Topic: User Impressions/Reviews Thread

Hey all - not had a chance to collect my thoughts on games. Had a few formal reviews and also spent a lot of time just picking up unfinished games before next gen lands. However, thought I would add another quick review.

Iron Man VR

Iron Man VR is a Sony exclusive VR title that launched in May this year after a delayed launch window from earlier in the year. As a note, the game requires that you have Move controllers and pretty much that you stand for the duration of the title.

Hmmmm - how did I feel about Iron Man VR? This is a tough one. To give some history - at EGX 2019, back when crowds of people illicited slightly less fear than they do now, I played the Iron Man VR demo at the Sony booth. At the same time, 2 friends also tried it and we all came away liking what we saw. The demo was essentially the training mode at the start of the game, so tutorial on flying and basic combat. All of us got it at launch. However, at this stage, I'm the only one of the three who has seen it through to the end. I think there is a reason for this.

In my opinion, Sony and Insomniac killed it with Marvel's Spiderman on PS4 when launched from a character and world perspective. It had a great approach to the story - the game assumed you knew who Spidey was, how he got his powers and picked up several years down the road. There was little exposition as to who everyone was but ultimately, we didn't need to. If you only saw the movies, you got enough and if you were a fan of the comics, it also nodded in that direction . Iron Man does the same here and it works really well. You know that Tony Stark is a weapons dealer turned super hero who realises what a mistake he made. It assumes you know who Shield are. If you know the Marvel movies, you'll understand. If you know the comics, you'll recognise the additional characters etc.

The story is largely about Tony Stark, several years down the road from becoming Iron Man who is attacked by a nameless 'Ghost' who has turned his old tech against him and comes after his loved ones and livelihood. You suit up on 12 missions + a prologue to follow the story through. I liked the story a lot - some elements were predictable but it takes efforts to have a theme about redemption and mistakes of the past and analyses Tony and his legacy. All good. The dialogue, not so much being very 'video gamey'. The voice acting is good but you know what I mean, the villains spend a lot of time shouting 'you'll never destroy me' followed by 'how are you destroying me?' every few minutes.

Still if you are a fan of the character it presents a nice little story set inside an intersting universe. Most of the game has you inside the suit, using the Move Controllers as your hands and arms. The triggers are your thrusters so you use them to move. Point down, you go up, push behind you, you go forward, hands front push you backwards. If you tilt your head while flying, you can affect direction slightly. As in the films, to use weapons, such as the repulsors, you put your hands up and aim or hands down to fire your heavier weapons. It means flying and combat are a fine balance - focus on shooting with both hands is great but you'll start to fall from the sky. Focusing on thrusters will make you fast but you'll probably just overshoot your target. Your HUD is your mask so you see the view of the world and ammo, direction, enemy tracking and again feels very authentic to the character.

The actual missions, with a few exceptions, are pretty much arena style fights. You fight waves of drones within an 'area', while focusing on mission objectives. It could be to save innocents or open something or whatever mcguffins the game needs. However pretty much all fights rely on balancing flight with shooting and avoiding enemies and their weapns.

So how does it feel? Well, it suffers from what a lot of VR games suffer from. When it all comes together, it feels amazing. Blasting upwards, turning your body, shooting with one hand and steering with the other feels great. Flying across the Shield Helicarrier at full blast, spinning and blowing up some enemies really does a great job of feeling like Iron Man... most of the time. Possibly down to my skills, I never quite got the hang of flying accurately - there are some flight and speed parts to levels or challenges and I sucked at them. Going up is easy, coming down not so much. This is possibly my skillset but after the full campaign, I felt I only got marginally better. It also doesn't help that the levels get repetetive. The story is good but many of the missions involve an arena with the same enemies again and again. They get slightly more challenging and increase their move sets but I would say there are six enemy types plus 2-3 bosses that make up the whole game. Not only that but the same arenas get re-used again and again. Despite 13 missions, there are approx 5 or 6 areas to play within. With the enemy types and arenas, it becomes clear that there are budgetary constraints on the game. Now, I get this, the game is a VR title that has a niche audience - it isn't going to have TLOU2 budget but you do feel it in points.

My other gripes are load times. I don't have a PS5 (roll on Thursday) but you are waiting over a minute for load times for almost every refresh. So on a mission, you could face 2-4 minutes of loading times. There is a mini game you can play while loading but the optimal way to play is standing and in VR you can't get a cup of tea or distract yourself. You are sat in a loading area and it really drained. Not only that but at about 8-10 hours for the campaign, it is a lot of standing. Getting old, this did my back in a bit.

There is an upgrade system but that relies on you being good and doing inbetween training missions to get more skill points, which to be honest, I couldn't be bothered with. So I didn't play around with my upgrades too much. There is post game content which is really improving times in time trials and combat trials to put on leaderboards and earn more gear. In the end though, i finished the campaign and then I can't see myself going back.

Is it a good game? Overall yeah, pretty good. A lot of love and energy went into making it feel bigger than it was probably budgeted. It does a great job with the license and story and the combat and flight can be exhilarating. It's just that with long load times, repetetive levels and some challenges, it felt that it didn't really hold to the promise of the demo. I started the game in May, it didn't wow me and have only now come back to it. My friends who own it are also only a couple of hours into it and I guess they'll probably never finish it. You need to invest the time to get good but at the same time, it feels the incentive isnt there with the repetetiveness.

@mookysam Thanks! Sorry to hear you didn't get on with Episode II as much as I did (although we can surely agree that it was an improvement over Episode I regardless, right?). And you're right, whilst there was kind of a story framework to the MegaDrive classics, they wrapped themselves up pretty neatly; I think we can blame SEGA's marketing department for any claims to the contrary!

And yes, both Sonic Rush and Sonic Advance are tons of fun!

@Ralizah Also thanks! I'm glad people are still enjoying these retrospectives (more than I'm glad to keep finding the motivation to write them)!

Yeah, both episodes are relatively self-contained. From the bits you've highlighted, then I'd recommend skipping straight to Episode II if and when the fancy takes you. Wait until you see it for five bucks somewhere, maybe in a Steam sale or something, and you'll definitely get your money's worth.

And absolutely, out of the three Special Stage formats they tried back in the day, the halfpipe has always been my favourite, as well. Blue Sphere (the "automatic walking ball collecting game", as you accurately describe it) is okay, but can get really frustrating and repetitive in later levels. The eerily hypnotic, psychedelic mazes from the original Sonic the Hedgehog are what they replicate in Sonic 4: Episode I and they're made even worse, with added timers and progression gates. Awful things.

