Category: games

Well, this was an unlikely combination. Not only did the world not need a Super Mario / Raving Rabbids crossover, but you would have never guessed that either franchise would become a turn-based strategy game. And yet it oddly… works. Many people have compared it to XCOM, which I haven’t played, and that may be a good thing, since Mario + Rabbids most likely dumbs down the gameplay quite a bit. There’s not a lot of depth to the battles, but they do feel kind of puzzle-like as you try to juggle your characters’ strengths, weaknesses, and positions on the map. Later enemies also change the rules a bit, forcing you to experiment with lesser characters, which I actually appreciated.

The battles are definitely the highlight of the game, though I could see it getting pretty monotonous if it was just battle after battle after battle. So I understand the design choice of having an overworld with secrets to find and additional puzzles to solve. Unfortunately, 80% of the treasure chests you come across contain nothing but music and artwork, the lamest of video game rewards. And 80% of the overworld puzzles boil down to pushing a box or a button until something finally slides or rotates into place. It’s really not that interesting, and after a while, I dreaded these downtime moments and just wanted to jump right into the next battle. Like the name of the game itself implies, it’s a weird mash-up of ideas that doesn’t always blend well.

Of all the Warriors-style games I’ve played (One Piece, Hyrule, Orochi), this one was probably the weakest. A big part of that is because I’m, frankly, not much of a Fire Emblem fan. But you gotta admit that these aren’t exactly unique/iconic characters, anyway. Many of the characters look pretty similar. Gameplay-wise, they also play similarly. It’s kind of annoying to have two characters with the exact same skills and moves. On top of that, several characters are horseback riders who feel out of place and simply aren’t as fun to control. So when all is said and done, there were maybe 5-6 characters I actually enjoyed using.

To be fair, though, those six were pretty damn cool. I liked that you could switch between characters mid-battle and pair up with different support characters or even give those support characters marching orders. It just wasn’t intuitive at first how to swap out who’s going into battle with you or how to play local co-op. There’s a lot to be desired here, a definite need for better menus, voice acting, and a map that isn’t so frustratingly difficult to read. But I’m a sucker for hack ‘n slash RPGs, and once I got into the game—past the halfway point of Story mode, unfortunately—I had fun and expect to continue with the extra History mode for a few more hours, at least.

I wasn’t planning to buy a Switch, but it’s hard to say no to flagship games like Super Mario Odyssey. No one knows how to make a good 3D platformer quite like Nintendo, and Odyssey may be their best 3D Mario game since Mario 64. While I also really liked Mario 3D World on the Wii U, that particular game was a bit too linear and implemented archaic time limits. Odyssey, on the other hand, is a more “open world” experience that, at times, feels like an actual adventure game. For starters, you’re not kicked back into the hub after every milestone, the levels are filled with NPCs and shops, and there are secrets galore to discover.

That’s both a good thing and a bad thing, though. There are so many moons to find that they’re no longer special. You’ll obtain several moons by pure accident, and boss battles usually reward you with three moons at once. It’s not as rewarding as working towards Mario 64’s succinct 120 stars and can start to suffer from Rare levels of collectathon fatigue. But the majority of challenges are very fun to find and complete. The hat/transform gimmick definitely helps keep things fresh. Post-game, you’ll still be stumbling across new creatures and inanimate objects to take control of. Hat or no hat, though, Odyssey is a joyful pinnacle of modern 3D platforming.

Allowing the original-style Sonic to stand next to modern-day Sonic just shows how ugly the newer, lanky character designs are. Even in 3D, the shorter, chubbier Sonic looks so much nicer. Character design is about the only thing Sega needs to embrace about its Sonic past, though. I actually like—in theory—the 3D Sonic games. I think it’s totally possible to make a good 3D Sonic, and past games (like Sonic Colors and The Secret Rings) have had their moments of greatness. The problem seems to lie with Sega’s reluctance to drop the platformer pretense and double-down on the “super fast auto-runner” style of gameplay.

