the two games tell their stories. XC3 is heavy-handed and on-the-nose and sort of maximalist, and fires on all cylinders. (Some people say it’s “anime”, and I think that that is a bit of a simplistic catch-all) And I think Automata does the same. It’s all fairly one-note and spelled out. (All that’s missing is 9S screaming “I AM ANGRY!” in the second part of the game) so while I think it has the better story, I still think that one can criticise the way it is told in the same way one can criticise XC3.

    And that is why I love them so much because I’m all in on overly maximal narratives. I just personally don’t vibe much with nuance and subtlety and prefer to have everything spelled out. (That is sort of something that prevents me from getting too into The Last of Us, which conveys its emotional beats with facial animations, eye-tracking and a few guitar notes)
     
    Irene said:
    This sentence stood out to me a little bit in your review. Now, Automata is my 3rd favourite game of all time and yes, I do consider it to be a bit more significant and meaningful in its theme explorations than XC3. But I think there’s some similarities between how the two games tell their stories. XC3 is heavy-handed and on-the-nose and sort of maximalist, and fires on all cylinders. (Some people say it’s “anime”, and I think that that is a bit of a simplistic catch-all) And I think Automata does the same. It’s all fairly one-note and spelled out. (All that’s missing is 9S screaming “I AM ANGRY!” in the second part of the game) so while I think it has the better story, I still think that one can criticise the way it is told in the same way one can criticise XC3.

    And that is why I love them so much because I’m all in on overly maximal narratives. I just personally don’t vibe much with nuance and subtlety and prefer to have everything spelled out. (That is sort of something that prevents me from getting too into The Last of Us, which conveys its emotional beats with facial animations, eye-tracking and a few guitar notes)
    Click to expand...
    That's fair. Frankly, I didn't even vibe with Automata as some people did, it was just a comparison of something bringing up similar ideas that did them better. I can absolutely see people not caring about Nier for the same reason, but what's a review if not an opinion?

    I just believe that what's usually regarded as "anime" delivery of the story is by definition silly. It's stupid when a character screams their philosophy for no reason as if they had essay prepared, and it works only for some genres. Xenoblade 3 feels like it has a heavier story, though. Its fragmented manufactured society is, while not novel, is far too good for this. Games that do this can get away with it by being self-aware (Metal Gear Rising, for example), but it's rare that I find myself engrossed in a 15-year-old boy's thoughts on life, freedom, society, or any other thing. This wouldn't have been such a big issue with Xenoblade if both of its sequels didn't have absolutely massive cutscenes. Nier was the comparison that I went with because they explore some of the same ideas but with vastly different script sizes.

    The original reviews I pulled from Giant Bomb and/or Backlogged where I already catalogued my thoughts on those games (and later edited for this thread) have mentioned new Wolfenstein games. To me, a better comparison: people from all sorts of backgrounds coming together to stop the rise of fascism. While Wolfenstein (especially the sequel which, despite what I'm about to say, I love more) can be cringy and tries too hard and its themes are simple, I appreciate the way they're portrayed.
     
    0
    Love this concept and great job on setting up the rules and premises, @hologram - five stars for you!

    Here are my cents for the first batch:

    Review: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
    Excellent game in almost every respect. It's deservedly been heaped with praise and I don't know if I have much to add that hasn't already been said a million times over. (Although, I feel obliged to mention how much I enjoyed having the dungeons back.) However, in the rear view mirror a few months down the line, I do have some criticisms with it: Maybe it's not fair to it on its own, but it does suffer from being so iterative to Breath of the Wild. The changes to the base map aren't enough, although there's lot of added content, to make it stand out. The sky map is well done and I enjoyed that but the Depths... well, I just didn't like them. They felt monotonous, dark, and void of the content you could find above. Also, the final boss battle might be a great film set piece, but as a video game challenge, it felt like a huge let down. Additionally - and this might be an unpopular opinion - while the sandbox mechanics are excellent, they feel out of place in the game for me. Thrashing through Hyrule on a tank with flamethrowers and spinning traps might be fun, but it does feel incongruous with the game in its conceptual sense to the point that it breaks my immersion. I know I don't strictly need to use them, but... I mean, who didn't at least try it a few times? It would be weird not to. Anyway, in the grand scheme of things, these complaints are minor. Overall a super experience and definitely going down as one of the greats in gaming history.

    Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Great)

    Review: Pikmin 4
    Simply the best in the series so far. Does everything that Pikmin 3 did well, and does it better. The sublevels were an excellent addition to the series, the side modes were clever and mostly enjoyable, and it felt great to be able to take my time to 100% the game, which I did. Relieving the time pressure on finishing Pikmin games was a no-brainer, but one that sorely needed to be done. Thinking about it now, the only fault I can really find with it is that I wanted there to be more of it, which is only a flaw in the technical sense. If pressed, I could add that I liked the bosses in Pikmin 3 a lot and missed them here, but the rest of the content absolutely makes up for it. It might be blasphemous to rate a Pikmin title higher than a Zelda title, but one must follow one's heart in these matters.

    Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Exceptional)

    Review: Metroid Dread
    Maybe I'd use the word masterpiece? No, I'm definitely using the word masterpiece. I decided to play through the Metroid series in anticipation for this game since it was so hyped in both the old place and here, having never done so before, and I was not disappointed. Metroid went from being an unknown entity to me to being one of my 3 favourite gaming IPs, along with Pokémon and Zelda. And then this came out and I absolutely gobbled it up. Aside from the classic Metroid formula honed by the recurring features from Mercury Steam's 3DS remake, the world is incredibly well designed, the tying together of Samus' story is excellently executed, and these boss fights, goddamn, they were a ride. When I hear friends talk about not wanting to spend lots of money on 2D games, this is the game I tell them to get to prove them wrong. Similarly to my Pikmin 4 review, my biggest (small) beef with the game is that I wanted more of it. I guess I can say that I thought the ending was a bit over the top for my personal tastes, but it's really a minor thing in the grand scheme of things. Did I say masterpiece? Well, I'll say it again. Absolute masterpiece.

    Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Exceptional)

    Review: Super Mario 64
    This, I will admit, is a tricky one. Am I reviewing this as the game I played at my best friend's flat on her big brother's N64 when we were little kids or am I reviewing this as the game that I played through in my Super Mario 3D All Stars run three years back? (Wow, how is it already that long ago?) The positives and negatives differ between the two, but I think in the end I'd give both the same score. As a kid, it was groundbreaking stuff and fun to play with and I have fond nostalgic memories of it, but the controls were difficult to handle on the N64 controller and we were more attracted to Snowboard Kids, Goldeneye or South Park if we were on the N64. And to be honest, most of the time we were playing, we'd play Pokémon, either TCG or VGC, anyway. (I had Yellow, she had Blue, and her brother had Red and we would steal his cartridge when he was away to fill our Pokédexes. A tangent, sorry, but let a man reminisce.) In any case, I have a hard time reviewing it without rose-tinted glasses but I think it was great but not exceptional, and completely overshadowed by Pokémania in gaming terms. And "great but not exceptional" is a similar feeling to what I had in my 3D All Stars run. The gameplay is classic fun, the sound, level, and world designs are exceptional, and you can see this game's DNA in almost every three-dimensional game since. But, to be honest, it's been surpassed by most of its sequels and successors. Do I love Mario 64? Yes. But I love Sunshine, Galaxy, and Odyssey more. It could've landed on either three or four stars for me, but I think by looking at how it broke its ground and couldn't stand on the shoulders of giants before it, four stars are more fair.

    Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Great)

    ---

    Regarding Xenoblade Chronicles 3, I don't feel like I have played enough to justify reviewing it. I enjoyed it but not to the same extent as the first entry (or to a lesser extent the second, although I do feel like the designs and characters in 3 are better), so that I have not finished it yet. I would give it a provisional three stars if forced, but not committing to it without having played more of it - although I intend to finish it one day.​
     
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