In all honesty, I was about to argue with your "other people" remark, but then I glanced over at my shelf and noticed that a couple of my Sonic plush toys seem to be inadvertently holding hands. Even I'm not gonna try and argue with my obviously-warped subconscious!

@Rudy_Manchego Great write-up on Iron Man there. It did seem to land with a punch, but then fade from people's thoughts pretty quickly, which I guess is reflective of your experience. It's a shame it couldn't break free of its obvious issues (repetitive level design being the worst, it seems) because out of all the superheroes, Iron Man's suit fits VR the best, what with those hand thrusters and whatnot.

Although it does make me laugh that, if you raise both hands to fire, you fall from the sky. Roll on the day they invent VR controllers for your feet, because that's how Iron Man hovers!

@mookysam Exactly, which is part of my problem with Mania and its fallout. SEGA are forever going back to the MegaDrive well with an empty bucket, but people only react to a literal copy-paste, rather than something that attempts to add a little innovation; after all, how dare they try to improve a thirty-year-old, kinda broken and repetitive formula?!

Basically the whole story, yeah! And those are fair thoughts on both episodes. I hadn't considered the WiiWare restriction but you're right, that likely played a part, as well.

@RogerRoger Thanks - yeah it is a weird one about the feet thrusters - however... i thought about it and that would be yet another control. Then again, maybe a stay where you are sort of thing. You don't fall immediately, just you start to go downwards before picking up speed. I mean it is a fun game and there are a couple of standout levels - there is a cool canyon chase/fight scene. More things like that would have probably pushed it up the rankings.

@mookysam If you are intrigued, give the game a go, especially if on sale. I don't regret the purchase. As for video game dialogue... yeah, it is always the villains that say the most inane things over and over again!

@mookysam VR is so oddly personal about what does and doesn't make you wonky. I am relatively OK with most games. Things like AstroBot Rescue or Ghost Giant cause nothing as very limited movement of your head. I really struggle with attempting anything like FPS in VR. I have to have incremental turning and typically use teleporting. I tried to play The Perseverance on PSVR at EGX a few years ago and did not get it right and felt horrible for about 2 hours afterwards. Also the Rise of Tomb Raider VR mission with actual movement made me ill in about one step.

That said, I know some people are really sensitive to cockpit games, like Wipeout etc. It is true though that you develop VR legs the more you play and you get used to it.

@Rudy_Manchego Nice Iron Man VR write-up! On one hand, I think it's cool that VR tech gives developers the opportunity to build games that wouldn't work nearly as well in other regards. This 'concept heaviness' of VR software comes with a price, though: I think it reinforces the idea that VR is a 'gimmick,' and so discourages people from pumping real money into something ambitious. You mention that aspects of this feel repetitive and budget-constrained, which is disappointing, considering this could have been a real mover and shaker for the hardware had more time and money been put into it, and if it were a more ambitious project overall.

It's a pity this didn't end up making as much of a splash as it could have. PSVR really needs something big and exclusive to move units.

@Rudy_Manchego Yeah, I was reading your write-up thinking "Why doesn't Iron Man just hover?" but then I suppose you might not wanna always hover. Maybe there'll be a sequel where they can tweak such things; after all, given its short length and repetitive levels, this might've simply been a proof-of-concept for Marvel, testing to see whether there was a market for VR going forward.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 (aka Digital Devil Saga: Avatar Tuner, as the series is known in Japan)
Platform: PS2
Playtime: 80 hours - 45 hours for DDS1 and 35 hours for DDS2

The Digital Devil Saga games, from veteran JRPG developer Atlus, released in the United States in April and October of 2005. Although they're separate games, they were conceived of as being one story and so I thought it made sense to review them together. Like the increasingly popular Persona series, DDS1&2 are part of the broader Megami Tensei franchise, although they're unique in certain ways that serve to heavily distinguish them other SMT-related properties.

Unlike the majority of other modern MegaTen games, DDS1&2 aren't set in modern (or apocalyptic) Japan. The first game is set in a dismal, rainy purgatory known as The Junkyard, where various tribes are locked in a cycle of perpetual warfare. Our main character is Serph, the leader of the Embryon tribe, whose life is changed when he discovers a mysterious girl who materializes from a mechanical egg. This discovery leads to the people of The Junkyard being infected with a demonic virus that transforms them into monsters. Serph takes the girl, Sera, under his protection, where they are quick to discover that she is a "cyber shaman" who possesses the ability to soothe their demonic rage and help them to control their powers. Unfortunately, she becomes a target when the Karma Temple, the ruling theocratic authority of this land, declares that whichever tribe defeats the others and brings Sera to them will ascend to Nirvana.

In the second game, Serph and other members of his Embryon tribe escape to Nirvana, only to discover that it is, if anything, a more desolate hell than the one that they escaped from, where the sun has turned coal black and transforms any humans who come into contact with its rays into stone. The few remaining humans in this world largely stay sequestered underground as they mount an increasingly desperate resistance against the demonic inhabitants of The Karma Society, who are unaffected by the light of the black sun.

Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 were Atlus' stab at creating a more traditional JRPG experience, so the monster collection aspect that is a defining characteristic of the MegaTen franchise is completely absent here, which radically alters many aspects of the game design. In the Digital Devil Saga games, your characters turn into demons who can weaken, terrify, and consume other people infected with the demonic virus. You consume demons to level up a 'mantra' the character has equipped, which, when fully leveled up, allows the character to learn a new set of skills. Normally, in an SMT game, you would negotiate with demons to 'collect' them and then fuse them together, which yields stronger demons that learn new skills. DDS1&2 lack this Pokemon-esque setup, so this system is meant to allow for the learning of progressively more powerful skills and abilities.

The mantra grid system is different between the two games, but features significant refinements in the second game. In DDS1, your characters unlock nodes on separate, linear charts in order to learn new abilities, whereas, in DDS2, all of your character work across singular, identical grids. Secret mantras are locked up throughout the grid, and are only unlocked when all of the mantras around them have been unlocked. In DDS2, your characters can work together to unlock secret mantras by each partially clearing normal mantras around them. If character A unlocks two mantras, character B unlocks two different mantras, and character C unlocks the final couple of mantras surrounding the secret one, their collective effort will culminate in the secret mantra being unlocked for everyone. Sometimes these mantras just unlock stat bonuses for the characters, but other times they allow for the learning of unique new skills that wouldn't have been available otherwise.