There are several instances in Generations where Sonic’s “gotta go fast” mentality is brought to a halt to do precision platforming, and it couldn’t feel more wrong. This happens more often in the 2D sections than the 3D sections, but it’s still pretty much everywhere throughout. I do like the idea of revisiting levels in 2D and 3D, though, but then the 3D sections periodically switch back to 2D. Sega just can’t bring themselves to go all-in on the 3D aspect, and yet those sections were my favorite parts. You can’t run super fast in 2D without fear of crashing into something you can’t see ahead of you.

Fortunately (or unfortunately perhaps?), Generations isn’t that punishing. If you miss a jump, because it came up on you too quickly, that doesn’t necessarily spell instant death. You’ll just fall to a different section of the level and miss out on some secret content. The levels definitely feel very big and branching. If I cared enough, I guess it would be fun to replay them and try to see all of the paths that I missed the first time around. But I don’t and won’t. I had a few hours of fun, but my main takeaway from this game is that I need to go back and play some of the other 3D Sonics to see if they can provide what I’m really looking for.

Nine Parchments answers the age-old question, “What would happen if the developers of Trine made Magicka?” We’ve all wondered that, right? Not surprisingly, the end result is basically the same gameplay as Magicka—a top-down, light action RPG with magical spells—but with the drop-dead gorgeous graphics that the Trine games are known for. It always astounds me how much detail they put in the background, detail that many gamers may not even notice. And, frankly, why would you be looking at the background when you’re getting your butt kicked by a bunch of fire, ice, and electric creatures?

The combat in Nine Parchments is easier to control than Magicka, because you can quickly cycle through set spells, but the difficulty is still there. This is a hard game that absolutely must be tackled co-op. When you do play co-op, however, you’ll wonder why the game wasn’t called Friendly Fire: The Musical instead. More than half the time, I died, or my teammate died, because we accidentally electrocuted or fire-bombed each other. Fights are chaotic, and it’s very easy to get caught in the crossbeams. Healing spells didn’t seem worth investing in, either, because healing can just as easily apply to enemies as they can friends.

Overall, the quest is a nice length, if not fairly repetitive. You run down a narrow path until a group of monsters pops out. You vanquish them and continue down the path until another group of monsters pops out, etc. etc. It’s definitely fun to experiment with new spells, though, and some battles can be almost puzzle-like when you realize the monsters at hand are immune to your best spells. There are also a few spots where you can take on an optional challenge to unlock a bonus character. Alas, you can’t actually use the bonus characters until you beat the game and start over. Considering how repetitive the game is, though, I don’t see myself ever doing that.

Yooka-Laylee is a wonderful tribute to the 3D platformers of the N64 era. In fact, if you didn’t know that Yooka-Laylee was made by former Rare developers, it would be easy to call it a shameless rip-off. The characters and music aren’t quite as endearing as the original Banjo-Kazooie games, so it does feel more like a clone rather than a spiritual successor. But they pretty much nailed the same tone and design otherwise, warts and all. Yes, warts. I seriously forgot how frustrating and tedious Banjo-Kazooie could be. I kept wavering between splashes of gleeful nostalgia and moments of “are we still doing that?” annoyances.

I loved exploring the worlds and looking for secrets, but so many of the Jiggies… I mean, Pagies… are only obtained by completing a mini-challenge, be it a puzzle, boss battle, or time trial. I do remember Banjo-Kazooie following the same template, but was it really this prevalent? After a while, I felt like the joy of exploration had been taken away in favor of these one-off challenges. Near the end, I just started saying, “Nope, not gonna do that one,” and sought out a different Pagie. Years ago, I would have accepted the challenge, but as an older, jaded gamer, these gimmicks are just that… gimmicks.

It was weird to stumble into one of the game’s mini-challenges, though, and realize that this whole room and puzzle were created for just one Pagie. The developers really outdid themselves in making sure Yooka-Laylee was brimming with stuff to do, even though you may only ever see half of it. After collecting my 100th Pagie to unlock the end boss, I was ready to call it quits. But it took me 12 hours to get even that far, and I had fun maybe 85% of the time. Sure, there were your typical camera/control issues that plague most 3D platformers, but this is such a well-crafted love letter to an older generation that I can’t stay mad at it for long.