While this massive change to the way new skills are unlocked gives the games a strong sense of personal identity, it's worth pointing out that combat otherwise feels similar to the combat in Atlus' previous MegaTen game on the PS2, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, including the near wholesale importation of the brilliant "press turn" combat system from that game, which has also made appearances in subsequent Atlus titles. For those unacquainted with the series, Nocturne's battle system made it where the player and enemies fought by the player could gain or lose turn icons depending on how well they exploited or defended against elemental weaknesses, which turned even random battles into potentially fraught encounters. Boss battles in Nocturne forced the player to constantly build new teams of demons that possessed the right skills and qualities to take advantage of the enemy's weaknesses and guard against their strengths. In Digital Devil Saga, preparing for difficult battles is far more simple, as the player merely has to identify what skills they require and then grind the mantras required to unlock those skills.

I used the word "grind," and I think this is the primary weakness of Digital Devil Saga's setup versus more traditional SMT gameplay. In mainline SMT, there's very little grinding, as success in battle depends far more on fusing the right demons for battle. All one needs to do to be prepared in DDS is to unlock the right mantras, though. Mantras are learned by collecting points that either accumulate slowly by killing enemies or more quickly by consuming them. The bigger problem is that mantras are unlocked with macca, which serves as your in-game currency. So even putting aside the random battle grinding that needs to be done to learn skills, you often have to grind battles to collect the necessary macca to even get to the point where you can unlock the necessary mantra in the first place. So this leads to a LOT of random battle grinding, unfortunately.

It would have helped if the music in these games lived up to the standards of other post-Noctune MegaTen games I've played, but, unfortunately, it has one of the worse OSTs in the series. Well... I shouldn't say worse. The music, especially in the first, is heavily inspired by 60's alternative rock, so it's a LOT of guitar music. It's not my thing. There's more variety in this regard in the second game, which has more electronic-sounding environmental themes, but there aren't any bangers in that game, either.

I'll link a few tracks here.

Here are the random battles themes for the two games, respectively (i.e. the musical tracks you'll be hearing the most of in these games):

A couple of environmental tracks from the two games, respectively.

It's not bad music. But compared to the soundtracks for Nocturne, SMT IV, SMT IV: Apocalypse, Persona 4 Golden, Persona 5, etc.? It's not great.

Gameplay between the two games is broadly very similar, although DDS2 adds a few layers that weren't present in the original. The first is "karma rings," equip-able items that grant a variety of different effects, such as boosting strength, allowing the person equipped with one to take two turns in a row, or (and this one is by far more favorite) almost doubling the amount of macca received from battle. These are nice, although the effects they grant in battle aren't usually drastic enough to alter battle strategies, so they don't add a ton of depth to the experience. The other wrinkle is the addition of a new mechanic where, at peak solar energy, your character enter some weird half-demon/half-human hybrid state. So, to briefly explain what that means, SMT games often have game mechanics centered around changes in the phases of the moon. Since the black sun is the primary focus of narrative attention in DDS2, Atlus changes this slightly to focus on waxing and waning levels of solar energy, which trigger the transformation. Unfortunately, this mechanic doesn't end up adding much to the game. Atlus could have designed something interesting around this hybrid transformation, but I found that my characters either one-shotted all the enemy demons with ease, or missed all of their attacks and left themselves vulnerable. So, in general, if my first character missed their attack, I'd retreat from battle, since it likely meant all of the other characters would miss their attacks as well. It was an interesting idea that was poorly executed.

Both games are primarily dungeon crawlers, although the way dungeons are designed is another big difference between the two. The dungeons in DDS1 are often very wide, non-linear, and filled with puzzles (environmental and otherwise) which need to be solved in order to progress. This can sometimes lead to aggravation, but, more often than not, the locations explored in the first game of the duology are engaging, thematically distinct, and memorable. DDS2's dungeons are, comparatively, incredibly boring, and often consist of excessively linear and empty corridors that require little in the way of puzzle-solving. The game attempts to account for this by padding the size of the environments; most of the dungeons in the second game are composed of multiple floors, so the player will spend numerous hours running down seemingly endless corridors until they trigger the next cutscene.

Speaking of cutscenes, it's worth spending some time discussing how different the pacing and overall flow of the gameplay is between the two games. DDS1 is very... slow. It spends a lot of time with worldbuilding, developing characters, and generally fleshing out the world of The Junkyard. While it sometimes feels like it's spinning its narrative wheels, this does give the player an opportunity to appreciate the environment Atlus has crafted. The player will frequently return to previous locations between dungeons, engage in some minor exploration, talk to characters, etc. There's a lot more foreshadowing than there is actual plot movement.

DDS2 is almost the complete inverse of this. The game hits the ground running the moment it begins and never feels like it slows down. While this makes it almost impossible to get bored, it doesn't help when the second game is far more narrative-heavy and is in such a rush to keep the plot moving that it never feels like it properly establishes or develops almost any of the new plot elements it introduces to the player. Lots of stuff happens in the second game. There are revelations which feel like they would have had more impact if the game had cooled its jets a bit and allowed me to process what was happening, but there's an almost mechanical relentlessness to the way the game paces itself: dungeon, cutscene, dungeon, cutscene, etc. etc. The game rarely requires the player to backtrack or talk to other characters, and I felt like I was constantly being shuffled from one main story location to the next. As such, the sequel feels extremely linear in comparison to the first one.

This logic applies to side content as well. DDS1 is filled with a variety of side-quests to complete, which often involved revisiting previous completed dungeons to unlock new areas. DDS2, in comparison, has a few extra bosses that it awkwardly stuffs into the back half of the game. I guess designing proper side-quests for DDS2 would have interfered with this process of either overloading the player with new information or shuttling them down the corridors of bland futuristic environments. I also have issues with one of DDS2's optional boss fights being hidden behind a Jack Frost you'll encounter throughout the game who will quiz you on mechanical and narrative minutiae that you'd probably need an eidetic memory to successfully recall without a guide. And if you do use a guide, it really slows down the gameplay. Good luck accurately answering 50 questions from this thing when he runs away every time you give him a wrong answer, though, and only seems to reappear every few hours.

Because of the game's pacing issues, the new characters introduced in DDS2 never end up feeling very developed, and the only personalities in that game I felt any attachment to were the properly developed ones who returned from DDS1.

Ideally, the relatively narrative-light DDS1 would have been more fast-paced to make up for the lack of new information, and DDS2 would have slowed down and allowed the player time to adjust to its frequent revelations and plot development. In general, the way the duology presents itself harms the storytelling. There's an interesting early-2000s philosophical sci-fi tale here, but I feel like DDS2 tosses out terminology, weird concepts, and bizarre plot twists without really explaining itself adequately.

More broadly, it would have all ideally been one game. Both games are short by MegaTen standards, and my playtime for both games combined falls well short of the time I spent playing gargantuan epics like Persona 5 and Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse. Structurally, the game's problems feel like they go back to this decision to split the project into two separate products.

And before I get done ragging on DDS2's shortcomings, I HAVE to mention the party shuffling it does, because it's so annoying. While this also happened some in the first game, one thing I really don't appreciate is how frequently characters disappear from your party for plot reasons. It's bad enough in a typical JRPG where it just means having to re-orient your battle strategies around a new party member, but, as mentioned, party members work in tandem in this game to unlock secret mantras throughout the grid, and, moreover, it's disconcerting when you invest a significant amount of macca into learning a powerful mantra, only for that character to disappear for hours at a time, or sometimes permanently. Especially in the back half of this game, the player's party is in a constant state of flux and it made me nervous to invest too deeply in the development of any of my characters.

So, that's a lot of complaining, but it's not like I disliked the games overall. I mentioned that they mostly adopted Nocturne's excellent battle system, and they seem to have been developed in Nocturne's engine as well, because, visually, they look remarkably similar to that game. This is a good thing, because Nocturne was, and remains, one of the nicer-looking games on the PS2, and the same is true here. Character designs are distinct and visually pleasing, and the settings of both games are incredibly evocative and memorable.

The great presentation extends to the voice acting as well. In an era where video game voice acting was still very hit-or-miss, DDS1&2's cast turns in some fantastic performances, which especially helps with the second game, where you'll be watching a lot of lengthy cutscenes, and the voice actors help to sell what's happening on-screen. The plot and symbolism are fascinating on their own and are heavily influenced by the religious tradition of hinduism. As is the focus on cannibalism and how you have to actually consume your enemies to strengthen yourself, although the visual representation of this is exceedingly abstract (when you 'consume' an enemy, they turn into an orb that you absorb; you don't actually see your party members gobble up your enemies), and the mechanics surrounding it should have been expanded and fleshed out a little more thoroughly than they were.

I should probably also mention that, at least on the normal difficulty mode, the difficulty level of the games feels very balanced and fair compared to the often overtly brutal Nocturne, and especially the NES and SNES-era Megami Tensei games. Save points and stations where you can recoup your health are liberally distributed throughout both games. I also can't recall any encounters where enemies spammed instadeath spells like mudoon at me (eyes Nocturne warily). And there's even a general absence of boss rush sequences here. There's certainly challenges to rise up to, if you want: hard mode is notably harder, and DDS1 features an optional boss fight with Nocturne's Demi-Fiend that is widely regarded as one of the hardest boss fights in RPG history. But, again, you have to be deliberately seeking that challenge out. If you just want to play and enjoy the game, the main story content is all exceedingly fair, and even most of the optional bosses aren't too overwhelming.

The Wrap-Up

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 are unique RPGs filled with fascinating themes and symbolism, but they're also some of the weaker semi-modern games in Atlus' legendary catalog. They have interesting stories to tell, but the storytelling itself leaves something to be desired (particularly the second game, which feels like it's overwhelmed by its own ideas). Gameplay is solid, but leans too heavily into grinding and away from the tactical considerations that accompanied the polished monster-collection gameplay of most other games in the series. How much one likes the music will probably depend heavily on how fond they are of the alternative rock style the games employ; unfortunately, I wasn't taken with it. Presentation remains the area where DDS1&2 stand tallest, with uncharacteristically excellent voice acting, gorgeous art design, and attractive character designs and demon models that make the games a visual treat, even today.

Of the two games, I'd say that DDS1 is easily the stronger experience, with often superb dungeons, a more focused narrative, and less destabilizing shake-ups of the player's party composition. I do think both games were ultimately harmed by making this story a duology, though, as the first one is TOO heavy on foreshadowing and the second one doesn't have enough time to fully explore all of the concepts it tosses at the player. These games would fundamentally benefit from being rewritten and restructured. None of this should be taken to mean that these games aren't still good experiences overall, though. They're just not stone-cold classics like Atlus' best games.

7/10 for Digital Devil Saga. 5/10 for Digital Devil Saga 2.

@Ralizah Your writing just gets better and better, you know that, right? Which is a considerable achievement, given how good it was a dozen reviews ago!

These are games I'd heard of in passing, and I had no idea they were connected to the sudden mainstream popularity of the Persona series. They sound really interesting, and look really distinctive, at least to my less-than-educated eyes. Given that you're playing a PS2 game here, are those shots you've taken of your television screen? Because, if so, kudos for their clarity! As somebody who also tends to recoil from rock-inspired guitar, I sympathise with regards the first game's soundtrack, and am sorry that, when they mixed things up for the second, they lost any kind of hummability (which is totally a word, honest). Of the tracks you've posted, I think I'd only choose to listen to the last one.

Also, you've touched upon something I tend to hate about RPGs, namely locked party-shuffling. When I've got ten different characters to play as, I feel like I can't love them all, and will invariably end up with a core three or four that I main. Taking some of them away from me late in the game, and forcing me to use a couple of folk who I don't understand and haven't used, will never be anything other than cruel (even when it doesn't break a baked-in mechanic for characters to play off one another). That'd be the worst sin committed by these games, from my perspective.

So they're not my things, but that didn't impact my enjoyment of your review. They made for a great comparative piece, given the pacing, design and character depth differences between them; just a shame to hear that the sequel went off the rails (a more common trend than it should be).

Good stuff there @Ralizah with the DDS review!

I honestly agree with a lot of your points regarding these games.

As I'm sure I said before you'd even started the first that out of the two that's my favourite for the exact reasons you've stated here regarding the world building, character development and the likes.

Not that the second is bad by any means as you say but it does fall flat a little in most areas Though I do quite like the whole reincarnation stuff even if it does go a bit out there.

The final dungeon in DDS 1 seemed to go on forever from what I remember (It's been a good 5 years or do since I last played the duology) but seeing as I can barely recall stuff like the airport or the sun in the sequel... It was more interesting with all those warp points and the likes even if it seemed to take the pip.

If I recall correctly you haven't played through Nocturne in it's entirety right? Really looking forward to seeing what you make of that when you get round to it as it's probably my favourite PS2 Atlus game alongside Persona 3.

Though I heard there was a few problems with the japanese versions of the HD port especially on switch? Hopefully that's ironed out before the western release!

@RogerRoger Thanks! I was actually unsure of how comprehensible or interesting this piece would be for someone utterly unacquainted with the franchise I'm discussing, so it's good to hear that it didn't end up being too poor of a read. Especially since I've been in a sort of funk with my writing in general as of late. I think I'm sorting out techniques for behaviorally working through that sort of thing, though.

So, to get screenshots for this review, I actually ripped my PS2 discs and played them for a couple of hours on my PC's PS2 emulator with dramatically bumped-up internal resolution. I could have snagged a better assortment of screenshots if I'd have the capability available to me throughout the game, but I think they do a good enough job capturing the visual essence of these games.

Game-imposed party shuffling isn't normally a huge deal for me. Especially in more recent JRPGs that help to maintain level parity between different party members. But it was just getting ridiculous in DDS2. It probably doesn't help that, unlike most JRPGs, nobody is safe from this. Not even your main character.

I will say, while these games don't reach the height of more recent Atlus output, they're about a million times more playable than their SNES/PS1-era games. The company is sort of the anti-Squaresoft/Square-Enix: the quality of their work has broadly improved over the years, to the point where I think they're the most consistently excellent JRPG developer in the industry. It's one reason why I'm super excited to see how Shin Megami Tensei V turns out: the Switch might not be really powerful hardware compared to modern home consoles, but it's a multi-generational improvement over the 3DS, and going by the recent trailer, it's going to be their most technologically ambitious title to date.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy I think DDS2 could have been the better game. The plot, setting, etc. are really cool, and it has some nice changes to the mantra grid. If possible, I'd love for Atlus to reimagine these games someday in full-on remake form.

Yeah, the final dungeon in DDS1 is a bit annoying. Some parts of it have a confusing, maze-like structure. There are also some annoying teleporter bits, etc. But that goes along with the more inventive dungeon design in general. The reason you probably don't remember the airport or the sun in DDS2 is because literally every dungeon feels the same: long hallways devoid of puzzles or much of anything interactive. The sun dungeon is only notable insofar as certain sections of it prevent you from transforming, which is... just annoying, and ends with me running from every battle until I exit those sections.

Although I will say this: the dungeons in DDS2 are still infinitely better than the ultra-bland corridors in Persona 4, and the even blander singular dungeon in Persona 3 (which I still need to play more than a few hours of). Persona 5 is light years ahead of those games on the dungeon-crawling front.

And you remember correctly: I played 25-ish hours of Nocturne before my memory card failed and I lost my save data. I was so annoyed that I refused to play the PS2 version again. Thankfully, I'll have another opportunity to play it with the HD remaster.

And yeah, Nocturne HD has issues in both the Switch and PS4 versions, although Atlus has come out and said they're going to investigate the matter and issue another patch, which hopefully means the English release will be fully patched by default. It's one of the only good things about localization delays. Even if the technical issues are all ironed out, it's still a pretty unambitious remaster, though: demon skill inheritance hasn't been altered to allow for more player control like in SMT IV/Apocalypse, and the bug where magic builds become less useful later in the game still hasn't been altered.

I've dreamed of portable Nocturne for ages, though, and now it's finally happening, so I won't miss it for the world. Unless they do something stupid and release it at the same time as SMT V, I'll be devoting my energies entirely to Nocturne HD once it releases state-side next year.

I can already tell you from my previous experience with the game that it's also my favorite PS2 Atlus game, though. Although it'll be great to finally do a full run of it.

@Ralizah Blimey, that new game looks pretty impressive (and just pretty)! I'm often curious how some expect quality to decline, rather than improve, over the course of a long-running series. I know why it often happens (oversaturation, mission creep, audience demand, thirst for cash, etc.) but it's become such a trend in gaming, so it's good to know that some developers are bucking that trend.

My sympathies with your recent writing funk. It happens, but I'd certainly say that you appear to have recovered, based on the above. Good to hear you've been discovering techniques to cope with such moments; doing that can be tricky, because it can be different each time, and it's a highly personal thing. All I know is, trying to "power through" doesn't work for me, as my Shadow review proved. By the way, just to clarify, when I said that your writing's improvement was "a considerable achievement, given how good it was a dozen reviews ago", I meant that it was already superb back then. Glanced at that sentence on my way down to reply and thought "Uh-oh, that could read like I thought you were bad before!"

Ah, cool. Would you not be tempted to play entire PS2 games on your PC's emulator, then? Although I think I'd get distracted by trying to snap screencaps at that point, and wouldn't focus on enjoying the game itself. There's something oddly liberating about the lack of a Share button nowadays!

Maybe they could bring the original writer back and we can see how it would've turned out if she didn't have to leave due to health reasons? That'd be pretty cool @Ralizah

But just a refined and slightly altered versions of what we already have would be pretty awesome too... Just they'd HAVE to bring back the english voice cast... Like you said before mentioned that voice acting is generally top-notch and I won't accept any substitutes (Well except for Roland... He's not that interesting lol )

... I had to put a sweet Gale meme in somewhere... We are (mainly) talking about DDS after all

Though (And I'm admitedly reaching quite a while back into my memory here) I think I found Tartarus' levels be a bit more interesting in level design then Persona 4's?

Persona 4's dungeons looked a lot nicer... But they felt very corridor-y and the hallways seemed endless whereas Tartarus's layouts I think was a bit more randomised and more spacious? Not very interesting look at mind you but still...

It's been forever though and I really need to revist those two games... Especially to give my gripes with P5 some much needed perspective.

Ahh yeah I think I remember you mentioning memory card problems. Hopefully all the bugs and problems are sorted before it reaches us. I agree it's pretty unambitious...

... At least it ain't Devil Summoner (The Raidou ones) getting a bare bones remaster though cus I really couldn't care less 'bout that

@RogerRoger just read your sonic 4s episode 2 attack of the badniks review, good stuff! I've yet to play it properly unfortunately but I did buy it earlier in the year for Xbox. I had episode 1 on Wii but never bought episode 2 on another console because I wouldn't unlock the extra levels as my copy of ep1 was on the Wii. Anyway Xbox still has regular sales on Xbox 360 games so I bought both of them a while back on Xbox one but only made it through the first game in the end, I was planning to go back for sonic 2 but never got around to it!

@Rudy_Manchego nice review of iron man VR! It looks really good and it's definitely on my buy list when there is a seriously decent sale. That's not to say it's not worth more, it's just I don't like spending too much on vr games because of the limited amount of time I can actually play them due to VR sickness which is obviously not something that holds everyone back! The other two VR games I defo Wana get on a decent sale are Astro bot and Vader Immortal.

I know you mentioned standing is the optimal position but do you reckon you could play iron man sitting down? I often play games in bed which makes actions like putting the controllers below my waist impossible.

@Foxy-Goddess-Scotchy Tartarus doesn't feel quite so much like it's composed of LITERAL hallways. On the other hand, doesn't it kind of feel the same way the entire way through? It's like if Persona 5 opted to only include Mementos instead of the thematically-rich palaces. Maybe it changes later on or something.

Persona 4, I believe, has mostly randomized dungeons as well. The enemies/wallpaper/music are different between dungeons, but the differences felt largely superficial to me.

Honestly, pre-P5, the Persona 2 duology probably has the best dungeon design. Too bad those games are both so slow and dull.

Didn't like the Raidou games, Foxy? I'm curious to try them. A historical, MegaTen-themed action-rpg sounds like my kind of weird. Too bad they cost an arm and a leg to collect now, which is weird, because every other PS2 MegaTen game is super-affordable.

@RogerRoger I think what helps with Atlus is that they're VERY iterative in terms of how their games are designed. Sort of like Nintendo. There's not a ton of drastic shifts in game design over the course of their respective series (the biggest, undoubtedly, is when Persona went from a pure dungeon-crawler to a life-sim/dungeon-crawler hybrid that works on a calendar system), so they have the opportunity to gradually improve stuff from entry to entry. Of course, that approach can still disappoint some people: while it's acclaimed in almost every regard, you'll find plenty of longtime Persona fans who are disappointed that the differences between 2008's Persona 4 and 2017's Persona 5 aren't more drastic. I do rather prefer that approach, though, as I can have a consistent set of expectations for their games, unlike something like Final Fantasy, where I have no idea if the latest game will be a masterpiece or total trash.

Well, like I said, I enjoyed your Shadow the Hedgehog review.
And don't worry, I'm not one of those miserable people who hunts for hidden insults within obvious praise. If anything, a lack of growth/improvement would be far worse, as it'd mean I've peaked, and I'd never be able to overcome my considerable limitations as a writer.

Screenshots are a bit of a pain on PS4 and PC. The former because there's this delay between clicking the button and seeing visual confirmation of what I just did, and the latter because my current screenshotting tool for games is rather disruptive. With that said, trying to find visual material for a game I have no screenshots of is even more of a pain, so I absolutely have considered just emulating them on my PC. I guess I often don't because I still think old games feel best on their original hardware. There's just something about picking up a creaky old PS2 controller, popping in a memory card, and playing a game on a fuzzy old CRT that feels right; it's like a ritual that connects the increasingly far-flung present to some small chunk of time long ago that has been preserved in physical form on withered and irrelevant tech.

One thing that contributes to the sheer amount of time I play on my Switch is actually how user-friendly the screenshotting process is. You press a large-ish button on your controller, and there's an immediate response. No delay whatsoever. That satisfying screenshotting tool means I press the button almost compulsively on Switch almost anytime something of note happens, and I can sift through the hundreds of screenshots I end up taking afterward to find the best material.

@Ralizah Tartarus isn’t the only dungeon, every month there’s a Full Moon which has a mini dungeon like a moving train for example. Tartarus is very much like Mementos and you do have to complete it but it’s not the only thing you do. Persona 4’s dungeons are rubbish to be honest, as much as the rest of the game is great even though it’s bloody hard and I haven’t beaten it yet. Think I’m in a certain place with clouds and rainbows.

No Tartarus doesn't change much at all as you journey through it from what I recall... Tartarus' general layout just seemed a bit more randomised and the floors a little shorter compared to the dungeons in P4 to me.

Could be that you have to clear dungeons as quick as possible in P4 for enough spare time to do social links and stuff whereas you can take your sweet time in Persona 3 thanks to Tartarus exploration being on the evenings so you can space it out over the entire month before the next full moon.

Though it's been well over 6/7 years since I've played either one and it's a totally fair assessment on your part @Ralizah!

Can't quite say I remember the dungeon design in Persona 2 Eternal Punishment to be perfectly honest as I just remember not really liking the gameplay one bit (Plus even for a ps1 game (and I don't know why it bothered me so much) it's not a good looking game in the slightest)

I've actually only played the first Raidou Kuzunoha... Because it's the only one that actually came over to europe at the time. I believe the second is actually available on PS3 over here now (... Maybe?) but I've never felt the desire to play it thanks to the first being pretty lacklustre.

The gameplay in the first is extremely repetitive to me.

Raidou has his sword with a three hit combo (There's a charge attack too I think?) and a piddly ass gun with varying bullets that's mainly used for stunning enemy demons. You can summon a single demon at a time which only knows a basic attack and two(? ... Or is it one?) magic attack.

The AI isn't terribly great for the demons. People make jokes about Mitsuru and Marin Karin in P3 but I found the demons in Raidou to be way worse personally thanks to it being an action game and they either just head straight ahead into danger or spam magic even if it isn't needed.

The setting's very cool and pretty authentic, some of the characters are good (I quite liked Raidou's boss from what I remember) and the music's rather nice too ... But that's all it really has going for it for me.

The story was pretty meh and the gameplay is fairly mindless in my opinion. I've heard the second allows you to bring two demons in battle and uses the smt law, neutral, chaos stuff in the story... But eh -Shrug-

Over here in europe Koei of all companies had the publishing rights with Persona 3 and The Soulless Army which is probably why they're crazy expensive over here as they did barely (If any) reprints whereas Ghostlight whom have the publishing rights for both DDS games and Nocturne have reprinted them a couple of times. Plus the ps2 version of persona 4 was published by Square Enix of all people over here so there was probably a bigger initial supply thanks to the success of 3 (Though I've noticed those prices are starting to climb up a little now)

@ralphdibny Yeah, I was looking forward to Sonic 4: Episode III - Revenge of the Knux as well. Thanks for reading my review, and I hope it's helped build a bit of hype for when you get around to playing your copy on Xbox! You'll have to let me know whether you agree!

@Ralizah I can see the benefit of that approach, for sure. Personally I quite like when a developer finds something that works for a long-running series and then refines it over two or three subsequent games before moving on, making sure they've gotten the best out of a good idea. Stagnation is an easy trap, but avoiding it shouldn't mean that you should start from scratch every single time (which, as you say, can make things like Final Fantasy difficult to judge).

You're very kind. And absolutely, I dread the day I read back one of my reviews and don't find an error, or a poorly-constructed sentence. That being said, I'd take issue with you having "considerable" literary limitations; perhaps just like Atlus, you're just refining what works (because trust me, it works!).

I do agree that the Switch has nailed instant screencapping (some day, I'll have to work with my partner to share some of our silly Animal Crossing and Mario Kart shots). I've assigned a keyboard shortcut to screencap on my PC, but it's sometimes overridden by a specific game's control scheme and the alternative default is pressing four (yes, four) keys simultaneously. Being able to spam those keys, though, is a huge step up from the PS4's almost narcoleptic approach to capturing a single shot. I then put some music on, make some tea and sort through to find the 4% of useable images!

For my reviews of Sonic Chronicles, Shadow and the Rivals games, I spent far too long trawling the internet for good-quality images to use. It was nice playing them on their original hardware and, like you, I'll always go for that authenticity where possible (my PS2 controller creaks, too!) but boy, was I tempted to emulate Shadow and take some actual, proper screencaps of my favourite levels. Still, there's no substitute for tactile nostalgia, and the instant gratification it brings. It can be the warmest, softest blanket when it wants to be... right before the long loading times, dodgy disc drive, amnesiac memory card and horrendous framerate have you sprinting back to the present.

RogerRoger's Random Sonic the Hedgehog Retrospectives
Part Eight: SONIC GENERATIONS
November 2011 / Nintendo 3DS, PC (version played), PS3 and Xbox360

Suppose I should start with full disclosure: I'm in this game. At the end of the credits, a large crowd can be heard cheering "Happy birthday, Sonic!" It's the crowd from 2011's Summer of Sonic convention, held in London, and one of its many hundreds of voices is me (only in the PAL version, though; for the NTSC release, a different recording from an American gathering was used).

It's a pretty sweet touch for Sonic Generations, a celebration of the Blue Blur's 20th Anniversary, to include as its final footnote, but it's also indicative of the care and passion lavished upon the game by SEGA and Sonic Team. This wasn't just nostalgia done right; at the time, it also delivered the ultimate evolution of the fan-favourite Hedgehog Engine gameplay, introduced in Sonic Unleashed three years prior. It balanced both sides of a divided fandom, pleasing retro enthusiasts whilst also maintaining what made modern Sonic games great. For that reason alone, many argue it remains the gold standard by which the franchise's potential should be judged... and for my money, they're not wrong.

After a "press start" cold open (just like in the good ol' MegaDrive days, y'see) and playing through Classic Sonic's first act, the narrative context for all this revelry begins to coalesce. In the present day, Sonic's friends are throwing him a surprise birthday party which is unceremoniously crashed by the Time Eater, an imaginatively-named new nemesis who, er... eats time. Sonic watches as everybody is scattered throughout history before he himself succumbs to the attack and ends up in the ethereal, minimalist beauty of an interdimensional area colloquially known as White Space.

It's here where Sonic meets his former self, and quickly teams back up with two versions of his two-tailed bestie, Tails, to run through and restore colour to fragments of his past. The structure of events is kept simple; there are three eras (MegaDrive, Dreamcast and Modern) with three main levels apiece, playable in both 2.5D with Classic Sonic and full-blown 3D as his more current self. Each era also features a rival battle and a final boss, and you'll have to clear them in sequence before going toe-to-toe with the Time Eater. It isn't the longest story ever told, nor is it the most complex, but the fantastic foursome of Sonic, Tails and their old-school counterparts will keep you smiling as they attempt to figure out this paradoxical mystery during their brief, occasional cutscenes.

The rest of the fun comes from the levels themselves. All of Sonic's major games (the good, the less-good and the less-than-less-good) are represented here, given an HD makeover regardless of age. Some folks balk at the selection, and it's true that a heck of a lot of opening stages made the grade, as well as well-marketed ones, most likely for brand recognition purposes. The developers make the most of having to repeat every environment twice, though, and mix up some moments of level design to introduce even more of Sonic's gameplay back-catalogue; take an alternate route in the retro reinterpretation of Seaside Hill from Sonic Heroes, for example, and you'll find a huge underwater area reminiscent of Hydrocity Zone, complete with its infamous tubes and crumbling handholds.

In fact, the Classic Sonic levels are perhaps the game's biggest success. They benefit from layered layouts which utilise the traditional 2D gameplay in a 3D space to an ingenious degree, offering at least three ways to reach your goal. They're reminiscent of the Sonic Rivals games in the way they sometimes get a little spectacular, with a tightly-controlled camera zooming in and out for maximum impact, but offer far more freedom in terms of player participation. It's also a joy to see a lush, realistic take on some 16-bit locations; the way that the Death Egg looms out of the clouds in the background of Sky Sanctuary Zone never fails to elicit bubbles of fanboy fizz. I'm not against a throwback or two, not when this much effort has been made.

It then becomes interesting to see how Classic Sonic interprets the modern 3D eras, in the same way that it's a blast to run Modern Sonic through vast recreations of his humble beginnings. During this tug of war between gameplay past and present, it's the middle selection from Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes which emerges victorious, needing to adapt a long-since-abandoned approach to 3D level design twice over and yet still retain familiarity. The developers hit every possible beat with perfection, exceeding the game's premise and proving that they've found their creative stride.

Because sure, it'd be easy to arrive at Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colours and simply port over a couple of recent levels, given the shared technology under their hoods, but there's absolutely zero danger of such a corner being cut on Sonic Team's watch. In the same way that the G.U.N. truck from City Escape suddenly sprouts booster rockets and literally drives Sonic up the wall, great care has been taken to ensure that everything benefits from that added "Wow!" factor, no matter its age. As a result, Spagonia's famous clock tower is even more stomach-churning than before, raising the bar even further from where Speed Highway had left it during its neon-drenched sprint down the side of a skyscraper.

Sonic Generations is responsible for my strongly-held belief that there's a difference between thoughtful, well-made fan service and lazy pandering. Knowing when to nudge your audience and shoot them a wink can be an art form in and of itself; do it in the wrong place, or too often, and you're more likely to provoke a groan than a grin. Just like the aforementioned blending of environmental tropes, Sonic Generations boasts a wonderfully blatant subtlety in its handling of nostalgia (a remarkable accomplishment when you consider that the game's entire foundation is "Hey, remember this?") which never becomes cloying. Stuff is there for fans to find, but it doesn't define the experience. Case in point: the showdown with Shadow, which replicates a famous pose from the opening cinematic of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Most people would've likely skipped said cinematic back in the day, or wouldn't recognise it from a decade previous, but it's cool regardless of recognition, because it instantly tells newcomers everything they need to know about who Shadow is and why you're fighting him.

There are even more details hidden in the game's ninety Challenge Gates, five of which hover over each level for each Sonic, offering bespoke objectives using chunks of the core environments. It's here where you'll find things like time trials, races against other characters, survival modes and whatnot, as well as scenarios which use the wider cast of furry friends. These are necessary padding (you'll need to dabble with them in order to unlock each era's boss) but, again, the developers make the best of a bad situation. You can end up hunting Chao for Cream the Rabbit or, in another well-judged nod to the MegaDrive era, play keepie-uppie with a spinning goal post. There's even a quirky tennis minigame, as you and wannabe rockstar Vector the Crocodile lob a musical note back and forth. This is a rather apt example to mention, seeing as victory in a Challenge Gate unlocks new music in the game's extensive gallery.

Alongside artwork and character models, at least one sample from almost every single Sonic game made before 2011 is enshrined in a soundtrack archive (in fact, I think the only M.I.A. here is Sonic Chronicles... I wonder why, he asked rhetorically). You can swap tracks out and shuffle them around in-game before you load up any level. Not that you'd want to, of course, because the heart and soul of Sonic Generations is its unassailable plethora of classic and modern remixes that accompany Sonic everywhere he goes. There is one new tune in the entire game, composed by Richard Jacques to herald the presence the Time Eater, and it carries weight as a diabolical march for a clock-themed villain.

As for the rest... blimey, I think I'd break the forum if I tried to embed them all, so I'll limit myself to one choice from each hedgehog. Now, I'm not usually one for lyrics, but even I've got to surrender to the upbeat charms of Cash Cash and admit that their de-make of 'Escape From the City' fits the game like a glove. I've even found myself singing along to it on occasion, as I help Classic Sonic escape that belligerent G.U.N. truck on his little skateboard.

As for Modern Sonic, nothing comes close to the rich, pacey melodies of Spagonia's Rooftop Run, this time taken from Tomoya Ohtani's work on Sonic Unleashed. I was sure I would be linking Crisis City here instead, but we'll save that for another day, methinks.

It doesn't stop there, though. There are even more remixes for the Challenge Gates, for every rival and boss battle, for the gallery itself... heck, even for the options menu. Coupled with the chilled string-based adaptive score which follows you through White Space, working as a shorthand to remind you of your current location in the timeline, I think it's fair to say that Sonic has never sounded better.

I'm making this all look pretty good, aren't I? Unfortunately, it's not all whining Amy Roses. I may have praised Sonic Team's innovation and effort earlier, but there's a palpable sense that they started running out of steam in the fourth quarter. During the final era, Silver the Hedgehog appears as a rival; if being historically accurate, his duel with Sonic should take place in Soleanna but here, it's relegated to being run in a re-used section of the Crisis City map (somewhere the two characters never met). Shortly afterwards, the Egg Dragoon makes an appearance, but it's awkwardly shoehorned into fitting Modern Sonic's gameplay mould and the results are... well, they don't live up to its source material. Its original appearance in Sonic Unleashed was as a savage behemoth, wrestled with by a werehog on and around debris during a desperate plummet towards the planet's molten core. This isn't that. At all.

When such pains have been taken to accurately portray everything prior, these two encounters (which come from my favourite games, so this is me, gently waving my bias flag) feel like a bit of a faceplant during the story's home stretch. In contrast to this loss of focus, there's also a new gimmick introduced which I'm not overly keen on, namely upgrading and modifying your heroic 'hogs with skills purchased from a Skill Shop. I suppose it's neat that they're there, but customisable loadouts detract from the butter-smooth basic gameplay, and whatever I ended up applying (elemental shields, faster boosting, easier cornering, etc.) would invariably get forgotten whilst zipping about. It's like being asked to pick your favourite place to get an itch; you're still gonna have to stop what you're doing and scratch it, no matter where it is. I'd rather keep moving forward distraction-free, thanks.

But, when all is said and done, Sonic Generations is still a three-hour game, so I shouldn't really be taking shots at anything which adds replay value. Over the years, on PS3 and now PC, I've more than gotten my money's worth from it, but I fully recognise that that's probably because I'm a supersonic super-fan. It's easier to recommend to others nowadays, when it's frequently on sale for ten bucks, but I could understand a casual passer-by feeling a little short-changed by the whole affair, particularly if they're not interested in getting S-Ranks for all the Challenge Gates.

Short, then, but oh-so-sweet. For demonstrating that it's possible to respectfully merge old and new, and for therefore uniting a divided fanbase in the process, Sonic Team gained my undying respect; the fact that Sonic Generations serves up air-punching moments of heady triumph on the way to its end credits should be its main achievement, but it's merely a bonus to me.

Speaking of those end credits, it's funny, because we all recorded that birthday cheer months before the game was released, not knowing how it'd turn out. Once our throats had recovered, somebody turned to me and said, "Uh-oh, what if it's rubbish?"

Since I was (and am) a fan of Sonic's modern escapades, I wasn't too worried. Once I'd actually played the game, however, I became truly honoured.

As a celebration, Sonic Generations is perfect. As a game... well, it's pretty darn close.

Sonic Generations = 9/10

All this reminds me that I'd promised to write a piece about Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) at some point, but it also reminds me that I've got a ton of other, hedgehog-free games to review, as well. Let's put a pin in the blue pincushion for now... and then maybe, in celebration of his 30th Anniversary next year, I'll scrawl a retrospective on his 15th.

Sonic the Hedgehog will always return.